“I know. But thank you for indulging me.” Carmen shot her a cheeky smile.
“Oh, trust me, the pleasure was all mine.”
Two minutes later, they were rushing around the house, showering, packing the last items into their suitcases, and skipping coffee because there definitely wasn’t time for that. Since moving in with Carmen, Ash had become the master of their morning routine, timing their coffee-making to perfection to fit with their leaving times—but not on days when Carmen ambushed her with morning sex. Carmen knew Ash wasn’t ever going to complain, though, and she grinned at the thought.
Finally, they were out the door into the waiting cab. The ride out to Heathrow was relatively quick, and soon they were at the check-in desk.
“And you’re flying to Vancouver today, yes?” the clerk asked as they handed over their passports.
“Yes!” Carmen said excitedly, and beside her Ash chuckled.
The check-in clerk, a young woman with flawless make-up and beautiful blonde hair, smiled at Carmen. She finished weighing and tagging their cases and handed back their passports. “Have a great time.”
“Thank you!”
“You,” Ash said as they walked away from the desk, “are being very cute right now.”
“Am I?”
“You are. You’re like a kid on Christmas Day.”
Carmen laughed and hugged Ash to her. “Well, I can’t help it. This is so exciting!”
Ash kissed her. “It is. I’m so happy we’re doing this.”
“Me too. Now, as you have left us plenty of time until boarding, of course”—Ash snorted with laughter—“that means I have time for a nice look in the shops once we’re through security.”
When Ash hung her head in her hands, Carmen guffawed.
They passed through security, then found a brasserie to have lunch. It wasn’t until they sat down and arranged their hand luggage items near their feet that Ash asked the question Carmen had been anticipating ever since they’d left the house.
“Where’s your laptop case?” Ash frowned deeply. “Have we left it somewhere?”
Before she could launch into full panic mode, Carmen placed a hand on her arm and gave her a warm smile. “Calm down. It’s at home. Deliberately.”
Ash stared at her. “Seriously?”
Although Carmen had done well to restructure her business, she still pulled some rather long hours two or three days a week. It was starting to ease, however, now that she’d hired not one but two more assistants, allowing her to enjoy her new home life a tad more. Ash had moved in about three months ago, and they were definitely still in their honeymoon phase. Although, Carmen thought, that hadn’t worn off since Tamsyn and Maggie’s wedding, and she honestly couldn’t see it doing so for a long time yet. If ever.
“Yes, seriously.” Carmen leaned forward and took Ash’s hand. “This is our first big trip together. I didn’t want any interruptions. So I had a long chat with myself and my three assistants and decided that this vacation is really going to be just that. A vacation.”
“And how long did you hyperventilate after making that decision?” Ash’s eyes twinkled.
“Oh, about three hours.”
Ash laughed and tugged her closer for a quick kiss across the table. “You’re amazing, and I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Their hotel in Vancouver was a delight. Only two blocks from the waterfront, it wasn’t cheap, but they’d decided they could splurge for their three nights there.
Carmen rolled over to Ash’s side of the huge bed and kissed her good morning.
“How did you sleep?”
Ash blinked a couple of times. “That is still being assessed. You?”
Carmen laughed and stretched. “I slept great. Want some coffee?”
The promise of coffee seemed to do wonders for Ash’s state of consciousness, and she was quickly up and wrapped in one of the hotel’s complimentary robes. While they sipped their coffees, they took the time to send some messages home, having promised a plethora of people that they would keep them up to date on their adventures. Given it was late afternoon in the UK and still school holidays, they weren’t surprised when various responses pinged back almost instantly.
Carmen read hers and smiled, her heart expanding with every moment. “Felicity says hello and says that Peter is whisking her off to the south of France next week to celebrate their six-month anniversary.”
“I like that man.”
“I do too. He’s good for her.”
Ash snorted as she read something on her phone. “Message from Damian. He says you’re not working hard enough to break me of my terrible travel habits if we had nearly three hours to kill at Heathrow before boarding.”
Carmen laughed. “Did you tell him I engineered it that way so I could go shopping?”
Ash’s expression brightened. “No! But I should. This. Time. Not. My. Fault,” she mumbled as she tapped.
Carmen swallowed back a ball of emotion at her next message. “The next one’s from Tristan.”
Ash’s looked up. “Yeah?”
Carmen took a breath before reading it aloud. “Mother’s invited both of us to Christmas lunch this year! Says it’s about time she got to know the man I love. I nearly died! Seems like you being with Ash has softened the old girl a bit. Thank you, thank you, thank you for deciding to come out to her too.”
Ash stared at her. “She’s invited Jean-Pierre? Seriously?”
Carmen sucked in a breath, her eyes dampening. “It appears so.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. She’s really getting there, isn’t she?”
“I think so. I know it’s hard for her, but I’m so glad she’s finally making the effort.” She wiped at her eyes.
Coming out to her parents had been mildly scary. She’d briefly considered never doing so, thinking that perhaps it would make for an easier life. But she knew that would be unfair to Ash. When her mother had seemed sad that, once again, Tristan had declined Christmas lunch because he wanted to be with Jean-Pierre instead, Carmen had taken that as her cue. One Sunday she had told her parents about Ash, and her mother had taken the news calmly and matter-of-factly. Carmen didn’t know
