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“Want to watch the sunset with me? They’ll be setting up for dinner shortly,” I reminded her. The staff set up a candlelight dinner table on the sand each evening and discreetly served dinner and wine until we’d eaten our fill.
This time she moved, shifting gently away from me onto her stomach and rolled over, sitting up and sliding her legs off the bed. “I’m so exhausted,” she muttered, before a long large yawn fell out of her mouth. As she was facing the doorway I climbed off the bed, went over to the doors, pulled them apart, and it felt as if I’d brought the ocean into our space with nothing obstructing our view.
A bottle of iced champagne had been recently left on the deck for us, which I collected, poured each of us a glass and took it back to Billy. Climbing behind her we both sat naked, my legs encased her body as I hugged her from behind, and we sat quietly sipping our champagne until the sun slid down onto the water, and we watched our last day in paradise fade slowly into night.
“These last two weeks have been incredible, Sawyer. I never dreamed anything like this could happen to me,” Billie whispered, and my heart burst open that it had taken so many years for her to feel this.
“This is only the beginning, darlin’, I wish every day could be as special as this, but then we wouldn’t feel the highs if they were, but I promise you many more. We’re leaving here, but we have Colby to look forward to when we get home, and it’ll be then our lives as man and wife will truly begin.”
“And more shit, no doubt,” she mumbled sadly.
“No doubt.” I chuckled. “But nothing we can’t handle because we trust one another, right?”
She nodded. “I do. Why do I trust you so much? So quickly? It’s scary, Sawyer, sometimes I think I’m going to wake up and find someone has slipped me a pill and this has all been some elaborate, euphoric trip.”
“Have confidence, Billie. Everything the universe gives you can be yours if you believe it can be done. Every problem has a solution; we just need to find it. We’re both intelligent people and I figure we can dig our way out of any hole, if we try hard enough.”
“Deep, Sawyer,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “So deep,” she whispered.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before, usually when my balls slapped your ass, but I’ll take it,” I teased, lightening her mood from becoming so morose it would have ruined our last night together. Tickling her sides I lay back, taking her with me and she turned over to lie on top of me.
“I’m sore … and hungry,” she admitted, falling in line with the change in subject.
“Then best get your ass in that shower, you stink, unless you want those waiters out there to know you’re not a virgin anymore,” I joked. She slapped my chest and rose up off me and stood beside the bed.
“I hear you,” she mumbled, wrinkled her nose cutely, and headed naked toward the outside shower. For a long minute I sat staring after her and remembered what she’d been like when we had first gotten together. She wasn’t body confident but I loved these all too brief moments of inhibition.
* * *
By the end of June we’d settled into married life and felt happy with our homelife, but I was conscious of my bandmates and their need to make money. Hammer had been paid well for his work with Logan, but that arrangement had come to an end as soon as Billie and I had returned from our honeymoon.
Logan’s parents had moved back from Florida before the week of our wedding. They had temporarily moved in with him and he’d continued to stay on the wagon. Plus his sponsor had him covered, so there had been nothing else for Hammer to take care of there. Besides, Wiggy had gotten out of rehab while we were away and had moved into Hammer’s place.
My main concern apart from the obvious with Wiggy, was Strings. Unlike Hammer, the band hadn’t worked for almost seven months. I’d given him some money to tide him over and he’d been doing some session work with other artists, but he was restless. This had made me nervous because if we lost him, I doubted we’d find another keyboard player who was as good, or who’d tolerate Wiggy’s shit.
“Penny for them.” Glancing up, Billie slid onto my lap and slid her arms around my neck. The mere sight of her lifted my mood.
“Missed you,” I admitted, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into my chest, tucking her head under my chin.
“Missed you, too, but I’m guessing that isn’t why you have a long face.”
“Blame my parents,” I teased, and was rewarded with a playful slap on the chest as she lifted her head to look at me. “Nah, it’s the band.” Immediately I felt her body stiffen.
“What about it?”
“The guys need to earn money, and I’m worried Strings is going to abandon us any day if I don’t give him hope of a real paycheck soon. Billie looked disappointed and my heart clenched because I didn’t want to leave her any more than she wanted me to. “Sorry, darlin’,” I muttered, placed my hand on the back of her head, and pulled it toward me. “It looks like I may have to go back to work.”
“Don’t. It’s your job. I knew what you did and this would be part of our lives before I married you. I just hate the thought of you on that bus with Wiggy.” I chuckled.
“Right,” I snickered. “This tour will be different, Billie. No alcohol, no drugs at all on the bus. I’m getting a security detail to babysit him and travel with us. Hammer had a long conversation with him and I relayed all the conditions of letting him back on the road with us. Wiggy’s agreed to my terms, knowing if he doesn’t comply, he’s out this time. This was his longest stint in rehab and he’s had counselling so we can only hope …” I said, quietly.
“When will you go?
“It won’t be until the end of July at the earliest, most venues will be booked solid now since it’s the summer months, but I’ll never be gone more than a month at a time, I owe this to you and Colby.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Billie mused, her gorgeous blue eyes searching my face. She bit her lip, and fuck if it hadn’t made her look vulnerable again. She sighed. “If I go part time, I may be able to fly out and see you on the weekends when Colby’s with his dad.”
“Hell, Billie, I’d tell you to stop working, homeschool Colby and drag you all over if I believed for one minute, you’d do it, but I know that’s not what’s best for everyone either.”
