Too Much of a Good Thing

James ran his hand through his bed head. The alarm he had specifically set for the day didn’t wake him up and he had to get up in a rush to head to the airport. He was finally going to see Jo after a week. Luckily, he still got to Nashville International Airport with thirty minutes to spare before Jo’s estimated arrival time. He busied himself pouring a packet of sugar in his cup of coffee, stirring it up and waiting for it to cool. He slowly sipped on his coffee and looked at the busy airport. Businessmen and teenage girls anxiously waiting to start their summer vacation occupied the waiting area.

He waited by the terminal that Jo was coming from. He saw the plane had arrived already and saw a few exiting the tunnel. When Jo finally came out, he quickly downed his steaming hot coffee and threw it in the trash nearby.

What a bad decision.

His tongue and throat was burning hot. He had to keep down his cough as he made his way towards his girlfriend. He could feel his face turning red and the heat spreading all across his chest to his stomach.

Shit, shit, shit! He thought.

Jo spotted an uncomfortable looking James. Concerned, she sprinted towards him.

“Oh my God, James, are you OK?” She touched his forehead, which had started to sweat.

Suddenly, James let out the cough he had been holding in. His tongue burned like hell and he managed to croak out “water” before Jo rushed to the coffee stand he was waiting by a few minutes before. She kindly asked for a cup of ice, cold water and the barista gave her one in a flash, seeing how alarmed she looked. Jo ran back to where she left James and handed him the cold water.

Relief was all that James felt. Relieved from seeing Jo’s beautiful face to the rescue and finally cooling off his body.

Jo laughed a little while wiping the sweat on his forehead with a napkin. “What happened? I thought I was going to lose you there for a second.”

James smiled. “Drinking a hot cup of Joe like it’s a shot of tequila is not a good idea.”

“Oh baby,” Jo softly cooed and gave him a hug. “Why’d you do such a thing?”

“I was so excited to see you.” James said sheepishly.

“I missed you so much,” she breathed out the same time she breathed in his scent--one that she had missed too. James kissed the top of her head, holding her tight in the middle of the airport.

They stayed that way for a few more seconds before they were interrupted by giggling girls. They turned to see twin girls with their mom right behind them. Their mom gave them a light push, encouraging them to talk to the hockey player. Their identical smiles proved that they were fans. James crouched down in front of them and urged them to come forward. They simultaneously giggled and the little girl to his right handed him two pieces of paper and a pen for him to sign.

“We’re big fans,” the mom said. “They recently bought your shirt when they went to their first game.”

“Sweet,” James smiled and handed back the papers to the girls.

“Can we take a picture with you?” One of them asked and of course James said yes. They posed in front of him and their mom called out for them to say ‘cheese!’ After one photo, one of the girls tugged on James’ shirt. She motioned for him to get down on her level so she could tell him something. He crouched down again and listened as she cupped her tiny hands around his ear to whisper something.

“Is she your girlfriend?” The little one asked, referring to Jo who was standing on the side. They had no idea how much she was squealing on the inside at the sight of James with children.

James nodded at the question and she whispered one last thing to him. “Can she be in the picture too?”

“Of course! Let me just ask her,” he whispered in return. He got up and walked over to Jo.

“They want you to be in the picture,” James stated.

“They what?” Jo asked in disbelief.

James pointed a thumb in their direction, “They want you to be in the picture.”

“I get that!” She laughed, “But why?”

James shrugged. “Probably thinks you’re pretty.”

Jo blushed before getting dragged to where the two girls were talking.

“Hey guys, this is Jo.” He introduced her to them.

“Hi Jo!” The girls said at the same time.

“Hi,” Jo said shyly. “I heard you two wanted to take another picture?”

“Yeah!” one said.

“We want you and Nealer in the same picture!” The other said.

“Aww, Nealer! How cute!” Jo squealed and got ready to pose with them. Their mom snapped another photo and Jo insisted that she got in the photo as well. James asked a man who was standing by them if he could take a photo of all of them. The mother of the twins could not thank the couple enough for taking their time to sign autographs and take more than one photo with them. James welcomed all three of them and told them that he hoped to see them at the games soon.

As Jo and James walked to his car, Jo could not stop talking about how adorable it was that the twins were Neal fans.

“I wish I had a copy of that photo we took with them,” Jo sighed as she settled in on the passenger seat. “They were so beautiful. Did you see their hair? I wish I had that hair color when I was that age.”

“So you wanted to be a redhead?” James laughed while pulling out of the parking lot.

“Yes!” Jo declared, kicking her legs out in front of her. “Oh God, this is inspiring me so much. What do you think about a children’s collection?”

James touched her knee. “Babe, you have great ideas and I think a children’s collection would be even more great but you haven’t even finished your Pittsburgh project. Baby steps, babe. Baby steps.”

She sighed again. “I know! I just want to do everything especially after that trip to California. I saw so many fashion icons! I even talked to some of them! Do you think they’ll actually contact me? I talked to this one model and he actually wants to work for me and Edith! Can you believe that? A professional male model asked us, not the other way around, if he could work for us!”

James was glad that Jo’s business was doing well like he knew it would be. He continued to listen to her crazy, yet superb, ideas on their way back home. Even as he was unloading her luggage, she kept talking and talking. He loved every minute of it. It was as if nothing was wrong between them a week ago. Things were finally going back to normal and he wanted it to stay that way forever.

“You should go with me to meet up with Paul next month,” Jo kept walking and talking as they walked up the steps. “He’s excited, you know? I can tell. I think he’s happy that he knows there’s something for him even after he’s finished with hockey.”

“Mhm.” Was all James said, pushing her luggage to the side.

Jo made a sour face and then frowned. “Am I talking too much?”

James chuckled. “I’m sorry, babe. I love hearing you talk but…”

“Oh no, there’s a but,” Jo groaned. “What is it? Is there chocolate on my face or something? I knew I shouldn’t have eaten those Reese’s Cups on the plane. Why didn’t you tell me? Oh no, I took a picture with the girls with chocolate on my face!”

James held her by the shoulders and said, “Breathe, Jo. Breathe.”

Jo inhaled and then exhaled. She needed a reminder to breath sometimes.

“I’m sorry,” she said, finally ending her endless rant. “What’s the ‘but’ for?”

James walked away from her, disappearing into the kitchen. Jo stood in the middle of their living room, confused and decided to follow him.

“Just wait out there!” He yelled out, hearing the tiny click of her flats against the wooden floors. Jo wouldn’t have it. She continued to walk towards the kitchen, hoping that curiosity wouldn’t kill the cat.

But it wasn’t a cat.

Behind the island counters was James and in his hand was a cute, tiny pup. Jo squeaked and ran up to the wiggling puppy.

“Jo, meet our new pet.”

“Oh my God, James! He’s so adorable!” Jo said in delight, taking the puppy from his hands.

“It’s a she,” he corrected. “And I figured since I got the dog without waiting for you, I’d let you name her.”

“Stella,” Jo said. “She looks like a Stella to me. So beautiful and precious, isn’t that right Stella?”

“Stella it is!”

The rest of their day was spent talking about California, James’ training, and playing with the newest member of their family. By night time, they spent more time together in the kitchen, cooking a meal together. Their stomachs were full of veggies and salmon but couldn’t help but share a slice of chocolate cake. They watched re-runs of House, M.D. while Jo twirled the heart shaped dog tag hanging from Stella’s collar. She wasn’t mad that he went ahead and bought a dog when they had an agreement that they’d look for one together. She actually found it sweet that during their time apart, he had of getting Stella. On top of that, he did a great job at picking a charming pink collar.

Both couldn’t remember the last time they truly felt at ease at home. The dark cloud looming over them had vanished and the skies were clear again.

-

They made love that night--something they hadn’t done in months.

Laying next to each other in naked bliss with a thin blanket over them (since they had replaced their comforter with it due to the hot temperatures), Jo traced circles on James chest. It was her thing and it comforted him. They usually said nothing after sex but that night was different. I love you’s were exchanged multiple times; so much that it probably would’ve annoyed at least one of them. But it didn’t. They felt like they were so far apart the past few months that it was only deserving that they were able to kiss, touch, and say sweet nothings to one another.

They couldn’t have imagined a more perfect way to end their night than being surrounded by each other’s love. They knew it was the beginning of something better than what they had now.

I want to marry this guy. Jo thought before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

I’m going to marry this girl. James thought with a smile on his face.