Mike woke up early, they had made love most of the night. Though he was tired, he didn’t want to waste any of their limited time together. He moved closer to Amanda and pulled her into his arms. She turned over and kissed him deeply.
“Hey sleepy head, ready to wake up?”
“What time is it?” she asked.
He moved and looked at the clock on the nightstand. “It’s 6 in the morning.”
She groaned and rolled over. “We didn’t go to bed until after 3.”
“Yeah, but we have such little time, and I want to spend every second I can with you before you leave,” he said and kissed her neck and nibbled on her ear.
“Hmm, that is nice. Keep doing that and you’ll convince me to stay awake!” she murmured.
“That’s what I was hoping for!” He laughed and kissed her more, biting her neck and moving to her breasts.
He heard her stomach grumble and laughed. “I think we both need some food first, though. We kind of used up a lot of energy during the night.”
“I would say, you wouldn’t let me sleep at all!”
“I couldn’t help it, babe. I only have a bit longer before you have to leave. Plus, I promised you yesterday that I would make love to you all day, and I had to accomplish it.” He smiled.
“I know, it was nice to spend the day in bed. But, I’m actually a bit sore today, so we might need to stop for a little bit. I need to let my body recover some. If you don’t mind,” she said.
“No problem babe, I can just sit and look at you all day. We can make plans for our futures together, and many other things.”
“Ok. So, what do you think about me making you breakfast today?”
“If you weren’t my guest, maybe. But, honestly, I want to spoil you. So that means I’ll be making breakfast. You can get a little extra sleep if you would like!”
“Yes!” She threw her hands up in the air in celebration. “I would love some extra sleep.” She laid her head back on the pillow.
Mike got up and dressed, and he laughed; he could hear her snoring like a chainsaw with a broken blade already. He knew she was tired, he was too. However, his wish to spend the time with her instead of sleeping were stronger than his need for the rest.
He’d rest once she left. He knew he would be depressed, and with sleep he could block out that depression. Yes, he would get plenty of sleep once she was back on the plane.
Mike didn’t like thinking about the time when she would leave. It made him want to hold her and keep her beside him more than anything. He longed to have her tell him that she had decided to move to London. If he could hear those words, it would be the best day of his life.
However, he was pretty sure that she didn’t really like it here, she coped with it because he was here.
He pulled out the eggs and bacon from the refrigerator, then changed his mind. Today he was going to make her pancakes with fresh blueberries in them. She would love them, he was sure. Plus, it would give her a bit more time to sleep. He wished she would have stayed up with him, just to talk to him. However, he wasn’t upset that she had chosen to go back to sleep.
He mixed up the batter and thought about when they might be able to see each other again. He owned his own company, so he could technically take off whenever he wanted to. However, at times there were things that would come up, and he would be the only one who could handle them.
He heard his cell phone ringing in the bedroom, and he hurried to get it, so it wouldn’t wake her up. He looked at the number, and felt as if he had jinxed himself. It was his office.
“Hello,” he answered.
“Oh, thank goodness, I was hoping you’d pick up. I tried calling you all day yesterday,” his secretary, Rhonda, said.
“What’s wrong?” He had turned his phone off yesterday so that Amanda and his love making wouldn’t be interrupted.
“Jack Johnson is threatening to take his business elsewhere and use another company. He hates the new campaign that we came up with and demanded that a new one be made at once. He wanted it done yesterday. But, I couldn’t get a hold of you,” Rhonda explained.
“Shit! How badly would it hurt us if he pulled the business?”
“Let me pull up the information,” Rhonda said. Mike could hear her clicking buttons on her computer as he waited.
He paced and shook his head. “By the way Rhonda, who worked on the campaign?”
“Um, it was Cindy. We would lose 600,000 pounds this month alone, if he left.”
Mike whistled. “Shit. I’ll go and talk to him today. Call him and tell him that I’m on my way. I’ll handle it myself.”
“Alright, I’ll call him now.”
Mike looked at the partially made pancakes and knew that he needed to go. He couldn’t waste time on this. If Johnson pulled out of his company, well… it would ruin him. He wouldn’t be able to pay his staff, or his bills. They needed this money to survive.
He walked into the bedroom and woke up Amanda. “Hey babe, I have a huge issue at work, I have to go and fix it.”
She stretched and asked, “What happened?”
“A new campaign that we did for one of our biggest clients backfired. They hated it and are saying they are going to hire another firm instead. I have to go and talk to them and see if I can change their minds.
“I’m sorry breakfast is only half done, and I can’t finish it. You can eat what I made, I’ll pick up something on the way to see Johnson.”
“Good luck.” She kissed him. “I know you’ll convince him to stay with you!”
He smiled. “I hope you are right!”
“I have faith in you, sweetie.” Amanda smiled up at him. “I think I’ll sleep a bit longer and get up later.”
“Alright, I’ll be back as soon as I can. Maybe, I’ll even be back before you get up!” He kissed her one last time and rushed out.
**
Amanda woke up later and stretched. It was so quiet in the house without Mike. She trudged out to the kitchen and pulled out the pancake batter she found in the refrigerator. She made her food and pulled up her computer.
She wrote an email to Janice and checked to see if Hope for Paws had responded. She was elated to find an email from them. They wanted to use her idea. They’d be starting the idea in June of this year. They hoped that she would help them out, and they even offered to pay her for her services.
“Awesome!” she congratulated herself.
She was bored, she didn’t know what to do, so she decided to hop in the Jacuzzi tub and take a bubble bath. She hoped Mike would come home soon, or at least send her a message to let her know anything.
The hours passed slowly and she puttered around his house. It was too cold to go outside for long. It wasn’t like Arizona where she’d go outside and sit in the sun with a good book and enjoy the heat.
Amanda missed Bow Tie and her friends. She realized just how much she missed them, now that Mike was gone. She wondered if she should have added the extra time to her trip.
She wanted to send him a message to see how he was doing but she didn’t want to interrupt his work either. Instead, she found some of his books, and picked one up.
She cuddled up on the bed, and covered up with the blankets, and immersed herself into the book. It was some sort of Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel, it was called, “Double Exposure” by Piers Anthony.
She normally didn’t really like these types of books, but soon she found herself intrigued by the story and didn’t want to put the book down. Wow, I never thought I would love a fantasy novel, she thought.
Her stomach began to growl, and she looked at the time, it was already 6 at night, and still no word from Mike. The time had flown by as she had been reading the book. She got up and found something to cook, she would make them both supper; she hoped he’d be home soon.
She looked at her phone to make sure it was working. She turned it off and then back on, it seemed to be working just fine. But, there was nothing from Mike. She began to worry and wondered if he was okay. He’d left at 8 in the morning, shouldn’t he be home by now?
Amanda cooked and fretted about Mike. By the time supper was done, she still had heard nothing from him. She put his food on the stove, to try and keep it warm, just in case he showed up at any moment.
She brought a blanket out to the couch and sat and read the book more. Thankfully, it helped her to keep her mind off Mike. She was getting angry at his lack of consideration! Why hadn’t he updated her?
She called Janice, her best friend, and the one who had more common sense. Amanda admitted that she might be overreacting. But, it was hard to not worry about him.
“Hey, Janice. Mike left at 8 this morning, and I haven’t heard from him all day. Do you think I should call the hospitals?” she rushed out as soon as she heard Janice pick up.
“Well, hello to you too. Now tell me what you just said but talk a little bit slower,” Janice said.
“Sorry, I’m just worried right now. Mike got a call from his work today, he owns his own company. One of his clients was going to pull their business, because of some campaign Mike’s company did for them that they didn’t like.
“He left to go and talk to the owner of this company. I haven’t heard from him at all today, and he’s not home yet. I am worried that he might have gotten into an accident or something. Should I call the hospitals to see if any accident victims came in?” Amanda asked.
“Okay, for one thing, they won’t share any names with you, you aren’t married to him. So, if there was an accident, it might not even be him. What time is it now, and how long has he been gone?”
“Almost 13 hours now,” Amanda said.
“How far does he live from where the client’s company is? Do you know this? Maybe it’s a long drive. It sounds like he was rushed this morning, and you didn’t have time to find out how long it might be until he got home. I think you might be overreacting.”
“I know I’m overreacting, I’m more pissed off than worried at times. But, then I get worried and scared that he might be hurt or lying dead on the side of the road or something.”
“Have you called him?” Janice asked.
“No, I didn’t want to interrupt if he was with the client,” Amanda admitted.
“Just make a quick call and make sure he’s okay. It will stop you from worrying.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Thanks, Janice.” She hung up and dialed Mike’s number.
He picked up the phone, he sounded like he was out of breath. “Hi.”
“Well, at least I know you aren’t dead on the side of the road now,” she said.
He laughed. “No, I’m just busy right now.”
“Sorry to bother you.” She hung up, she was pissed. He had laughed at her fear. He hadn’t sounded like he had thought of her all day long.
“Fine, if you are too busy to talk to me, maybe I’ll just leave,” she said out loud.
She packed her bags. She got the clothes out of the dryer that she’d washed earlier and looked up the next flight out of London.
Amanda stopped. “I’m overreacting; stop for a minute and think this out, girl.”
She sat hard on the bed, tears of anger floated down her face. They poured out of her tear ducts. Why was she so angry at him? A little bit ago she had feared he’d been dead, but now she wanted him dead. She hated this type of mood swing. Sometimes… being a sensitive female sucked, like right now, she thought.
She tried to make a list of why she should stay, and why she should go.
On the stay side, she had listed, because I want to spend some time with Mike. I love him. I don’t know when I’ll see him again. He makes me feel wonderful, and he’s an amazing lover.
On the go side, she had listed, he’s inconsiderate, and he was gone all day long. I have to leave anyway, and maybe it will make my heart hurt less if I leave now. She knew the last comment on this side of the list was bullshit. She’d feel like she was dying when she couldn’t see him.
However, he had hurt her when he had laughed at her concern. It had made the anger spike inside of her heart. She wanted to hurt him, as much as he had hurt her. She knew this was quite immature thinking on her part. But she was really pissed as hell right now. She considered.
She couldn’t even concentrate on the book as she tried to read more of it. She decided to try a bubble bath to calm down. Amanda really didn’t want to spend the extra money on a quick flight out, it was quite expensive.
Plus, she knew running away wasn’t the answer. She needed to face her problems head on, she just wasn’t sure if she could not freak out on him, whenever he finally showed up.
It had gotten even later, she had hoped that he would call her back when she’d hung up. But, he hadn’t dialed her back, and this only added to her anger. Her rational thought was to just relax and take some deep breaths. But it was getting harder to be rational at present.
The hot water of the tub helped out somewhat and the bubbles made her a little happier. She remembered the time she and Mike had the bubble fight, and she felt the tears as they streamed down her face.
“Why did you have to be such an inconsiderate asshole today?” she asked no one. She wished he would at least call her back.
Why had he been breathing hard? she thought, and the worst possible scenario came into her mind. She pictured Mike making love to another woman. It had been the only time she had heard him breathing hard before. She cried, could he have rushed off to see another woman?
She guessed it might be possible. Perhaps he was a liar, and he’d had another woman he’d been seeing. She could have called him, upset that she hadn’t seen him in a while.
After all, he’d been spending a lot of time with her. It would make sense that another woman would be up in arms right now and tell him he had to come and see her. He’d have to rush off to ensure that he still had her, when Amanda left in a little over a week.
Was she overreacting? It was possible. But, once again the rational side of her brain was on a break. All she could think of was the worst possible scenarios were happening right now. He hadn’t called her all day, because he’d been convincing the other woman that he loved her.
She cried hard and looked up the flights once more. She could go and stay in a hotel even if it was too expensive for her to fly out today. Amanda liked that idea, she would go and stay at the hotel by the airport for the next seven days. It would ensure that Mike most likely wouldn’t find her.
He’d probably be happy, he could make sure his regular girl was being taken care of. She called a taxi and walked out his door. She didn’t bother leaving him a note.
It would serve him right to worry about her, like she had worried about him all day long. She hoped he even cried when he found her gone, but, she was sure he wouldn’t.
She turned one last time to look at his house and sighed. “It is for the best,” she said as she climbed into the cab and slammed the door.
“Good bye, Mike,” she whispered under her breath as the cab drove away.