Two weeks later and Meredith had moved on to the yearly budget for CRISIS. Their fiscal year ran from September to September, and she liked to have it done by the middle of August. They were a week away from August storming in like a lion, and she knew she couldn't put it off anymore. Deciding what to pay and what to solicit donations for was always a hard decision. Even though Heaven Hill gave them quite a bit of capital to do things with, it was never enough for a nonprofit. Taking care of women and children was expensive. Especially when all of them had needs and some of them had never had adequate medical care. She sighed, throwing her laptop to the coffee table."You okay?" Tyler asked, his eyebrow raised.This should have been a nice Saturday afternoon for them. Addie was taking a nap, and the house was completely still for a few hours. She rubbed at a headache that was beginning to form in the middle of her forehead. "There's never enough money for the things I want to do
Meredith was running around like a chicken with her head cut off. After she'd said yes to Tyler about a mini-vacation for their family and he'd gotten it approved from Liam, she'd started doing things at CRISIS so she could take a few days off. They had decided they would leave after work on Thursday and head down to Gatlinburg that night. They'd have the whole day Friday, the whole day Saturday, and part of the day Sunday for making the trip back."Are you sure I'm not asking too much of you?" Meredith chewed on her bottom lip as she questioned Christine. There was no one she trusted more with this place than her friend. If Christine hadn't loved doing hair so much, she'd ask her to leave the Curly Q and come manage CRISIS, but Meredith knew how much she loved doing hair. It calmed her in a way nothing else could. "You aren't, I promise. For the most part, this place runs itself with the two workers you have on payroll and all the volunteers. If you're going to leave, now is the
Getting up early had never been one of Meredith's strong suits. Tyler was used to it because of his morning workouts with Drew, but Meredith liked to sleep. This morning, however, wasn't one of those mornings. She was up with the sun, getting the three of them ready to hit the road."I don't think I've ever seen you this excited about anything." Tyler laughed as she all but bounced through the house, directing him on which suitcases and bags to take."I am excited. I'm excited to spend a couple of days with my family, knowing that neither one of us are going to be called away for something. Plus, this is our first vacation with our daughter. I can't help it." She shrugged.His excitement matched hers, but he'd had a lot more experience over the years hiding his feelings from others; it was much easier for him. "You ready?" he asked Addie, who lay on the couch, drinking her morning sippy cup of juice.The little girl was sleepy, and they figured she'd be out like a light before
Back in Bowling Green, Travis was cursing up a storm in his cave."What's wrong with you?" Christine asked as she came into the dimly lit room. It had been one of her favorite places since the two of them starting dating, but she hardly ever saw him this agitated."I think we've got a problem," he told her, talking around the lollipop he held between his teeth.She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. "It would be awesome if you could tell me what kind of problem you think we have. Maybe then I could help you through it.""I think Stephanie is bad fuckin' news, and when I say bad fuckin' news…I mean bad fuckin' news."Those words made Christine's stomach drop. "What do you mean?"He sighed. "Babe. I love you." Steele reached in, kissing her on the cheek. "I need you to leave me be while I try to work this out. I don't think she is any threat to you." He emphasized the word."But she could be a threat to Meredith?" she worked out in her head. "Is that what you're no
The air whooshed out of his lungs as she leaned forward and bunched his shorts at his knees, effectively hobbling him from moving. When they'd come out to the patio, this hadn't really even been a blip on his radar, but his dick had gotten hard in .02 seconds."Goddamn, Mer," he breathed out. "What the fuck are you doin'?""If you don't know, then I must be doing it wrong." Her eyes met his, and she gathered her long hair in one hand before she leaned forward and circled the head of his manhood with her mouth.Throwing his head back against the cushioned furniture, he closed his eyes as he gasped deep breaths into his lungs. It had been far too long since they'd taken time to play like this—even the other night at the pool had been somewhat different from the things they'd used to do, because they knew someone else was watching Addie. This was different, this was a side of his wife he hadn't seen in a long time, and if he was honest, he'd missed it. Tangling his fingers in her ha
They were both moving decidedly slower than normal the next morning, but they exchanged secret smiles and glances with one another—something they hadn't been able to do in a while. "Did you sleep well?" Meredith asked him as she poured some cereal for Addie.Addie wasn't a morning person, so they always put in extra time for her to have time to wake up. Normally by the time she'd eaten her breakfast and gotten dressed and had her hair done, she was good to go. She wasn't one of those children who could hop out of bed and be in a great mood the rest of the day if they immediately left to run errands. "Better than I have in a long time." He grinned over his ever-present skull coffee mug at her.They were only in their second day of their vacation, but she was excited that they'd decided to come on it. She truly hadn't realized how stressed she was at home. There was no tension in her neck, no headache waiting to come on. This was exactly what she had needed. "Me too." She smile
"Welcome back from vacay," Christine greeted Meredith with a huge hug as she walked into CRISIS a few days later."Thanks." She smiled ruefully. She already wished she was right back there. "Go ahead and fill me in. What have I missed?""Nothing huge. We didn't really have any excitement while you were gone. We took in a couple of girls, a couple of girls left. Same old, same old."There was something that nagged at the back of Meredith's mind. Nobody had mentioned Stephanie to her, there hadn't even been a text from Travis when she'd turned her phone on and started to wade through the things she'd ignored while on vacation. "What about Stephanie?""She packed her stuff and left." The way Christine said it was no-nonsense. She didn't need to tell Meredith that the girl had made one hell of a scene and threatened everyone from the Pope to the President of the United States. "There was no issue with her?" She wasn't sure if she believed that or not, there was something in the
First day of senior year and Mandy was ready for it to be over. "Are you two even gonna walk in with us?" she questioned Drew and Dalton. She and Charity had been trying to walk in for more than fifteen minutes. It was now fifteen minutes before the bell would ring signaling the pep rally to welcome them back to school."I ain't in a hurry," Drew told her. "We're seniors; we can do what we want."The two girls exchanged a look. That attitude was going to get them nowhere but in detention, and they both knew it. Charity grabbed her stuff out of the front of Drew's truck and glanced at Mandy. "I don't know about you, but I want to start this year off on a good foot. B's my homeroom teacher, and I don't know about any of you all, but I don't wanna be pissin' off Mrs. Stone. Let's go." She grabbed hold of Mandy's arm and dragged her toward one of the entrances."I don't know why they have to act like they're the hottest things at this school. I miss when they didn't think so highly o