Laying in bed with Oreo on my chest, I stroke his fur and stare at my white bedroom ceiling. It's been so long since I've had a full day off with nothing planned. I don't know what to do with myself.

"What should we do until Devin calls?" His little head tilts up at me and he gives my chin a lick in answer. "I love you too my sweet boy. How about we have some food?" At the mention of the word food, he darts off my chest down the hall. I slowly follow him to the kitchen. Once I fill his bowl I take a look in the fridge to see what I have to eat. Most days I rely on takeout or delivery. It's so much easier than having to go shopping than having to cook after I get home from a long day at work.

I'm not a bad cook. I used to help my mom out a lot in the kitchen when I was growing up. It feels so pointless making a meal for one person. Grocery stores sell things in bulk. If I want to have some chicken I have to buy a giant package then separate it all into individual bags, freeze it, then remember to defrost it because if I don't get it all frozen it'll spoil in the fridge before I get a chance to cook it all. It's a pain in the ass.

Drumming my fingers against the fridge, I rummage around my most empty fridge. I've got some eggs, butter, milk that may or may not be spoiled, a few containers with some leftover dinner in them, and some apples that have definitely gone bad.

I scrunch my nose up at the rotten apples and grab the eggs from the fridge. Grabbing a pan from my hanging rack, I get started on making some sunny side up eggs. After the butter melts, I crack two eggs into the pan then turn the burner to low. While they cook, I go into my pantry and look around for some bread. Some toast would go great with my runny eggs. It'll soak up the yolks and be yummy.

Luck must be in the air because I find a bag of sourdough that's still fresh. I cut a big piece in half and drop the slices into the toaster. The coffee finishes brewing right as a slide my eggs onto the plate. With my mug of steaming coffee in one hand and my plate of food in the other, I set up at the island.

Once I'm done with breakfast I clean up after myself and top off my coffee. As I set the pot back in its holder my doorbell echoes throughout the house. Oreo races to the door barking his head off. With my mug in hand, I check through the peephole to see who is there. I almost drop my mug in surprise.

"Why are you at my house?" I ask Devin after I open the door. Oreo rushes out the house distracting me. "Shit!" I shriek and take off. Hot coffee splashes on my arm burning my skin. "Shit!" I shriek again. "Here, hold this." I pass the cup to Devin and continue going after the ball of fluff making his way down the street.

"Do you need help?" He calls out from behind me. I wave him off to let him know that I've got it.

"It's okay. I'll be just a second. He actually does this more often than I want to admit." I let out a sharp whistle and shout his name. He stops instantly and looks back at me with those innocent puppy dog eyes. "Come here. You know you aren't supposed to run out like that."

He slowly makes his way back to me, looking thoroughly chastised. Picking him up, I carry him back to the house where Devin is still standing on my front porch.

"Want to trade?" He asks as he extends my mug out to me. I take the still-steaming mug from him and gently place my run away in his arms.

"Come on in," I tell him as I walk past him into the house. "Want some coffee? It's fresh." I offer. Closing the door behind us I led him to the kitchen for another top off. About half my coffee is on my arm from trying to run with a full mug.

"That would be great. Thanks." He leans against the counters as he strokes one of Oreo's ears and has a look around. Grabbing a mug from the cabinet, I pour him a cup. The sight of such a big dude holding a tiny fluffy dog makes me laugh. "What's so funny?" He asks me with a smile of his own.

"Nothing important. Still like it with a splash of milk and three sugars?"

"I sure do."

I make my way around the kitchen to grab the sugar from the pantry. Stirring everything together, I carefully carry his mug to him. No need for me to get any more coffee burns this morning. He gives Oreo one last and sets him down so he can take his coffee from me. His full lips wrap around the edge of the cup and his Adam's apple bobs up then down as he sips.

"This is good coffee." He says with a satisfied groan.

"Much better than that gas station crap we used to get when we needed a late-night pick me up." I giggle. He nods his head in agreement and goes to take another sip. It takes a lot of effort but I move my focus away from his lips. There's no need for me to be looking at those. A light shiver runs down my spine as the memory of those lips on my skin comes to mind. Clearing my throat, I ask "What are you doing here. I thought you were going to call me. Not randomly show up."

"I did try calling you, a few times, but you didn't answer. I figured I'd come by and make sure everything was okay." Patting my robe pocket, I curse quietly under my breath. I left my phone upstairs plugged in its charger.

"Sorry," I say with a wince, "I forgot it upstairs."

"It's all good." He moves to the island and pulls out one of the black wooden bar stools to take a seat. "I figured we could catch up on each other before we go out. Five years is a long time. Tell me about what you've been up to."

Groaning, I take a seat across from him. I take a few swigs of my coffee to buy some time from answering. Over the last five years, I've only done one thing. Build my company. I'm proud of Mixed of course but it hasn't left time for much of anything else. It's a bit embarrassing to admit that I have no life outside of my company. It's what I eat, sleep, and breathe.

"That bad, huh?" He asks with a chuckle.

"You have no idea," I sigh, "I mean it hasn't been bad but it has been exhausting. My company is a company now, I have millions of followers on youtube, other brands and big names are starting to reach out to me. It can be pretty overwhelming at times but I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm learning as I go and I've got this feeling things are going to finally start heading my way because I'm making changes that are not only better for my company but for me. It's what I need to do for myself. If I don't I'll probably end up in the hospital again and I can't put my family through that."

"Hospital?" He sputters. Grabbing a napkin, he wipes at the coffee that's dripping down his chin. Wide light brown eyes examine me from head to toe. "What happened?"

"Stop looking at me like that. I'm fine. We'll at least I am now. About a year ago the lack of sleep and the stress all caught up with me. I ended up collapsing at one of our family dinners. Mom called an ambulance for me and I was rushed to the hospital. Turns out that I was also dehydrated and underweight." I let out a long breath and blow one of my dangling curls out of my face. It immediately flops back into my eye. Grabbing the strands, I tucked it behind my ear. "Anyway, I spent a few days in the hospital getting fluids and was released with strict orders to make sure I started sticking to a proper sleep routine and lower the amount of stress in my life." I end with a snort.

"I'm glad that you're doing better. As long as I'm around I'll make sure you drink plenty and stay well-fed."

"Careful Devin, my mom will kick your ass if she thinks you're trying to replace her." We both laugh as the two of us picture that tiny blonde going up against him. She may be small but my money is on my mom. That woman can be a beast when she needs to be. "Now that I've shared the riveting tale of my last five years it's your turn. What was it like being constantly surrounded by the rich and famous?"

He spins around his empty mug on the table. As he thinks his nose scrunches up like. I get up from the island and grab the coffee pot. Since I'm such a gracious host I pour the remaining caffeinated beverage into his mug.

"Honestly? It was terrible. Modeling was the worst but I made a ton of money doing it. All those modeling jobs got me where I am today. Not only because it financed my own photography but it gave me a lot of experience and a place to start. Some of the photographers could be real jerks but there were some that really helped me out. They gave me good advice and were even able to get me some jobs. That really helped my career in photography take off. For a while, I was doing both jobs but once I had enough photoshoots set up I quit the modeling gigs and went to photography full time. I've been doing it full time for almost four years now. I'm a lot happier doing this."

"You never were happy unless you had a camera in your hand. Or you were in the water." I interject with a soft smile. When he was about thirteen years old and I was ten running around in pigtails he decided that he wanted a camera. Not one of those basic digital ones but one of the big fancy ones that cost a couple of thousand dollars when things are all said and done. He ended up working any job he could find that summer. From mowing lawns to walking dogs, or babysitting. You name it, he probably did it that summer.

Every night he would come over to our house at the end of the day for dinner. He'd walk through those doors, usually covered in sweat and some dirt, and drop onto the couch from exhaustion. It was a long and rough summer for him but he ended up saving enough to get that camera. He would basically bring that thing with him everywhere he went. It's the camera he used all throughout high school. I'm sure now he has an even fancier camera that costs an atrocious amount of money but people probably think the same thing about my makeup supply and they would be right. All those products did cost an atrocious amount of money but it was worth it because they are all wonderful.

"Since I went to photography full time I've been going where the jobs are. All the traveling has been a lot of fun. I've met tons of people and seen some amazing places." His lips quirk up into a small smile that ends up being hidden behind the mug as he drinks from it.

"What about your galleries?" I ask genuinely curious. "Which number will this third one be?"

"It'll be the third. The first two went better than I could ever imagine. You should have seen me during my first gallery opening," He laughs and flashes me a smile that would make me fall flat on my face if I were standing. It's not hard to see why he became a model. The guy has always been gorgeous but one night it was as if he got smacked in the face by some fairy with super sexy dust. My little crush turned into something on the verge of heart-stopping. "I was such a nervous mess. At first, I thought no one would show up. Then when everyone started showing up I thought no one would buy anything. When I was worried about one thing I was worried about another."

"I can definitely relate to that," I say as I give my mug a quick rinse then stick it in the dishwasher. "I mean I can't even remember the last time I had a day off. It's been so long but with the latest launch, I was just waiting for something to go wrong. If I stayed still for even a couple minutes I felt like I was going to go insane. I've had to keep myself pretty much nonstop busy but over the last week or so I realized that I can't keep doing this to myself. That's why I'm starting to make all these changes. Not only do I not want to have another incident but I also don't want to go into work one day and realize that I hate being there."

"You'll figure it out, Letty. You were always the best problem solver out of all of us. Without you, we would have been stuck in a lot of sticky situations."

"I'm still scarred by some of the noises I heard coming from my brother's rooms by the way. They owe me for the rest of their lives for all the times I helped them get away with sneaking girls over. Those guys were little man whores."

"Were? Don't you mean still are?" He asks. The two of us laugh and I bask in the sound. When's the last time I shared coffee and a conversation with someone? Where I just talked about random things with someone that made me laugh? It's so sad how good something as simple as this is making me feel. Craziest of all is who I'm sharing a laugh with. I never thought I'd be in the same room with Devin again. Not because he doesn't visit but because I didn't think I'd be able to resist the temptation to punch him if we were in a room together.

I have to admit that part of the reason we hadn't seen each other was that I avoided him like the plague. Every time I heard he was in town or even if there was a rumor that he was going to be around I made sure to steer clear of my parent's house and stay at work as long as I could. I wasn't going to risk running into him by accident anywhere. Was it childish of me? Most definitely but what can I say. No one is perfect and look at us now. We're working on it.

"You're acting as if you're innocent. I know first hand that you are no saint. Not only from the stories my brothers told me about you but also because I've been in your bed before." He looks at me in mock surprise making my smile grow impossibly wider.

"Whatever they told you is a lie but the part about you being in my bed I can't argue with." A cocky little smirk spreads across his face. Rolling my eyes at him, I grab his empty mug and go through the same routine I did with mine. "Since this is your first day off in half a century what is it you would like to do today? Anything in the world. We'll go out and make a day of it."

"There's actually this place that I've been wanting to go to forever. I pass them every day on the way home." I turn around to face him with a huge grin across my face. When he sees my smile his slowly melts away from his face."

"What do you have in mind?" He asks with narrowed eyes.

"I hope you brought some gym clothes," I say as I look him up in down. He's in black jeans and a short sleeve button down. Not seeing him in tank tops and board shorts every day is still throwing me off. Not that he looks bad in his new style. Pushing myself off the counter I start to head upstairs so I can get changed. "You're going to need them for where we're going," I shout over my shoulder.