Chapter 1 :Mia
Why is it that we make plans for vacation—tospend a weekof relaxation and escape—and in the process,we end up stressing ourselves to the brink to preparefor it? That’s what this day had been for me—a thin slice in the middle ofthestress sandwichthat was my preparations for the holidays and the startof a new rotation in medical school.
Adam and I had just returned from my mom’s place in AnzaonChristmas night, having spent a few days withmy mom and her husband, Adam’s uncle Peter. In addition, we’d had Peter’skids, William andBritt, their significant others,and the grandkids.
Mom had planned an amazing little down home family Christmas for us all. We’d had some adventures—exploring andhiking, a little horsebackriding with thekids,andplayinga lot of crazy board games.
I sighed, adjusting a shimmery silver,star-shapedornament on our gorgeoustree that stood nearly ten feet tallin our front room,and wasstill dwarfed by the cathedral ceilings.It was close to midnight on Christmasnight,and I couldn’t helpbuttakea moment toadmiretheplay of light and shimmery beauty in that quiet room. The colorful ornaments reflectedthe white lights, the shining red and gold ribbon against the soft green fir of the tree. Closing my eyes, I inhaled that fresh, clean scent that immediately took me back to hikingthrough Idyllwildforestsas a kid.
Suddenly, strong, solid arms encircled my waist and pulled me back against a broad, hard chest. Thetree’saroma was replaced bythefamiliar scent of the man I loved. Eyes still closed, I relaxed against him as he dipped his head to land a peck on my neck. A little thrill buzzed there, as it always did when he touched me. He rested his head against mine,and my eyes opened.
He was staring at the tree, all theglisteninglights reflecting in his gorgeous dark eyes.“Crazy, we’ve barely had a chance to sit and just admire our tree.Here we are, no soonerhomebutheaded back out of town.”
I sighed.“The price we pay for being young and driven, I guess? Thank goodness for the holidays.It seems to be the only thing that can slow us down.I’ve been able to hog you mostlytomyselffor the pastforty-eight hours.”
“Only forces beyond our control canslow down people likeus.”
I swallowed, considering that. BeforeChristmas, we’dhardly seen each other,for nearly a month.He’d had a business trip. I’d had final exams. He’d spent nearly a week working with his charity foundation on end-of-year business items for the season… The list never ended.
I turned and landed areturnpeck on his whisker-rough cheek.“Maybe people like us should learn to slow downmore often and savor what we have.”
Adam smiled and his arms tightened around me.“Hey,it was your idea to go spend the week,and our first anniversary,up in the mountains with our friends.”
“Mmm, true. We never get to seethemanymore either. But we’ll get our time alone. And now that you’ve promised to keep your phone locked in the safe while we’re there, I’ll actually get to have a real conversation with youthat isn’t rudely interrupted by beeping and buzzing.”
“Yes, yes. Just pay no attention to all the twitching and withdrawal symptoms I’ll be enduring in the process.”
He joked now,but it had been a brief point of contention between us at first.He’d happily relented when I’d agreed, not to bury my nose in my textbooks. Compromise was good and healthy and yet… I couldn’t help but be a little worried about us. Even if it was just a tiny inkling of disquiet with no tangible basis.
We went to bed at the same time that night, something wealmost never didnormally.Sometimes we’dspend time together doing other things—watching TV, cuddling, sexy times. But Adam was rarely the type of guy who just rolled over and went to sleep afterward. He popped out of bed and was raring to go for a few more hoursstill.
The trying times of being married to a man who rarely got more than five hours sleep a night. As I waited for him to come to bed, Idawdled on my tablet,still distracted by some of those distant worries.
As luck would have it,the link for one of those silly internet quizzes crossed my feed and I, like an idiot, clicked on it. As if it were some kind of fortune teller that might set us straight,or even justcalmsomedistant fears.
When Adamcame to bedminutes later,slippingunder the sheets,I wasjustansweringthe last questionof thetheir“Rate Your Marriage”quizon BuzzTea.
“What’s so funny?”he asked,settlingin beside me.
“Oh I followed some dumbass clickbait.”I laughed. No need to alarm him that I’d actually gone looking for it. It was meaningless,anyway.Ishowed him the screen on my tablet.“I just took thisquiz,and apparently we scored abysmally.BuzzTeagives us less than three years until divorce.”
Adam didn’t answer for a long moment—heseemed to bemulling it over. Then suddenly, as ifwhat I’d saidhadfinally sunk in, he stiffened, struggling to sit up.“What?! Let me see that.”
“Don’t get your blood pressure up.It’s just a stupid internet quiz.”
But Adam had already clicked on the retake button and wasnowsitting up in bed, spooning forgotten. He furiously drilledthrough the questions,every muscle in hisbody growing tenserand more upright with each passing question. I swallowed.“Adam, put it aside. It’s something some intern on a deadline wrote while Googling sh*t. It’s not—”
“No. No one’s allowed to give us a low score. We don’t roll like that.”And with a flourish, he hit“see your results”and held his breath.“sh*tty programming. I could do this way better,so it would give immediate results.”
I nodded.“Of course you could.”
“Listen, I’ll go do it right now and it won’t even take an hour to—Ah! here it is.See,that’s a….”His voice faded as hesquinted, scrutinizing the screen. The tablet illuminated his breathlessly handsome features. I never tired of looking at him, really.Okay,maybe sometimes when he was getting on my nerves. But latelywe hadn’t seen enough of each other for that to even happen.
Sadly, he really seemed to be taking this dumb quiz thing hard.Clearly,he needed a distraction.“Come here.That thing’s bullsh*t.”I bent and kissedhis temple, his cheek, his neck,andIgripped the edge of the tablet, ready to whisk it away from his scrutiny.“They give us absolutely no points for burning up the bed when we have sex.”
“Hmm,”he said, apparently not hearing me as he clicked more links and,maddeningly,tried to take the thing again. I yanked it away and set it on my side of the bed, out of his reach.
He let it go, falling back against the pillow and looking at me.“It’s complete BS,”I repeated.
He shrugged.“I’m exhausted, anyway. I think I need a vacation to recuperate from Christmas. But I’ll do it after I write the makers of that quiz asternly wordedletter of complaint.”
I laughed.“You are such a nerd. But… you aremysexy,hot nerd.”
He leaned in and kissed me. Now we were talking. I locked my arms around his neck just as hepulled back.“You realize we have to be up in four hours?”
I took in a deep breath and let it out.“Fair point. But once we’re officially on our vacation, I expect all the sexy sex we can get.”
“With seven of our closest friends in the same house.”
I bit my lip.“Maybe inviting everyone up with us was a crazy idea?”
He kissed me again.“Let’s have the most fun we’ve ever had on vacation.”
“It’s a deal.”
Thankfully, as I rolled ontomy side to fall asleep, he scootedback into spooning position. My lids closed,and dreamy almost-sleep grasped at me like the incoming tide lapped the dry sand.
Tonight,we were exhausted. It had been a wonderfulChristmas,but tomorrow, we’d be in the snowy mountains doing fun things.I’d have him all to myself—and sometimes with friends—for a whole week.Then, the special surprise I’d planned for our very first wedding anniversary.
Things would be brighter. We’d reconnect and those thought gremlins would be banished once and for all.
I couldn’t wait.
