Page 21 of First Comes Marriage
“Thank you so much,” I tell her. This whole thing is crazy to me, but I understand in this day and age, they have to be thorough.
“Come on, wife of mine, let’s go home and pass on the good news to Abuela and Nonna,” Dex says after shaking our attorney’s hand.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” I murmur as he continues to hold my hand.
“Is there anything you need to get before we get home in preparation for your trip?” I ask as we make our way out of town. We’ve already gotten snacks for him, and I bought him one of those picture frames to upload pictures I take if we go anywhere while he’s gone. It won’t be the same without him here, so I want him to have one in case he’s missing us.
“No, that huge box that arrived is a new set of my fire-retardant coveralls, as well as several pairs of gloves. After every contract, I always check my equipment thoroughly then either repair or replace things when needed. I’m ready to head out. But, Jolie, to tell you the truth, I hate to leave all of y’all.”
His words have my face flushing. Next to Mindy, Dex is becoming one of my best friends. Yes, I’m attracted to him, but I honestly don’t know how to broach the subject and tell him I’d like to make this a real marriage. So, I just let his words settle deep inside of me instead.
“And we’re going to hate you being gone. You handle math, for heaven’s sake!”
I’m good at math since proper measurements are critical to what I do for a living, but Algebra has always been my nemesis and that’s the class that has Thad stumped right now. Why he’staking it in sixth grade is beyond me, but apparently, it’s now a thing or something. I make a note to see if there’s a tutor we can hire who understands it better than I do.
His rich chuckle fills the truck cab and I’m soon giggling alongside him as we pull into our driveway. “Worst case scenario, he can FaceTime me.”
“I was thinking of finding him a tutor,” I admit.
“That would work too, but I definitely want to see all of your faces and hear about the goings on around here,” he replies, putting the truck in park. “Now, let’s go in and make sure the grandmothers haven’t decided to do something else tonight for dinner.”
They’ve been wonderful when it comes to following the menu and I know the kids are excited for their first foray into cooking for all of us this weekend. I just hate that Dex is going to miss it this time around.
Chapter Thirteen
Dex
“Ithink that’s it,” I state as I zip up my duffel bag and set it by the bedroom door. My equipment and welding gear has its own case and is already at the front door. Oceanic Repairs LLC is the company who contracts me out and they’ll send a driver to pick me up and take me to the airport. They’ve got several private passenger helicopters and transport us to the rigs where we’re going to work.
The company itself is definitely a good one to work for; they listen to us when we send back our feedback and reports, and several customers have found themselves performing costly repairs on other things when we do our inspection. To some, we may only be welders, but we’re all skilled enough to notice when shit’s not right. Since our primary goal is worker safety, we take it seriously. Bruce, my contact with Oceanic has a list of companies right now that are not eligible to hire us until we receive proof that they have fixed dangerous issues that could put not only us but the guys who live on the rigs for upwards of six months to a year in peril.
“You’re a pretty efficient packer,” Jolie observes, grinning at me. “You pack light, so I presume there’s a laundry room onboard the rig?”
I chuckle and nod before saying, “Yeah, since most of the time the rigs are out in the ocean, it’s not like they can zip down to the laundromat when they need clean clothes. There’s a whole staff who takes care of it for us. That’s why all of my clothes are labeled. I don’t wanna get someone else’s jeans or heaven forbid, their underwear.”
“You make an excellent point,” she replies while snickering. I raise my brow when she shudders, and she continues. “It kind of skeeves me out that you won’t see any land nearby, to be honest. I know the ocean is full of tons of animals who’d just as soon eat you as swim on past.”
Now I’m full-out laughing. Between the horrified expression on her pretty face and what she’s just said, she makes it sound as though sharks are merrily swimming around just waiting for a tasty human treat to hop off the rig.
“Sweetheart, I promise, I’m very safety conscious when I’m on a job. There’s no fucking way I’d ever consider taking a running leap off the side for a daily swim. I promise. I’ll be home before y’all know it and you’ll be sick of me being underfoot once again.”
I hear her mumble something that sounds suspiciously like, “Highly unlikely, Dex,” but I don’t question her.
Not yet, anyway. I’ve felt the shift between us and I’m more than amenable to seeing where this marriage of convenience takes us. It seems as though she’s softening as well, but with me leaving in the morning, I don’t want to go down that particular path todiscuss it just yet. There’s time enough and in many ways, we’re still learning about each other.
But I’ve noticed that we tend to gravitate toward one another when we’re sleeping. While she’s typically up before me, feeling her soft feminine body curled up against me has settled something within my soul. Never in my life have I ever had a woman affect me the way she has done. I’ve had some short-term relationships, but none of those women kept me enthralled with what they’re doing, or even thinking about them when they’re not around. Sex. It was purely for a release from what I’ve come to realize.
And if Jolie knew how many times I’ve taken myself in hand while showering, picturing the two of us together in an intimate embrace, she’d probably run screaming from her own house. Shaking my head at where my thoughts have led me, I hold out my hand which she quickly takes so we can go down and eat dinner. I want to spend tonight with my crazy, chaotic family. Like barnacles on the bottom of a rig, they’ve grown on me since being around full time.
“Nonna, I’ll be fine,” I tell her as she presses a rosary in my hands.
“It’s been blessed by the priest, bambino. The Blessed Mary will watch over you while you’re gone,” she retorts before shoving it into my hand.
Because I know she worries, I put it in my pocket and pull her in for a hug. “Thanks, Nonna,” I whisper in her ear before kissing her cheek.
While we all grew up Catholic, I’m rather ambivalent about religion. I don’t deny that there’s something greater than me, but some of the rituals and shit that I’ve seen and even participated in when I was young make no sense whatsoever. Abuela and Nonna attend the same church which I find somewhat amusing. Apparently, God speaks to both of them. Or maybe it’s because it’s the only Catholic church in town. Who knows?
I know from talking with Jolie that when her grandparents were alive, and even after her grandmother passed away, she went to the Christian church in town. The kids go with Abuela and Nonna but have gone to the youth group that Jolie’s church has on Wednesday nights because there’s nothing like that at the Catholic church. I guess that’s something we should discuss, but again, it’s too heavy of a subject for tonight. However, I’ll do whatever it takes to make my wife happy and if attending church with her is something she desires, I’ll be there. I might be a roughneck, and my language is definitely coarse when I’m on the rig, but I’m pretty sure God already knows who I am, so it shouldn’t matter.
