Page 47 of Old-Fashioned

No way was I taking any of this for granted.

No fucking way.

Therefore, I smiled, “Morning.”

He took in a breath and let it out, my head lifted with his movements then lowered back down.

“How’d you sleep?” I grinned into his chest.

“Can’t remember a better night’s sleep then that one.” I said softly into his chest.

He chuckled, “Me fucking neither. We need to make this a habit.”

Wanting to fist punch the air, I didn’t, but oh how I wanted to, instead, I said, “I agree.”

We were both quiet for a beat as his fingertips ran lightly over my right hip, “Your migraine gone?”

I nodded, “Yeah, normally if I feel one coming on, I can beat them by taking the medicine. But only a good night’s sleep will erase it completely.”

“Gotcha. What makes them worse?”

I shrugged, “Being stressed out, or crying. Those are the major things that I know will bring them on.” And at my words, he carefully rolled to his side, my body stayed tucked in his embrace.

“So, I need to make you’re never stressed out, and I will beat the brakes off of anyone that dares to make you cry?”

I grinned as I stared into his eyes and nodded, “Yeah, sounds like a plan to me.”

“Gotcha. All you’ll have to do is point, and I’ll be your tactical assault monkey.”

Laughter burst from my chest.

I was still laughing so hard that tears trailed from the corners of my eyes.

And only once I stopped laughing that I sobered and was about to talk to him about everything he had laid at my feet.

I was about to talk to him about my fears.

And needing him to make promises.

And wanting him to demand promises from me.

When I heard the ringing of a cell phone.

Abel growled, “Someone better be dead for interrupting my time with you.”

With that, he let me go, rolled over, tagged his cell on the nightstand, checked the caller, hit a button, and said, “Someone better be dead, Frank.”

I knew Abel had it on speaker when I heard Frank’s voice, “Sorry. I know you’re with her, and if it was for something else, I wouldn’t have bothered you. But two things. We all voted after you told us to close the bar today, to veto it, and we are opening. It’s one of our busiest days due to all the games coming on today. And I’m glad we did that because you told me if the company messed up the order one more time to let you know about it immediately, this is me letting you know about it.”

I watched Abel’s face as he listened to Frank and then he looked at me, “How do you feel?”

“I feel like making some great tips,” I whispered.

“Birdie, are you sure? I don’t want you to be miserable.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I’m sure. Besides, I forgot that Rich is coming in today and we are going to watch one of the games while I work around everything. It should be a good time.”

And with that Frank and Abel talked while I got up and used the bathroom.