{"id":13996,"date":"2025-07-14T12:39:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/?page_id=13996"},"modified":"2026-04-01T02:02:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:02:47","slug":"stay-chapter-34","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/extras\/music\/stay-soundtrack\/stay-chapter-34\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay, Chapter 34"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

This is Chapter 34 from Stay<\/em> linked from the third round of the Group Creativity Experiment<\/a>, featuring \u201cAsking Us to Dance\u201d by Kathy Mattea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\u201cAsking Us to Dance\u201d Kathy Mattea<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n

A GOOD CROP OF WHEAT<\/p>\n

FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER. Vanessa had her nose down, squirting a pale yellow dandelion flower glaze over a plate in an abstract pattern in preparation for the plating of a new peach and pecan confection that was far more popular than she\u2019d anticipated. The demand for it had completely overwhelmed the pastry apprentice and Vanessa had nearly ended up seating and serving in her whites.<\/p>\n

The low thrum of a souped-up engine zooming past on the highway vaguely pierced the din of the kitchen, but Vanessa paid no attention until it got closer and more familiar and\u2014<\/p>\n

Vanessa\u2019s head snapped up to look out the back door.<\/p>\n

\u2014an electric blue Corvette roared right past the mansion and up the drive\u00adway toward the butchery and private garage, its red taillights glowing bright and round in the dark.<\/p>\n

Joy spread through her so hard and so fast she thought she\u2019d burst.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep your head in the game, Boss,\u201d Alain called.<\/p>\n

Right. She bent back to her work, but now she had something to look forward to, as did the rest of her staff, who had taken to asking her if Eric would become a permanent weekend fixture.<\/p>\n

He made everyone\u2019s jobs easier, more efficient, including hers.<\/p>\n

Last week, when she had stood in the door of her office and understood that he was leaving her a day earlier than intended, she hadn\u2019t expected him to come back. He was a lawyer, a prosecutor, with a very serious problem on his hands. He had an important<\/em> job for which he didn\u2019t get paid near enough.<\/p>\n

Her job, well\u2014 She was a luxury. Yeah, people had to eat, but that was what McDonald\u2019s was for.<\/p>\n

Still, he was here. Now. Waiting for her. He\u2019d shower. He\u2019d get in bed to wait for her, pull out his iPhone and maybe read a book\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the only way I can read books anymore,\u201d he\u2019d explained when she asked him what had him staring at his gadget. \u201cPut it in my pocket and go. Always available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanessa ended her evening as early as she could, again requesting Vachel\u2019s assistance, which he gave her with a delight that made her flinch. How<\/em> had she not seen what he so obviously needed?<\/p>\n

Eric was indeed in bed by the time she\u2019d run down the driveway, into her cottage, and up the stairs. But when he pulled her down to him, he rolled her over until she lay on her stomach. He straddled her, nearly sitting on her butt, and she sighed, understanding immediately. She closed her eyes to await his big, warm, oiled hands on her shoulders.<\/p>\n

No words were said and, except for the sound of soft, plaintive bluegrass coming from a corner, Vanessa could only hear the crickets outside and the hoot owl that lived in the orchard just behind her cottage. A sweet breeze ruffled the gauze curtains that framed her open windows. She took a deep breath through her nose to catch every nuance of scent, from fresh-mown and dew-laden grass to the blooming lilacs.<\/p>\n

She grimaced when the heel of Eric\u2019s palm found a knot in one of the muscles of her shoulder. She must have shied away from it, because he lightened his touch a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re tight as a drum,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d she sighed.<\/p>\n

He leaned down, his mouth brushing her ear. \u201cYou need to learn how to relax.\u201d<\/p>\n

She thought she was perfectly relaxed already, but she couldn\u2019t muster the energy to open her mouth or move her vocal cords.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you ever been to Silver Dollar City?\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t make me talk.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn high school,\u201d she mumbled into her pillow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve lived here how many years and you haven\u2019t been again?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBranson. Scout talent. \u2019Sall.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said nothing more, but his hands continued to work their magic until he reached the lower part of her back, just above her buttocks. One press of a thumb and she nearly came off the bed with a screech, her eyes filling with tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeez, Vanessa,\u201d he murmured. \u201cI barely touched you.\u201d She swallowed, the tears coming now, and her mind flashed through her to-do list. \u201cStop it,\u201d he said. \u201cI know what you\u2019re doing. Deep breath. In through your nose and hold it.\u201d She did that until her lungs felt they would burst. \u201cNow out through your mouth.\u201d Vanessa obeyed. \u201cDo it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

But her list wouldn\u2019t leave her head. Emotion flooded her: the remnants of her little-girl hurt, her regrets and insecurities, her anger with Knox and the guilt it caused, and her fears\u2014for Whittaker House, for Eric, for Eric\u2019s far more important future. Finally, she began to sob into her pillow, but Eric said nothing. He continued to dig deeper into her muscles, down lower into the flesh of her bare buttocks, and then her sobs had nothing to do with pain.<\/p>\n

Just release.<\/p>\n

With every knot he found and worked, she sobbed harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cBreathe, Vanessa,\u201d he whispered from time to time, and only then would she realize she\u2019d been holding her breath.<\/p>\n

Slowly her tears dried up and she was too spent not to relax, not to let him do whatever he thought needed to be done. She\u2019d never cried in front of her lovers before; she\u2019d had no reason to.<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t Eric.<\/p>\n

\u203b<\/p>\n

20260401<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is Chapter 34 from Stay linked from the third round of the Group Creativity Experiment, featuring \u201cAsking Us to Dance\u201d by Kathy Mattea. \u201cAsking Us to Dance\u201d Kathy Mattea A GOOD CROP OF WHEAT FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER. Vanessa had her nose down, squirting a pale yellow dandelion flower glaze over a plate in an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1578,"menu_order":4421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13996","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13996"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25788,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13996\/revisions\/25788"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}