*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter they were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much*
The next morning the woman that helped to decorate my penthouse arrived just after Journey and I had breakfast together so that we could get started on Zoey's room. The lady from Child Protective Services gave us 15 days to have Zoey's room together before she came to investigate that my penthouse was a safe living environment for Zoey before Journey could get her back. I knew that time was limited but my interior designer could put something together faster than most. "Good morning, Mr. Ambrose," says Natalia Ricci one of the best interior designers in New York City.
"Good morning," I say greeting her with a handshake. "Natalia, I would like for you to meet my girlfriend Journey."
"It's nice to meet you," she says shaking Journey's hand.
"Nice to meet you too," responds Journey with a tight smile she lets go of her hand quicker than I expected.
"So what are we working on, Darling?" Natalia asks me. "Have you decided to redesign your entire penthouse because I have a few ideas in mind? I would love to show them to you and get your feedback. There's so much we could do with your kitchen and your living room. I even have some ideas about what could be done with your bedroom," she smiles. "Talk to me, Darling."
"Actually," I say, "I was thinking more of doing a room for a little girl," I explain.
"You're going to be a father?" she asks.
"Journey has a daughter that is 3 years old that will be moving in with us. We wanted to decorate her room. I thought that you would be able to help us out."
"Of course," she smiles. "I specialize in decorating little girl bedrooms. There are so many options out there. There are so many ideas that you can use."
"The only thing is we need the room to be done in 15 days," I say.
"That's kind of tight but I am sure once we get an idea of what to do we can get everything ordered and the room will be finished in no time. Show me the room," she says.
"Okay," I say as Journey takes my hand interlocking our fingers together as we lead Natalia to the bedroom I have chosen for Zoey. "Here it is," I say opening the door to the bedroom that only has one twin bed in the middle of the room everything else is unfinished. The room is larger than I remember with a walk in closet and a bathroom attached. "What do you think?" I ask.
"What kind of things is she into?" she asks. "What does she enjoy?"
"Princesses," says Journey. "I haven't had her for a while but I remember that she was into Princesses."
"Interesting," she says, "she's three years old?" she asks.
"She will be in a few weeks," says Journey.
"Wonderful, I know a lot of little girls are into the Disney Princesses and so forth but as a little girl a lot of them love make believe. Most little girls love to dress up like their favorite princesses, a ballerina, they enjoy unicorns and fairies. They enjoy pretend. What if we did this room as a make believe theme?" she asks.
"That actually sounds pretty cool," says Journey with a smile as I wrap my arm around her waist as we watch Natalia walk around the room.
"Wonderful," she says, "this is what I am thinking all white dressers. I wouldn't pain the room pink that's too cliché but a soft mint green or a light teal would work out perfectly maybe even keep the walls white and stick gold dots on the walls. I think I like the room being white, we could make clouds above her bed and we could get a canopy to go over the bed with tulle to surround her as she sleeps. And with the clouds we could have gold stars hanging down past the clouds. We could paint the dressers a light teal to give the room some color. I'm not a fan of carpet but I think we could put down a white rug. Then over here," she says, "could be the dress up area with all types of dress up outfits from princesses to ballerinas and fairies. We could build shelves for books and stuffed animals. We could also design a little fairy house for the fairies to sleep in. I'm thinking fairy wings on the wall and she would have her own little reading section. We need unicorns in the room, tea party sets on a table in the middle of the room. Everything that a little girl makes believe will be represented in this room," she says, "what do you think?"
"I think it's amazing," I answer. "What do you think, Journey?"
"I love the idea of a make believe bedroom. I think that Zoey will love it," she says with a smile. "But can it all be done in 15 days?"
"Of course," says Natalia, "we will just pick out some furniture, rugs and so on then once it is in we will get to work on the bedroom. I can have this done within 2 weeks the timing is a little tight but it isn't impossible."
"And we can help you as much as we are able to," I offer.
"Wonderful," she says, "so let's go pick out some furniture for the bedroom and some decorations then we will be one step closer to getting this room together."
"Okay," says Journey as we walk out to my kitchen table with Natalia where we spend the afternoon looking at furniture for Zoey's room and picking out decorations for her room. Natalia quickly orders our decisions and luckily most things can be delivered within a week or so. Journey and I decided that in the mean time we would work on decorating the walls and I would put in the shelves for the walls so that we could limit the work Natalia would have to do. "Thank-you so much," says Journey more welcoming to Natalia than she was earlier in the day when they first met.
"You're welcome, your daughter is going to love her new bedroom."
"I hope so," says Journey with a smile. "It is every little girl's dream."
"Most," she says with a smile. "Once everything is delivered please give me a call and we will set the room up together."
"Definitely," I say with a smile. "Thank-you, Natalia."
"You're welcome," she says with a smile before she shakes my hand. "If you ever decide you want to redecorate your living room or your kitchen please let me know like I said I have some ideas."
"I think it's all right for now," I say with a smile, "until I have a big life change this will work."
"A big life change?" she asks looking at Journey and then back at me. "I understand. I will be in touch," she smiles. "Journey, it was very nice meeting you."
"You too," says Journey before we say our final goodbyes before Natalia walks out of the apartment onto the elevator.
"What do you think?" I ask as we make our way to the living room. "Do you like the idea?"
"I love it. I'm sure it is expensive. I would have been fine with paining her room pink and adding some toys to the room and clothes. That's all she really needs."
"I know but I think she deserves a dream bedroom," I say with a smile. "I want her to feel comfortable and welcome here."
"I appreciate that but you're so organized, you live your life a certain way. Everything in your home is so polished and so many breakable items. It's not really built for a 3 year old," she says.
"So I will have a few toys around my living room. I have been in this penthouse for years it's about time this place started to feel a little bit more like home. It's like a museum around here. It will be good to have a little girl running around, playing with her toys. It's okay to make it look like it is lived in."
"Dean, I don't know," says Journey. "You're used to your life being a certain way. Becoming a parent changes everything. Your life isn't about you anymore it's about them. I don't want you to feel obligated to take care of Zoey or feel like we are pushing you out of your home."
"You're not, Journey. If I didn't want you both here I wouldn't have offered you my place besides you're my girlfriend now. I want you both to be here. Before I didn't have anything to really come home to but now I do."
"About that," she says. "Don't you think we moved a little too fast on the boyfriend and girlfriend thing?"
"You don't want to be my girlfriend?" I ask.
"Of course I do," she answers, "but you don't think it's too soon?"
"Journey, I am a man that knows what he wants and who he wants. I want you and I want to be with you. I don't have to question my judgment or my choices when it comes to you. I know what my heart tells me and I know what I believe. I never felt this way about anyone the way I feel about you."
"Dean," she says with a smile. "I just don't want to rush into this and then a little bit down the road we get tired of each other. Don't you think we should learn to walk before we run at least?"
"Journey," I say turning her to face me as I place my hand on her shoulders. Her eyes meeting mine as I look straight into her beautiful face. Her beautiful eyes staring back at me. "In my business if there is something you want you don't wait to get it. You take it. You go after it. I wanted you, I still want you and I went after you. I had been fighting with myself over my feelings for you and kept telling myself I wasn't the kind of man you were looking for and then you kissed me and I knew. I knew that you were feeling the same way that I was. Then when Roman asked you out I felt something in my life I had never felt before. I felt envy. I was envious that he walked into my office and asked you out on a date. I was relieved when you told him no because not many women tell Roman no but you did."
"Because I didn't want Roman," she says, "I wanted you. I didn't think it was appropriate to act on my feelings because of everything you had done for me and everything you were doing for me but I saw your heart, I saw who you were and it made me want you more so I took the chance and just kissed you. I didn't expect for it to be as amazing and as passionate as it was. Everything about it was right, everything about you is right. I feel like we may be rushing but at the same time I'm glad we are together. I just don't want Zoey to come and ruin your beautiful home and break all your expensive things. You have never been known to be around children. I don't know how you are going to feel with a preschooler running through your apartment. They can get pretty messy and destructive."
"These things you talk about are just that; things. People mean more than things. I told you I am ready for a three year old to come live here we'll have to hire a nanny for when you're at work and I am at work but I want this place to have a home feel to it. It's time for me to settle down, have a home not just a place to sleep. I want to be home."
"Dean," she says with a soft smile, tears in her eyes as her hands cup my cheeks. "Thank-you," she says before she kisses me softly. "Your house is about to get a lot more fun."
"I could use a little laughter," I say with a smile.
"Do you even laugh?" she asks. "What's the last fun thing you've done?"
"Of course I laugh," I say. "And I do play basketball with my friends every weekend. I used to go out to the clubs and drink. That was my fun."
"That's hardly really fun. You're always so serious," she says loosening my tie. "You're always in business mode. Why don't you relax, do something fun?" she suggests before taking off my tie and unbuttoning the top of my shirt. "You should have a good time."
"What did you have in mind?" I ask her as she unbuttons my shirt more. The way she's undressing me I feel as if our afternoon might end up in my bedroom.
"I think you should put on a t-shirt, a pair of basketball shirts, mess up your hair a little," she says taking her hands through my hair messing it up. "And I think we should spend our date go carting or playing laser tag," she suggests with a smile and I can't say no.
"Okay," I say with a smile. "I'm down to do that."
"You need to have fun," she says with a smile, "we're going to have fun."
Journey did not lie as we spent the evening playing laser tag at an indoor park. I had never played laser tag before but had heard all about it. It was a lot more fun than I had expected. Journey showed me she is a competitive person as she tried to win against me but each game we played I won. I don't remember laughing that much before in my life. I don't remember having that much fun in my life. When we finished our game of laser tag we sat down and shared nachos with cheese and a coke together. "I needed this," I say before biting into a cheese covered nacho. "I don't think I have ever done anything like this."
"Because you're too busy owning a company and being serious all the time, it's not too bad to let loose is it?"
"No it feels good," I say with a smile. "I need to do this more often."
"We do," she says with a smile. "I'm going to make sure you have more fun."
"I hope so," I say. "Thank-you for tonight, Journey, I really had a good time."
"I'm glad," she smiles as we are interrupted by a few people that recognized me from magazines. They ask for autographs and pictures before the paparazzi comes and wants to take my picture but I want it taken with Journey. "No," she says, "I can't." She gets up from the table and runs away before I can catch her as the paparazzi takes pictures of me. I pose and then chase after her.
*A/N: Why do you think Journey was so standoffish to the interior designer at first but warmed up to her after they made their plans? What did you think of the design they had chosen for Zoey's room? What do you think the big life change event was that Dean was talking about is? What did you think of Journey questioning how fast they were moving, should they slow down or is Dean right with his philosophy? How do you think Dean is going to handle having a three year old in his home? What do you think of Journey getting Dean out to have fun? Did he need to let loose and have fun? Why do you think Journey refused to get her picture taken with Dean and ran away? Please review and thank-you for reading.