Complete Indelible Love Series

by Cee, DW

  “I’ve been busy. I assume the kids are well and healthy?”

  “The kids are beautiful and growing too fast. The twins will be two next month, and eight-month-old JR crawls faster than his sister runs. Our house is overflowing with noise, mess, and fun.”

  “It sounds like someone is itching for another baby...” Donovan spoke to his best friend.

  “That’s what I keep saying. Maybe another set of twins?” Jake asked his wife, who began choking on her soda the minute the word “twins” was spoken.

  “That would mean I’d have five kids under the age of three?” She was horrified and terrified. “Can something like that even happen?”

  “Of course it can, Emily. My buddy and I are supermen! We can do anything if our wives desire it.” Jake and Donovan high-fived one another.

  “Do I smell pizza?” Laney’s father walked in with a bottle of wine.

  “Come on in and join us, Chief.” Donovan brought out the other box of pizza.

  “Is it always Times Square here?” Luciano asked no one in particular after greeting Chief Henry Reid.

  “It’s usually Jake and Emily’s home that gets all the visitors, but tonight, we have the pizza.” My niece exclaimed with her mouth not full this time. “When you live toward the end of a cul-de-sac, it’s hard to hide a pizza delivery car.”

  “How come no one invited me to this party?” Of course this evening wouldn’t be complete without Nicholas Reid. I hadn’t seen him in over two weeks, and all those emotions I was so good at hiding, resurfaced.

  As silly as this sounded, he looked taller, more handsome, and definitely happier without me.

  The room went dead silent for a second when Nick saw me in the kitchen. Donovan undid the mute button by introducing Nick to Luciano. Nick didn’t say much, but helped himself to pizza and sat between Laney and Emily.

  “If you hold pizza parties often, I’m going to have to move into the neighborhood.”

  “You can try, but as you can tell by the name of the cul-de-sac, you have to be a Reid to own property here,” the chief explained. “We recently petitioned to get our street name changed, so we can have complete ownership of this neighborhood.”

  “So if I married a Taylor, that wouldn’t work?” Luciano was of course kidding, but everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and stared.

  Once again, my nephew came to the rescue. “If you’re done stealing my wife’s pizza, Roland and I have something we’d like to discuss with you.”

  Luciano took no offense to Donovan’s suggestion and got up to leave. “I’ll be right back?” He questioned.

  “Roland lives across the street so no need to take your car keys.” I let him know.

  “I think it’s time for us to get back to the children.” Jake announced, as Emily was already off her chair.

  “Goodnight, Baby.” The chief gave his daughter a kiss and he, too, left.

  Before we knew what was happening, we were alone in the kitchen. Laney went to walk everyone to the door and somehow never came back. Neither Nick nor I expected this awkward meeting.

  “How are things, Bee?” He spoke like his usual carefree self.

  “Things are well, Nick.” It was painful for me to address him as Nick rather than a playful Nicholas.

  Nick obviously agreed. He paused, and gave me an are we really doing this kind of look. “Before you tell me what’s been happening in your life, give me a sec?” he asked and ran out the door.

  It hurt to see Nick tonight. It hurt worse than I believed it would. The past few weeks had been filled with legal jargon and warehouse layouts. I purposely worked until I was tired enough to collapse into a dreamless sleep. I wanted no more reminders or remnants of what Nick and I never were. But of course, Lady Luck was never on my team. Tonight of all nights, when I looked like a thirty-year-old woman who’d let go and given up on finding a future mate, I came across the man I wanted so badly in my future.

  “You came back.”

  Nick didn’t appreciate the comment as he placed a beautiful, bright yellow square box on the table. “Happy belated birthday.” I must have stared at him too long because he felt the need to explain further. “I took this with me to Italy, but didn’t get a chance to give it to you. It’s been sitting in my car with the thought that I’d drop it off at your loft,” he chuckled softly. “As you can see, I never got around to it.”

  “Thank you.” I spoke hesitantly, not knowing how to feel about receiving a gift from Nick.

  “You might want to open the box and do a bit of housekeeping in there.” He pointed to the grease-stained corner. “I put this together a little while ago, and I don’t remember everything that’s in there. I have a feeling some things might have withered, died, or grown two heads.”

  That was the Nick I knew and liked so very much! He got us laughing, and finally broke the unnecessary ice. “May I?” My hands were itching to uncover the hidden gift. Nick gestured for me to go at it.

  The items in the box made me breathe deep and hold back tears. Perhaps Nick sensed my emotion, and began explaining the gifts as I took each one out of the box.

  “I want you to know it wasn’t easy finding yellow anything!” he complained. “This ruler,” he held up, “I had to spray paint it yellow because I couldn’t find it in that color. After a few uses, you’ll probably find more of it on your hand than the ruler.”

  There were yellow pencils, pens, a notepad, erasers, scissors, and even a ribbon label maker with yellow ribbon inside. Each and every item was thoughtful, but what hit home was the camera wrapped in the yellow ribbon labeled Bee Taylor. Back when we went skiing, I had explained to Nick about my need for a high megapixel, Wi-Fi camera that would allow me to shoot pictures of my creations and email them on the spot rather than doing the whole transferring process. Because of the cost, I remembered saying if I secured one more large vendor, I’d splurge and buy myself this camera.

  The camera in my hand was the exact one I desired. I took more deep breaths and found my emotional equilibrium before I spoke. “This is so expensive,” I whispered.

  “You deserve it. It should come in handy now that you’re a soon-to-be slumlord operating a sweatshop.” As always, he made me laugh, and he made me feel as if I could conquer the world with him by my side.

  “Is it all right for me to take this? We’re...not...together...anymore. You can return it and get your money back. That’s OK. You wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you did that.” It dawned on me how inappropriate it was for me to take such an expensive gift from a man who wasn’t even my friend anymore. For a confused moment, I happily accepted these thoughtful gifts believing that there were beautiful meanings behind each item. And each item was meant expressly for me.

  Hastily, I began placing everything back in the large box, and Nick stopped me. His hands gently grabbed my own and told me to stop what I was doing. “These are for you—even the dead sunflower and moldy yellow cake with yellow frosting. I wish I could be what you want in a man.” He said this with sadness and regret as I was pulled into his body. I placed my arms around his body and leaned into his inviting chest. “If there ever was a woman who made me want to change my ways, it would be...”

  We jumped at the sound of a ringing cell phone. It was Nick’s phone signaling Lily as the caller, displaying a picture of the two of them with Sleeping Beauty’s castle as their background, Mickey Mouse ears on their heads, smiling like two people in...love. Nick let go of me to stop the ringing phone. I let go of him and pulled myself back to reality.

  Was it a Freudian slip, an unintended pun, karma’s ugly revenge, that he ended that sentence with a word that sounded like my name, but wasn’t? Whoever that person might be, after seeing that screenshot on his phone, it sure as hell wasn’t Bee.

  March 6, 2014 NICK: Lamentations

  “What’s the matter, Nick?” I looked up at the woman in front of me who made me feel comfortable, who made me smile.
“Should we call it a night?”

  Lily and I decided to pick up a hobby, and the only common interest we had was tennis. Since neither of us had our own place, we had nowhere in particular to hang out. We decided to meet up and play at a local park twice a week. “I don’t have much homework tonight. You want to go back to my parents’ place and watch a movie?”

  “You’re actually taking me to the cul-de-sac?” She asked this question with enough shock to make me wonder what was wrong.

  “Do you not want to watch a movie?” Lily laughed like a nut! It took her a long while to contain herself. “What am I missing?”

  “Nothing.” She somehow pulled herself together and motioned us to our cars. “Now you’re sure I can walk into the cul-de-sac and hang with you?”

  “Um, yeah. Do you want to sit in the hot tub, instead?” I had no clue why Lily started grinning again.

  When we got home, the two-foot love of my life was visiting.

  “Nick,” she croaked in a hoarse voice.

  “What’s the matter, Brat? Are you sick?” She put out her arms, so I held her and kissed her hot forehead. “Do you have an owie?” I asked, as her lips turned into a frown and big droplets of tears formed. In order to stop the tears, I put her on my shoulders and spun her carefully. The expected smile returned.

  “Nick,” Emily warned. “Why don’t I take her now and clean her up.” Emily saved my scalp from an ugly mess of slobber and snot.

  “What brings you here, and where are the boys?”

  “Mom is with the sleeping boys, and Dad is checking out our Elizabeth. She woke up with a case of croup and I thought walking over here would help the congestion. I’ll take her in the shower if this doesn’t calm the barking cough.”

  “Jake working late?”

  “Yeah. He went into surgery in the afternoon. I don’t know when he’ll be home.”

  “Hello, Ellie. Do you want to hang out with me and your uncle in the hot tub?” Lily tried to engage an unwilling child.

  Ellie stared at her for a while, and eventually asked me, “Who dat?”

  “That’s Lily, Audrey’s auntie.” Emily informed her curious child.

  Ellie had no qualms stating, “No likey Dede.”

  I chuckled at my hilarious niece. She was the cutest brat out there.

  I offered to stay with my brat while Dad checked her out, and Emily took Lily to her house to lend her a suit. Before we knew what hit us, we were in Emily’s hot tub with Ellie.

  “Is the water too hot for you, Ellie?” Lily asked. “You want me to take you in the warm pool?”

  “NO!” Ellie pointed her index finger at Lily, and told her off. “No likey.” She informed me of her dislike for Lily.

  I laughed again. “Who do you like?” I asked, as we switched over to the warm pool.

  “Mama. Dada. My Unca. Nick. Ax. James, JR, Gigi. Gampy.” There was no arguing with my niece. She knew what she wanted in life.

  “Do you like any women outside of your mom and Gigi?” Lily asked Ellie.

  My hilarious niece gave Lily a piss-off kind of look and repeated, “No likey you,” and clung to me. Though she was a royal brat, I loved this girl.

  “Where’s my Elizabeth?” My brother was walking toward us with a big towel in his hand.

  “Dada!!!” She barked, and tried her darnedest to hop out of the pool.

  Jake picked up his middle child, and gave her plenty of love. Only after he and his daughter were satisfied with their greetings, did he acknowledge us.

  “Should we get going?” Lily asked once Jake and Emily went up to put Ellie down.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “Sorry we didn’t get to hang out much today.” I apologized for my off behavior tonight.

  Lily dried off and put Emily’s cover-up on. “I’ll return these to Emily next time.” She explained, and walked to her car.

  “I really am sorry about tonight. I just have a lot on my mind.”

  “I hope one day and one day soon, you’ll feel comfortable enough to tell me what’s bothering you. I know we’re still just hanging out, but my hope is that we might become...closer.” Lily looked disappointed.

  “Let me try and figure out what’s going on in my head, and when you get back from Jersey, we’ll talk. How long are you staying with your parents?”

  “The conference lasts a week, so I’ll be in Jersey for at least that amount of time—possibly longer.”

  “You’ll call me?” After the way I treated her today, it wouldn’t surprise me if she never called me again.

  She came close and placed her soft lips on mine. This was only our second kiss since New Year’s. It was different from kissing Bee, but it felt pretty nice. As she ended the kiss, I decided to continue it.

  She had a sweet smile on her face and whispered, “See ya.”

  I watched her leave, and I went back to my brother’s house.

  “Lily gone?” Jake asked.

  “Yeah. She’s catching an early flight back home tomorrow.”

  “Is something wrong?” Jake sat to a late dinner.

  I didn’t know exactly how to explain what was wrong. “Will I bother you if I tried to explain a few things?”

  “You want to join us? Emily hasn’t eaten yet, either.”

  “Sure.” We all sat and I started explaining what had happened Monday. “Right when I was about to explain to Bee that I could see a future with her, the phone rang, and up popped a picture of me and Lily at Disneyland.” I showed them the picture on my phone. “Bee stepped away, and the next thing I knew, she was going home with that guy.”

  “Nick, I’m confused.” My sister-in-law said. “Why are you dating Lily if your heart is with Bee?”

  Wasn’t that the million-dollar question!?!

  “Lily and I are friends...a little more than friends...we are at the get-to-know-one-another stage.”

  “Does Lily know this?”

  “Yes,” I reassured. “It was Lily who suggested we hang out, not me.”

  “Why are you so against relationships?” I didn’t know how to answer Jake. “It’s just me and Emi. You can speak your mind. We will not judge you.”

  A small voice interrupted our conversation. “Mama.” Emily jumped at the sweet and sad calling.

  “What’s the matter, James? Are you not feeling well?” Emily picked up my sweet nephew who stood by the door, cheeks flushed, holding his blankie. “You’re as hot as your sister. Can Mama take you to her special rocking chair?” James nodded his head in the affirmative. “Should I hold you and kiss you and read you One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish?”

  Emily’s gentle voice brought smiles and tears from her oldest child.

  “Can I get a hug and kiss before you go back upstairs?” James settled in my brother’s arms for a while and they both gave one another much love before James walked into my outstretched arms.

  “I want you to feel better so I can put you on my shoulders and spin you fast, OK?”

  “Yesh, Unca.” I kissed my nephew a few more times before he went off with his mom.

  “I love your kids. James, Ellie, and JR all have their individual personalities and quirks. Each one brings a smile to my face.” My brother had a knowing smile. “But is it wrong not to want my own kids right now? I don’t want a happy child, sick child, bratty child or a perfect child—not yet.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “Then how do I reconcile my desire to be wife and child-free, with my desire to be with a woman who wants all that, and soon?”

  Even my brother was stumped. What was I to do when Jake Reid didn’t have an answer concerning life, love, and women?

  “If you really have no immediate desire for marriage and family, then you do what you’re doing now, I suppose. You enjoy life as a single guy.” Finally! Someone who understood me. “But,” of course, there was a but, “don’t play Bee or Lily. You need to be positive that you are not leadi
ng either woman down a road you don’t intend to travel.”

  “That’s what ended my relationship with Bee. She didn’t like where I was going, or better stated, not going.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to try and make things work with Bee? She appears sensible enough to know she shouldn’t book a church any time soon. And you can’t seem to get her off your mind.”

  “With Bee comes too much commitment and too much reality. I’m not ready for either. I like her, but not enough to lose myself to her.”

  “Bro’. Whenever I see you with her, you look like you’ve been found. I’d take a few steps back and reconsider.”