She is tired but it's the edge-singing kind and not the absolute, bone tired kind that would make her do something stupid once they both go about their day; her eyes will burn and her mind will feel heavy, but she'll make it. She's real, and she's still here, and she'll be okay.
She presses her lips together but part of her is relieved enough not to argue and anyway, they are similarly stubborn between them. Not worth it. Not when she wants the company anyway, selfishly.
"Shall we review the numbers for the month," she asks dryly, teasing. She could - she has the important ones memorized, because the safest place for them is in her own head - but she knows that's not what he means.
She only bites her lip instead of giving him the satisfaction of yipping like she sometimes does when he surprises her, pulling her thumbnail across his skin by way of retaliation, but that's where she drops it. She's looking at the crescent-shaped bruise on her knuckle. She's thinking about family.
"They're fantastic," she says, and the truth of it is that they've all accepted her and she's accepted them, and that doesn't mean everything has been smooth, but it doesn't mean she needs it to be. It's the right kind of in-fighting, sharp and sudden and resolved in the next moment instead of carrying over, gruff and chafing but not serious enough to hold onto. Arthur scares her, not for herself; Michael amuses her, not always intentionally; she and Polly bicker like dogs with a fence between them and yet turn as a single unit on anyone attempting to intervene; she and Ada have the most in common and the least to do with one another.
They're fantastic. "Realized I'm not going anywhere, I think, and decided to go ahead and accept that more or less. It's everyone else still having trouble with that notion. They say you've odd taste."
"And what they mean by that is that they're jealous," he says, mildly- but he's smiling, because he can hear how genuinely she meant that. It warms him right up, to notice and to hear how close she's become to them.
It's two of the most important things in his life, coming together peacefully. It lets him rest easy at night, makes both his business and personal life so much better.
"They wouldn't know what to do with a woman like you."
She takes refuge in that knowledge for a moment, letting her eyes fall halfway closed and breathing deeply until the smell of the liquor stings her nose.
Then her lips quirk. "Am I to assume that means you think you do, Mr. Shelby?"
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no subject
She presses her lips together but part of her is relieved enough not to argue and anyway, they are similarly stubborn between them. Not worth it. Not when she wants the company anyway, selfishly.
"Shall we review the numbers for the month," she asks dryly, teasing. She could - she has the important ones memorized, because the safest place for them is in her own head - but she knows that's not what he means.
no subject
"I don't think so, Miss Ortiz. How about you tell me how my loving family has been treating you lately, eh?"
no subject
"They're fantastic," she says, and the truth of it is that they've all accepted her and she's accepted them, and that doesn't mean everything has been smooth, but it doesn't mean she needs it to be. It's the right kind of in-fighting, sharp and sudden and resolved in the next moment instead of carrying over, gruff and chafing but not serious enough to hold onto. Arthur scares her, not for herself; Michael amuses her, not always intentionally; she and Polly bicker like dogs with a fence between them and yet turn as a single unit on anyone attempting to intervene; she and Ada have the most in common and the least to do with one another.
They're fantastic. "Realized I'm not going anywhere, I think, and decided to go ahead and accept that more or less. It's everyone else still having trouble with that notion. They say you've odd taste."
no subject
It's two of the most important things in his life, coming together peacefully. It lets him rest easy at night, makes both his business and personal life so much better.
"They wouldn't know what to do with a woman like you."
no subject
Then her lips quirk. "Am I to assume that means you think you do, Mr. Shelby?"
no subject
"I think I stand a fair change of figuring it out somewhere along the way," he concedes, leaning to press a kiss to her temple.