Page 129 of Every Broken Piece
“I speak from my heart, Spitfire. What do you need?”
“First of all, thank you for the new laptop and phone. You didn’t have to do that—”
“Spitfire—”
“No. Let me finish. You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it, and I love them both. So thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I made a decision.”
“Lay it on me.”
I grin as I fall back on his bed. When he left Friday morning, I told myself I’d sleep in my own room but that never happened. I needed to smell Gabe, to lay where he made love to me so gently, so reverently that it brought me to tears. It also scared the hell out of him, but he calmed down when he realized my tears were born of deep emotion, rather than pain or regret.
“I want to start my own virtual assistant business,” I tell him.
The line is silent for a few moments. “Tess, I’m proud of you.”
Something about those words tightens my throat with emotion. I can count on my hand the number of times someone told me they were proud of me. Mostly it was teachers. Never was it Sandra.
“Are you in my bed?” he asks.
“Yes,” I whisper
“Get under the covers and tell me all about your new business.”
For the next hour I tell him my plan, my goals, and my vision. Occasionally, he offers advice, but mostly he just listens while I lay my future out in front of him. Or what I hope is my future. With each word I speak I get more excited. But more than that, I feel hope. What I don’t feel is afraid that this will be taken away from me. What I don’t do is create backup plans for when my world implodes. Because I have people who love me, who support me, who’ll go to the ends of the world for me and that makes all the difference.
I’m not alone anymore and instead of being scared to bring people into my orbit, I center my world around them, and it feels spectacular.
“Will you help me with the business aspect, setting it up and everything?” I ask.
“I’ll help with whatever you need me to.”
I love you.
The words are right there, but I don’t want to say them for the first time over the phone. I want to look into his eyes and tell him what I’ve never told another soul before.
“You sound happy,” he says.
“I am happy. I’m really happy, Gabe. Thank you.”
“Why are you thanking me? This is all you, Spitfire.”
“You gave me the courage and the means by buying a whole company so I can have my non-compete back.”
“I’ll buy you whatever you asked for.”
“I don’t want anything. Just you.”
There’s a sharp inhale of breath. “I love you so damn much, Tess.”
“I know.”Tell him. Just tell him.“I...like you a lot a lota lot.”
He chuckles. “That was an extra ‘a lot’. I’ll take it.”
“See you Wednesday?”
