“Car service. I took a private plane to Chicago, and I’ll use the same one to get back to San Jose in, oh, about two hours. I really have to go. I’m just about to walk into my meeting.”

“Okay. When will you be back here?”

“Sometime in the afternoon tomorrow. I don’t have an exact time.”

“A private jet, huh?”

“You want me home tomorrow, or in a couple of days when I can get a flight?”

Totally worth the money. “Tomorrow.”

“I have to go. I have a lot of customers who’ve preordered the next installment for Knight’s Revenge and I don’t want to have to move the release date.”

“You made Knight’s Revenge III? That’s my favorite game.”

“Well, lucky you, I have a couple advanced copies. I’ll give you one when I get home.”

“You know, I could have come with you and acted as your lawyer to make them stick to the contract.”

“That’s sweet, but you aren’t my lawyer.”

“What am I, then?”

“The love of my life.”

He couldn’t remember ever smiling that big, but Sarah’s words made him so damn happy. “That’s my new favorite job. I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” It seemed like forever.

“I love you, too. Bye.”

He hung up and stared at the wrecked bed and couldn’t help the immediate smile that spread across his lips. He remembered their night in the tub under the stars. One of those things she’d never done. Immediately he thought of something else he could do to make her smile and let her know how much he missed her.

He rolled out of bed, pulled on a pair of faded jeans, and headed down to his office. He opened his laptop, wished he’d stopped in the kitchen for a cup of coffee first, but pulled up the website he needed, found the phone number, and dialed.

“Hi. This is Luke Thompson. I’d like to place an order for my girlfriend.” It felt good to do this for her. Something nice. Something unexpected. Something that she’d love and would make her smile.

Something he hoped would make her come home sooner.

* * *

Sarah landed in San Jose, ordered an Uber, and headed straight for her office. She’d set everything right in Chicago. The nerd, whose creativity got the better of his judgment, was taken off her project, the added scenes were deleted, and the company assured her the work would still be completed on time. She’d left feeling like she’d accomplished one item on her never-ending to-do list, but added hiring her own team to debug the games to the list.

She arrived at her office to a crowd of cheering, smiling faces, all happy to see her and take a moment to celebrate the completion of the Knox Project.

Abby bumped shoulders with her. “You did it. You finished it. And you landed one of the most eligible bachelors in the state.” Abby’s smile went megawatt.

“It just happened.” It seemed unbelievable, yet so meant to be.