CHAPTER 35
After another month of ridiculously hard work, Gabi was exhausted but really happy.
Her day job was going well, despite the fact that she had been more passionate about her essentially unpaid side hustle.
She had a girlfriend whom she got to spend every night with, and she had friends whom she really cared about.
It turned out that living with Sarai right off the bat hadn’t been a bad thing at all.
Arlowe and Enya still teased them – well, Arlowe did that more than Enya – but it was just that, teasing.
They were really respectful otherwise, and no one seemed to have an issue with her and Sarai occasionally being found making out on the couch.
It had been an adjustment at first, mainly for Sarai, but so far, that adjustment had been paying off, and Gabi could see them living there until her lease was up before making alternative plans for the two of them.
Of course, if Sarai really wanted to stay longer, they could, but as much as she liked living with all three women, she also wanted to have a place that was theirs alone one day.
The hardware specs were coming along as well, which was one of the many reasons she was so tired.
She was working her day job, coming home, and working on the wearable.
She also had a girlfriend whom she liked spending time with, and there were only so many hours in the day.
The company she worked for was about to launch something of its own, so she’d be working ten-to-twelve-hour days and maybe a little on the weekends, too, so it would get worse before it gets better, but she could handle it as long as she got to come home and fall asleep next to the woman who’d captured her heart so long ago and hadn’t ever let it go.
She let go of Sarai, but she really didn’t want to.
She never wanted to let go of her, and she knew she couldn’t and probably even shouldn’t feel that way.
They’d only just met, and while they’d had an amazing weekend together, that was all it had been and all it could be because they both had plans for their lives.
As much as she wanted to tell Sarai that she liked her and ask if they could maybe talk about that, she knew Sarai didn’t feel the same way about her, and even if she did, it couldn’t go anywhere real, and she’d only want real with Sarai.
“I should…”
She hooked her thumb toward the tracks when she pulled out of the hug that she seemed much more into than Sarai, who probably just wanted to get back to her life without her tagging along.
“Yeah, don’t want to miss it,” Sarai replied.
“We’ll text.”
“Yeah. Let me know–”
“When I’m home. I will,” Gabi interrupted.
“Okay. Well, safe travels. Have a fun trip.”
“Thanks,” she replied, gave Sarai the best smile she could muster, and turned to go.
When she was walking down the stairs, Gabi wanted to turn back.
She wanted to know if Sarai was still standing there, watching her.
If she was, maybe that meant something, but if she wasn’t, then it definitely did.
If Sarai weren’t still standing there, it would mean that she’d been more than ready for Gabi to leave her alone, and if Gabi turned and saw her gone, that would be too much for her to take on the long train home, so she kept looking down at her feet, taking each stair one at a time and hoping, ridiculously hoping that Sarai would yell for her or come after her.
“Stupid,” she muttered to herself.
She made it to the platform and turned to look up then, but she couldn’t see the upper floor from where she was, so she looked straight ahead at the posters along the opposite wall advertising for one thing or another.
She wasn’t sure how long she just stood there, but when the train arrived, she had to find her car and get aboard.
She had an assigned seat, so she located that, put her bag above her head in the bin, and sat down.
A few minutes later, the train began to move, and Gabi stared out the window, trying not to think about Sarai.
She couldn’t stop herself, though, and as her tears began to fall, she pulled up the hood on her coat and tried to pretend that she was asleep.
When she got back to Paris, she took a car home, walked inside her parents’ house, and pretended like nothing was wrong.
Her mom greeted her, asked her how the trip was, and she told her most of it but left out her new feelings for Sarai.
After that, she went up to her room to unpack, but her mind kept taking her back to Amsterdam, so she stopped doing that and began flipping through the pictures that they’d taken together.
Then, she pulled up her itinerary for her trip, which she kept on her phone, and tried to find time to get back to Amsterdam or time for Sarai to visit Paris.
The week of her Mom’s birthday seemed like a good option for that, but she could cancel something she had planned already to go back there for another visit.
Gabi promised herself that if Sarai said yes to either arrangement – her going there or Sarai visiting Paris – she would tell Sarai how she felt, but when Sarai had later declined to do either, devastated, Gabi had gone on the rest of her trip and done her best to put one amazing weekend and the beautiful woman she’d met out of her mind.
She looked over at Sarai, who was sitting behind a desk in her new office.
They hadn’t moved in officially yet, but their lease had started already, and today was the day when the furniture they’d bought was being put in place so that they could start working there the following week.
Gabi smiled as she looked at her girlfriend through the glass door.
Sarai looked right at home there, staring around the space, trying to get to know it and probably figure out how to work in there since she’d never had an office of her own.
“Yes, I want the cubicles over there all taken down and removed. You can leave those in the lobby outside. The landlord will have someone pick them up,” Violet told two of the movers as she pointed to the section of the office where the extra cubicles were.
“And where do you want all those TVs outside?”
“Those will be mounted later, but you can bring them up and line them along this wall,” Violet told one of them and pointed at a wall with nothing currently on it. “Oh. Hey, Gabi. You’re off work today?”
“I called in sick. I wanted to be here for this,” she said. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course, it is.” Violet squeezed her shoulder. “Stella’s here, too. She took the day off to help out, but I think she just wanted to see me in my office for the first time.”
“I get that.”
Gabi nodded toward Sarai.
“She looks good in there, huh?” Violet asked.
“That, she does.”
“It’s a big office. She took one of the conference rooms instead. I guess she wanted the extra space, and we don’t need the extra conference room anyway.”
“Maybe she’s used to the garage, which is bigger than the office she would’ve had.”
“Maybe. Or, there might be another reason,” Violet said and turned. “Arlowe, are you ready to walk them through the server room? That’s going to take a while.”
“Another reason?” Gabi asked.
“Oh, I’m doing that myself. I’m not letting the movers touch my babies.” Arlowe said as she walked over to them, and when Gabi chuckled, she asked, “Gabi, do you want to help? I’ve got everything over by my office.”
“In a bit. I’ll join you in there. I want to check on her first.”
She pointed to Sarai, who was now standing and looking contemplative, which concerned her.
“You should go on in there,” Violet suggested. “Also, we’re all grabbing lunch in about an hour, so don’t eat all the snacks we brought in to stock the kitchen. Those are for us to start with next week.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Gabi said with a little laugh and walked into Sarai’s office, where she found her girlfriend standing in front of her desk, leaning back against it and smiling at her.
“Excuse me? I was hoping to speak with the head of marketing. I was told this was her office and that she’s the genius who launched the campaign that basically made this all possible. ”
Sarai rolled her eyes and said, “Not a genius. Campaign went well. That’s all.” She held out her hands. “Come here.”
Gabi walked toward her and took Sarai’s hands in her own.
“Violet said not to eat the snacks because they’re not supposed to be your lunch. I happen to agree with her. You are terrible at lunch.”
“I get busy. It happens,” Sarai said.
“What can I help you with? Your stuff is still in the car, right? Want me to start bringing things up? You only have a desk so far.”
“I want to talk to you about something first.”
“What?” she asked, concerned, until she saw Sarai smile.
“So, the campaign did really well for us, and well, we’ve gotten a few schools reaching out. Violet is working on those agreements, but investors are very happy, and you were a big part of it.”
“Small part, but go on,” she replied and smiled softly, wondering where Sarai was going with this.
“Vi had an idea. We talked about it as a leadership team and chatted with the board and everyone else you have to talk to about these things, but we all agreed. It was unanimous.”
“Agreed on what, babe?”
“Before I tell you, I want to let you know that I also disclosed our relationship, so everyone who didn’t know about it, does now. I needed to ensure that they would all still agree, but since it was a pre-existing relationship, and we’re not employee and boss, they said it was fine.”
“Sarai, I’m lost. What–”
“I want to offer you a job. Well, we do.” Sarai shrugged a shoulder. “You’d be head of hardware, a peer to Arlowe, Enya, and me.”
“Head of hardware?”
“Or whatever you want to call yourself. We found the money in the budget right around the time the investors saw my deck for the hardware plan along with your specs. They loved it, the whole thing, and they’re giving us more money. The next round will be coming in soon.”
“That’s amazing, Sarai.”
“It is. And we want to use part of that money to actually pay you to work here.”
“But I have a job.”
“I know. We’re matching your salary there. Benefits and everything else might not be as good yet, and we don’t have bonuses right now, but you’d have equity in the business.”
“You’re serious?”
“I am. The main reason I wanted this office was that I thought we could potentially share it. If that sounds a little crazy for you, though, since I took a conference room, there’s an extra office that would be all yours.”
“You really– You’re serious?”
“I love you,” Sarai told her with a smile and shook her head.
“I love you, Gabs. I want to be with you, and I want to work with you here, too. I know it’s scary because we already live together, but it’s what I want, and I want to take that risk because I know what this is.
I know what we have. It’s real, and I love you. ”
“You love me?” she asked, her heart now thundering in her chest.
“Is it too soon?”
“No,” she replied. “I’ve pretty much been in love with you since you met me at that train station.”
“Yeah?”
“I love you, Sarai,” she said before she cupped Sarai’s cheek with her hand and kissed her.
“I love you, too,” Sarai replied after they let their kiss end naturally.
“So? Want to keep going on this crazy journey with us here? We have an office waiting for you, or you can share this one with me. No pressure either way, and I’d understand if you want to stay where you are.
It’s a lot more stable over there, and–”
“I want to come here.”
“You do?” Sarai asked, and her eyebrows nearly hit her hairline, which made Gabi laugh.
“Yeah, I do. I love working with you guys. Outside of spending time with you, it’s my favorite thing. I love helping Arlowe on the code and working on the hardware. I want to be a part of this, and I still would even if you and I weren’t dating, but that somehow makes it better, doesn’t it?”
“I think so, yeah,” Sarai replied.
Gabi pulled Sarai in for a long hug then and kissed her neck.
“Hey, none of that. This is a place of business,” Arlowe teased from wherever she was behind Gabi.
“Not until Monday, it’s not,” Sarai retorted. “Besides, so is the garage, but we do this in there, too.”
“Please, which one of us hasn’t made out with a girl in that garage,” Arlowe said.
Gabi snickered against Sarai’s neck because they’d done a whole lot more than make out there.
“So, she said yes, I take it?” Arlowe asked.
“She did,” Sarai confirmed. “Now, you’re ruining the moment, so go.”
“What moment? It’s just a job.”
Gabi pulled out of the hug, turned to her, and replied, “Not to me.”
Sarai wrapped her arms around Gabi’s waist from behind and rested her chin on her shoulder.
“Good answer,” Arlowe noted. “Meet me in the server room when you’re ready.”
“I will. And, Arlowe?”
“Huh?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“You probably had the most say in me getting this job, so thank you.”
“You’re great at what we need right now, and you were a massive help on the new features, too, so it was really a no-brainer, but you’re welcome.”
“I’ll be in there soon,” Gabi said.
Arlowe walked off then, leaving them alone, and Gabi turned back around in Sarai’s arms.
“How about I take the office, and you have more space in here for all of your great ideas? That team you’re going to end up building out can sit in here with you for meetings and stuff, and there could be a round table that can go over there or something.”
She nodded to the empty left side of the office.
“Whatever you want, Gabs. I just want you here.” Sarai kissed her softly on the lips. “I just want you finally here.”
“I’m here, babe. I’m not going anywhere.”
She pressed her forehead to Sarai’s and felt Sarai’s tension leave her body at the same time Gabi’s own did.