A year and a half later

(a.k.a.…present day)

 

“Dada!” exclaimed Kaitlyn, reaching to her father from her high chair as Shane stepped into the kitchen, returning home after a week-long business trip to Argentina and Chile.

“Hey, beautiful!” he said, placing his suitcase on the floor and grabbing a damp washcloth from the sink. He cleaned off her hands and cheeks before unbuckling his daughter and lifting her from her chair. “Did you miss me?”

“Dada home!” she cried, clapping her tiny hands together before pressing her sweet baby lips to his in a welcome home kiss.

“Mwah!” he said, leaning back to grin at her.

Kaitlyn George Olson had dirty-blonde hair like her mother and the same deep-brown eyes. She was also an incorrigible flirt, and her father was her favorite target. “Mwah ’gain, Dada!”

He kissed her again with a happy chuckle and asked, “Where’s Mama?”

“Mama pee pee,” said Kaitlyn, pointing down the hallway in the direction of the bathroom.

Of course she was.

At six months pregnant with their second child—a boy arriving in June—Priscilla was in the bathroom nonstop these days.

It wasn’t that they had planned to have another child so soon, but a few months after Kaitlyn was born, they’d moved into their new house in Haverford and proceeded to christen every room.

As he turned to walk down the hallway, the powder room door opened, and there stood his P, wearing a billowy sundress with bare feet, a smudge of dried blue paint on her cheek, and her wild hair back in a loose ponytail so that honey-colored strands of hair framed her lovely face.

“Surprise!” he said.

“Shane! You’re back a day early!” she said, smiling as she put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Squishy!” protested Kaitlyn. “Mama squish Kay-Kay.”

“Mama hug Daddy,” corrected Priscilla, kissing Kaitlyn’s nose before leaning away. “We missed you. How was the trip?”

Shane lowered Kaitlyn to the floor, watching her toddle into the TV room as he put his arm around his wife’s waist and kissed her again, properly this time. “Long plane ride. Excellent business.”

“Glad to hear it. I expect a good return on my investment,” she joked, grinning up at him.

Last summer, when Priscilla’s trust was signed over to her, she’d surprised Shane and Alice by investing four million dollars of her own money into Alice Story Imports, which Alice had promptly renamed the Story Sisters Trading, Ltd.

The burst of capital had allowed Alice and Shane to hire a new sales manager and several administrative personnel, in addition to pursuing the importation of South American and South African wines from newer, unknown vineyards. Their offerings had been a hit with wine stores all along the East Coast, and they hoped to expand their imports to the southern United States soon.

“Carlos went with you, right?”

Carlos Vega, the only employee who’d left Story Imports with Alice, had been her sole employee for more than a year until she’d hired Shane. Now as they expanded their business into South America, he acted as translator and junior sales manager for their Spanish-speaking markets.

Shane nodded. “Sí, señora.”

“His first business trip?”

“Yep.”

“How’d he do?” asked Priscilla, letting Shane lead her into the TV room, where Kaitlyn sat on the sofa watching Elmo’s World with her blankie. She’d be asleep any minute, and Shane and Priscilla would have a quiet house all to themselves all…night…long. He hardened at the thought. A week was a long time to be away when you were married to the insatiable Priscilla Olson.

“Surprisingly well,” said Shane, pulling her down on the sofa beside him. “He doesn’t have an advanced degree or any formal sales training, but he’s incredibly charming and astoundingly knowledgeable. He picked up on the different wines quickly, figuring out which would sell well in the Northeast. I have to say…I was impressed. He was a real asset.”

“Well,” said Priscilla, “he’s worked with Alice for almost three years. He’s probably picked up a lot.”

“Hmmm,” murmured Shane.

“Hmmm what?” asked Priscilla, her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she looked up at him.

“It’s probably nothing.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“I asked him if he had a girlfriend. He said no.”

“So?”

He turned to her. “Do you think it’s weird that neither Carlos nor Alice has had a significant other in the year and a half I’ve been working there?”

“Not really. Alice is married to work.”

“Hmm. I’m sure you’re right.”

“No, you’re not…What are you thinking?”

“There’s something about the way he says her name…Ah-leese…it’s—” He sighed. “I don’t know. It’s probably nothing, but it almost feels reverent. It’s…it sounds wishful. It reminds me of the way I call you P.”

“Wait…” Priscilla scoffed, blinking at him, her mouth open. “Shane! You can’t possibly wonder if hard-as-nails, overachiever Alice…and charming Carlos from the mailroom…”

“He’s not in the mailroom anymore,” Shane pointed out.

“…are a match? That’s ridiculous!”

“As ridiculous as us?”

“We’re practically the same age. He’s younger than she is. By five or six years!”

“Listen…I’m not saying that there’s something between them,” said Shane. “In fact, I’m positive there isn’t. It’s a small office. Hard to hide something like that. But…”

“You sense something?” said Priscilla. “Really?”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Maybe a little.”

“No. No, no,” said Priscilla. “I’m positive it’s nothing. You know Alice…she’s cold as ice. She doesn’t have time for love. And Carlos? Come on! He’s young and hot…I mean, he might not have a girlfriend, but I highly doubt he’s spending every night alone.” She bit her bottom lip. “Maybe you’re just reading it wrong?”

“Give me some credit…I’ve been married to you for a few years now. I’m learning!”

“You are,” she said, chuckling as she grinned at him. “And you certainly can’t tell me you know nothing about women anymore.”

The suggestive tone she used went straight to his groin, and he gestured at Kaitlyn, who’d fallen asleep in the corner of the couch. “I’ll take her up to bed.”

“Then me?” asked Priscilla, reaching up to tug down the hemline of her top and show him the swell of her tits.

All thoughts of Ah-leese and Carlos were whisked away as he stared with growing lust and endless love at his gorgeous wife.

“Then you, my darling P,” he said, bending his head to kiss her. “Always you.”

 

THE END

 

 

Coming in June 2017…