Twenty-Seven
Ameila
I finish getting the animals ready to go while Luke is at the sink finishing up the dishes.
I don’t know what I thought I would feel after living with someone of the opposite sex again, even if it’s temporary, but I wasn’t expecting this happiness that I feel with Luke in my space.
It was amazing how quickly we fell into a semblance of a routine and how he gave me the space I needed to work on what the fuck was happening with my farm.
Speaking of the farm, my watch vibrates, reminding me it’s time to go.
“I have to go. We have that professor coming in who wants to take a look at the system I’ve set up and be an extra set of eyes outside of the testing we’ve been doing,” I say as I grab the rest of the stuff I need for the day.
“Okay, let me know how it goes. Don’t forget to call Noah if you have any updates from the lab about the water results or if anything is off today testing the water.”
I want to roll my eyes, but he’s right. I might forget, as I tend to do when I get involved with something.
“I will,” I say as I grab the leash and walk toward the door.
“Sweetness, are you forgetting something?”
I stop and do a mental check. Phone is in my back pocket, and my wallet is in my backpack along with my keys.
“Umm, no . . . I don’t think so?” I say as I look around, thinking I left something on the counter.
He walks up to me, and my brain frizzles as I check him out. He’s hot, and he knows it.
“Eyes are up here, sweetness. I need your lips before you can go.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” I smirk at him. “And here I thought I was actually missing something.”
“You were. You can’t leave without saying goodbye,” he says as he grabs me behind the neck and pulls me toward him. “It could be bad luck.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever you say, babe.”
I see the flash of heat behind his eyes, and I have to suppress a moan.
That is the first time I’ve called him a pet name, and it seems he likes it. Before I can think too much about it, his lips are on mine, and like every time he kisses me, it feels like my whole body vibrates with pleasure. I thought that after a while I wouldn’t feel his kisses in my soul, but I still do.
He licks the seam of my lips, and I open for him, dropping what was in my hands so I can hold on to him.
His tongue caresses mine, and I want to climb him like a tree.
All too soon, he nips at my lip and pulls away.
My heart thrums wildly as desire pools in my belly, and I follow him, not ready to break our connection.
He chuckles. “As much as I would love to take you back to bed, baby, you have to go to your meeting, and I have to go to work.”
“Then don’t start things you won’t finish.” I pout. “Fine, let me know what you want from the store because I’m going to stop on my way home tonight.” I bend over to grab what I dropped and give Penny a kiss on the head. I squeal when he smacks my butt. “Seriously?” I glare over my shoulder with my hands full.
“That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one day. I always finish what I start, and I’ll show you firsthand tonight.” He kisses my head.
“Promises, promises,” I say as I grab the animals.
“Have a good day, Amelia, and keep me posted on what the professor says. Oh, and I’ll have lunch sent over to you if I can’t make it over, so you don’t forget to eat.”
“I will, and thank you!” I throw over my shoulder as I walk out the door.
My heart flutters as his last statement runs through my head again. No one has ever cared if I remembered to eat other than Pam, but I think she does that because she doesn’t like a hangry Amelia.
Leo used to use my ADHD against me, and while I don’t flaunt that I have it, it does show if you’re around for an extended amount of time.
As I get the animals into the Jeep, I think back to the night after my world was flipped upside down.
While letting Penny out, I hear Luke putting some of his stuff in the bathroom.
“Um, sweetness, it’s just you living here, right?”
“Um, yeah. Why?”
“Why are there enough clothes in your closet that you need three laundry baskets, and why do you have three shelves of shampoos and conditioners in the shower?”
“Oh, I forget to do laundry because I have enough clothes, and I tend not to do it until I start to run low on sweatpants or leggings. As for the shampoos and conditioners, well . . . I’m on a hair care journey, and I couldn’t choose which products I wanted to try, so I bought several and now rotate through them depending on the day of the week. I also have a whole shelf of hair overnight masks and oils in the cabinet next to the sink.”
I feel my ears get red with embarrassment. It’s been a long time since I shared a space with someone, and I wasn’t expecting him to be over today, let alone use my bathroom . . . I didn’t do a quick clean.
“Hey, what’s wrong? It’s okay that you have a lot of hair care products, and I can do a load of laundry if you need it.”
“Normally I clean, but I wasn’t expecting you to be here tonight, or I would have done the laundry. I have ADHD, and while the rest of the house is always clean, my room has always been . . . well, a challenge.”
He walks up to me and pulls me to his chest like he can’t stand to see me panic again. “It’s okay. I forget to do the dishes sometimes, and I somehow always miss the laundry basket. No one’s perfect.”
“I know, but I shouldn’t put it off for so long.”
“Who cares as long as it gets done. That’s the beauty of being an adult.” He rubs my back, hoping to calm me down.
As I think about how the rest of the night went, a smile takes over my face.
Luke is one of the most caring people I’ve ever met. He never makes me feel pressured about our relationship or makes me choose between him and my work . . . He’s been practically perfect.
I really don’t know what I did to get so lucky to find someone who makes me think that maybe I could love again.
I pull into my parking spot and walk up to the door with Penny next to me and Ginny on my shoulder with her little harness on. After typing the code in, I open the door and rush to turn the alarm off.
Did I set this bad boy off when I first got it because I forgot it was there?
The answer is yes.
I still think it’s overkill, but everyone else thinks it’s needed. Wayne said the only time they used that door was to go to the bathroom, so he doesn’t think any of the construction would have caused that damage. Which in turn made him upgrade all my locks and check all my doorframes.
I’m getting the animals settled when I hear Kristen walk in with Professor Judy.
“Hey, everyone. I’m just getting Penny and Ginny settled in the office, and I’ll be right out.”
“No rush. I’m going to set up Professor Judy in my office, and we’ll meet you in, say, ten?”
“Perfect.” I turn and look at Penny and Ginny. “Okay, you two be good. You have water and toys. I’ll check on you in a few.”
I walk out the door, closing it slightly behind me.
Kristen is talking to her professor next to the testing kit shelves.
Sticking my hand out to shake Judy’s hand, I say, “Thank you so much for coming out here today. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time for this and all the help you’ve been over the last week.”
“Nonsense. Kristen has been telling me about what you’re doing here, and it’s something special. If I can help in any way, I will. Let’s start with the easy stuff. Can you guys walk me through how you do your testing? The breakdown of mediums used for each plant tank as well as the fish you’re using and why.”
I take a deep breath, suddenly nervous that I haven’t made the best choices for those things.
Impostor syndrome sucks balls, but I’m excited to have another set of eyes on everything and get honest feedback to improve my system.
“I can see you’re nervous. I promise I’m here not to tear your work apart. I truly think what happened was a fluke based on what I’ve seen in your reports, which are fantastically detailed, by the way, but together, as a team, we can break down what’s going on and hopefully figure it out together. The most I’ll ever ask of you is that if a student would like to intern for college credit, we can work something out because I cannot say this enough, you’re doing great work here, Amelia.”
I hear the truth in her words; she isn’t just saying that.
I know I do good work.
I wouldn’t still be selling produce if I wasn’t, but something is obviously not working anymore, and I need help, and I’m big enough to admit it.
“I know, and I appreciate you helping more than I can put into words. Let’s dive in.”
After five hours of the three of us going through everything tank by tank and step by step, we wrap up. I look around and start double-checking as I lock the doors.
“I think I have a good chunk of information to take back with me, as well as us talking about different mediums to try in a couple of sample tanks, which is super smart to have, by the way,” Judy says, looking down at her notes.
I smile at her, glad that I did this because she’s a wealth of information. “Actually, I started with just one. It was Kristen’s idea to expand that.”
“She’s bright and has a great future ahead of her in this field.”
“Oh, I know. If I could keep her here forever, I would, but I’ll never hold her back.”
“Stop it, Am, you aren’t holding me back. This is exactly what I want to do. Your vision lines up with mine and what I want to do, plus I get to do research on the side. It’s perfect,” Kristen says as she walks up to me.
“I mean, I’m keeping you for as long as you want to stay.” I smiled at her. “Does anything else need to be done?”
“Nope, everything is ready for morning deliveries. Pizza boxes are in the garbage, and I updated the program with today’s test numbers and already emailed and logged the graphs,” Kristen says.
“Like I said, a rock star. You know I hate the number-crunching aspect. Well, I can walk out with you. I just need to grab the animals.”
“I love that you bring the animals with you, and yet they don’t come in contact with the tanks,” Judy says.
“I think Ginny would explore if I left the door open, but Penny knows to just stay in the office area or the community garden section by the register. That took several training sessions to do,” I tell her as I gather everything and the animals.
I look around again, mentally making sure I locked all the doors. “Okay, everyone out, so I can set the alarm.”
Kristen takes Penny with her to the parking lot with Judy as I set the alarm and dash out the door, holding Ginny and locking the main door.
“Again, Judy, thank you so much for coming out. I look forward to more feedback, and you’re more than welcome any time. Also, we’ll set up a time to talk about interns or job shadowing,” I say as I put Ginny in her cat carrier.
“Perfect, I’ll email you my schedule, and we can work around that. Also, if you’d like to come talk to the students interested in aqua- or hydroponics. I think they’d love that to see if it’s something they would enjoy doing.”
“For sure,” I tell her as they get into their cars.
With one last wave, I climb in my Jeep, and we all pull out together.