Two Years Later

“Well, did you talk to Chen at least?” I glare at Aaron as he leans back in his chair and sighs.

“I talked to him,” he says. “But he doesn’t think they can meet our quota.”

“Bastard,” I grunt. “I think he’s lying.”

“Of course he’s lying. He’s trying to get more money out of us.”

“We never should have gotten involved with a snake like that.” I glare at Aaron. “This is your mistake.”

“I’m aware,” he grates. “Thanks for reminding me.”

I slam my hands onto the conference room table, glaring into his eyes. Aaron doesn’t flinch, he just stares back impassively, that thick beard he grew covering the smirk I know is slowly spreading across his thick, gorgeous lips.

“Listen to me, you little prick,” I practically growl at him. “You fucked this deal with the Chinese, so you better unfuck it. Understand me?”

“Or else what?” he drawls, raising an eyebrow and looking bored.

“Or else I’ll fuck you.” I hesitate as his eyebrows raise. “I mean, in the ass, with a ten-foot pole.”

“Hot.” That grin I was waiting for finally appears. “Seriously though, you’re sexy when you’re angry.”

I finally relax and smile at him, all my tension flowing away. I laugh and sit down in my chair, leaning back. “Were you buying it?”

“Not at all.”

“Come on, I had you going.”

“Not for a second.” He shakes his head, grinning. “I mean, why would you get that mad over a bunch of business cards?”

“Specially ordered business cards,” I point out. “For the whole sales team with that fancy cutout.”

“I know what they are. I had them designed.”

I lean forward, eyes wide. “So you know how cool they are!”

He laughs, shaking his head. “I know. Chen’s just a printer though. He’ll get it together sooner or later, let’s just give him time.”

“Fine.” I lean back in my chair, pouting a bit. “I still think I had you going.”

“Not even a little bit.”

There’s a knock at the conference room door, and Tina leans her head in. She’s early twenties, tasteful nose ring, dyed dark hair, and immaculate makeup. She’s the sort of cool, front desk hipster we needed around this place.

“Your afternoon meeting is here,” she says, sounding completely and utterly disinterested.

“Thank you, Tina,” I say in a very formal tone. She rolls her eyes and leaves the conference room.

“I knew she was perfect,” Aaron says. “I mean, nobody does slightly annoyed receptionist better than she does.”

“I have to admit, nobody’s been late for a meeting ever since she started.”

Aaron laughs and stretches his legs out as someone knocks at the door. It opens up and in walks Davis, sporting that ugly goatee I keep telling him to shave, and smiling like a moron.

“There he is!” Aaron says, standing. “Tina said you gave her attitude at the front desk.”

Davis’s face goes ashen. “Wait, what? No, never! She said that?”

“He’s messing with you.” I stand up and give my brother a quick hug. “How’d the road treat you?”

“Asshole,” he mutters at Aaron before looking at me. “It was good. I’m glad to be home, though.”

“We’re glad you’re back.” Aaron laughs and gives Davis a big hug, which Davis returns with enthusiasm.

I smile and watch the boys greet each other. It’s always cute to watch them gargle each other’s balls. I’m glad they sparked up their old friendship again. Things were touch and go early on there, back when we first started Solarhenge. Davis thought I was making a huge mistake and wanted to hunt down Aaron and kill him, but I staved off that confrontation for a while.

At least until things started taking off. That was right around the time Davis came to his senses finally and dumped Marine. Without the crazy girlfriend baggage, he was a free man again, and so I offered him our traveling salesman job. He took it, mostly because the pay is freaking absurd and he had no other ties. That was a year ago, and he’s been close friends with Aaron ever since.

We sit down and get the meeting started. Davis walks us through what he’s been up to these past couple weeks, the sales he’s made, all that stuff. Aaron does most of the talking while I check out mentally, already planning what I’m going to make for dinner when we get home.

Davis and Aaron start chatting about football, and that’s when I know it’s done for me. “Excuse me, boys,” I say, standing. “While you two play hide the pickle, I’m gonna go take care of some very pressing business.”

Aaron rolls his eyes at me. “Pressing business? You’re a figurehead and you know it.”

I wink at him. As I pass, I lean over and give him a quick kiss. “You’re just a pretty face to me,” I say softly.

He laughs as I wink again and walk out of the room. I hear Davis making some fake gagging sounds, very mature and all that, but it doesn’t bother me. He came to grips with my relationship with Aaron a long time ago.

Things are pretty simple there. After we made our very first sale over a year ago, Aaron proposed to me, and we eloped. We’ve been married ever since. I glance down at the ring on my finger, remembering that wild night in Las Vegas right after the ceremony.

I pull my mind out of the gutter as I move through the office. The space is pretty packed with cubicles and people moving around. It’s honestly probably too small for how big we’ve grown, and I know I need to find a bigger space, but that keeps getting pushed onto the backburner. That can’t last too much longer, though. It’s practically bursting full at the seams here.

The real reason I haven’t wanted to find a new space is actually outside in the main office park. I leave our suite and head down a hall, walking toward the other side of the building. I pass a few familiar places, like the paper company and the refrigerator company, before finally stopping at the last door at the other end, on the mirror side of the building from our office. I smile to myself as I open the door and step inside.

The women know me here. Cathy smiles and nods as I move into the room. Everything is so small, brightly-colored and soft here, and little kids are scattered all over. They’re all different ages, from diapers up to sneakers, but I’m here for one munchkin, the only munchkin that matters to me.

I spot her over near this padded, circular space with another boy around her age. They’re building a block tower, and as I walk over, she looks up and a smile tears across her face. I love that smile more than anything in the world, and I reflect again how I almost missed out on it.

“Mommy!”

She reaches out and I scoop her up. She’s so damn heavy now. I remember when she was just a little thing, barely ten pounds and I could easily cradle her in my arms. Now she’s enormous, squirmy, and skinny, but at least she still laughs when I lift her high into the air.

“How’s my baby doing?” I ask.

“Playing,” she says, squirming some more.

“Are you having fun?”

“Yes,” she says. “Playing blocks.”

I put her down and she goes back into her spot. Her focus shifts back to what she was doing. The other little boy doesn’t even look at me as he adds another block to his tower.

“Okay, well, be good, Millie,” I say.

“Yes, Mommy,” she recites.

I smile and stand up, stretching a bit. I love that there’s a daycare right in our building and I can visit my daughter whenever I feel like it. I nod at the other ladies as I leave again, heading back to the office and my real work, feeling refreshed. All I needed was to see Millie’s smile.

I knew I wasn’t going to give her away as soon as we started Solarhenge, but I didn’t admit it to Aaron until I was in my third trimester. I remember how much he laughed to cover up the tears in his eyes as he scooped me up, careful not to crush me too hard as he hugged me tight. We had sex that night, like we did and still do most nights, and I remember it was something else. Something special, because we both knew what was coming now.

We were going to be parents, and we were going to do it together.

That seems like so long ago, I reflect as I head into my office. I leave the door slightly ajar as I lower myself down into my chair behind my desk with a little sigh. I have a lot of work to do as the Chief Technology Officer. I need to start building and approving new designs for our second-generation panels and batteries, but all that can wait, at least for a little while.

I lean back in my chair and close my eyes, smiling a bit. I probably look like a loon, but I try to do this every day.

I think about how successful we’ve become, how our panels are expensive but are quickly becoming the gold standard in solar technology. I think about how we’ve already covered Steve’s initial investment, although he’s already talking about dumping more money into our manufacturing. I think about my family, my husband and my baby, and how I wouldn’t have any of this if it weren’t for him.

I hear my door push open and I peek out one eye.

“Doing that thing again?” Aaron asks me.

“I was just thinking about you,” I say, opening both eyes and smiling.

“Of course you were. You’re thinking about the most amazing perfect things in your life, so naturally I’d be at the top of that list.”

I laugh and shake my head, but he’s right. He walks over to me and leans forward, kissing me softly. “Thanks for letting me catch up with Davis,” he says softly.

“That’s okay. I figured you’d need it. Plus, I got to go see Millie.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Still playing with that Bentley kid.” I make a face.

He laughs gently. “They’re kids. It’ll be fine.”

“I know, I know.” I reach up and kiss him one more time. I’ll never, ever get over doing that.

“We have a call with Indonesia in a few minutes,” he says. “Want to take it in here?”

“No, I’ll meet you in the conference room.”

“Okay, sounds good.” He hesitates. “You sure you’re all good? You usually do that thing when you’re having a hard day.”

“Today I’m doing it because I’m happy,” I say, smiling up into his handsome face. “Is that so wrong?”

“Nope,” he says. “That’s perfect.”

He kisses me one more time and leaves my office. I sit there and watch him as he goes, grinning like a moron.

This is my life now. I’m the CTO of a quickly rising company, I’m the wife of a perfect man, and I’m a mother. I never knew I wanted to be a mother or a wife or even a CTO for that matter, but I’m learning to embrace what I am and be happy.

It hasn’t been hard to learn, fortunately. Aaron makes it easy, every day, every night, every second. I didn’t give up anything for this.

With Aaron, I gained absolutely everything.