The Stacks

Chapter 24: Speechless

Song: "Speechless" by Rachel Platten

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I stretched and groaned. "I hate Mondays," I grumbled.

Harry rolled over and held me, burying his face into my neck. "Mmmm, it's not Monday, but it feels like one. And I hate it too because I had such a great weekend with you."

"I'm going to petition for a four-day weekend, no a five-day weekend, every week. Or at least once a month," I said, trying to pull away from Harry's embrace.

"Noooo," he murmured. "Five more minutes."

How could I resist? I burrowed back into Harry's arms and I reset my alarm for half-hour later. I could get by without a shower today. But when my alarm went off, I knew I had to get ready and be speedy about it. I grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom.

"Hey!" Harry yelled with a chuckle in his voice. "What are you doing?"

"Getting dressed, what does it look like?" I yelled back.

"Why did you go into the bathroom?"

"Because I'm getting dressed," I repeated. I knew what he was getting at - that I didn't need to feel shy around him since we had already been naked together. But it still felt weird to just show it all off when we weren't in that situation. I figured it would only be a matter of time, however, until I felt comfortable doing just about anything in front of Harry. Except maybe using the bathroom. I don't think I could ever handle that.

Harry drove me to work, even though it was only a few blocks away. He said he wanted to get up and get going anyway. I opened the door of his Subaru to get out and he said, "Can I meet you for lunch?"

I gave him a questioning glance. "Maybe we shouldn't spend so much time together - I'd hate to have you getting sick of me before Christmas."

"Ha!" He barked in laughter. "I could never get sick of you. But if you're getting tired of me hanging around-"

"Never!" I interrupted him, followed by a quick kiss. "Come back at 12:30."

He grinned and drove away only after watching me enter the building. "Good morning, Gabby," I greeted my boss as I do every day.

She surprised me by saying, "Someone looks happy this morning."

I smiled shyly. I hadn't told her about reuniting with Harry the previous week because it was so profoundly wonderful that I didn't want to share it just yet. I mean, of course I told Beth and she had a happy conniption, but I wasn't comfortable walking around telling everyone, "Harry and I are in love and we had sex and it was my first time and...." No, I just needed to process it all and I'm sure Gabby noticed but she hadn't said anything until now.

"Yeah," I admitted. "I'm very happy. Harry and I are...together. And we spent the weekend together."

"Ahhh, I see," she said and gave me a genuine smile.

I figured I owed her a little further explanation since she had given me advice. "When he finally came to talk to me, he told me he was afraid because he was falling for me and didn't want to get hurt again."

"And now he's not afraid anymore?" She asked.

"I'm sure he is. I am, too, to be honest. But that's not going to stop either of us at this point. Love always involves some level of risk, doesn't it?"

She nodded thoughtfully. "That it does." She purposely changed her tone and said, "Now get a move on with the book return. It'll take you all day at this rate."