Page 70 of Besties
“Oh, I wish. He’s with CrossBow, though, so I doubt we’d be enough of a challenge for him.”
The last several weeks had been stressful. More and more bad reviews kept cropping up. We also had several cancellations of service, but I think those were mitigated by Sophie and Amelia’s insistence that people needed to listen to us. I was preparing to leave on Friday to run all over the country, where I’d hold town hall meetings to show people what the independent research said. The minor bug Josh found was quickly patched, but we added it to our list so people could see the good and bad.
Richie was living from his office, working on our plan. He ate whatever I brought in for him, though I doubt he tasted it. He napped on the sofa in his office, even when I tried to get him to come home. He told me this needed to get done, and I should go ahead and not wait for him.
Of course I stayed too.
When he and his team were in meetings, I was there. I wasn’t a programmer, so I couldn’t help with that at all. I was, however, able to keep him and everyone who he’d called in plied with food and soda. On the Thursday before I was to leave, he came out of the room he’d sequestered himself in and gave me a tired grin.
“We’re done.”
My heart thumped a little harder. “And?”
He swiped a hand over his hair, flattening it out. “Josh has it now, so we’ll see what he has to say.” He carded his fingers through my hair. “Really, Max, this was a brilliant idea.”
“Now we just have to hope it works out. While you were all doing your thing, I reached out to Dennis. He was hesitant to get involved, but I told him what we were trying to do. After that, he was more than willing to help out. In fact, he’s already put the plan into motion.”
“Good.” Richie wrapped a hand around my neck and squeezed. “Thank you for your patience. I know you’d rather have me home, but I needed to get this done.” He yawned and stretched. “Speaking of home—have you thought about where we’ll live?”
To be honest, there was never a question. “I don’t care where we go, as long as we’re together. If you’re happy here, then this will be my home too.”
His smile slipped slightly. “I do miss Milwaukee,” he said softly. “When I told my parents about the trip, they were so excited. Then I found out it wasn’t the cruise, it was seeing me they were looking forward to. It took me a bit to realize I haven’t seen them in a few years because I’ve been so focused on this.”
“But they understand,” I retorted. “And both of us are guilty. I talked to my mom on the phone, but until you flew them in, I hadn’t seen her or Walter for way too long.”
Richie’s brow furrowed, and I knew that meant he was deep in thought. “Adulting is hard, no matter what anyone says. I want Teaching Time to continue to grow, to inspire kids and let them know the heights they can reach, but I also want time with my family. My sexy-as-fuck lover. I want to be able to go out to dinner with friends, instead of sequestering myself at home, trying to come up with new ways to diversify.”
All that sounded good, but it wasn’t Richie’s style. He was—needed to be—hands-on. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust others. Just the faith he put in Allyssa and Rebecca proved that to me. But….
“Can I make a suggestion?”
He beamed a smile. “Please.”
“You told me before you haven’t had a real vacation in, like, ten years, yeah?”
“Yup. And that was four days, during which I fretted over everything, because we were opening a new branch.”
“And where did you go?”
His cheeks pinked. “I… stayed home.” He frowned at me. “A staycation is still taking time off,” he defended himself.
“And why did you take the days off?”
“What difference does that—”
“Richard….” I growled, injecting as much authority into my voice as I could.
He narrowed his eyes. “I hate it when you do that. It sounds like my mom.” He sighed. “The doctor warned me about stress and said I had to take some time off. After I got back, I found a new physician, who, unfortunately, agreed with the first guy.”
I could see where this job would be stressful. You held the education of kids in your hand, and if you weren’t on top of your game, they could fail. And if there was one thing I was absolutely certain of, Richie hated to fail. I agreed with the doctors, though. He needed time off like everyone else. A chance to unwind, to do something for himself and not for everyone else who wanted a piece of him.
“Okay, that stops as of now. Every year you will take a two-week vacation. Even if you stay at home, it’s better than going into work each day and busting your ass. You have department heads, and I know you trust them.” I squinted at him. “Youdotrust them, right?”
“Of course I do!” he barked, sounding rather offended.
“Then tell me why haven’t you taken a vacation.”
He sighed and his shoulders slumped. “Because, dumbass, I wanted to go with someone who could remind me to have some fun. Someone who actually understands having a good time. Like, you know, going glow bowling or maybe a movie or a concert. Things like that.”
