Susan Mallery - Saying 'Yes!' to the Boss

Guilt battled with her more practical nature. If she’d let him go so easily, apparently what she had felt wasn’t love. So what did love feel like and how would she know when it was real?

“If this is a bad time,” he began.

“No, it’s fine. I appreciate the offer.”

She followed him outside. The pool house was a big open room with full bath at one end. A sofa sat in front of a large television. A bed had been pushed against the far wall.

Noelle looked at the sports posters on the walls and a few trophies on a shelf. She waited for a flood of emotion, but there wasn’t one. Just sadness for a young man who had died too early.

Several small model cars sat on a window sill. When she crossed to them, Dev said, “He always loved cars. By the time he was ten, he knew more about them than me.”

She picked up two cars, then fingered an Angels baseball cap before adding it to her collection. There weren’t any personal pictures and she didn’t think what looked like a year’s worth of Car and Driver would be considered significant. Then she spotted the yearbooks.

“You don’t want these for yourself?” she asked.

Dev shook his head.

She flipped through one and saw dozens of messages from friends. “I’ll keep these, too,” she said. “What people write often gives insight into a person. Jimmy’s son or daughter might like that.”

“Okay. I have a lot of pictures I was going to sort through. Once I figure out when they were taken, I’ll put them in order.”

“That would be nice.”

They returned to the house.

“I thought we’d order dinner in tonight,” he said. “Give you a chance to settle in.”

She nodded. “I’ll go to the grocery store tomorrow and cook dinner. Any requests?”

“You don’t have to cook.”

“I actually like cooking.” She put the items from Jimmy’s room on the kitchen counter. “My mom made sure we all knew what we were doing. I don’t get very fancy, but everything is eatable.”

“Then you pick. I can’t remember my last home-cooked meal, so I won’t be fussy.”

Interesting, she thought. So the slinky, exotic women didn’t cook. No doubt they had other talents.

“What time do you usually get home?”

“About six.”

“Then I’ll plan dinner for six-thirty.”

This was so strange—having this very domestic conversation with the man who had been, until recently, her boss.

“I’ll leave you to unpack, then,” he said. “Let me know if you need any help.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Dev retreated to his den. He had to find this as strange as she did. They were both being so polite. Would it get easier with time? Would they ever feel comfortable together?

Once again she thought that this was not the marriage she’d always imagined. However, it was the one she had. Instead of focusing on what she wanted to be different, maybe it was time to think about how lucky she was to be married to Dev and do what she could to make their two years together fun for both of them.

Noelle had decided on what her mother claimed was every man’s favorite—meatloaf and mashed potatoes—for her first home-cooked meal. She wasn’t sure of Dev’s vegetable preference, so she did a medley, along with a salad. There was strawberry shortcake for dessert and an assortment of ice-cream flavors in the freezer, in case he didn’t like the shortcake.

She’d shopped early, then had spent the rest of the morning getting to know Dev’s neighborhood and finding things like the closest dry cleaner and drugstore. After that, she’d been on her own. Alone. Completely alone.

She wasn’t used to having a house to herself. At her parents’ house, there was always someone around. But here…not so much.

She found herself waiting for Dev’s arrival with an eagerness that had a lot to do with finally having someone to talk to, but when he walked through the door to the garage, she wasn’t sure what to say.

Her parents usually came home together. On the rare nights they didn’t, her mother hugged and kissed her father. But that didn’t seem right. Smiling at Dev and asking about his day felt weird, as if she were in some play somewhere.

“Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes,” she said. “Do you usually change into something casual?” She motioned to his suit. “I mean, you have time. Or I can hold dinner.”

“I’ll change later.” He put his briefcase on the floor, leaning against the end of the cabinets and loosened his tie. “Settling in?”

She nodded. He looked good, she thought as he slipped off his jacket, then went to work, rolling up his shirtsleeves. A little wrinkled, but still handsome. She liked the way his stubble shaded his cheeks and jaw.

“I’ve found most of the necessities of life.”

“How are you feeling?” he asked, his gaze intense.

Feeling? What would she be…Oh. “You mean the baby.” She touched her stomach. “Honestly, I don’t feel anything. I don’t know when I’m supposed to start having symptoms and it’s not like I want to ask my mom. I did make a doctor’s appointment for a prenatal checkup.”

“Good. When is it?”

She told him.

“I’ll go with you,” he said. “We’re in this together, so I’m interested in information, too.”

Going with her? “You don’t have to.”

He smiled. “I want to be there through all of this.”

His words gave her a warm kind of glow in her tummy. “Okay. That would be nice. I’ll admit I was a little scared. Just because I’ve never done this before.”

“Me, either.”

She served dinner and they sat at the round table. Dev told her about what had happened at the office that day. When he was finished, she said, “I’ve signed up for summer school. I’m taking calculus.” She wrinkled her nose. “Math is not my thing, but it’s required, so I decided to get it out of the way in one intense, horrible six-week period. I go for three hours a day, four days a week. I start Monday.”

“That’s a lot of calculus.”

“I know. I don’t want to think about the homework, but I keep telling myself by the middle of August, it will be over.”

“This is excellent,” he said, cutting off another piece of meatloaf. “I’m now officially won over by your cooking, but don’t worry if you don’t have time once you’re in school. Getting your education should be your priority.”

“And the baby.”

“The baby won’t arrive until next year.”

She nodded. “I guess I’ll be due in early March.”

“So you can go to the fall semester and then take the spring semester off. And graduate the following January.”

She hadn’t thought that far ahead. “I like that. The baby will be what, six months old when I go back to college? Day care won’t be a problem. There’s a great program at our church. My mom will love being able to see her first grandbaby whenever she wants.”

Whoa—this was a little too much to be dealing with right now. “Speaking of my mom,” she said, deciding for her own peace of mind she needed to shift topics. “She called today. She still wants to do a big party, but that’s going to take some putting together. In the meantime, she would like to throw us a wedding shower. Probably just for girlfriends, if you don’t mind.”

His trapped expression cleared. “I think it’s a good idea. You and your friends will have fun.”

Typical guy, she thought with a smile. “But the thing is, we need to register. People are going to want to buy us gifts. I went through the kitchen and you already have everything. But there’s only one set of china, so maybe something for special occasions?”

“I don’t care about that kind of thing,” he said. “Noelle, pick out what you’d like to have. Then you can take it with you when this is over.”