Ride (Reposted)

June 2014

It had already been a week living fulltime with Jamie and Jordie and she already couldn't wait to get into the house. From dealing with Jordie walking around the house in his underwear (not that she didn't enjoy the sight, she didn't tell Jamie that) to cleaning up after the both of them Emily was exactly what you would call over it. Jamie was never this messy whenever he stayed at her old apartment. The last thing she wanted to do was come home from work was to clean up after the two of them.

After a particularly bad day that started with spilt coffee and a flat tire, she just wanted to go home and enjoy an ice cold beer on the balcony looking over the city skyline. She came home to find that her spot had been taken by someone else, so she had to park in visitors parking. Her feet hurt from heels, so she walked to the elevator barefoot, that was a mistake stepping on glass and cutting her foot, praying that the elevator wasn't broken she pressed the up button, and she was glad she didn't have to walk up 15 flights of stairs. Limping into the apartment she found it empty, and clean. Gingerly walking into their bathroom she pulled out the first aid kit and sat on the edge of the bathtub, cleaning her foot.

She managed to get the glass out and bandaged before she heard one of the boys walk in and exclaim "holy hell!"

It turned out to be both Jamie and Jordie, she left bloody footprints and it wasn't something they expected. Both boys poked their head into the bathroom and she pouted, stating she stepped on glass.

"Why weren't you wearing your shoes?" Jordie asked sarcastically.

"Because 5 inch heels hurt like a bitch after a full day in them. I have no idea why the cleaners didn't catch the glass." She snapped at him.

"Whoa." Jordie grimaced.

"I'm sorry, it's just that it's been such a long day and I'm in a really bad mood." Emily bent over, putting her face in her hands.

"I'll clean up the blood, you just go change out of your work clothes." Jamie assured her, rubbing her back.

In this case it was always Jordie who was the sympathetic, but he was looking a little pink from being on the golf course and probably just wanted to keep her happy. Knowing she can be a terror at times. Hobbling into their bedroom she slid on a pair of jean shorts and a clean tank top, instantly feeling much better. Jamie came in a short moment later and took his shirt off, and that's when she noticed the nice little piece of art on his arm covered in plastic. It wasn't little, it took up his entire upper arm, wrapped around his tattoo of his last name that was already there, as well as the shorter hair he had been promising for months. What a difference a hair cut made. It made him look more his age, and much more mature.

"What is that on your arm?!" She jumped at him as he went to lay down on the bed.

"I didn't go golfing today." He shrugged.

"No shit. A scary grave yard? That's scary." She grabbed his arm, observing it.

"You don't like it?"

"I love it. And your hair looks good too." She curled herself around his arm and kissed his neck.

"I got it all done in one sitting too." He said proudly.

" Four for you, Glenn Coco. You go, Glenn Coco..." she said dryly, resulting in him pushing her over.

"Smart ass. Now tell me about your day."

***

He hated when she had bad days at work. She would always come home crabby and take it out on him. He knew she was having one when she spilled her coffee down the front of her before she even got out the door. Jamie had made sure the house was spotless before him and Jordie left so she wouldn't freak out about having to clean up after them again. Jess had come over so the two of them were on the balcony, enjoying the hot Texas evening and a bottle of wine.

"What did she think about that piece on your arm?" Jordie asked as they put baseball on.

"She likes it. I didn't tell her the plans for the rest of it though." Jamie laughed.

"You're going to be bald by the time your 34 and she's going to be grey by 29 the way to two keep each other going."

"She won't let grey hairs happen. Balding on the other side? If Getzlaf can do it anyone can." Jamie shrugged, causing Jordie to spit out his beer in laughter.

***

Sitting in a meeting with the contractor she heard Jamie huff behind her, clearly bored. She wanted him to have some say into what was going into the house, how it was going to look. He left a lot of decisions up to her, including the really big ones that she wish he'd put his input on. Or even the 'man cave', which would show case his jerseys and plaques. Not only was she designing a house, she was helping Tyler with his much more minor renovations and furnishings of his house. She was also still very much in charge of how every Fossil store across the globe looked like and she had taken on the project of helping in the designing and merchandising the new Michael Kors flagship store in New York. She had a lot on her plate. Jamie had very little on his plate. She trusted his taste and decisions. She knew she wouldn't come home to find half the house spray painted with graffiti.

"Why can't you just put in a little input." She told Jamie as they left the work site.

"Because your doing a pretty fantastic job of doing so yourself." He shrugged.

"Jamie. I don't have time to be constantly going to the house to make sure that everything is going okay. I can't just leave work every time the contractor says 'Jamie told me to call you' 20 times a day, it's your project too."

"You are a perfectionist."

"And?" She turned to look at him.

"I know how fucking particular you are." He groaned.

"I'm not that particular." She defended herself.

"You refold the laundry after I fucking do it. You reorganized the entire fucking fridge when you moved in. Along with the pantry. Heaven forbid I make fucking decision and you don't like it. It would be the end of the fucking world."

"Jesus Jamie watch the f-bombs." She warned, "it's our house. OURS. If I wanted to build my own dream house I would have done so already. With out you. I can't do this by myself."

"I won't stop fucking swearing. Like I said, your doing a pretty fine fucking job all on your fucking own." He walked to the other side of his truck without even opening the door for her like normally would do.

"Jamie. Seriously?" She threw her hands up in frustration.

The ride back to the apartment was quiet. She sat there with her sunglasses on staring out the window. She didn't even speak to him in the elevator or when they got in. She closed the door in his face, took off her shoes and blazer and crawled into bed.

***

Jamie waited a couple of hours before he really started to feel bad. He knocked on their door before entering, knowing that if she didn't say anything she was either still pissed or she was asleep.

He found her with her back to the door, still in the black dress she had gone to work in. She was sound to sleep. He gave her a light shake and a kiss on the shoulder, seemingly rousing her.

"I'm still mad at you." She groaned, rolling over, her hair in every direction.

"That's fine. I was a dick. Wash your make up off and take that dress off." He made sure she stayed awake.

"Mmfine." She lazily got up and sauntered into the bathroom, emerging moments later with a fresh face, how he liked her.

Watching her struggle with her zipper he got up and unzipped it for her, brushing then baby hairs out of the way so they wouldn't get pulled.

"I'm sorry." He kissed the back of her head.

"I shouldn't have to treat you like one of my staff to get your help." She said quietly, shrugging the dress off of her shoulders.

"I know. But when you get on a mission there's no changing your course." He massaged her shoulders.

"This is true." She laughed. "But your input would be nice."

"And there are those exact words that started it all." He gave out a quiet laugh, pressing his forehead to the back of her head.

"I'm pretty sure I said 'why can't you put in just a little bit of input' and you got grouchy." She turned around and looked up at him.

"Grouchy eh?" He wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Some would say even snippy." She laughed as he rocked back and forth.

"Now that's pushing it. You may be small but you sure are scary."

"Short yes. My ass says otherwise about being small. 100% scary."

"Its a good thing I like your big ass." He reached down and grabbed it with both hands, lifting her up and wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Good cause you'd be paying for my liposuction.

Notes

Please note that this will be the last "flashback" chapter, everyone from here on out will be ramping up to the wedding! :) xoxo