Marcie and Leo Ch. 094

By the time we finished our morning snog-fest, we were probably a little late going next door to Aubrey's. You would never tell the way that she was busy at the grill warming up a cast iron pan and preparing breakfast. When Aubrey and Wes married, she thanked us by treating us to breakfast at a diner. This was the first time I ever experienced Aubrey's cooking. She had some leftover brisket from the day before as well as a carton of eggs and some large flour tortillas.

"Are you two lovebirds up for breakfast burritos?" she asked.

I smiled before I looked at Marcie. She was dressed in a white sleeveless top with a pair of jean shorts and her sandals. She didn't have time to do her hair in anything special, so she just put it up in a ponytail. I was wearing a pair of athletic shorts with a black tank top and flip flops. Aubrey was wearing a pink sleeveless top and blue jean short. As she was prepping the eggs, we instantly started helping her do things to assist in the cooking process. It was amazing to see Aubrey in this light. During Aubrey's and my relationship, she never showed any inkling of cooking ability. To be fair though, I was never invited to have meals with her without Missy around either. Wes was nowhere to be found.

"He always goes to church with his family on Sundays," Aubrey volunteered before I had a chance to ask.

Part of my boundary schtick was not thinking about what employees do on their off time. In my mind, I only concerned myself with them during working hours. Aubrey had only recently become an exception because I was only involved with her off work with Missy prior to starting my relationship with Marcie. Even though she was my assistant, I stayed out of her life to an extent. That's why I rarely knew about who she was dating or any other facets of her life other than those things Missy chose to share with me. The fact Aubrey and I grew closer during the aftermath of Missy's death and everything after was different. It had challenges because of my own desire to keep work and personal separate.

Matt, my partner and the CEO of our company, was different only because he was my best friend since we were kids. We would talk about life and what was on our minds and such often before I married Missy. Matt was a serial dater until he met Shannon and proposed. Still, we also gave each other space. This was especially true when Missy started developing her symptoms until her passing and after that as well. It wasn't the fact we grew apart or anything. It was just Matt knew my tendencies to try to handle things on my own.

I have many different tendencies that were not public knowledge to anyone outside my small circle. One of them was my tendency not to be a burden on people. Growing up, I had always strived to be self-sufficient. Meeting Missy and marrying her started to change that, but we started working together to do the best we could to make sure we were successful. It was one reason when Matt pitched the idea of the company that she encouraged me to do it. As we started gaining success, it was easy to have the house Aubrey currently owns custom built for Missy. It also became somewhat of a mission to help the ones we grew up with and friends start their own businesses as well in the town we lived in. The flower shop, Ben's garage, Pierre's jewelry store were all projects we helped fund to get started to help our friends. We kept quiet about it because we never sought to become public figures or gain publicity by doing it.

Still, that was challenged when Missy came down with breast cancer. Because of my drive to succeed to give us a better life, Missy initially didn't tell me about the diagnosis. It wasn't until my therapist convinced her that I needed to know that she told me. By then, the cancer was aggressive, and she was already in Stage 3. I stopped going to the office and was totally there for Missy. This was also the time Marcie's husband was battling his lung cancer as well. Marcie and I supported each other as friends while our spouses battled their illnesses. We tried everything we could before both our spouses passed. While I went inside my own prison in my home after burying Missy, Marcie kept visiting me daily even during Mitchell's last days. After his passing, she still made it a point to visit me until the fateful day we started getting involved.

It was as I looked over the pool while the girls were chatting that I thought about all that. I looked at my wife and my assistant as they were chatting away and smiled. Marcie and Aubrey seem to have hit it off once Marcie and I started dating. Aubrey even tended to refer to Marcie by the nicknames I called her on the phone when we started getting serious. It was as if Aubrey knew how much I needed Marcie even if I didn't. Missy was similar. I found out while Marcie and I dated that Missy told Marcie about some of my tendencies as well as some of our kinks. Again, it was like Missy was preparing Marcie to be mine. I never thought about how much Missy shared certain aspects of our relationship with Aubrey. To be honest, I never had the thought to ask. It was also kind of the way I was unsure how much Marcie shared with Aubrey also.

Still, as the girls and I enjoyed breakfast by the pool, I didn't ponder as much about it. I enjoyed spending time with my girl and my friend. Even when Wes arrived still dressed in his suit from church, I was having a good time just hanging out. As he went into the house to change and the girls started working on his food, I just sat there observing and silently being thankful for how my life had improved. It's not often I appreciate what has happened over the last few years. The thing is that when you have the important folks in your life, you get so concerned with taking care of them that you don't realize how much being with them takes care of you in the process.

"Penny for your thoughts, Leo?" Marcie asked as she sat next to me on the lounger.

I held my baby tightly against me before kissing her on the forehead.

'I love you, Marcie," I whispered.

I sat there for a moment holding my girl while our friends were talking about something. Somewhere out there, I could feel Missy's eyes on me and her smile warming me.