The Height Of Happiness

Chapter 8

The light of dawn filtered into the room, hitting Serena’s eyes as it cast a vibrancy onto the bed. They’d left all the curtains open through the night, so the sun woke Serena long before she ever had to be up. During the night, she’d dreamed of beautiful things. The world had been a fantasy of her own making, and the story was an epic saga in her own mind. However, when her brain came back to the real world she knew her reality was sweeter than the dreams that had danced about in her head.

She opened her eyes to see only the crook of Teddy’s neck, and looked upward to see his face peaceful and smiling softly. He was still drifting in his dreams, and looking at him asleep brought back the memory of the night before. Flooding into her mind in fragments, she pieced together slowly the course of the night. She could still remember her finger through his hair and his lips on every part of her body. The sensation of him against her still echoed across her skin. She could feel it to her very bones how very happy she was.

It was all so blissful.

Slipping away slowly, she found a robe on the hook of the bathroom door, and Serena wrapped it around her waist tightly. She picked up her dress from the day before and decided it was clean enough to wear until she could get to her room. Going to fish through her bag, she found a crisp clean dress f. She pulled it on as Teddy slowly came alive himself.

“Good Morning,” Teddy whispered with a raspy voice. “Are you leaving me?”

Zipping her dress up, Serena explained, “No, but we’ll need to look somewhat respectable. Your guests will be here in an hour. We need to work.”

“You don’t have to work!” he groaned.

Serena smiled and pulled on her ruby red heels. She teased him as she moved to the edge of the bed where Edward still laid, “You’re right. I can just stay in bed!”

Grunting, Teddy grabbed her waist and pulled her back into bed. She squealed in shock and laughed as her body hit the bed once more.

“You and those red heels can stay in bed with me…” Edward’s voice trailed off as he kissed her neck.

“You like them?” Serena asked, holding them up in the air so that it looked like her feet were on the wooden ceiling high above them.

“They’re nice,” Edward said pulling away to glance at them before going to kiss her cheek. “I like you more.”

She giggled again as he pulled her face to meet his. They kissed for a while, neither of them minding the other’s morning breath or disheveled hair. Serena finally had to be serious, and she pulled herself out of the bed yet again.

“Edward,” she said in a stern tone, “we have to be serious now.”

“Oooh,” he teased her. “You’re so serious now.”

She rolled her eyes as she went to the bathroom to fix her hair.

            “Okay,” Serena explained. “I am going to go ahead and put on something respectable, and I’ll see you there.”

“We can’t just arrive together?” he asked as he went into the bathroom to shower.

Picking up her phone and sliding it into a hidden pocket on her dress she shook her head, telling him, “I don’t want to publicize our dirty deeds just yet, Teddy. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah, I am totally chill babe.”

Serena held up her hand and also told him, “I’m also going to ask you to never ever say those words again. I’m not seeing a surfer and/or pothead.”

Teddy laughed as Serena headed out the door and back down to the main house where she was meant to stay.

She made herself presentable for guests in a pale pink lace dress that was sheer in the back and hugged her hips. A simple braid around the crown of her head, pear earrings some mascara and red lipstick completed the look. As well as the red heels Edward liked so much.

She had to have the housekeeper point in her the right direction once she was ready to meet the guests for the day, but finally she found her way to the right room. Serena had walked into a new (to her) wing of the house. She realized they’d been eating in the informal dining room. This room held a table for twenty. The crystal chandelier caught the light streaming through the French doors leading into another patio with a fountain. She wondered how she’d gone a whole week without seeing this part of the house. She’d even gotten lost looking for a glass of water her second night, but she’d never stepped into this room.

Serendipitously, she was the first to arrive as the chef arranged the many trays of delicate appetizers and the extravagant bar cart of breakfast cocktails. Serena noted smoked salmon, quiches, tomato caprese salad, and black shining caviar. Stealing a strawberry from the fruit display and making herself a cup of coffee from the hot bar, the Sumatran blend made her tired eyes pop open enough to help the chef place the name cards at each elegant place setting.

She got to place herself next to Edward, and Patrick on the other side of her. The safety of acquaintances at a strange business brunch made her feel good. She didn’t want to relive the conversation she had about polish sausage with someone like that sweaty man from one of the meals in San Francisco. The dinners blurred together, but he would always stick out in her mind.

Second to arrive was Edward’s mother, who complimented Serena’s dress and looked prim herself in a poppy red pantsuit. Lydia Summerfields was happy to see Serena. She liked having another person there to greet guests, and Serena suddenly understood why. They arrived all at once, and Edward was pulled into conversation before he could even make it to say hello to Serena and Lydia. The women still had it together. As a pair, they greeted the fancy suits who arrived one after another. To Serena’s dismay, Daphne Kim also arrived.