I smile. I don’t feel like a ‘chill chick’ whatever that is, but I don’t point that out or even ask for a definition.
“And also, you’ll be happy to know…I’m quitting Utopia. I sort of like being here at Zeller’s and I can’t be a gigolo my whole life. I need to do something a little more respectable. So, I’m going to graduate school, after all. I think it’s what I need to do.”
I’m shocked now as I stare at him.
“You were a really good gigolo,” I tell him. “But you’ll be a great businessman, too.”
He smiles his charming grin. “Thank you. And of course, I still intend to coach Sophie, until she is at a level where she needs a professional coach.”
“Of course,” I answer. “I appreciate it.”
He leans over and kisses my cheek and it doesn’t feel sexual at all.
I really think I can do this. I can carry this off.
And later in the week, after my interview with the owners of the winery, I decide to take the job. On the condition that I can bring my own assistant, of course. Taylor is fiery and annoying at times, but she takes good care of me. I wouldn’t leave her behind.
This is a notion that baffles me though after listening to her endless complaints about packing up my office stuff and the fact that her new commute will be longer than it is right now.
I stare at her.
“Taylor, we’ll be working in a winery. A winery. Enough said.” She glares at me and stalks out, but not before I see her smile. She’s going to love it. As will I.
I’m packing up a last box when Alex comes in, wrapping his arms around me from behind.
I sigh a happy sigh.
I had no idea that I would be this happy in such a short amount of time. BB practically sings to me every day—that’s how satisfied and happy she is. You know what they say…a happy vagina is a happy woman. Well, they might not say that, but they should.
“What do you think?” Alex asks as he brushes a kiss along the crook of my neck, right where I like it. “Are you sad to leave?”
I look around at the plush corner office that I worked so hard to get. And I know that I’m not sad, because I’m winning on so many different levels. I’m going to a better office. Win. And it’s surrounded by grapevines. Double Win. I’m dating a fabulous and sexy guy who is successful and confident. Triple Win.
Everything seems to be clicking into place, like it was meant to happen this way.
I read somewhere that every broken road in life leads to where you were meant to go in the first place. Or something like that. And it really is true. I thought I was meant to be with Rick the Dick and live until we were old and gray in a corner room of the retirement home. But he had other plans…and so did Life.
Life threw grapes at me but I turned them into wine.
God, I love wine.
I turn to Alex. “No, I’m not sad. I’m not sad at all.”
Then he kisses me until my knees grow weak.
And I know beyond any shadow of any doubt that I’m doing the right thing…regarding every aspect of my life. My knees were meant to be made weak by this man.
“Kiss me again,” I tell him.
So he does.
Epilogue
“You can stack that over there,” I tell a mover. The movers all appear to be burly and rough around the edges, but I gave them doughnuts for breakfast, so they like me. This one grunts and moves the box.
“Hey sweetie,” Alex calls from our bedroom. “How do you want me to label this box?”
I walk back and find that he has packed up my bedside stand and all of the glorious toys that it contained. Over the course of the past year, I added a few companions for Geronimo. And Alex and I use them regularly…together. Hey, don’t judge. It’s freaking hot.
“Um, how about Sex Toys?” I suggest. He rolls his eyes and writes ALLI’S NIGHTSTAND- –PRIVATE.
“As if no one will know what that means,” I giggle.
“Are you absolutely sure that you want to move?” Alex asks for the twenty-fifth time. I glance at him.
“I think that after having a gorgeous new house built on the edge of a vineyard, we’d probably better move, don’t you think?” I ask wryly.
Alex stares at me. “I just know that Sophie grew up here. You have a lot of memories here. I don’t want you to leave unless you are sure you want to.”
I smile. “You are the sexiest, most handsome man on the planet. It was my idea to move. I want to start our marriage in our own house. Not my house.”
He grins. “Mrs. Harris. I’m really loving the sound of that. Although, just know that you will never be allowed to take tennis lessons.” I smile, remembering that his bitch of an ex-wife cheated on him with a tennis instructor.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “I hate tennis.”
“I knew I loved you for a reason,” he jokes as he seals up my toys.
“You love me for a lot of reasons,” I answer.
He nods. “I won’t argue there, Alli Cat.”
The first time Colby overheard Alex calling me Alli Cat, I think he almost choked on his tongue. But he recovered quickly and things have been very normal on that front.
Colby is one year into his MBA program and he’s doing very well at Zellers. My replacement quickly promoted him from an intern to an entry level manager because of Colby’s initiative and drive. I know from personal experience that the boy’s got initiative. And drive.
Sophie is kicking ass at swimming and taking names. She’s well on her way to winning at State levels and then she can swim in college. And who knows how far she’ll go after that?
Rick the Dick is alone. Vanessa broke up with him shortly after Alex and I got together. I seldom have to see him, but when I do, we manage to be civil. He’s a dick, but he’s not my dick anymore. He can cause someone else grief. Someday, that is, when he convinces someone else to date him.
And Sara… my devil of a best friend is dating Tom, Alex’s recruiter friend who got me the job at the winery. She called him up to check on the job market and they somehow wound up dating. Sara’s good at flipping a situation like that. She’s going to be my maid-of-honor, of course, and she’s already got all kinds of top-secret things planned for my bachelorette party. I’m terrified already.