Grace Under Pressure

Chapter Eight

The next morning I woke up alone. I reached over and felt Perry's side of the bed. It was cold. He'd obviously been up for a while and had been nice enough to let me have a bit of a lay-in. Getting out of bed, I put on my clothes from the night before and made my way out into the living room. Perry was seated on the couch watching ESPN. I couldn't see or hear Jack and Jennifer anywhere in the apartment which was odd. If those kids were around and awake you could bet that they were making noise.

"Where are the little people," I asked as I took a seat beside Perry and cuddled into his side.

"Well, if their never-ending commercials are any indication, I'd say on the TLC network," Perry quipped as he wrapped his arm around me.

"Perry, where are your children?" I tried the direct approach.

Perry laughed and leaned down to kiss me. "Jordan picked them up early because she wanted to take them to breakfast with the fire-breathing dragon that she calls a mother. It's just you and me until Monday."

That did not freak me out as much as it would have the previous day. "So what are we going to do," I asked.

"It's almost noon," Perry glanced at the clock on the cable box. "You want to go and grab lunch and catch a movie?"

"I'd love to." I smiled and nodded.

We ended up getting lunch at Perry's favorite hole in the wall sports pub where everyone knew him and the burgers were huge and delicious and in no way good for you. Three different kinds of cheese, bacon, a deep-fried onion ring, and a fried egg topped with red and green peppers sounds like a horrible combination but one I took a bite I knew that I had found my new PMS comfort food.

After lunch, we headed to the nearby $2.00 cinema and caught the 2 pm showing of the Simon Peg/Nick Frost film 'Paul.' The adult comedy about a runaway stoner alien was worlds away from 'The Lion King.'

After the film, I convinced Perry to talk a walk in the park AND visit my favorite vintage t-shirt shop with me. Night was falling when we finally ended our outing and got back in Perry's car.

"I was thinking," Perry said as he started the car's engine. "Why don't we stop by your place so you can pack a bag?"

I turned to him and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Perry ran a nervous hand over his mouth. "I don't have the kids again until Friday night. I was thinking you could spend the next week with me. This way we can spend time together outside of work."

Perry was essentially telling me that he wanted to live with him without actually saying the words. I knew how men operated. I wasn't exactly a blushing virgin. When the week was up, he'd tell me that he wanted to spend quality time with me and the kids to get me to stay the weekend. From there, he would come up with excuse after excuse to keep me from going home. Eventually, he'd get around to asking me to live with him...probably when his closet was already half full of my clothes. I realized there was really only one reason why Perry would want to live with a woman that he had never slept with.

"Perry, love," I tried to keep my tone even and devoid of all anxiety "are you already in love with me?" I turned to look at him.

Perry's hand froze on the gear shaft. "Baby, I've been in love with you since your first week at the hospital." He wasn't looking at me when he made his admission. He only turned his gaze away from the steering wheel to look in my eyes when he had finished speaking.

I was almost positive of my feelings for him but wasn't ready to vocalize them. Instead, I leaned over and kissed him. "Let's swing by my place," I agreed.