Page 1 of Vitamin Sea
"I am the luckiest woman in the world.”
Chloe’s stomach fluttered as Liam pulled her in for a kiss. It was crazy that he still did that to her, so many years later. Most couples she knew hit the roommate phase before the two-year mark.
Not she and Liam. Their relationship felt like a four-and-a-half-year-long honeymoon.
And she knew without a shadow of a doubt that in a few short years she and Liam would be husband and wife.
He hadn’t popped the question yet, but it was coming.
Marriage was something they were on the same page about, along with starting a family.
But her relationship wasn’t the only reason Chloe considered herself to be lucky. In addition to her handsome banker boyfriend, she had a great group of girlfriends, a supportive family, good health, and the career of her dreams, which enabled her to travel around the world for free.
The stock ticker at the bottom of the T.V. flashed green as the clock changed to 9:30 a.m. She and Liam were both playing hooky that Friday, but that wouldn’t stop him from keeping tabs on the market.
Not that Chloe minded. It was one of the many things she loved about Liam.
He was hardworking and ambitious—out the door by 6 a.m. Monday to Friday, and back at home late most nights.
Chloe, on the other hand, wandered into her office three hours later and, barring any magazine-related PR events or parties, was home at a much earlier hour.
That didn’t mean that her work required less effort—it was just that Liam’s job was more demanding in terms of time.
As an investment banking associate at one of the Big Five, it was normal for him to sometimes work ninety-hour weeks.
His schedule didn’t exactly leave them tons of time to spend together, so it made her value the time they did spend together that much more.
Which was one of the reasons why Chloe was so excited for today.
Skipping out on work had been Liam’s idea. Of course, it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. He had floated the proposal more than a month ago and blocked off his calendar to prevent any last-minute meetings.
For Chloe, it was a lot easier. As a travel editor, she often made her own schedule. She also had a lot of leeway with it, given the frequent after-work events her job required her to attend.
She wasn’t complaining about that either.
The fashion, style, and beauty editors typically bagged the best invitations, but as a travel editor, she was invited to her fair share.
The cult following of the print and online publication she worked for had garnered Chloe a long list of followers; her Instagram currently boasted a little over one million people, brands, places, and meme pages that were privy to her every work-related move.
Not that she was one of those people who spent every waking minute on Instagram.
Social media wasn’t really her thing, but she understood the importance of it when it came to her job.
Brands and publicists invited her to exclusive events and comped her loads of products in exchange for social media promotions.
When she was off the clock, however, she was more interested in enjoying her time with whomever or whatever it was she was doing—sans snaps.
She had been a bit surprised that Liam had been able to make the day off happen; she was used to going with the flow when it came to last-minute cancelations.
His career was very important to him and Chloe was very supportive.
Not to mention, she was busy with her own career and social life.
She was often away for work on assignment—vacationing, for lack of a better term, in far-flung locales around the world.
Sunlight flooded their living room, dulled by a wall of sheer curtains that kept prying eyes from the neighbouring office building out of sight. With their other neighbour—a quaint park that gave them an unobstructed green view from their corner unit—they didn’t have anything to worry about.
Liam was the one who owned the condo—Chloe had moved into it after their first year of dating.
Hesitant to put her own place on the market, she had rented it out the past few years.
Recently she had been thinking about selling it, but hadn’t quite gotten around to setting the sale ball in motion.
Which was seeming rather stupid, really.
While their home was Liam’s in title only, it was, for all intents and purposes, theirs.
When Chloe was working from home—a typical occurrence in the life of a writer; words, unlike the answers to a math equation, don’t come on demand—she would take little breaks to observe the goings-on below from her desk.
At the park across the street there was a never-ending parade of dogs, people milling about or sitting on benches and, in the summer, on the grass.
It was so routine for some of them that Chloe practically knew their schedules.
From their eighth-floor view, she regularly saw Nugget, an overweight golden retriever, waddle his way through the grass.
She had met Nugget one afternoon after popping down to the park for a few minutes to catch some sun.
The happy ball of fur had suddenly barreled over to her with a harried-looking woman in tow, sat down, and put his fuzzy paw on her lap.
“Sorry!” the woman attached to the other end of the leash had exclaimed. “He must think you have a treat!”
“Don’t be sorry!” Chloe laughed. “I wish I did have one for him.”
In the ensuing convo she had learned the chunky dog’s name.
Nugget had to make do with a head-and-back scratch that afternoon, but ever since that day, Chloe had taken to carrying Milk-Bones in her purse.
And Nugget wasn’t the only recipient of the bone-shaped snacks; there were many dogs in the park who could thank the golden retriever for the strange treat lady who carried Milk-Bones in her purse despite not actually having a dog of her own.
“So!” Liam’s voice pulled her out of her reverie as he leaned back on the couch and gathered her into his arms. “What do you think we should do today?”
Chloe melted against him and snuggled her head into the crook in his neck.
“I can think of a few things . . .,” she teased.
“Well, that’s definitely on the list,” he gave her bum an enthusiastic squeeze and Chloe squealed. “But what about the other eight hours?”
She pondered.
It was that transitional period of the season when summer is starting to turn into fall. Leaves go from green to autumn, and a crispness creeps into the night air; the days start to get shorter, and light jackets signal a promise of what’s to come: apple picking, pumpkin spice, and spooky season.
“We could go to the ROM,” she said inquiringly, referencing Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.
She loved getting lost in the exhibits; wanderlust—it was one of the reasons she was a travel editor.
Exploring different cultures, histories, and art was one of her favourite past times—even if those cultures, histories, and art were trapped in the past.
“Or,” she said switching gears, “we could go down to the waterfront, have brunch and spend the afternoon in the sun?”
While fall was fast approaching, the weather report that day had the temperatures in the high twenties.
“Brunch and some sun,” Liam said firmly. “Let’s bike down. That way we can get in some cycling along the lake.”
Chloe smiled. Typical Liam—he would always find a way to get in a workout.
“Then we can bike to St. Lawrence Market and pick up some things for dinner,” she suggested.
“Sounds great.”
Liam started to rub her leg and shoulder.
“How about charcuterie for dinner?” she asked.
“Sounds great,” Liam replied again.
Chloe had a feeling she could tell him they were having dog food for dinner and Liam would have the same response. His thoughts were clearly focused somewhere else.
Chloe shifted her body and fixed him with a devilish grin.
“What do you say we go back to bed for a bit?”
Liam didn’t reply that time. At least not with words. An answering grin spread across his face, and he stood up before pulling Chloe off the couch and leading her into their bedroom.
◆◆◆
She lay there in the mess of blankets and a feeling of happiness settled over her.
There wasn’t anything missing in her life.
She had a career that fulfilled her, a handsome, hard-working boyfriend, a great group of girlfriends, supportive parents, a lovely home, a lovely life, and a wonderful future mapped out with Liam.
Next to her, Liam sighed, and Chloe snuggled deeper into his arms.
I am the luckiest woman in the world , she thought as her boyfriend planted a kiss on top of her head.