home. That’s so you, Jody. Be that. Live that. You fit this lifestyle more than I ever could. So actually, it seems perfect.”
Taking Karlee’s words to heart, Jody used them to shelve her doubts. Of course, she had them too. Giving up her job and the place she loved? To follow a man she’d only known for a matter of months, and who didn’t make those months easy? Yeah, not what she ever predicted. Following a man? The cliché she never thought Jody Lassiter would be. But there she was.
Trudging from her sad meeting and departure from Karlee, she slipped into her parents’ building. Ross was waiting at the entrance. For her. His smile lit his face up and seemed so real and free. The fact that he smiled at all never ceased to surprise her. He put a hand out toward her and she slipped hers into his. She appreciated the ease in which they now interacted.
They touched hands and hugged. The easy conversations discussed the details of their lives. Scheduling their lives just to stay together somehow managed to work like a right and left hand intertwined together. Everything fit. All of it. Considering their fears of dating and commitment and intimacy and relationship, everything was working now that they were in it together.
“Ready?”
“Yes. I told Karlee. She’s excited for me. Told me to be amazing and young and crazy.”
“Sounds like a pretty feasible plan.”
“It is if we do it safely and responsibly.” She gave him a shrug. “I might seem like a barrel of fun, but I’m also extremely responsible and I don’t goof off much.”
He slipped a kiss on her forehead as they waited for the elevator. “I know that already.”
“Right.”
“Jody, have you thought of managing me? You have connections and experience and God, you are so smart and savvy. I don’t know how to do any of that. All I got is my fidgety fingers that like to tap the sticks. I need someone I can trust. You seem perfect.”
“Well, I am. But I haven’t decided. Considering the ethical boundaries and all that.”
“Didn’t Karlee do that for Xavier at the start?”
“See how that ended?”
“But not at the start.”
“True. Maybe it’s intriguing. Different than what I do now, but related. Dynamic and of course, something to do in New York.”
He pulled her closer and buried his face into her hair. “I can’t believe you agreed to go with me.”
She snapped her head back. “You should be saying I can’t believe you got me this job and huge opportunity. This—”
“This everything. My career. It all belongs to you and includes you.”
She rolled her eyes and grinned up at him. “Now you’re finally getting it right.”
But her teasing didn’t draw a smile from his lips. “You must realize I’d be holed up in a cold, dark, faceless motel room with the damn knowledge that I have HIV. I wouldn’t have sought help or care for myself. I would just be there still… melting away. I don’t even know what I would have done. If I hadn’t had you to call, care about, and pull me out of it, I would have sunk into total isolation and darkness. Jody, I can’t live without you. I can hardly breathe when you’re not near me. It’s not normal.” He blinked his eyes hard and stooped down to hug her. She mussed his hair and blinked her own tears.
“It’s normal. It’s called falling in love. You’re not that special or original. I feel it too. Right back at you.”
His head shook. “I can’t see how you could.”
“You don’t have to see. I know how I could and why I do.”
The elevator landed and the doors opened, ending their intimate moment. Giving each other reassuring smiles, they gripped hands and prepared to talk to her parents about a future they didn’t want for her. Jody sensed they had to see it coming. A future she was starting to get pretty excited about.
Opening the door, Ross and Jody entered her parents’ house with a loud call of hello. Never shy or hesitant in her family home, Jody always barged in by announcing her arrival like royalty had just entered the premises.
Then JayJay came in from the kitchen. “Hey, guys! Ross, want to play?” JayJay said all in the same breath.
Ross smiled. “Hello, JayJay. I think we’d better not. Time to be grownups for a little bit.”
Jody nudged him. “Actually, why don’t you play with JayJay? I’ll talk to them. That way you’ll be here,