Just Turn Left

YOU GUYS!  IT'S WEDDING WEEK!

It coincides nicely with hitting 1,000,000 (yes, that's one million!) views, which should happen sometime early this week.  Insane!  In celebration of wedding week and one million views, I'm going to do my absolutely damnedest to get you guys at least 4 posts this week.  I'd like to shoot for 5, but I don't want to make a promise I can't keep.  The wedding is written, minus a few chunks and some editing, so I should be able to pull it off.  

Just a note on the wedding:  I decided to focus not on the wedding details but on the interactions that happen throughout the day.  And the wedding is not the end.  We'll do a honeymoon post or two, and then there will be a final post.  And you'll know it's the final post.  I assume we'll get there late next week.

After the final Liv and Brody post, I'm going to take a week or two off before I jump into Kinsley and Lauren's stories.  As part of my final year in my grad program, I have to complete a clinical research project.  I'm in the process of completing my proposal and will be working on my IRB stuff come the end of this month/beginning of next.  If you've done human subjects research, you know my pain.  If you haven't, just trust me when I say the IRB process is the single worst part of research.  

Alright, I'll stop babbling and get to the post in a second.  But I want thank you all again!  1,000,000 views is not a thing that I ever thought would happen, and it's super cool.  Thank you all for reading, commenting, supporting, clicking that little "loved it!" or "meh" button, emailing, and asking for posts that pushed me to write a better story for you guys.

Alright, I'm shutting up now :)
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On Saturday, I had booked us an early afternoon couples massage.  While I was perusing the spa menu, I'd also remembered Brody had liked the pedicure I'd peer pressured him into in Miami, so I booked one of those for each of us as well.

We slept late enough that we had to order lunch from room service instead of breakfast.  I was surprised to find Brody still in bed next to me when I woke up.  He so rarely slept in, but clearly needed the extra sleep.  We dragged ourselves out of bed when our lunch arrived, then got ready and went down to the spa for our massages and pedicures.

After our afternoon at the spa, I claimed the shower first.  We had dinner reservations at one of the hotel's restaurants, and it wasn't quite time to get dressed and ready, so I rooted through Brody's bag and pulled out one of his t-shirts.  I slipped it over my head and curled up on the couch with my Kindle while Brody showered.

When Brody came out of the bedroom, wearing just a pair of athletic shorts, he asked, "What time did you say dinner is?"  Then he looked at me, seemed to forget his question, and requested, "Come here."

I gave him a weird look.  "Dinner is at 7:30," I replied.

"Forget dinner.  Have I ever told you how much I love when you wear my clothes?"  He walked over to the couch and pulled me up, kissing me hungrily.

"What is it about women wearing men's clothes?" I asked, slightly breathless, as he kissed and bit at my neck.

"It's not any men's clothes," he replied, pausing his attention to my neck.  "It's my clothes.  I don't understand it anymore than you do, but it's hot."  Brody wasted little time, sliding his hand up my leg and pressing a finger inside me.  I groaned and gripped his arms to steady myself.  Within minutes he had me bent over the arm of the couch, gasping in pleasure as he pushed into me.  He leaned forward and kissed along my spine as he thrust into me, making me shiver in pleasure.

When we were finished, we collapsed in a half dressed heap on the couch, where we remained until it was time to get ready for dinner.  My hair was a mess from air drying, so I pulled it up into a sleek, high bun.

Our dinner was amazing, and we lingered at the restaurant over dessert and the rest of our bottle of wine.  After dinner, we wandered to the bar, had one more drink, then went back up to our room.  We spent the rest of the evening curled together on the couch, enjoying not having anything else to worry about.

On Sunday morning we stayed in bed until we had to get up to check out, then after taking our bags out to the car, we came back inside for brunch.  We lingered once again, enjoying our food without a rush.  I knew when we got home that I'd lose Brody to work and probably would hardly see him until Friday.

Finally, we finished up, paid the bill, and left.  We were 5 minutes from home when Brody suddenly said, "Turn left up here."

"Why?" I asked.  Left was not the way we wanted to go.

"Just turn left," he insisted.

"Okay, okay!" I slowed, hit my turn signal, and turned left where he indicated.

"Shit," Brody muttered.  "That was the wrong left."  I tried to stifle my automatic sigh and followed his directions.  Finally, he directed me to pull off the road and park.  I parked in the grass on the side of the road and raised an eyebrow.  He leaned over the center console, looking at my feet.  "Put on some better shoes," he said, motioned to my ballet flats.

"What kind of shoes?" I asked, baffled.

"Did you bring sneakers or something?"

"Yeah, I always keep a pair in here." I turned in my seat and fished them off the floor of the backseat, holding them up for his approval.   He nodded and I got out so I could dig some socks out of my bag.  I sat on the tailgate so I could swap my shoes.  I assessed my clothes and decided that my leggings and cowl-neck tunic sweater were fine for the impromptu walk Brody had apparently decided on.

When I shut the car and locked the doors, Brody reached for my keys, tucking them into his pocket for me.  He grabbed my hand and we walked down the side of the road.  "I think it's right up here..." he mused quietly.  Sure enough, in a few seconds we stumbled upon a trail leading away from the road.  He looked at me, smiled sheepishly, and shrugged.  "I'm not ready to go home yet."

"How do you find all these little random trails?" I asked.

"I've done a lot of driving and walking around here," he said, shrugging.  "When I finally got my shit together and knocked off with the partying every night, I was still really restless.  I worked a lot, but sometimes I couldn't justify staying there, or I couldn't stand to look at my computer and office anymore.  So I drove.  And walked.  A lot."

"Makes sense," I said, nodding.

We walked quietly for awhile.  Once we got away from the road, the path was wide and fairly flat.  We walked hand in hand, in no hurry.  We continued along the path for about 20 minutes before Brody sighed and said, "I guess we should head back.  I really do have some work to get done."

"And I need to get the house clean," I said in agreement.

Brody laughed.  "The house is always clean since you've moved in," he said.

"You don't understand my mom," I replied, shaking my head.  "I need to clean the baseboards."

Brody gave me a look that was a mixture of confusion and horror.  "The baseboards?  As in, the pieces of wood that run along the bottom of the wall?"

"Yes," I said patiently.

"People clean those?"  I gave him a withering look and he laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.  He kissed the side of my head and then said, "Your parents' house has always been really clean."

"Because my mother is a crazy person."

"Do you want some help cleaning, then?" he asked.

I was impressed that he'd offer to help with how much work he had to do after being away all weekend.  "Thank you," I said, "but I've got it.  They're my parents, I can handle cleaning.  You get your work done."

"Okay," he said, shrugging.  "Let me know if you change your mind."

"I will," I agreed.  "Thank you for spending the whole weekend with me."

"Thank you for planning it.  I think we needed this, badly."

"Yeah, I was about ready to kill you," I said, chuckling.

He smirked and said, "The feeling was mutual, don't worry."

We made our way back to the car and finished the short drive to our house.  Brody disappeared into his office while I started cleaning like a mad woman.  I finished around 7:30, feeling fairly satisfied.  I was sure my mom would still find something wrong with it, but she would regardless, so I might as well not kill myself cleaning.

I perused the fridge, freezer, and pantry, turning my nose up at the limited options.  I found nothing that I actually wanted, so I took out stuff for sandwiches and made one for me and two for Brody.  I knocked on his office door, and he called for me to come in.  "Dinner," I said with a sheepish shrug, delivering his sandwiches.  "I need to go grocery shopping, apparently."

Brody grinned.  "This is fine," he said.  "Thank you."

I left Brody's office, poured myself a glass of wine, grabbed my Kindle, and headed upstairs to the bathroom.  I filled the tub and lowered myself into it, relaxing into the hot, scented water.  I soaked in the tub for over an hour, then got out, dried off and got dressed, and went back downstairs with my Kindle.  I switched the laundry and relaxed on the couch with my Kindle until I tired enough to go to bed.

Brody was still working when I went to bed, and he was up and gone before I got up.  I had a text from him saying he was sorry to sneak out but didn't want to wake me, and that he'd see me at 8 for dinner with my parents.  I got up, put a couple finishing touches on my cleaning, then headed into town.  I went to the gym then out to the airport to meet my parents' flight.

After I picked them up, I took them with me to the grocery store and we picked up some groceries for the week, then continued home.  "You live out here?" my mom asked in surprise, looking at the gorgeous, huge houses we were passing.

"Yes," I replied.  "Our house isn't quite as big as these."

"This is a beautiful neighborhood," she said.  I took them on a quick tour of the neighborhood before driving home, showing her the park around the corner and the gigantic, beautiful stone house at the very end of the dead end road that I desperately wanted.

Finally I pulled into the garage.  My parents helped me bring the groceries in, and once she set the bags down, my mom went straight to the sliding glass doors to the deck.  "Wow," she said wistfully.  "We don't get scenery like this in Wisconsin."

I quickly put the groceries away as my parents looked out the window, then I took them out on the deck.  I gave then a tour of the two-level deck.  My dad, as I knew he would, loved the outdoor kitchen.  "Can I use this grill this week sometime?" he asked.  I laughed and told him I'd be delighted if he did.

When we made our way back up to the top level of the deck, I pointed out to to the west.  "You can see the foothills of the Front Range," I told them.  I took them inside and showed them the house.  I took them downstairs to their room.  We had decided, since they were here longer, that they would get the downstairs guest room.  It had a little more space with the second living room down there.  Jen would stay in the second floor guest room for the couple nights she was here.

After my parents were settled in, we took a bottle of wine out onto the deck and I briefed them on the plans for the week.  We were having dinner with Brody tonight, but that would quite possibly be the only night this week we would get to see him for dinner.  He had a lot to get done this week before he was off for two weeks.  Tuesday I had a full day of last minute wedding stuff planned, which my mom was practically gleeful about.  Jen was flying in Wednesday evening, and Lauren's mom, Lynn, and Lynn's parents would arrive Thursday morning.  Jen had requested a girl's night out on Thursday.  I invited my mom and Lauren and Lynn's moms, but my mom decided that the parents should have their own night out.  Friday we had manicure and pedicure appointments, and then we were caravanning down to Colorado Springs.  I had just a couple last minute things to do there, then we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

My dad looked completely overwhelmed by the time I was done.  My mom immediately started talking about all the things she could help with.  I looked at my dad, and we exchanged smirks.  "I'll make dinner while you girls do wedding things," he said.

"Works for me!" I replied.

My parents both showered and changed before we went to dinner, and when we got the restaurant, Brody was already there.  One thing I could count on was that he would be on time, or at least let me know if he was going to be late.  I was grateful for that.  Brody hugged my mom and shook my dad's hand, then we followed the hostess to our table.

Brody did a great job of pretending that he wasn't itching to get back to work, through the meal, but I could tell he was impatient by the time our server dropped off the bill.  Brody smoothly snatched the it before my dad got it, paid, and then smiled apologetically.  "I have to get back to work for a little bit," he said.  "I'm sorry I can't hang out for longer."

"That's okay," my dad said, waving him off and interrupting my mom who had started to talk.  "Get your work done.  I know what it's like to have a long vacation looming and feeling the pressure to get everything done."

We went our separate ways, and as soon as we were in my car, my mom said, "He sure does work a lot.  How is that going to work when you have a family, Olivia?"

I took a deep breath before I answered.  "Well, he actually just took the entire weekend off to spend with me," I replied.  "And he's taking over two weeks off for the wedding and honeymoon.  He's gotten much better since we started dating.  And you know I don't want kids any time soon.  His goal is to have his business at a place where he can take a less active roll by the time we decide we want to have kids.  He's working on getting everything in place already, so I'm not worried about it."

I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw my mom purse her lips.  "He's always prioritized our relationship when he needs to," I continued, seeing that she needed more convincing.  "We had our moments early on, but remember how he dropped everything to fly to Wisconsin after Lynn's accident?"

"Yes, that was very nice," my mom agreed reluctantly.

"Do you really think Liv would marry someone that couldn't meet her needs?" my dad asked.  "He is obviously more than capable of taking care of them financially.  She is clearly head over heels in love with him.  And she's not an idiot.  So she wouldn't marry him if he wasn't meeting her emotional needs."

"Okay, okay!" my mom said, holding up her hands in surrender.  "You're right.  It's just...my baby is getting married, and I want her to have everything I didn't have until I married you, Chris.  And I want her to have everything I do have now that I have you.  And I worry.  You know I worry."

"I'm really glad you threw in that part about worrying," I commented mildly.  "I was about to throw up my dinner from your romance overload."

"Olivia Renee!" my mom said, but she was laughing.

"I see Denver hasn't changed you one bit," my dad said, and I saw him shaking his head.

I just grinned into the darkness, thankful that some things never change.
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Expect the next post Monday night!