How She Came Home

Chapter Three

The weekend rolled around and after her sunrise workout in the home gym in her converted basement, Becca was up in her office, sitting at her desk with a pitcher of kombucha, the windows open to the cool day as a gentle breeze flowed inside. 

The tartness of the kombucha made her grimace for a moment as she took a sip, straightening up in her chair as she scrolled through the emails that had filtered all the way to the top of the chain, replying to the important ones and flagging the rest for later.

Calling Alice, Becca climbed to her feet with her AirPods in ear and glass in hand, rattling off a list of instructions to her assistant as she stretched her legs and made the trip down three flights of stairs to fetch a mid-morning snack. 

Taking a paring knife, Becca quickly cut a pear into even slices, and stepped out onto the back patio, sunshine filtering down on her as she took a seat on a chair and basked in the sound of birdsong, her plants and the trees rustling in the wind.

"Make sure that dinner is booked for Monday night," Becca said, taking a sip of her drink, "I want that deal closed by the end of next week at the latest . Two hours should be long enough for three courses and a few drinks to talk it over."

"Of course, Miss Armstrong."

"And we need-- hang on, someone's calling."

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Becca's stomach dropped at the sight of Freen's name on the screen, subconsciously sitting up a little straighter, shifting nervously in her seat.

"I'll call you back, I need to take this."

"Of course, ma'am."

Becca barely waited for her reply before she pushed the button to accept Freen's call, cutting Alice off as her heart fluttered in her chest. 

She didn't have time to prepare herself before Freen's voice came through on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Freen," Becca said, smiling as she set her glass down on the circular iron table.

"Are you busy?"

"No. No, I'm not busy."

With a quiet laugh, the sound making Becca's skin prickle as she imagined the exact expression on her face, Freen slowly replied. 

"Well... how about later? Are you free then too?"

"Later?" Becca echoed, her eyebrows rising. "I- yeah, I'm free later. Why?"

"Have you ever been to the carnival down by the bay?"

Choking on a laugh at the thought of going somewhere so time-consuming, Becca pressed her lips together as she tried to bite back a smile. Picking up one of her pear slices, she took a bite, eyes creasing at the corners with amusement.

"Actually, no, I haven't. I didn't even know there was a carnival down by the bay."

"Oh, yeah, it's been there for decades. It looks a bit dodgy but it's... fun. Do you- do you want to go? With me? Tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Yeah. I mean, I got tickets to the baseball game next Saturday so I was going to check if you're free then too, but then I was thinking and I didn't really want to spend a whole week not seeing you, you know?" 

She paused and then let out an embarrassed laugh. "That didn't sound that silly in my head."

Softening, Becca couldn't hide her smile this time, her eyes bright with eagerness as sunlight dappled her face through the leaves of the overhanging trees.