17. Home
Home
Three months later
S leep a distant memory, yet it sealed Zoe’s eyelids shut. Sand in her mouth, sandbags on her eyelids, Zoe blinked a few times. Sunlight blasted over her eyes, bright and brilliant, and she blinked again as she pushed to her elbows.
In a bedroom that would fit four of her old bedroom—no wait, five—Zoe sat up and shoved her hair out of her face.
Brenda Halseth would wave a magic wand and have some art on saturated walls, dressers and end tables and bookshelves and area rugs and whatever else until no empty space remained.
Instead, the space was white and sparse… except for the window.
A window covered more than half of the wall opposite the bed, and the forest filled her room with greenery.
Zoe’s taste had never aligned with her mother’s, but moving into a new house only weeks after having a baby made things go a lot slower, and the nursery and the kitchen had taken priority.
She may have married a spoiled Mallory, but…
Zoe laughed under her breath as she drank in the room, the view, the ceilings high enough to fit a tree inside. There were perks.
Speaking of… the house was awfully quiet for ten in the morning. Ryder had promised she could sleep in after her first shift back. Once a week for now, as she had been itching to get back in there.
True to his promise, she’d slept, and her boobs throbbed. Before she started leaking everywhere, she dragged out of bed and tossed on cozy sweatpants. Said leaky boobs had led to wearing tops at night, a habit she was eager to drop as soon as the boobs were hers again.
Smooth, cool wood chilled her feet, and she stepped into slippers for the search through the house. Area rugs would have to come next.
The silence faded into echoes as she passed the empty nursery, empty bedrooms, and headed down the stairs. Shit. The video meeting. She had completely forgotten.
Where was Elena? Zoe zipped faster to rescue Ryder from having to tend to a baby for his first meeting.
His neat-freak tendencies had slipped with the new baby, and true to his word, a frying pan was left out, and his breakfast plate sat next to the sink. The coffee pot had been heavily drained, but there was enough for her to indulge in a few sneaky sips.
She rounded the corner, and found his office doors were wide open. Not quite as sparse, he’d quickly filled the room with a desk and computer, bookshelves, a cozy sofa, all looking out into the forest.
Baby on his shoulder, facing the computer, Ryder smiled as he concluded the meeting with his new boss.
He glanced over at Zoe, and patted Elena’s back. “Almost done,” he whispered, and continued talking.
Zoe curled into the sofa, out of view of the camera, and listened while he wrapped it up.
“Hey,” Ryder said as soon as he closed out of his meeting, and turned in his chair to face her. “I thought you’d keep sleeping. I just gave her a bottle to knock her out for my meeting.”
Zoe glanced down at her swollen boobs and cringed. “I’ll pump.” In a moment. For now, she curled her legs up on the seat and relaxed. “You could have brought her to me.”
“It was just Jess and some of the marketing team. I can work with one hand, especially for meetings.”
“Still, you’re the new guy.”
“Hardly the new guy, as I’ve been working with them for a year.” Ryder braced the baby as he stood and crossed to sit next to Zoe. “Bellamy Athletics touts themselves as a family-friendly company, and they all gushed and congratulated me.”
“Well, I know they were thrilled to land you as their new head of marketing, so they know they need to be supportive,” Zoe said, and slid the baby from his arms. She stirred and snuggled in, but sadly, wasn’t hungry yet.
“Fuck though, it’s different, focusing all my effort on one company.”
“What do you think? Is it going to be… enough, for you?” Working from home aside from one or two in person days a month plus travel as needed. Four days a week instead of five. “This is a huge change for you.”
He leaned back and rested his arms behind his head as he settled in his big corner office sofa.
“If I’d had any idea how much greener the grass was, at work and home, I would have done this ages ago.
” He reached over and rubbed his fingertips over Elena’s head, then slipped down and set his hand on Zoe’s thigh.
“What about you? How was your first night back?”
“Really good. As much as I like spending all my time at home with you guys…” She shrugged and winced a smile. “It was nice to get away and do my own thing, too.”
“Balance,” Ryder said knowingly, and tipped his head back and laughed out loud. The king of imbalance touting the importance of it.
Zoe adjusted Elena on her shoulder, and rose to her feet. “I’m going to pump, snuggle, and get some breakfast.”
“And sneak some coffee?”
“Only a little,” she promised, grinning at him as she did. “If there’s any left.” She held her free hand out for him, and tugged him up to meet her. “When you said you survived on less sleep, you neglected to mention how much coffee you have to consume to compensate.”
“Oh, hey,” he said, keeping hold of her hand, in no rush to get back to work. “Haley offered to come help us get this place finished.” He huffed a laugh and looked outside of his office, the only officially finished room in the house. “I mean, the stark Patricia look is nice, but…”
Zoe snorted and growled and instantly despised the comparison. “I would love to have her come help, but I want it to be mostly you and me. According to Pops, marriage should not be considered until a couple has painted a room together and picked out a sofa.”
“Oh? I didn’t know we needed to prove our compatibility first.”
“Oh, not that. It’s the fight it will cause. I want a big sectional leather sofa that you can sink into, that faces both the forest, and a big-ass TV.”
Ryder shook his head and pulled her out of the office and toward the main living area off the kitchen. “I’m cool with a sectional, but leather sofas are too cold.”
“Not with throw pillows and blankets.”
“And they’re slippery.”
“So go with it and sink in.”
“How big of a TV?”
“Big enough that everyone will want to come here for every game.”
“Every game? Pro or college?”
Zoe nibbled the edge of her tongue and shrugged innocently. “Both?”
He laughed and shook his head. “How about we rotate?”
“Fine,” she grumbled, and stepped toe to toe to face him. “Big ass TV and a non-leather sofa.”
Ryder leaned in and tapped a soft kiss, then melted in and stole another. “Was that supposed to cause us to fight?”
“And I want to paint the walls orange.”
“Orange?” He cringed and looked around at the tall walls, the windows overlooking green and blue and white. “What shade of orange?” he repeated.
“Like the fruit,” she said, tipping up her chin with a dare.
“Then Elena’s room will be pink,” he said, tipping his chin to match hers. “Magenta.”
Zoe feigned a long sigh and said, “Okay then, we can go neutral for the living room.”
“A muted, southwest burnt orange for her bedroom would look okay, or a sky blue so it feels sunny, even when it’s raining?”
Zoe lifted to her toes and braced Elena between them, and clutched her free hand on his chest to sink in for a long kiss. “Did you see the little fairy doll I found, with a Seahawks football helmet and jersey?”
He nodded and grinned, his dimple deep in his cheek. “I love it. I love you.”
“Love you too,” she said back, and her cheeks ached from smiling so much. “Marry me.”
“Wait, don’t ask me yet,” he said, and folded his hand across his chest. “I have a plan.”
“For me to ask you?”
“I was going to take you for a drive as soon as I was off work today.”
“I will do my utmost to be patient, then.” Elena began to stir in her arms, and Zoe’s boobs were instantly awake and ready. “Taking me anyplace in particular?”
He stepped back toward his office, bottom lip bit between his teeth as he grinned with impatience.
“After we swing by Black Op for the picnic I have ordered, I thought we’d drive until we get to the last patch of snow in the clearing off the old highway.
I’ve got pillows and blankets to make a cozy spot in the back of your truck, and we can go for a walk until it gets dark, then watch the stars come out? ”
“With a baby,” Zoe said, picturing his extravagant plan being ruined by full diapers and irritable baby.
“Totally up to you. Scott offered to watch her—well, Patricia offered too, but I’m not ready for her to babysit just yet—so I can ask you to marry me without a distraction.
But, I love you both and it might be extra special, having her with us.
I mean, without her, we’d be lucky to bump into each other now and again, when I passed through town. ”
“Ryder?” Zoe asked sweetly.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and held, not drifting further toward his office just yet. “Yeah?”
“I like your plan.”
“Thanks.”
“Maybe we can leave Elena with my dad in a few weeks and go someplace fancy. I’m not much of a dress and heels person, but every so often, I do like looking hot and being surrounded by city lights.”
Ryder laughed out loud and walked toward her again, and leaned in to nibble a kiss. “I like your plan.”
“Get back to work, and Elena and I will get some warm clothes packed for our evening out.”
“I’ll be done by five.” He stepped back toward his office, again.
“It’s a date. And, Ryder?”
“Yeah?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’t believe you asked me a question.”
“About marrying me?”
“That was a statement. And yes, I am in complete agreement with that statement. How about next month?”
“Here in town?”
“I’ll call that landscaping company and get that patio we talked about going. We can have it here.”
“I love you,” she added.
“I love you, too,” he said sweetly, normally, no fluff, no grandiosity, just a dimpled grin and a gleam in his baby blues.
The End