by Cee, DW
“What’s with the flower arrangement? Max?” I asked Jane as I walked over to take her to lunch.
“Yep!” She answered, beaming. I liked seeing Jane happy—no matter the man she was with.
“You still holding a grudge from our tequila night?”
“Yep.”
“Damn, Woman! That was like a month ago. Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
Jane badgered me about my relationship with Kate and I caved. I gave her the details of Hawaii, deleting any info on Delaney, and explained why Kate and I were done for good. Somehow, in the course of our conversation, our flirtatious banter turned sexual and I had to admit, it was more of a turn-on than I expected. Maybe it was because I hadn’t been with a woman in many months, or maybe it was because I’d always found Jane attractive, but I enjoyed our conversation.
In a game reminiscent of truth-or-dare, Jane gave me the 4-1-1 on Max and his ex. “All right! Hannah and Max dated back in high school, he knocked her up, almost married her, then she lost the baby, he was relieved, she was depressed, her parents moved her to Michigan, and now she’s back. Beat that!” That was it? I could beat that in a one sentence!
“I kissed your cousin Delaney in her hotel room the night she went missing. That’s where she told me that she had no designs on ‘joining my harem’, and that’s also when she told me that I was ‘with one woman physically, thinking about another woman mentally, but didn’t have the guts to truly love a woman, emotionally.’” Saying this aloud put me in a pissy mood. Who the hell did Delaney think she was telling me how I should think, act, or love? Delaney and Jake had no right to say what I should do with my life. Hell. If I was attracted to Jane, I had every right to act on it. She wasn’t married, and with the way she responded to my advances, she obviously felt the same way. The hell with the two naysayers...
“You what??? What the fuck???” Jane almost fell to the floor with my news.
“Wow. My story was good enough for an f-bomb? I thought you never said fuck.”
“Well...I do say it...it’s just not in your ears.”
This conversation was making me laugh enough to fall on the floor with her. “We need to stop—unless you’re willing to put out...with me.” That probably wasn’t the best thing to say, but considering the entire conversation had a sexual bent, it fell right into place.
“You are not turning this on me. I want to know about this kiss with Laney. What the hell happened? You kiss her? She kiss you? Is that what you were doing in there the whole time...kissing?”
“Let’s talk about us first.” Delaney was done. I wanted to see where I was at with Jane.
“There’s no us, Donovan. I love Max.”
“Let’s be honest with one another.”
“Shit, if we were any more honest with one another than we are now, we’d be Jake and Emily!” Bingo, Jane! We had all the makings of another Jake and Emily.
“You ever wonder what it would be like with us? You ever want to know if we’d have as good a chemistry as lovers as we do as friends?” Jane was shocked with my question. To be honest, I shocked myself with such questions. “Well, I want to know. I want to know what it feels like to make out with you, to make love to you, to make you moan my name. I want to be with you in every physical way and see if that will lead to emotions, Delaney accuses me of not being capable of having. I know I’m being an asshole wondering this about another man’s woman, but honestly, I can’t stop wondering.”
Fuck!Fuck! Fuck! What I said to Jane at lunch was out of line and beyond inappropriate. The worst part of it all—if I were completely honest with myself, Jane wasn’t the star of all those wonders. Like the idiot that I was, I got carried away with my anger toward Delaney and Jake, and came onto Jane in retaliation. It was no different than taking that woman’s number just to spite Jake. I was a total fool, and needed to correct the wrong as soon as I got home from this business trip to London. Damn. Why was I such a mess?
“Hello?” I answered this very early call. It was from Emily. I hoped nothing was wrong. “Emily. Is everything OK?”
“No, Donovan. It’s not.” What the hell? I’d never heard so much anger in her voice before.
“What’s wrong?”
“I hope you’ll be a gentleman from now on and keep your private life, private! Whatever happened between you and Laney should stay between you two. There’s no reason for Jane or anyone else to be privy to any kinds of intimate details.”
Jane, Jane, Jane! She obviously tried to weasel the rest of the info from Emily since we never got around to finishing our conversation on her cousin.
“I assure you Jane doesn’t know much.” Stupid answer, but this was all I had.
“Obviously she knows enough to ask.” Emily was mad. I needed to get myself out of this mess.
“Bye.” I heard Jane leaving in the background. That chicken—she was probably laughing at me right now.
“I’m sorry, Emily. Jane and I had lunch the other day...”
“Listen, Donovan. Up until now, it was Jake who gave you advice about our Laney, and I kept quiet believing you would do the right thing. After seeing you in action at dinner with that floozy, and hearing about your indiscretion with Jane, I need to have my say.” Uh-oh! “Laney is as close to a younger sister as I have, and you’ve hurt her beyond your scope of understanding. You and Jane believe as long as it feels good for you, the hell with what anyone else feels. You both want your egos stroked and hearts giddy, but you don’t want to work for any of this. You want to sit back and have the other person come to you. I hope one day soon, before it’s all over, you’ll come to realize how much wrong you’ve done to the girl who means the world to you. Jake and I may not have had the perfect dating period, but never did he flaunt another woman in my face, and never did he flirt with my cousin in retaliation to anything I may have done wrong to him. Had he done that, our relationship couldn’t have survived. I hope when you see Laney on Mother’s Day, you’ll either apologize and stay away for good, or apologize and come clean with your feelings for her.”
That was all it took to give me nightmares about seeing Delaney again on Mother’s Day.
“Donny?” Only five minutes had passed since we last spoke, and Ma was calling again.
“Yes, Ma.” I didn’t want to sound exasperated with her on Mother’s Day of all days. “How can I help you again?”
“Don’t be a smartass, Donny,” Ma griped. “I’m calling to remind you that you need to pick up Becky and Al.”
“Yes Ma. I’m almost at the airport now.”
“And you’ll bring them over to Jake’s?”
“Yes, Ma.” This time, I let it be known I was exasperated. “I shall pick up your daughter and favorite son-in-law, and I will bring them straight over to Jake’s for their Mother’s Day celebration.”
“Thank you Donny. I love you.”
“Love you too, Ma.”
Today would be a fun day at my buddy’s house, when not hiding from Delaney. Their family was resurrecting an old tradition of creating the best gag gifts for their mothers. I knew Jake was not creating a gag gift for his own wife, and had some prize ready for Emily. Delaney wasn’t far off when she claimed that her cousin was the ultimate husband. It would be hard to beat him in that category.
“Hey, Bro’. What’s shaking?” Al always had some lame greeting.
“Hey. Did you have a comfortable flight?” I hugged my sister and my brother-in-law purposely hugged me longer than necessary. I pushed him away and laughed.
“No,” my sister complained. “We had a crying baby next to us, and I think he cried for almost an hour.”
“Shit. I hope your kid won’t be that annoying.”
“Donny.” Al imitated Ma’s voice perfectly. “Our child will be perfect.”
“Uh-huh...”
Becky yapped the whole way to Jake’s and asked a shitload of questions which I ignored.
“Donovan,
who’s that leggy blonde walking with Doug?”
“How could you not know who she is, Beck? That’s Jane’s cousin, Delaney.”
“No freaking way. When did she grow up to look like that?” My sister’s jaw dropped. “Look at those boobs. Shit. She has long legs, big boobs and curves in only the right places. Her body is perfect.”
“Why don’t you say that a little louder, Honey? I don’t think she heard you,” Al said while shooing his wife out of the car.
“Good morning Reids,” I greeted Delaney more so than Doug. Last we were together, I left her with Jake and Emily on the pretense I was going out for drinks with another woman. Then, I courted danger with her cousin and told her I wanted to know what it was like to make love to her. What a fucking moron I was at times. I needed to sew my own mouth shut.
“Hey Donovan.” It was Doug who greeted me, not his sister. “Becky, I didn’t know you were in town.” The two of them chatted, and I only stared at Delaney hoping to make eye contact. She refused to look at me but I read the defeat in her eyes.
“Hi, I’m Al. I’ll introduce myself since no one here will show us the courtesy.”
“Hello. I’m Laney Reid. Younger sister to Doug, first cousins with Jake and his siblings.”
All of those words were spoken between Delaney and Al and there was no place for me to jump in. Then, after a terse greeting with Becky, Delaney said her goodbyes and went inside.
“So she’s Delaney?” Al spoke only to me. “Good choice.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Al?”
“Maybe you’re unaware of what you say to me, but that young lady’s name comes up in our conversation every time.”
“She does not,” I argued. “Stop making shit up.”
Al chuckled. “Why don’t we go in since you look like a lost puppy wanting some love from his owner.”
“Shut up,” was all I could say.
We walked in to find the twins sprawled atop Delaney on the floor. She was hugging and kissing each kid over and over again. The kids were giggling and overjoyed with their godmother.
“Beautiful.” I thought to myself. The sight of Delaney with the children moved me. Maybe it was because she was my other half in this god-parenting duty, or maybe it was just the sight of a pretty girl playing with pretty babies. Whatever it was, there was no more a gorgeous picture.
“Someone’s having too much fun here!” I said loudly and joined the revelry. I loved Elizabeth and James, but I was hoping to have some sort of interaction with Delaney to break the ice. It bugged me that she hadn’t greeted me, and I didn’t know how to make things better with her.
Everything had gone so well with us that entire day until the very end. What an asshole I was dropping her as if she was a bad habit. Even if it wasn’t a date for either one of us, I saw the hurt—and rightly so! The way I pushed her away made my stomach turn. If she decided she never wanted to spend another day with me, I couldn’t blame her. But, I would do my damnedest to change her mind. I just hoped she had no idea what had transpired between her cousin and me the other day. As I took over god-parenting duty, Delaney walked away from me again.
“Donovan!” Thank God for Aunt Babs. She was waving me over to the table I wanted to sit at, but was afraid to make my move. “Come sit with us.”
I beelined over to the empty seat at their table, kissed Aunt Babs on the cheek, and sat next to Delaney. “Hi.” I whispered and lightly touched her back with cautious affection.
She smiled but didn’t answer. I didn’t like the way she smiled. There wasn’t the same kind of enthusiasm in her eyes.
Aunt Babs and I talked about my parents, and while we went back and forth on my mother’s gift, Delaney quietly ate her food and only cracked a smile when she talked about the vignettes she wrote for her mother.
“Will you let me read the book you created for your mom?” I asked hesitantly.
“Sure.” That was the only word I got from her since we last parted.
This silence was killing me.
“I’m sorry.” I spoke, finally admitting my mistake from the other day. I couldn’t stand this distance between us. She answered by turning her body away, not wanting to discuss what had happened. “Hey.” With my hand on her arm, I turned her attention and body to face me “I shouldn’t have pushed you away the other night. I didn’t go out with that woman who gave me her number. I promise! I don’t know why I sent you off with Jake and Emily.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, but couldn’t hide the tear she flicked off her face. God! Her pain jabbed me like a boxer on a punching bag. “You were nice enough to take me to dinner and plan a fun evening for me with my cousin and his wife. Why should you take me home when I live steps away from them?” She brought her hand to the side of my lips and wiped away what must have been crumbs from whatever the hell I had shoveled into my mouth. I had this incredible urge to take her hand in my own and kiss it. Her words were lighthearted, but something in the tender look in her eyes made her appear vulnerable. “I’m all right. Don’t look so concerned.” She did her best to show me a sincere smile.
“I needed you to know that I regretted what I did immediately.”
“Which part?” She mocked me with a half-laugh. “The part where you yelled me at me and told me I was difficult? Or was it the part where you pretty much stopped talking to me? Or could it be the part where you ignored me, Junior Partner, and paid attention to a woman with way too much makeup and not enough clothes? I could’ve dined with that senior citizen partner of yours instead of you that night. At least someone would have paid attention to me rather than ogling other women.” Finally, I got the smile I was looking for from this girl. It started from her heart and reached over to touch my own. By the gentling of her expression, I knew she had forgiven my idiotic behavior.
I laughed with her kidding statement, and it felt like all was right in this world again. “Were you jealous, Beautiful?”
“What else would I have been, Handsome? My pretend-beau dumped me for a hotter prospect.” She faintly giggled. Something about the way her eyes turned away from my peering eyes, made it appear as if she was jealous. Did she return my feelings? Could we make this work?
“There’s no way I’d say that woman was hotter than you.” I kidded back. “You’re about as perfect as pretend-girlfriends come. Beautiful, sweet, caring, and kind—you are the whole package.” She truly was in all ways.
“Everyone!” the chief bellowed. “Let the games begin!”
“Let’s go before Dad comes over. I have a contest and a boatload of money to win.” I loved that competitive spirit in her.
“I’ve changed my mind about her.” Al walked up to me as Delaney walked away. “She’s a knockout. She lights up a room when she smiles. In fact, she lit up this entire backyard when you put that smile on her face.”
“She is, isn’t she?” Damn. I realized too late what I’d admitted to and Al smirked. “Don’t give me that weasel smile of yours. Anyone would admit she’s a knock-out.”
“Just give in and ask her out. You can’t stay away from her.” Al and I walked in step toward Jake’s parents’ home.
“Are we talking about Laney?” My buddy chimed in with a stupid, knowing grin.
“We are,” Al agreed. These two were pissing me off with their smugness.
“Al, you know a nice young man for my lovely cousin who’s bright, appealing, witty, and loves kids?”
“I have a brother I can introduce her to if she’s not taken.”
“Great! Where does he live? Any man who can capture my cousin’s heart is going to be the second luckiest man. The first one is me, of course.”
“Of course,” I mimicked sarcastically. “Stop trying to match-make your cousin. She’s happy being single.”
“How the hell would you know what my cousin wants and doesn’t want? I’m about to set her up with Derek.” Jake called his wife over to join in the ha
rassment. “Hey Emi?”
Emily, who looked radiant on this Mother’s Day, handed James to a happy Delaney, and walked to us. “Yes?”
“You remember my med school buddy, Derek?”
“The redhead with the cute freckles?” she asked.
“Yeah. What do you think about him and Laney? He’s just finished up his M.D. / PhD, and will be researching and teaching here. Should I set the two up on a blind date?”
Emily looked at me, first, and then answered, “I think that’s a brilliant idea. He’s a little on the quiet side, but he’s smart enough to keep up with our Laney and he’s a nice guy. Go ahead, Jake. Set them up. If they got together and had kids, they’d have strawberry blond hair and darling freckles.”
“Emily,” I quipped. “No man wants strawberry blond hair with freckles.” I was annoyed with her exuberance.
Emily shrugged. “Then they’ll have all girls.” She challenged my quip. “Do it, Jake. I’ll let Laney know.” With that, Emily walked over to Delaney, and they took turns making James laugh while his sister flirted with all her uncles.
“You don’t mind, do you Donovan?” That smugness appeared again on Jake’s face. Al outright laughed at me.
“Why would I mind?” I answered nonchalantly. “I’m sure Delaney would love to date a guy who looks like he’s ten-years-old.” With the two guys poking fun at me, I walked ahead and stood behind Delaney in a very crowded bathroom to see the unveiling of Gram’s gift.
“Hi.” Delaney showed surprise when I stood close behind her and placed my hand on the back of her arm, almost around her waist.
“Is that what I think it is?” I whispered to her. She nodded and explained this whole concept of Game of Thrones TV show.
“Game of Thrones is my favorite show.” She said directly in my ear so she wouldn’t disrupt the explanation in progress.
“When school’s over for you, and I get a break from this case, you’re going to sit and watch all three seasons with me.” I didn’t know why, but I had a vision of us at the beach house, the fireplace going, sitting in bed watching hours of television together. This was not a vision I should’ve had, but I couldn’t rid myself of it.