by Cee, DW
“Impressive.” I said while perusing through each accolade.
“Thank you,” she answered and went back to her computer.
“Whatcha doing? Am I bothering you?”
She explained about her editing jobs, and they were more profitable than I imagined. Delaney had quite a little enterprise going and brought in more money than a collegian living at home would need.
“Have you always lived at home?” A random question—but a necessary one I deemed.
“No. I lived in the dorms my first year. I lived in Tokyo my second year. Then I roomed with some friends my third year and half of fourth year. I moved back home when my roommate decided to move in with her boyfriend and also as a compromise with Mom.”
“What kind of compromise?”
“She doesn’t like the fact that I’ll leave for another year.”
“Wait. You’re leaving? Why didn’t I know this?”
“Um...yeah...I believe everyone knows. You were there when I talked about it at Uncle Robert’s birthday party.” Where the hell was I when this message was disseminated? “You were right there.” The way her lips curled up, she was enjoying reading my thoughts. “Maybe you were thinking of other...thoughts while I was divulging my life’s detail? Business transactions? Other women? Wishing my uncle a happy birthday?” This girl could be a serious smartass at times.
“Anyhow, I came back to talk to you about...I couldn’t leave because I felt I’d put us in an awkward situation and somehow hurt you.” I walked right over to her and tried to get as close as possible without appearing inappropriate.
“I’m all right, Mr. Taylor. We are no better, no less, a friend to one another than we were just a few hours ago.” That was not what I wanted from this girl. Though a relationship between us wasn’t possible, I wanted us to be close...friends.
“I wanted to say I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings in any way, and I’m sorry for stealing a kiss from you in Hawaii. I’m not quite sure what came over me.”
I felt bereft when it appeared she purposely stepped away from me to the other side of her room. It wasn’t a very large room so she wasn’t far. But the emotional distance she was placing on us felt like we were miles apart. I hated being apart; I went and sat next to her on the cozy couch.
“We are good about me not being attractive enough, old enough, or experienced enough for you. You may leave in good conscience, Mr. Taylor.” That was not the answer I wanted from her, dammit!
“We OK with the unintended kiss?”
“We are OK with you kissing me while ‘in a state of distress’ because I was lost. And we are OK with it being a terrible kiss.” What? “You can go home now. This little girl is all right. I’m not as emotionally unstable as you believe.”
“You thought it was terrible?” There was no freaking way that was a terrible kiss. That half-kiss had me horny for days after. Was she kidding me? Well I’d have to show her!
Giving her no time to argue, I placed my mouth over hers and experienced the euphoria of these now familiar lips. We’d only been lip-locked once before, but the press of her mouth felt more familiar than a woman I’d kissed the last ten years. It was as though our lips had been separated at birth—the perfect fit of each and every groove was indescribable. How could it be so right with someone so wrong for me? I had to stop or we’d be flat on this tiny couch.
“Sorry.” My apology coincided with her disappointed look. Was she disappointed we had stopped? Or was she disappointed in me because I’d kissed her again.
“I should be the one saying sorry. I’m not anywhere in the same league as the women you normally kiss.”
“Delaney...” Dammit. I’d made her feel inferior again when that wasn’t the truth in the least bit.
“Why don’t we call it a night, before we make any more mistakes?”
She was right. It was a mistake to take advantage of her and it was a mistake to start anything that was a dead end from the start. We were still incredibly close to each other and her pouty, just-been-kissed lips were calling my name. My lips had a mind of their own and went back to their other half. I dotted her lips with a few more kisses and as much as my body didn’t want to, I left.
“What brings you here and at this hour?” I left…and went all the way to Jake’s house.
“I have a serious problem and I don’t know what to do. I need your advice.”
Jake led me to this office. “Shall I call Emi? You need a woman’s advice, too?”
“No. I don’t want her to know. She might get upset with me.”
“What have you done now?” Jake had his imaginary “mentor” hat on.
“I just kissed your cousin.” A smile spread across my buddy’s lips—big time! “And I kissed her back in Hawaii when I was in the room alone with her.”
“Any other kisses you want to confess? Shall I bring the chief over for your full confessional?”
“This is serious, Man. What do I do?”
“Um...date her?” He answered matter-of-factly, but with a tone that asked if I was stupid or something. “We can all see the attraction. Uncle Henry and I have talked about it, Emily is over the moon about it, and I’m sure by now, your parents know about Delaney. I don’t understand what the issue is.”
“Kate accused me of being in love with Delaney when we were in Hawaii and I told her she was crazy. Kate also observed that Delaney was in love with me. What are your thoughts on her feelings for me?”
Jake casually shrugged his shoulders. Redirecting my question he asked, “Are you in love with her?”
“No. I am attracted to her, but I explained all this on the plane. She’s all wrong for me. I don’t like the age gap, she’s too much of an innocent, and she has many more years of life to live before she’ll want to settle down. I want to settle down now and pop out babies. We are at opposing stages of our lives. It won’t work.”
“How do you know unless you try? Have you asked her what she wants from life? Do you know if she wants to settle down now or ten years from now? Maybe she doesn’t want kids. Maybe she believes she’ll be a terrible mother. Maybe she hates your guts.”
“Shit. You’re not helping. You know she’ll be a fantastic mother. You only have to look at her with your kids. And she does not hate my guts. The way she returned my kiss proves to me she might even be interested in me.” I argued against his devil’s advocate strategy.
“But all of these are conjectures. Just talk to her openly and honestly, just like you’re doing with me.”
“What about Jane?”
“What about Jane?” Jake repeated the same words but his intonation was an unhappy one.
“Don’t you believe she and I suit better?”
“Technically, yes. But you and she don’t love one another. Your hearts have already been signed, sealed, and delivered to other people.” Was that true? Had I already given my heart to Delaney? I didn’t think Jake was correct in this assumption. “You and Laney may not appear perfect on paper, but think of how she makes you feel. If it’s anything like the way Emi made me feel when we were dating, it was either heaven or hell. If she brings out those extreme emotions in you, you’re in love.”
Damn. My emotions did range from heaven to hell. What was I to do now?
“Well good morning to you, Donovan Taylor. What’s with the early morning phone call?”
“You catching a ride with your Gimpy today?”
“Yeah.”
“Wait for me. I’m leaving my house right now.”
“All righty! We are all at Jake’s playing with the birthday girl and boy.”
I wanted to ask if Delaney was there, but didn’t want Jane’s inquisitive mind jumping to conclusions. “See you soon.”
I drove fast so I wouldn’t miss any of the fun at seven in the morning. When I arrived, the entire cul-de-sac appeared to be at Jake’s.
“Hey, Donovan.” I gave Aunt Babs and Emily a kiss before wal
king into the house.
“I see this is where the fun is at!” Ellie immediately greeted me with her usual charm, and I kissed her all over the place until she was giggling away.
“What brings you here at this early hour, Son?” The word “Son” gave me reason to pause. I didn’t think the chief had ever used this term of endearment. Maybe I was thinking too much into one word. For all I knew, he could’ve used this word on any man.
“Where else would I be on this festive day? Naturally, I came to wish my godchildren a happy birthday.” I tickle-kissed Ellie even more. She loved it. “And, I also thought I’d catch a ride to work with Roland and Jane since we’ll be right back here for the party.”
My intention was to say hello and move onto a very beautiful Delaney, who was wearing my favorite dress among the pile of dresses I purchased for her. But Roland and the chief continued to ask me questions. My only way out was to call out to Delaney and ask her to trade kids with me. I told her I needed to show some love to my godson. She obliged and we stood in front of the scary looking balloon figures and let the twins bat a round with them.
“I see you chose to wear the dress?” You look gorgeous, Delaney.
“I did. Thank you very much. It really wasn’t necessary for you to have given me all these dresses, but in any case, I won’t complain anymore and am very happy to have them. Dare I ask one more time if I can pay you?” Are you freaking kidding me? She understood and nodded her head.
“Are we good? And I’m not talking about the dresses...you know, with what happened again the other night? Though, I do still have one more question.”
“All is good. No need to mention what happened the other night, or better yet, Hawaii. But if you must ask…”
“I just want to hear from your lips that I am not a terrible kisser.”
She burst into a fit of laughter so loud, the twins stopped their boxing round and stared at her. James laughed with her. Ellie gave her a what the hell kind of look. “All right Mr. Taylor, I’m going to blow up your ego this morning. Yours was the best kiss I’ve ever had, hands down! There’s no comparison.” I knew it! I knew I was a good kisser!
“Really?”
“Truly.” She winked at me, and walked away. Shit, I wanted to pull her back and kiss her again. I wanted to be back in her room, on her bed, kissing till the party began.
“Donovan!” Jane called out in a rude voice. “Let’s go. Gimpy’s waiting.”
Jane’s voice was a wake-up call. “I should say good-bye...”
“No time. Gimpy has a meeting in an hour.”
It was no use looking for Delaney. Jane was being a nag, and I didn’t want to upset the boss so I left without a good-bye.
“You have any meetings today?” Jane asked.
“No. I pushed them all till tomorrow. I just have a bunch of things to wrap up. What time are we leaving the office?”
“Sometime after one?”
“Sounds good. Call me when you’re ready to leave.”
“It’s about time you two got in here. We need to leave now so I can drop off my beautiful granddaughter at school.”
Delaney! When did she get in the car? I smiled at her, and she responded with a curt nod.
“Laney, how is school going, and when do you plan to leave for London?” Roland engaged Delaney in a conversation and we all listened.
“School is wonderful, Grandfather.” This girl was so damn sweet. I couldn’t help but grin when she talked like a little girl speaking with her grandfather. “I graduate in about a month, so I thought I’d leave soon after. Gosh, I’d better start getting ready. I don’t have much time left.”
“Why so soon, Delaney?” I didn’t realize there was so little time for us. I felt unnerved.
“I don’t know, Mr. Taylor. I love my family, and will miss them while I’m gone, especially the twins. But I don’t really have anything keeping me here once I graduate. I’d like to go see what London has to offer me.”
“A year is a long time to be gone, Laney. What if you meet a special young man out there? Then you won’t ever want to come back.” What? I couldn’t fathom this girl being with another man.
“Grandfather, I haven’t met a special young man in the US in the twenty-two years I’ve been here. I don’t think I’ll meet one in the UK in those twelve short months.”
“Delaney, have you never been in a serious relationship?” I couldn’t help but ask. She shook her head no. “Why not?” I probed.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
How could she have gone twenty-two years without a boyfriend? She must be lying. There was no way...
“No man has swept you off your feet and wooed you like a fairy princess from a Disney movie? No glass slipper at midnight...Prince kissing Sleeping Beauty awake from slumber...Beauty kissing the Beast into a prince...?” It wasn’t my intention to humor or tease, but Jane and I found my tasteless questioning funnier than necessary.
She looked away immediately, and her pained expression put me in a hellish mood. I nudged Jane to shut her up, and she nudged me back as if to say, “You started it!”
“Laney,” Roland patted her hands in a sweet grandfatherly gesture. “Your time is coming soon, and you’ll get all your sweet heart desires and more. Every time we see you loving James and Ellie, your grandmother and I say that some man is going to be blessed beyond his wildest dreams to be loved by you.”
“Thank you, Grandfather,” she spoke in a quiet voice as we arrived at her school. “Thank you for the ride. I’ll find my way home, Grandfather. No need to worry about me.”
“I’ll send you a car, Laney. Call me when you’re finished with school.”
“I’ll be all right, Grandfather. See you later.” She left without any parting words to me or Jane.
“Will Elle bring you home?” I asked, worried. I wished I’d driven today. I didn’t like her dejected expression and I sure as hell didn’t like her being displaced.
She shut the door without an answer, and basically told me to go to hell—little did she know, I was already there.
“You two need to learn a thing or two from Laney.” Roland shook his head at us, and we put our heads down in repentance.
The morning passed at a snail’s pace. I wanted to kick myself for not having driven. Apologizing to Delaney was top priority and without a car, I was stuck here until we all left for the day.
“Have you spoken with your cousin since this morning?” I whispered to Jane when we got in the car.
“No. Have you?”
“Shit. Why haven’t you called her and apologized?”
“Why the hell haven’t you? You have her number, too.”
We were almost at Jake’s home. There’d be plenty of time to apologize.
When we arrived, the party was swinging—literally! There were clowns, trapeze artists, men or women on stilts, games galore, and circus food vendors. Nobody threw a better party than Aunt Babs.
“Out of control!” Jane agreed with me. “Your aunt is something else!”
“That she is!”
“What’d you get the twins?” she asked. “Max and I got them these cute retro tricycles.”
“You see that tall giraffe and fat panda bear, over there?” I pointed.
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Two very costly cakes.”
“Cakes?”
“Yep! Your aunt called me to tell me about some cake designer she found, and asked me if I wanted to buy these for the twins for their birthdays. What else could I say but yes?”
“Those look amazingly real. Freaky.”
“Freakishly expensive is what they were. They better taste good!” By now, Jane and I were fully immersed in the tent and we were on the prowl. “Let’s go join the party.”
That was our cue to separate. I spotted Jake, his family, and Delaney in the center of the tent. As if she knew I was walking over, Delaney took James and walked over
to Josh. They said a few words and next thing I knew, Josh leaned in and kissed her. I could so clearly see that kiss happening. Why didn’t Delaney catch on and move away? Did she like him? Why didn’t she slap him or walk away, pissed? All she did was laugh hysterically. What the hell was wrong with her?
“Are you going to say hello to us before or after you kick Josh’s ass for kissing your woman?” I didn’t realize I had approached the happy couple.
“Hey Emily. It looks like everyone is enjoying the party.”
“Everyone but you.” She giggled. “Did something go wrong with you and Laney today?”
“Why do you ask?”
“She swore you off like a bad virus just now.” Jake laughed at his wife’s statement.
“She did not!”
“She did.” Emily did her sing-song-y answer. I looked to Jake for support, and he only nodded in agreement with his wife.
I charged over to Delaney, ready to have it out with her. “Delaney!”
“Yes?” Her forced answer was not a pretty one.
“Can we talk?”
“Again? Haven’t we talked enough?”
Fuck! She was pushing all my buttons right now, and I was about to get ugly myself. “We need to talk, NOW!” I yelled, sort of loudly.
The damn girl simply walked away from me. Unbelievable! She walked away and talked about getting a corndog. I followed her and grabbed her arm, gently.
“Delaney...” My voice was softer, and it was more of a begging tone than a demanding one this time.
“How can I help you, Mr. Taylor?” She answered with a resignation that didn’t sit well with me. It was as if she was forced to talk to me even though that was the very last thing she wanted to do.
“Why the hell...” I was mad enough to chew nails and spit rivets, but observing her expression, chewing her out wouldn’t make me the sharpest tool in the shed. “Why is Josh kissing you on the lips?” I asked calmly and politely.