Unlucky in Love

“Dominic?” I asked, rolling over in bed. I let out a sigh when I saw he wasn’t there. I got out of bed and went downstairs, feeling like a freaking penguin as I waddled down the stairs slowly.

It was the end of September, and Emma was due any day now. But by the hell she’d been putting me through, I doubted she’d come on time.

I found Dominic in the kitchen, cooking. I peeked over his shoulder and saw he was sautéing chicken-apple sausage (trust me, it’s so freaking good!) and white rice. Thank God he finally perfected rice, because I was really tired of having to make it.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” He greeted me.

I leaned my head against his shoulder blade. “Hideous troll is more like it.” I muttered, and he just shook his head. I went to the fridge and grabbed the bottle of orange juice and poured myself a glass. Normally if I had woken up at one-thirty in the afternoon, I would be downing Coke, but my doctor up here bitched me out about caffeine and processed sugars and caramel colors, oh my!

God, they were such hippie health freaks up here! I could definitely see why Andrea wanted to leave.

I sat on top of the counter, watching what Dominic was doing. He put butter, salt, and pepper in the rice and stirred it, and then split it into two bowls and put the sausage on top. I smiled happily as he handed me the bigger portion. He turned everything off, set the pans in the sink and then grabbed his bowl and sat on the island facing me.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said conversationally.

I swallowed the bite I had just taken and cleared my throat. “What?” I asked, and then took a drink of my juice.

He looked at me seriously, making sure he had my undivided attention. “I’m starting school in January, for the winter quarter.”

My eyes widened. “Wow, that soon?”

That was seriously all I could think of to say.

“I would start now, but…”

I nodded. “No, I think it’s a good thing. Does this mean you’ve officially sent in your resignation to your dad?”

He shrugged. “I think we both knew I wasn’t going to work out there.”

“So…what’re we gonna do in terms of money?” I asked. That was definitely something that had been weighing on my mind since I saw the account had only nine hundred dollars in it last week.

“Well, I talked to my dad, and he wants to keep me on the payroll. He’s going to tell them that I’m doing work from here, and he’s going to send me the check every two weeks.”

I eyed him. “And how do you feel about that? You’re not really one for taking advantage of something, especially when you’re not actually doing the work for it.”

He nodded in agreement. “I know, and I told him that. But he wants us to be financially taken care of while I’m in school and you’re at home.”

I scoffed. “You make it sound like I’m a fat-ass housewife!” I objected, and he gave me a look as if to say, “Well…”

“Do you have any plans for today?” he asked, and I shook my head. “Do you want to come pick out a car with me? I’d kind of need yours and Emma’s opinion before I end up buying a ninety thousand dollar Range Rover.”

I just shook my head. “No, you just want to spend time with me,” I countered.

“Just a little bit. And plus, we’re spending a lot more money than we should on having the rental. We could’ve bought a car.”

* * *

“Touareg.” I said, looking at the absolutely gorgeous car.

“What about the Routan?” he asked.

I shook my head and got into the drivers seat of the silver Touareg. “No, that’s way too soccer-momish.”

“Why do you like this one?”

“Because, it’s pretty.”

He sighed. “Is that it?”

“And, this has a butt warmer and I could listen to my iPod!”

“Em?”

I looked at him.

“It’s fifty-two thousand dollars.”

I just gave him an innocent smile.

“You’re killing me.”

“Nope, not yet. You have to buy the car first.”