The Reunion (Liv): Summer

Hi all!  I'm glad you enjoyed the first post.  Just wanted to let you know I'm not posting on any sort of schedule here.  I'm shooting for about one post a week, but I make no promises.  I have a handful of ideas so I'm looking at maybe 10-12 total posts?  We'll see how carried away I get :)
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I was composing an email to my boss, asking if there was anything I could do to pick up a few hours over the summer.  Groups, writing assessments, anything but sitting around being unproductive, when Brody called.  "Hey you," I said cheerfully.  "Will you be home for dinner tonight?"

"I won't," he said.  "In fact, I won't be home until late, that's why I'm calling."  I sighed, disappointed.  "Wait a second before you get too upset," he urged me.  "I'm staying late tonight so I can take tomorrow and Monday off to spend with you at the cabin."

"Really?"

"Of course, would I lie about that?" he asked.  "Don't wait up for me, okay?  Get some sleep, and we'll leave tomorrow morning.  I'm not even taking my phone with me."

"Okay, well, if that's the case I suppose I can manage on my own tonight," I replied, grinning.

I fell asleep around 10, but woke up when Brody came in, because he stubbed his toe on the dresser and swore.  I groaned and rolled over.  "Brody?" I croaked.

"Sorry," he said softly.

"What time is it?" I asked, my voice muffled by sleep and the pillow.

I felt the mattress sink under him.  "You don't want to know," he replied, stroking my back.  "I'm sorry I woke you."

"S'okay," I mumbled.  "Come to bed."

"Just a minute," he replied.  I felt his lips on my cheek, and then the mattress moved again as he stood up.  I heard him go into the bathroom, and I rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep.  But despite my best efforts, I was now awake.

Brody was in bed in a couple minutes and I snuggled up to him.  "How was your day?" I asked.  "Besides long."

"It was pretty good, actually," he replied.  "Everything is really coming together.  I think I'm going to be able to work some more normal hours really soon."

"Yeah?" I asked, lifting my head to look at him.  "I really hope so."

"Me too," he said.  I nestled into him, shifting a little closer.  Brody pulled me tightly against him, and I soon fell back to sleep.

Amazingly, Brody was still up before me.  He was out drinking coffee on the deck with Eddie when I made my way downstairs.  "Why are you up already?" I asked, squinting in the bright morning sunlight.  Eddie lifted his head at the sound of my voice and jumped up, trotting happily over to slobber all over my bare legs.  "Good morning, sweet boy," I said to him, scratching the top of his head.

"I get a 'why are you up already?' and he gets a 'good morning, sweet boy'?" Brody asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow.  "I see how I rank."

I laughed.  "Good morning, sweet boy," I said, kissing him on the cheek and settling into the chair next to him.

"Much better," he answered, grinning.  "And I have no idea why I'm up already.  I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep.  I was going to make breakfast in a little bit, I didn't expect you to be up quite yet."  I yawned in response, drawing a chuckle from Brody.  "I need more coffee, do you want some too?"  I nodded and leaned my head back, closing my eyes and enjoying the warm sun.  Eddie had stretched out again, this time under my chair.

Once I had woken up a little, Brody and I made breakfast together.  Then we packed for the weekend, loaded Eddie into my SUV, and got on our way.  I drove so Brody could relax.  Despite his good mood this morning, I could tell he was exhausted.  Sure enough, he fell asleep within 20 minutes.  Eddie sat happily in the backseat, nose pressed to the window.  I had it open about 4 inches for him, and he was slobbering all over the place.  "Oh Ed," I said, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.  He looked at me briefly with his goofy smile, then turned his attention back to the wind rushing into the car.

I had to wake Brody up when we got close, because I could never remember where to turn off the main road.  He yawned and stretched as much as the confines of the car allowed as we pulled up in front of the cabin.  I pulled my car under the carport.  This was Eddie's first trip here, so I snapped his leash on before I let him out.  He looked around excitedly as I let him sniff around the yard for a few minutes before we went inside.

Brody had brought most of our stuff in while I was letting Ed get acclimated.  I was hopeful we'd be spending some more time here soon, and I wasn't interested in hauling a bunch of Eddie's stuff back and forth each time, so I'd stopped at the store yesterday evening and picked up two new beds (one for the living area and one for our bedroom...no he's not spoiled at all!), food and water dishes, a long tie out, and a few of his favorite toys and chews.  "What do you think, bud?" I asked him, bringing him inside and letting him off the leash.  He sniffed around cautiously, smelling everything before moving to the next room.  He looked over his shoulder at me, whined once, and wagged his tail.  I followed him into the next room, where he happily sniffed around under my supervision.  We did this room by room for the entire cabin.

Brody was flopped on the bed in the master bedroom when we got done with our tour.  "Did he tip you, Madame Tour Guide?" he asked, smirking at me.  "He's got you wrapped around his little finger."

"It's a mutual wrapping," I retorted.  "Jealous I haven't paid as much attention to you yet?"

"A little bit," he said.

I laughed.  "Roll over," I said, tapping his hip.  He rolled onto his stomach and I straddled his hips, starting to massage his shoulders.

"That feels good," Brody groaned, his voice muffled by the bed.  I worked my way down his back, then back up, ending by massaging his scalp for several minutes.  "I'm so sleepy," he mumbled.

"Sleep for awhile," I suggested.  "I'll take Eddie for a walk and make some lunch, and if you're still sleeping when it's ready, I'll wake you up then, if you want."

"Okay," he said.  I swapped my flip flops for a pair of sneakers and by the time I had them changed, Brody was asleep in the middle of the bed in the same position he'd been in when I was rubbing his back.  I shook my head and pulled the blinds closed so it was a little darker for him, though I'm not convinced it would have made any difference.

Eddie followed me out of the room, and wiggled happily when I snapped his leash back on.  "Want to go for a walk, bud?" I asked him.  He wiggled harder, too well-behaved to do anything else.  I laughed and led him to the door.

We walked for about 40 minutes, and Eddie was thrilled with the new smells and sights.  I even jogged with him for a little while, and he ran alongside me, lips and tongue flapping happily away.  When we got back, he slurped up some water and trotted to the bedroom to keep Brody company.

I took my car into the nearest town and stopped at the store for something for lunch and for dinner.  I picked up some chicken breasts and stuff for salad for lunch, then picked out some steaks and scallops for dinner.  I found a few snacks, eggs and bread and milk for breakfast in the morning, and some juice.  At the liquor store next door I grabbed some beer and wine, and then I headed back up to the cabin.

Brody was still fast asleep when I got back, and Eddie was snoring on the floor at the foot of the bed.  He lifted his head to look at me sleepily when I peeked in, but for once he stuck by Brody, putting his head back down and huffing out a very dramatic breath.

I headed out to the grill on the deck and started it up.  While the grill was heating up and the chicken was cooking, I cut up some veggies and fruit and threw together salads.  When everything was done, I went into the bedroom to wake Brody up.  I laughed when I saw that Eddie, who was almost never allowed in our bed (I let him when Brody was out of town, but we didn't let him when we were both in bed), was stretched out next to Brody.

When I woke Brody up, he was just as surprised as I was to see Eddie next to him.  "He took advantage of my tiredness!" Brody said, but he was laughing.  Once Brody got out of bed, we went outside to eat on the deck.  It had been hot in the city for the entire week, and the slightly cooler air here was welcome.

Brody's nap had done its job, and after lunch he had a lot more energy.  When I got up to put Eddie on his tie out and let him off the deck, Brody wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me down into his lap.  I yelped in surprise, toppling onto him.  "Hi," he said, with a mischievous grin.

"Hi," I replied, laughing.  "Something I can help you with?"

"Actually, there's something I'd like to help you with," he said.  He pulled me closer and kissed me, and I shifted into a more comfortable position before losing myself in the kiss.

"Mmm, should we go inside?" I asked softly, barely pulling my lips from his.

"No," he responded, pushing his hand through my hair and then pulling my lips back to his.  His other hand roamed over my hip and down to my bare leg.  He slipped his fingertips under the edge of my shorts and pressed them into my skin.  Eventually, he tugged at my shirt, working it up and then pulling it over my head.

"Brody!" I exclaimed, laughing.  "We're outside."

He shrugged, smiling wickedly.  "Do you see any people?  Or houses?  Or anything but trees?"

"Good point," I admitted, looking around briefly.  Brody kissed along my collarbone, drawing my attention back to him.  I groaned softly as he swirled the tip of his tongue in a light circle at the base of my throat.

"So, do you want to go inside?" Brody asked, pausing.  His breath was warm against my skin and his lips brushed gently against my neck as he spoke.

"No," I whispered, digging my fingers into his arms as he lightly nipped at my shoulder.  Brody chuckled and reached behind me to unhook my bra.  I shivered as he removed it, dragging his fingertips down my arms along with the straps.  He leaned forward and flicked his tongue across one nipple, then wrapped his hands around my waist and lifted me off his lap and onto the table.  His mouth moved to the other nipple and his hands worked on the button and zipper of my shorts.

I sighed happily, shifting my weight so Brody could pull my shorts off.  He knelt in front of me and slid his hands up my thighs, pushing my legs apart as he did.  Brody kissed his way up my inner thigh and I gasped when his mouth reached its destination.  I almost slid off the table when I came, but Brody's strong grip on my hips kept me in place.  I pulled him up and yanked his shirt off.  He beat me to undoing his shorts, but not by much.  I wrapped my hand around him, stroking him until he pushed my hand away and pushed into me.

I enjoyed the thrill of being outside and completely exposed, even though the risk of actual exposure to anyone else's eyes was low.  Brody was in no hurry, and I enjoyed every second of it.  When we were finished, he yawned.

"Still tired?" I asked, laughing.

"More like tired again," he replied.  "You have a way of wearing a man out."

We decided to head inside and relax in bed for awhile.  I pulled my shorts and shirt back on and looked out into the yard.  Eddie was laying flat on his side, his legs stretched in either direction as far as they'd go.  "Eddie!" I called.  "Hey, Eddie!  Do you want to come inside?"  He lifted his head to look at me lazily, one eye still closed.  Then he shut the open eye and laid his head back down.  "Eddie!  Come inside!" I called again.  In response, he rolled lazily onto his back, rolled back and forth a couple times, and then stopped, legs still in the air.  "I guess Eddie is staying outside," I said with a laugh.  I checked his tie out and then followed Brody inside.

Once in the bedroom, I wriggled out of my clothes again and climbed under the blankets.  Brody was already there, and barely let me get all the way into bed before he pulled me against him.  We spent the rest of the afternoon in bed, alternating between talking or dozing and having lazy sex.  Brody got up once to let Eddie in, otherwise we stayed in bed until I dragged Brody out to help me make dinner.  After dinner, we took Eddie for a walk and then settled into the jetted tub in the bathroom with a bottle of wine.

We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying each other's company, cooking together (which was something I loved but we hardly ever got a chance to do anymore), hiking, and being lazy.  On the drive home Monday afternoon, Brody said, very seriously, "I think we should do this monthly.  At least monthly, maybe more.  I needed this.  We needed this."

I agreed.  I'd had a good idea what I was getting into when I gave Brody my blessing to buy his new office building, but it was now getting old really fast.  It probably didn't help that the worst of it had come when I was off work for the summer and actually had time to go and do fun things, but couldn't do them with my husband.  Of course, that didn't stop me.  I had spent quite a bit of time with Lauren and Kinsley so far, but I missed doing things like this weekend with Brody.  I supported him 100%, and I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but I was counting down the days.

We'd also started to get a lot of questions from people about when we were going to have kids.  And since "When my husband works fewer than 90 hours a week and our child will actually recognize him," wasn't a socially appropriate answer, I'd done a lot of smiling, shrugging, and saying, "We're not quite ready," or "when things settle down a little."  Those answers resulted in lectures on how if we waited to be completely ready, we'd never have kids, or that things will never truly settle down, what's a baby on top of it?  But I knew better.  I was in full support of Brody right now, but I knew if we added a baby to the mix now, I'd grow to resent him really quickly.  And I didn't ever want to resent him.

"What are you thinking about?" Brody asked me, breaking into my thoughts on babies and support and resentment.

"Babies," I said honestly.

Brody didn't say anything for several seconds and then said, "Okay, you're going to have to give me more than that."

"Sorry, I was just thinking about having a baby someday.   We haven't talked about it in awhile."  I glanced at Brody's anxious face and realized why he was nervous.  "Oh!  No, I don't mean I want to have a baby now," I said, laughing.  The relief on Brody's face was almost comical.  "Sorry, you saying we needed this made me think about how tough the last several weeks have been, which made me think about missing doing fun things with you, which made me think about the absurd number of people who think the contents of my uterus are any of their business, and then I was about to start thinking about all the things I want to do before we start having kids, but you interrupted my completely logical train of thought."

"Completely logical," Brody said with a smile.  "So continue your thoughts out loud.  What are the things you want to do before we start having kids?"

"Well, I don't know.  I hadn't gotten there yet, remember?"  I smirked at him, and he laughed.  "But I know I want to travel more.  I want to do more with my career.  I need to finish the licensure process.  I have a little bit of supervision left to get before I can do that."

"And I want to be able to be around more," he said.

I nodded.  "Trust me, I want that too," I assured him.  "In fact, I require it."

"Well, I'm hoping that will start happening really soon," he said.  "Once we finish filling the open positions and have everyone trained, I should be able to decrease my hours fairly significantly."

"How many open positions are left?" I asked.

"Three," Brody said.  "Considering we started with 16 to fill with the expansion, I'm hoping we can have them filled within a month."  

I considered this.  "So with training and everything...?"

"My goal is by the end of the summer.  But I can do a little cutting already, I think.  Everything is going so smoothly right now.  I probably shouldn't have said that out loud, I guess.  But it is, and I think it's about time to start cutting down and seeing what happens.  We've got a couple departments that are fully staffed now.  There's no reason for me to still be involved so heavily with them."

"Sounds like you have a plan," I said, smiling.

He chuckled.  "I do," he replied.  "We'll see if it happens the way I want it to, but having a plan is good in any case."

"I'll take it," I said, grinning.  Brody reached for my hand across the center console, and we finished the drive in easy silence.

The Reunion (Brody): Summer

"Liv?" I called, shifting my briefcase into my other hand so I could pull the door shut behind me.

"Hi!" she said, emerging from the kitchen with a grin.  "You're home early!"

I returned her smile, putting my stuff down so I could hug her.  "I missed my wife," I replied, wrapping my arms around her and kissing the top of her head.  Even though we'd been married for almost 9 months, I still never got tired of calling Liv my wife.  "Are you cooking again?"

She blushed guiltily.  "I'm so bored," she said.  "This not working thing is not all it's cracked up to be."  Liv's new position gave her most of the summers off.  She was three weeks in and already bored.  "The first week was great," she continued as she led me into the kitchen.  "Last week wasn't so bad.  But I have no idea what to do with myself this week.  I've read 12 books.  I go to the gym for two hours a day.  What am I supposed to be doing with my life?"

I couldn't help it, I laughed.  "Well, there goes my dream of eventually talking you into being a trophy wife after all."   She wrinkled her nose.  "You know I'm kidding.  And as much as I love your cooking, I'm not sure any more leftovers are going to fit in the fridge.  Should I go buy a second one, or...?"

"Maybe get a third while you're at it?" she suggested, cocking an eyebrow sassily.  Then she shook her head.  "I need a hobby or something.  I thought being off for the summer would be fun."

"You've never been good at not doing much," I pointed out. I thought for a second while I got plates and silverware out.  "What's today?  Wednesday?"

"All day," she replied, turning off the oven and looking over her shoulder at me.  "Why?"

I walked up to her and wrapped my arms around her from behind.  "What if we went to the cabin this weekend?"

"This weekend?" she asked, sounding surprised.  She turned to face me.  "But you're so busy."

I brushed a piece of hair away from her forehead and rested my hand against her jaw.  "I need a break.  And I told you, I miss my wife.  Let's get out of town for the weekend."

Liv's face lit up.  "That would be great!" she said excitedly.  "I miss you, too."

Liv had been great for the last 7 months while I worked on restructuring my company, hiring, and getting things the way I wanted them.  I could tell it was wearing on her, and the long hours and few days off were wearing on me too.  "We're almost there," I told her softly.  "You've been amazing and so patient, and I promise it will be worth it."

She nodded.  "Okay," she said softly.  Then she grinned.  "But this weekend.  It's going to be great!"

"You said that already," I teased her.  I kissed her forehead, then said, "It is going to be great."  Liv pushed up onto her toes to kiss me, and I couldn't remember the last time I had kissed her.  I mean, actually kissed her.  I kissed her every morning before I left for work, though she was usually half asleep and probably didn't even remember it by the time she woke up.  And I kissed her every night when I got home and before bed.  But they'd become rehearsed, like we were going through the motions.  And I knew that was my fault.  I was so exhausted from work that I felt like a zombie the rest of the time.  The end really was in sight, but the final push had been the worst of all so far.

I kissed her again.  She looked disappointed when I pulled away, but grinned when I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, turned it off, and tossed it on the counter.  "Let's eat," I suggested.

"It can wait," Liv said, raising her eyebrows suggestively and reaching for me.

I caught her hands and said, "It could, and there are very few things I want more than to go upstairs with you right now.  But it's been a really long time since I've gotten to sit down and eat with you when the food is still hot, and that sounds really nice right now."

"I can hardly argue with that," she said, smiling.

Dinner was amazing.  The food was good, of course, but it felt so good to sit and eat with Liv.  We spent an hour at the table talking and catching up on the week.  "I'll take care of these dishes--" I started, when we were finally done.

"Don't you dare," Liv said, grinning mischievously.  "I mean, I won't stop you from doing them later, but for now, I demand that you continue to pay attention to me."

I pushed my chair back from the table as my beautiful wife approached me.  She stood between my knees and ran a finger down my tie before taking a step closer and pushing her fingers into my hair.  "You don't have to tell me twice," I told her, looking up at her hungrily.  I stood and pulled her close to me, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist.  "Let's go upstairs."

My eyes wandered as I followed Liv upstairs.  She spun around to face me and grinned as I walked into our bedroom behind her.  I slid a hand around her waist but she shoved me hard onto the bed.  I raised my eyebrows as she climbed onto the bed and straddled me.  "All that time at the gym has clearly paid off," I teased her.  "You've never been able to push me around quite so easily."

Liv responded by grabbing my hands from her waist and pinning them on the bed near my head.  She leaned down and kissed along my jaw and down my neck.  "Well then, you'd better be careful, hmmm?"

She may have been stronger than she was, but she was still tiny.  With one movement, I swung my legs up and to the right, easily moving us sideways and tipping her off me.  Two more seconds and I had her on her back, her legs pinned wide by my knees and her wrists caught in my left hand.  "Now who's in a compromising position?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her from above.

"Actually," she said casually, "you're right where I want you."

I laughed and leaned down to kiss her.  She kissed me back hungrily.  It felt so good to kiss her like this.  It made me wish I was finished with my restructuring now so we could do this every night.  "Hey," Liv said, sliding her hands up my chest to rest on either side of my face.  "What's on your mind?"

"Just realizing how much I miss this," I replied, dropping my face to her neck.  "And counting down the days until I don't have to miss it anymore."  I kissed down her throat and worked my way up one collarbone.  She moaned softly and I grinned against her shoulder.  I missed that sound.  I dragged my tongue along the hollow where her collarbone met her shoulder, drawing another soft moan.

"I miss it too," she said, pressing her hips up towards mine.  "I--ohhh."  Her sentence was cut off by my fingers playing against one breast.

"You what?" I asked, my fingers stilling.  "You were saying something?"

"Shut up," she replied using one hand to pull my face towards hers.  I did as she wanted, happily.

*

"Pete!" I called, seeing him walk past my office on Thursday morning.  He stepped inside my office and motioned to the door.  "Open is fine," I replied.  "Come on in."

"What's up?" he asked, crossing the threshold and sitting down in a chair next to my desk.  I didn't like sitting across from people, whether staff or client.  It created a power differential that I didn't care for.  I preferred to run my business with respect, not power and fear.  I had worked for someone who used power and fear to run his business long enough to know it wasn't for me.  The only time I sat across the desk from someone was when I was firing them.  Which I hadn't had to do for quite some time, thankfully.

"How was your vacation?" I asked, getting up and pouring myself some more coffee.  "Do you want some?"

"Sure," he replied.  I brought him a cup.  "It was great.  Serena and I had a really nice time.  Thanks again for covering my clients while I was gone.  I was glad to hear there were no issues."

I nodded.  "Glad to do it, vacations are important.  Keeps you sharp."

"I didn't think you would know," he quipped, raising his eyebrows at me.  I laughed.  Only Pete or Neil could get away with that.

"That's why I've got you here, actually," I said.  "I'd like to take my wife to the cabin this weekend.  Can I leave you in charge?"

Pete considered this.  "Only on one condition," he said.

I cocked an eyebrow.  "I'll hear your condition, but I beg you to remember who's in charge here.  At least  until I leave for the weekend."

Pete laughed and I cracked a smile.  "I will never forget who's in charge here.  My condition is that you take tomorrow off for your weekend away."

My second eyebrow joined the first.  "Are you staging a coup?"

"If I was, I wouldn't tell you," he pointed out.  "But I'm not.  With all due respect, boss, I can tell you're fried.  Take the day.  I mean, I'll cover you either way.  But things are coming along nicely.  Everyone is moved into their new offices, the teams are formed, we only have a few openings left to fill.  You've been working 80 hours a week.  I'm offering to cover you so you can take a day off.  Or, three days, actually."

"Can I let you know?" I asked him.

"Sure can," Pete replied.  "Anything else?"  I shook my head and he left.

I glanced at my computer, my email open on the screen.  During the course of the 4 minute conversation I'd just had with Pete, I'd collected 15 new emails.  With a sigh, I stabbed at the button on the bottom right corner of the screen and turned the monitor off.  I stood and stretched, then took a walk.  In offices all down the hallway, my employees--both old and new--were working hard.  Some were on the phone, some were typing away, and some doors were closed, surely concealing a client meeting.  I paused and turned in a full circle, admiring the sounds of my successful business.

"Kira?" I said, sticking my head in my assistant's office.  I'd gone through 3 before finding Kira, who not only could keep up but also didn't allow me to work her to death.  She looked up, solemn and expectant.  "I'm heading over to the other site.  I'll be back in a bit, and you can stay here.  Can you just take messages for my calls?  And can you log into my emails and handle any that don't actually need me?"

"You've got it," she said.

"And can you send an email out to all the staff at both locations, letting them know that I'm bringing in lunch for everyone?"

Her eyes were already on her computer and seconds later she looked up.  "Done.  Anything else?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding.  "Go home early today.  Thank you for your hard work."

She cracked a rare smile.  "Thank you," she said.  "Is 4 okay?"

"How about 2?" I called over my shoulder as I walked back to my office to grab my keys.

The drive to my new office took 20 minutes, not bad.  I parked in my reserved spot, which I hadn't really wanted but had to admit was convenient.  We had the entire building here, a three story structure with plenty of conference rooms, which the other space was seriously lacking.  I bypassed the employee entrance and walked in the front door.  This site was going to be where most of the client interaction would happen, and I wanted to feel the full effect.  I walked into a warmly appointed lobby that held comfortable chairs and couches, plenty of plants, and some art that wasn't quite my taste but everyone else seemed to like.

"Welcome to--oh!  Mr. Adler, hello!"  Anna, one of two of our front desk staff here greeted me.  Nate, the other, was on the phone.  "Did you forget your key?  Do you need one for the day?"

"Hi, Anna," I said, nodding to Nate, who returned the silent greeting without missing a beat of his conversation.  "No, I didn't forget my key, I just wanted to make sure to stop by and say hi on my way in.  Everything good here?"

"It's been a bit hectic today, to be honest," she said.  "But no issues, just busy."

"Glad to hear it," I said.  "You're both doing a great job, thank you.  I appreciate it."  Nate and Anna were both relatively new, and they were good.  I wanted to make sure they knew that I knew it.

"Thank you, Mr. Adler," Anna replied.

"Could you do me a favor?  I'm ordering lunch for everyone."  I handed her the takeout menu I'd grabbed from my desk on the way out.  "Could you or Nate get everyone's orders for me, please?  I'll place the order and pick everything up, I just need some help with collecting the orders."

"Of course," she said.

Nate, who was off the phone now, nodded.  "Good to see you," he said.  I grinned and headed to the elevator.  At the last second I veered off and hit the stairs instead.  I walked up to the second floor and wandered down the halls, stopping to check in with my employees that weren't on the phone or otherwise occupied.

As I made my way up to the third floor, I realized that Pete was right.  Everything was falling into place.  Seeing the results helped ease the toll of my 80 hour work weeks and missing Liv.  It also made me even more grateful for her support.  She didn't ask to spend the first year of marriage only seeing her husband for an hour before bedtime and a few hours on the weekend.  Of course, it hadn't always been as bad as it had been for the past couple months.  There had been weeks at a time when we had dinner together every night.  It just had been awhile.

After taking a walk around the third floor, which was mostly conference rooms and my office, I took the employee elevator down to the other side of the first floor.  I nodded to the construction crew.  Hidden safely away from the lobby, I was putting in a fitness center for my employees.  We were expanding, but we were still a small business, and as such, I had fewer options to offer them for health insurance and retirement plans.  I focused on offering the best benefits I was able to and getting creative where I needed to.  I wanted to be a company that people wanted to work for.  As successful as I'd been so far, we were still young and new and every single person in either of these buildings was taking a chance on me.

I looked around one more time, and I knew that I also needed to put the same care into my relationship.  Just like everyone here, Liv had also taken a chance on me, and I had no intention of letting her down.  I ignored the 3 missed calls on my cell phone and called Pete.  "I'm going to take you up on tomorrow.  What are your thoughts on Monday too?"

The Reunion: A Recap

Hi all, I am so excited to be writing this post!  For those of you who might not read In All The Wrong Places, I will be doing a few "reunion" posts here for fun!  Here is the plan:  This post will be a brief catch-up on what our favorite characters were up to when the blog ended.  The recap here will focus on pre-baby and pre-final wrap post, so we'll be starting shortly after Liv and Brody's wedding.  Then, because people were pretty split about what they'd like, I plan to do a few pre-pregnancy posts and a few-post baby posts.  I'm going to try to do at least one post in each time period from each character.  Honestly?  I'm going to hit the high points.  The fun posts to write.  The big things that are happening.  So if there's anything that you really want to see how it played out, post it in the comments.  As always, no promises, but I'll try to accommodate your requests as much as I can.  Alright, on to the recaps.  I didn't edit them, so I apologize if they're a bit jumbled.  Also, recaps are hard to write!  I tried to capture the important things from the last few months of the blog.  If you have questions post them in the comments!  I'm hoping to have a post up later this week.

Liv and Brody:  Liv and Brody just got married (obviously) and went on a ridiculous but enviable honeymoon to a private Fijian island.  When they got back, they adopted a dog that one of Brody's employee's family members was rehoming (Eddie).  Brody purchased some additional office space and was preparing to do some major restructuring and expanding of his business, while eventually paring down his own duties to allow him some more time to spend with Liv and their potential-eventual-family.  Liv was offered a new position at her job, providing therapy within a school.  The new job means she's off most of the summers and is working really independently.  She was preparing herself for Brody to be ridiculously busy for about a year while he restructured and got things in place to give himself a more reasonable schedule.  Liv and Brody hosted their first holiday together (Thanksgiving) and Brody flew Liv's parents out to be there as a surprise.  Liv and Ken, Brody's brother, had had a rocky start but are now getting along much better.  Brody's sister (Jen) loves Liv, as does his mom.

Lauren and Alex:  Alex and Lauren took a disastrous Thanksgiving trip to Savannah to visit Alex's parents.  Alex's mom invites the neighbor and his adult daughter, and it quickly becomes clear that she's trying to set Alex up with the daughter in an effort to replace Lauren.  Alex is completely oblivious and he and Lauren get into a fight about it.  In the morning, after a conversation with his mom, he realizes Lauren was right, has it out with his mom, and they leave.  Despite Lauren never wanting to get married or have kids, Alex gets her a 'just be with me forever' emerald and diamond ring, which he gives to her when they're just about to have sex, in a very Alex and Lauren sort of way.  She chooses to wear on her left hand.  Lauren's new boss is inappropriate, touching her and flirting with her despite her repeatedly telling him not to.  Eventually, he begins to take her work away and starts to change her position to something completely different.  Meanwhile, Alex and the guys go on a ski trip and Alex gets seriously injured.  Lauren and Alex's mom come to a tenuous truce in the hospital, and then Lauren throws herself into taking care of him, but Alex struggles with whether or not she's truly in it for the long haul.  This could be partially because at work, Lauren's boss attempts to change her job description and Lauren quits on the spot.  She eventually finds out that he had logged into her email and sent HR an email from her account, asking for the change in job duties.  They offer her job back, but she negotiates an impressive severance package instead.  Not much later, her former boss and employer is on the front page of the paper for a sexual harassment scandal.  After another fight about Lauren's struggle with commitment, she and Alex decide to move in together.

Kinsley and Damien:  Kinsley struggled with her relationship with Damien from the beginning.  They had broken up once earlier in the story when Damien and Kinsley's views on family and boundaries clashed significantly. When Kinsley's story picks up after the conclusion of Liv's, she finds out that her mom was in the hospital after an overdose.  For once, Kinsley was grateful for Damien's unflappable calm.  She finally ended up telling him about her family, revealing indirectly why she has such impenetrable walls up and is often flighty and hard for him to understand.  Through the interactions with her parents in the hospital, especially her mom, we see that Kinsley's parents are both manipulative and self-serving (not unlike Kinsley).  Once the dust settles, Kinsley panics about being so vulnerable and tries to push Damien away again.  Despite everything, she makes an effort with her mom, going to visit.  During one of those visits, they have a blowout that ends with Kinsley's mom calling her a stupid little tramp, and we don't hear from Kinsley's mom again after that.  After a chat with Liv, Kinsley talks to Damien instead of shutting him out, continuing to work on being a better partner.  Surprisingly enough, Kinsley begins to get close to Damien's family as well--especially his mom and his niece and nephew.  Kinsley and Damien spend part of Thanksgiving with his family and part of it with Kinsley's dad.  Kinsley is surprised by the presence of her brother (that she hadn't seen in 17 years--since he went to prison when he was 18 for theft and vehicular assault), and doesn't handle it well.  A confrontation with her dad leads to Kinsley and Damien leaving.  Kinsley starts to rebuild her relationship with her brother while cutting off contact with her parents.  Knowing that Kinsley has been on family overload, Damien suggests they spend Christmas weekend away together, showing that he's getting much better at compromising with family things.  A bit after Christmas, Kinsley ends up running into Cole, the man she'd been sleeping with when she and Damien had been broken up.  He kissed her and she panicked, frantically telling Damien that night.  Damien handles it well, believing that Cole did it and Kinsley didn't want anything to do with it, but Kinsley struggles with feeling like she's not good enough, making her start to sabotage things.  Eventually, she takes some time to herself, pushes herself outside her comfort zone, and starts to become comfortable with herself.  She and Damien end up staying together.