Page 73 of The Wiener Across the Way

His kiss deepened, and for a moment, I allowed myself to get lost in him, in the here and now. But I couldn’t shake the thoughts and stay in the moment with him. I broke the kiss before either of us were ready, that worry gnawing at me again, a persistent whisper in my mind.

“It’s been an amazing couple of days, being separated from the outside world, being part of your family tonight. But once I step back into mine...” My voice trailed off, the unsaid fears hanging there.

He cupped my face with his strong hands, his thumbs caressing my cheeks. “I know this can’t last forever. I’m honestly surprised you made it two whole days. Give it just a few more. The world and the work will all still be there next week, but you’ll be able to tackle it better for having given yourself some rest. We’ll make it work. Together.”

“Together?” I asked, needing the reassurance, craving the strength that seemed to pour from him.

“I’m not letting you go anytime soon, sweetheart. Just like the dragon said, you’re mine and I’m yours. We belong to each other now.” Even though he teased with the line from the book, which I hadn’t really comprehended while reading, he meant it.

Was this real love? The kind I’d been searching for? I thought it was, I wanted it to be. My heart was still scared, but that worry had been too loud, and it needed to calm down.

Declan had proved himself as a better boyfriend, lover, and partner than anyone else I’d ever been with. It was about time I believed in him instead of the bums like Jake Jay who’d treated my heart like his own personal bouncy ball.

We laid there, wrapped in each other’s arms, letting the silence of the night envelop us. His presence was a soothingbalm to my frayed nerves. Yet, even as we clung to the present, cocooned in the serenity of the woods, the tick of an unseen clock grew louder in my ears.

“I really am lucky to have found a love like yours,” I murmured against his lips.

I curled into Declan’s side, my head resting on his chest. His heartbeat was steady, a comforting rhythm that promised everything would be okay. But even as I surrendered to the warmth of his embrace, I couldn’t shake the sense of impending loss—that soon, the distance of our separate lives would stretch out before us like an insurmountable chasm.

“Let’s just stay like this forever,” I whispered, half-joking yet entirely earnest.

“Forever sounds perfect to me,” Declan replied, his voice thick with emotion.

But forever was a fantasy, and reality was waiting just beyond the tree line. For now, though, I’d savor every last drop of us, storing up memories like treasures to sustain me through whatever tomorrow might bring.

What tomorrow brought us was another day of making love, eating campfire breakfast, more song ideas, more sex, and a leisurely walk with Pooh as she chased bugs and even a little bunny rabbit. When the next day was the same, and the next, I slowly felt the worries about the future slip farther away.

There really was something to this taking a break to refill the mental and physical well. I’d always thought taking a vacation like this would mean laying around doing nothing. Like, I could sit and read a book next to a pool or something for a few hours, but doing nothing at all still made me uncomfortable.

Declan had shown me that downtime didn’t have to mean doing nothing. It just meant doing things for myself, taking care of myself in a way I’m not sure I ever had. My parents had beentrying to get me to do this for years, and I owed my mom an apology for not believing her when she said it would do me good.

I lost all sense of time, but one morning after a some very enthusiastic sex by the lake and some more chunky dunking, Declan broke the news that we’d been here for close to a week. How could that even be?

“It’s Thursday, and I’ve got to get to practice tomorrow, or I won’t be able to play in the game on Sunday.”

“I can’t believe that time didn’t stop just because I wanted it to,” I joked, but I was having some real mixed emotions about getting back to the real world. Skeeter and Penelope were probably freaking out because they hadn’t heard from me. I knew my next show was supposed to already be getting set up. I was scheduled to play some back-to-back shows in several major cities in Texas.

The crew could do the set up and prep without me, I trusted them. But it had been basically never since I hadn’t been involved in all of that. It would feel very weird to just show up. And what would it mean for our brand-new relationship to be separated by our jobs already?

“I guess this is good timing, because I think I have a show in Houston on Saturday.”

“I’m going to ask you something, and it’s not because I doubt you or because I’m trying to be some kind of controlling dick who thinks I can just take over your life just because I’m in your bed, okay?”

Uh-oh. That sounded like he was going to ask me something I either wasn’t going to like, or that I wouldn’t like the answer too. But I trusted him. He was so much better to me, and for me, than anyone else in the whole world. “Okay.”

“I’m asking because I love you, and I don’t want to see you exhaust yourself again.”

I rolled over and sat up on my knees and took his cheeks between my hands so he had to look me in the eye when I said this. “Declan, I know. I know that you need to take care of me and still you’re so careful to make sure I feel like a strong, independent woman. It’s a little bit of why I’ve fallen so hard in love with you. Ask me what you want to ask or say what you need to. I trust you because I know you’re not doing anything to hurt me, only to help me. I’ve needed someone in my life like that for a long time, and I’m so glad that it’s you.”

He gave me a long, hard kiss that stole more than my breath away, it stole my heart. Then he pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. “Are you sure you’re ready to go back to work? You can take more time if you need it. Stay with me here, or rather, in Denver for a little while.”

How I wanted to that. I just didn’t see how to stay here with him and be on the road at the same time. Even if I flew back and forth from my concert venues and Denver every day, eventually it would be too much. “Let’s check back in with the real world first and see what kind of magic Skeeter and Penelope have made happen to reschedule my tour dates without upsetting the whole world. Then we can figure out how to make the rest of our lives feel like we have this week.”

“I like the rest of our lives part of that.”

We spent the afternoon packing up what we needed and closing up the cabin. This place would forever be special to my heart, no matter what came in this next chapter. Ooh. That gave me an idea for a song. Some kind of a sequel to my hit “Book Boyfriend”.

We drove down the mountain, and I’d never had so much fun on a road trip. We stopped in Bear Claw Valley for gas, and I got to pick out crazy gas station snacks for the ride. Who knew Pop Rocks were still a thing? Then we listened to whatever radio station we could get to tune in since we didn’t have phonesto play our regular music choices. Declan sang along to every single word of so many oldies, including two of my faves, John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High”, and Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”.

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