Emily opened her eyes as the early morning sunlight penetrated through the blinds and directly into her face. She squinted and hovered a hand in front of her face to block the rays. Slowly, she stood and realizing Liam was not in bed, she stepped out of bed herself, grabbed a robe from the closet and walked out of the room.

The rich smell of hot coffee hit her right in the nostrils and she followed it to the kitchen where she found Liam.

“Whoa! Who do we have here?” he said as he spotted her and handed her a cup of coffee.

“Something smells nice in here,” she replied.

“So, how was your night?” He asked, kissing her on the cheek.

“Yea, great. I was able to finish four out of the ten I brought home, Think I will spend more time on the rest to finish before Monday.”

Liam pulled away, staring at her. “You can’t be serious.”

Emily sighed with a babyish look. “Please, baby, I got to do this, I promise I will make it up to you.”

Liam shook his head and was walking away. “You are being selfish you know that.”

Emily gasped. “Baby please, let’s not make this a big deal, you understand how this works...” She said, following him.

“No, you don’t understand how this works or maybe you just forgot. All through the week, you said you would make it up this weekend and now you’re bailing again?”

Emily sighed, put down her cup and took his hands in hers. “Baby, please, it’s just for a short time, I swear once I’m done with this work I won’t start anything else.”

“If you want us to be bringing work home now, you know I can totally do that right?”

“Please, please. Besides, you can hang out with your friends.”

Liam stared at her as if she was crazy. “So now you want me to be spending time with the boys? Really?”

“Yes, I don’t mind. As long as you don’t get bored and I don’t have to feel guilty,” she added with a smile alongside a puppy dog look.

Liam took a deep breath and nodded. “No problem.”

“Do you want me to call Sammy for you?” she asked.

“No, I can do that,” he retorted and walked away.

“I love you,” she shouted, but there was no response as he shut the door after him. Emily was glad. Now she could finally concentrate, finally put all her effort into finishing all these jobs.

“I was surprised to see your call this morning, I had a feeling something was wrong,” Sam started, holding a ball. He was a black, tall, well-built man. He was sweaty and panting in a white undershirt, holding a basketball.

Danny, Sammy, and Liam had just finished playing basketball but were still hanging around the pitch. They were all sweating.

“Well, I had to. I didn’t want to spend my day alone and bored to hell,” Liam responded, wiping his face on his shirt.

“Trouble in paradise?” Danny pitched in.

“There’s no trouble in paradise,” Liam said emphatically. “I just need to get used to her busy schedule. She promised to balance it up.”

“Well, let’s hope she does,” Sam replied. “You don’t want to get all up in her business, else she might start thinking you’re trying to pull her down.”

Liam stared at him. “I would never do that. As a matter of fact, I’m giving her my complete support.”

“Then that’s great. So, anytime you feel her work’s getting her attention too much, you have us okay?”

“And happy birthday in advance,” Sam said quickly.

“Yea, thanks, guys,” Liam said with a smile.

“I think we should hit the bar tonight. What do you think?” Sam asked.

“Yea, been a while we did that,” Liam replied.

He checked the time for the hundredth time that evening and was again surprised that he hadn’t received a call from her yet.

The bar was filled with people, voices, and a mixed scent of both expensive and cheap perfume in between the smell of cigar smoke.

The three friends each had two bottles of beer in front of them. Sammy and Daniel were busy laughing and fist bumping anytime a lady passed. Liam, on the hand, was just curious about Emily.

“Sam, can you please try my number?” he asked

“Why?” Sam asked curiously.

“I don’t think I have service on my phone,” he replied.

“Really?” Danny asked, brought out his phone and called Liam. In a second his phone rang.

“There, your phone has service,” Daniel reported.

“Thanks,” Liam replied, disappointedly. Now he was sure that Emily had really not called him since he’d left the house that morning. And now it was the middle of the night. He hoped she would remember that it was his birthday the next day. He would be really disappointed if she forgot.

He brought one of the bottles to his lips and was gulping it down when his eyes fell on a woman sitting at a corner of the bar, alone. She smiled as their gazes met, she looked like someone who knew she had an upper hand.

Her skin was a burnt sienna which she proudly showed off with the top she was wearing which hung low around her neck. Her curls hung in layers down her bare shoulders. She folded one leg above the other, a short cigar dangled in between her fingers, adding to the hazy cloud which lingered and spiraled in the stagnant air.

“Wow! Liam has got a secret admirer,” Sam said quickly into his ear, nudging him at the elbow.

“Go talk to her,” Daniel said quickly. “That is one fine woman.”

Liam stood up, opened his wallet, counted some notes and passed to the bartender.

“I got to go guys. I don’t do all this shit anymore. Thanks for today,” then without taking another look, he eased his way out of the crowded bar.

Some minutes later, Liam was in his car, driving home. The image of the woman he had made eye contact with some minutes ago flashed in his memory. Yet he shook his head, he wasn’t going to let Emily or his friends push him into doing things he had promised not to do again. He was in love with Emily and she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He planned to talk to her once he got home. He quite understood she was trying to prove herself, but he didn’t want her to push him away in the process. They could have a relationship around work, all that would be needed was a good plan without mixing things up.

Some minutes later, he pulled the car to a halt. The bedroom light was on. On an impulse, he leaned forward, opened the glove compartment and brought out a little blue box that was inside. Then he opened it, in it was a beautiful diamond engagement ring. He needed the perfect time to give her the ring, and now clearly wasn’t the perfect time. He closed the glove compartment, stepped out of the car and put the ring in his back pocket.

Some seconds later, he was in the bedroom. He found her deep asleep, sprawled all over the bed with papers and documents strewn here and there.

He moved closer to her, packed all the documents and files together and put them on the stool. Then he carried her to position her properly on the bed. Afterward, he covered her with a blanket. She didn’t even stir, she must have been so exhausted, he thought.

Minutes later, he bent to kiss her forehead before lying beside her. As he reached for his blanket, he felt something vibrating. That was when he realized that it was her phone, and it was just beside her on the pillow. Quickly he pressed the volume and checked who the caller was. It was Joe, her boss. He grimaced and switched off the phone, as she needed to get enough sleep. It was the weekend after all and he soon drifted off to sleep too.