As the days went by, Arabella got more and more stressed. The work kept coming in and she kept having mild panic attacks. And although the scar on her wrist was very faint now, it still throbbed sometimes. Like a reminder. She sometimes had dreams about Hunter at night. Most of her dreams were about things going wrong at work but Hunter would always find a way back into her brain. Most of her dreams about him aren't exactly PG-13. She would wake up in the morning with flushed cheeks and an itch that only Hunter could scratch, However, she wasn't seeing him much during the day. He seemed to be really busy with something and she was now leaving for work at 5:30 AM and getting home at 8:30 PM.
Hunter had stopped making meals for her. He was making casseroles for supper almost everyday. He would make them in the morning and leave them in the fridge for Arabella to heat up when she got home. Whenever she stopped to think about it, it broke her heart. She missed Hunter so much in her life. There was an ache in her heart and she knew that it was because Hunter was missing from her life. Arabella was worried too. Why was he suddenly so busy and never home? Philippa seemed to be distracted about something too and Arabella wasn't stupid. She knew that it was because Philippa was seeing a guy. Arabella could read it all over her face. Was Hunter leaving during the day to be with Philippa? The thought made Arabella's stomach turn and her wrist ache.
Arabella was sitting in her office one morning, half asleep. The stress was getting worse and worse everyday. For once, Arabella was starting to not like her job. She had always loved running her company and even though it was stressful, it was never something that she didn't like. But now, it was difficult to do and Arabella longed to go back home and cuddle up with Hunter. Talk to him, kiss him, do a whole lot more with him..
"Arabella? You wanted to see me?"
Arabella looked up and saw Philippa standing in the doorway. She gave her a small smile and nodded. Philippa walked in and sat down in the chair across from Arabella at the desk. Arabella took a little breath. Philippa looked nervous, like she was expecting Arabella to be mad at her.
"I just wanted to tell you that you've been doing a really good job. Daniel loves you and having you around to help out has been a huge blessing" Arabella said simply. It was the truth and even though Arabella wanted to starting asking Philippa about Hunter, she knew that she needed to be nice. Arabella could afford to lose Philippa, not now. Philippa smiled proudly and Arabella gave her a small smile in return. The door to her office opened and a man walked in. His name was Lucas and he was the editor for Arabella's magazine. He was a very, very handsome man. Lucas was fit but not to the point of it being gross. He had sparkling green eyes and blond hair that he kept shaved close to his head. When he walked in, Philippa looked at him and she blushed deeply. Arabella looked at Lucas who had a bashful smile on his face. She turned to Philippa and raised an eyebrow, trying not to giggle. Lucas put the finished magazine on Arabella's desk and waved to Philippa nervously before backing out of the room. He bumped into the door before slipping out of it with red cheeks.
"So, you've been making friends?" Arabella asked Philippa with a giggle. It was nice to know that the man that was in Philippa's life was Lucas. Not Hunter. Philippa rolled her eyes but the smile seemed to be glued to her face.
"Oh, shush" Philippa responded.
The rest of the day seemed to go on for ages. But Arabella was finally walking into her apartment. She closed the door behind her and slipped out of her 5 inch high heels. "Hunter?!" she called. No answer. With a sigh, Arabella walked to her room to change out of her dress. For the first time since the award show, Arabella didn't have any work to bring home with her. She had made sure that she finished her work at the office. But once again, Hunter was gone, doing Zeus knows what. Arabella tossed the shopping bags that were in her hand to her bed. One of the bags was from Victoria's Secret and the other was from the Walmart. The Walmart bag tipped over and a DVD copy of Dirty Dancing fell out with massage oil, hot chocolate mix, the newest issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine and a couple other little things. Arabella quickly changed into a pair of shorts and a loose shirt then walked out to the kitchen. She grabbed a small plate of the casserole that Hunter had made and went to go sit at the table. Arabella picked at her food and sighed.
"Wow Hunter, this is a really good casserole. Who knew that tuna could be so good?" Arabella muttered to herself, looking down at her food "Oh, my day was difficult. Worked my ass off. I'm glad that I'm at home with you tonight though. I got some massage oil, maybe we could take turns doing massages for each other? Then maybe we could spend the night together. You know, I thought that since you're a guy you might like something like that. But it's kind of hard to get a massage from a guy that's not here..." she rambled, her voice trailing off. Arabella sighed and took her half eaten bowl of tuna casserole to the kitchen before sitting down on the couch and putting on MTV. Maybe watching Snooki being an idiot would take her mind off of Hunter.
Arabella laid down on the couch, looking at the TV with tired eyes. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she was falling into a restless sleep, filled with dreams about Hunter. It didn't seem like very long before Arabella was waking up to the sound of a door closing. She jumped and nearly fell off of the couch. With groggy eyes, Arabella looked at the doorway. Hunter was home and he looked exhausted. She tried to give him a small smile, but she was too tired and still half asleep. Hunter looked gross. He was covered in what Arabella hoped was oil and he looked like he had been sweating.
"Hi" Hunter yawned, kicking off his shoes. Arabella watched as he stepped into the kitchen and emerged with a bottle of water. Maybe her night wasn't totally ruined. Maybe she could still watch a movie with Hunter and cuddle on the couch. It wasn't too late. Just as she was about to get off the couch though, Hunter gave her a small smile "I'm really tired so I'm going to shower then go to bed"
"Oh..I..yeah, okay" Arabella said softly, pulling her knees up to her chest and sighing.
"Night" Hunter said to her with a little nod and he padded down the hall towards the bathroom. Arabella bit her lip for a moment for wrapping the blanket around herself and heading off to her bedroom. She pushed all of the things on her bed to the floor then flopped down and closed her eyes.
Why did this have to be so difficult?