"Hey, I want to be here and look at all this sexiness. Of course, it's not exactly a hardship. And now I will shut up and let you focus on what you have to do. Don't want to be the reason why you're not prepared, so I'm going to be quiet."
Taking out my phone, I intended to open my income and expenses app, but a message from Rose caught my attention.
I groaned. "Oh no."
"What's wrong?"
"Rose texted me. Amy has a fever."
“I’m sorry, babe.”
"Oh, man. Having kids is truly a roller coaster."
“It really is. I remember when Paisley was a baby. She got sick all the time too. Kept the whole family on our toes.”
Declan was such a family man. I loved this guy so much. He could be so gruff on the exterior, but once you got to know him, he was truly a good man.
“Go back to your research,” I said hastily. “Didn’t mean to hijack your attention.”
As he got back to his papers, I finally pulled up my app with income and expenses. It was becoming a small obsession for me to keep logging in numbers and see what I would have to earn daily so I could meet my goal of breaking even in two years.
I did some projections based on case studies I found online, but it was only my real first day in business. I didn't know if I should already start panicking or not. Probably not. I'd calculated an average of daily sales needed for each day, but I would probably have to readjust my expectations these first few weeks.
The great thing, I kept telling myself, was that I had a good nest egg. Though that didn't keep me from punching in numbers somewhat obsessively.
"Hey, babe, what are you so into?" Declan asked all of a sudden.
“What? Oh, you’re done?” I was startled, realizing he’d gotten up and was getting things together to leave.
“Yeah. You've been lost in your phone for an hour.”
My eyes bulged. “An hour? Wow.”
“Yeah. What were you doing? Any more news from your sister?”
“No, I was playing with an app where I plug in income and expenses,” I said, standing up. “Honestly, I'm doing it in every free moment. I should stop it. I need to know what it takes to break even in two years.”
Declan stilled, frowning. My stomach sank. Did he think I was waiting for him to bail me out if this didn't work out in two years? I didn't want him to think I planned to be a freeloader or that I was waiting for him to be my knight in shining armor.
Clearing my throat, I spoke loudly, infusing as much humor as I could in my voice. “Otherwise, it's back to Sunnyvale for me.”
I smiled, but he didn't return it. His eyes were still serious, almost cold. He didn't find this amusing. Was he pissed?
“Come on, let's go. It's late,” he said.
My stomach sank even further. I wasn't sure what to say.
We went down to the car in silence, and during the drive, I could feel there was still tension between us. He was tired, and this wasn't the time to have further conversation. I would lay it out for him at some point—that I had contingency plans and that none of them involved him bailing me out. I wouldn’t want that, even if he offered, as this was something I wanted to do all on my own.
When we got home, we went straight up to the bedroom. I went to the master bathroom first. I intended to break this tension between us with some sexy times. I showered, then put on my favorite lotion and brushed my hair. I was ready to seduce my man tonight. I loved Declan with my whole heart. The last thing I wanted was for our relationship to suffer because he thought I might expect something from him. Drawing a deep breath, I opened the door and found him sleeping soundly.
That was a first. But I had to be realistic. He'd worked more than twelve hours today. Of course he was very tired.
I tiptoed into the room, then slid into bed next to him. I was exhausted too, but I couldn't fall asleep for a long time. I was going to talk to him tomorrow morning. I wasn't going to let anything come between us.
But when I woke up the next morning, the bed was empty next to me.
“Declan,” I called loudly. I jumped out of bed, opening the bedroom door.
