by Natalie Ann
“What does your brother think of this?” Holly asked.
“I don’t know,” Meena said. “We haven’t told Brian and aren’t going to right now.”
“Ah,” Carolyn said, the quietest of the group standing there. She didn’t talk as often, but when she did, it was normally pretty meaningful. “Your brother is protective of you, isn’t he?”
“He is,” Meena agreed. “He never used to be, but in the past several years, he is more so than even when I was a teen.”
“Do you think he’d be upset you were seeing his best friend?” Holly asked.
“I don’t know how he’ll feel and until Troy and I can figure out how things go, we’ll just keep it between ourselves.”
“That’s smart,” Carolyn said.
“That’s boring,” Angela said.
“It’s less risky,” Holly said.
“But it’s the way we both want it,” Meena said.
Feet on the Ground
Troy took a deep breath and got out of his truck. Meena had told him she rented a house now, but he didn’t expect to see her living in a place like this.
Not a little ways out of the city in a cute white ranch house. Quaint. That was what it looked like. Even complete with a white picket fence. She was renting the place, he reminded himself again, she didn’t buy it for herself.
He made his way to the front door and rang the bell. She was right there opening it as if she’d been sitting close by. “Hi,” he said, moving past her. He decided to go with his gut and give her a kiss on the cheek.
“How about my lips?” she said, then leaned in and placed her nice soft ones against his. “Mmm, much better.”
He smiled like he did so much when he was around her as a kid. Even as an adult. She had a way about her to make him just be happier than he ever remembered being. Made him not want to be so serious all the time.
Even her outfit made him grin right now. It was probably the boldest he’d seen her dressed since she’d been back. She still had her own style, but much calmer. Mature was more like it.
She had a long print skirt on filled with jewel-toned colors in some design that he couldn’t explain if he wanted to. A dark purple sweater. Her bright red hair was pulled back away from her face and falling down her back in loose curls he was just itching to run his fingers through.
“Do I meet with your approval?” she asked with a tone that said she knew she was getting the once over.
“You actually do. You look very pretty.”
“Thank you. You look handsome yourself in a nice shirt.”
He pulled one of the few button-down shirts out of his closet and put it on with dark jeans. The place they were going was dressier than a pub, but not enough for him to consider putting anything other than jeans on.
“Let me just get my boots on.”
“Are you going to show me around your place?” he asked.
His eyes had been taking in as much as he could, just dying to see how she lived. He remembered her room as a kid. Bright pinks and purples, blues and greens. It was yellow once and Brian had joked how it hurt his eyes so bad he couldn’t even step foot in it. Meena’s parents refused to let her paint it black during her Goth stage. He knew that because Meena told him herself one day when she was pouting over it.
She was even adorable when she pouted.
“It’s not that big of a place and won’t take long, so sure. I need my boots out of my room anyway. This is the living room, as you can see.”
It was painted a sand color with one wall being a deep blue that reminded him of the middle of the ocean. He didn’t think he’d like that color on a wall, but surprisingly it looked nice with the few throw pillows on her tan couch. The pillows added a bit of brightness to the wall with varying shades of sunset colors.
“Did the owners let you paint in here or was it like this when you moved in?” he asked.
“I did it. They were fine with me changing the paint, but nothing else. I promised to put it back to a neutral color whenever I left. I’m sure you’re ready to climb the walls looking at anything other than white or gray.”
She was smirking at him, but all he did was tug on a lock of her hair. “So far I’m ready to keep my feet on the ground.”
“Then let’s move to the kitchen,” she said.
They’d passed through the dining room that was just a darker shade of the sand color in her living room. Her table was set all pretty with turquoise stoneware plates.
The kitchen was white, but not like his. White cabinets and stainless steel appliances. The walls were a light blue, almost silver in appearance. There were more shades of blue throughout with some pops of orange that he thought would clash but actually looked tasteful, shocking himself for even thinking that.
“You like blue?” he asked.
“I do. It’s one of those colors I can’t seem to grow tired of. And so many other colors play off of it well.”
“Even for hair color,” he said.
“I’ve been blue a few times.”
“I remember,” he said. “I thought it made your blue eyes pop, but I think the red does more than the blue ever did.” It was like looking into the summer sky, staring into her eyes.
“I stood out like a sore thumb among all the black that day. Sorry if I embarrassed you. My mother was annoyed, but it wasn’t like I had time to change my hair color for the day. It takes a full day to do something like that.”
He put his arm around her, liking that she didn’t point out it was the day of his father’s funeral, but he knew just the same. “You were there for me and that is all that mattered. A face that I needed to see without even knowing.”
She just nodded and they walked down a hall. “Two spare bedrooms I haven’t done anything with. I don’t even have a bed in them, as I didn’t have a lot of furniture when I moved here. Main bath right there.”
He popped his head in and saw it was a light yellow color with light green accents. Pastel colors that didn’t seem to fit her style. “You didn’t even touch this room, did you?”
She laughed. “How did you guess? I don’t use that bathroom at all, so why bother? I put my own touch on the rooms I’m using.”
“No office here?” he asked.
She opened up the door to her bedroom. “I use the little desk in the corner. If I had an office, I’d end up spending more time doing work at home and I would rather not. Putting it in my bedroom makes me hurry up to get it done. I’d rather stay at Pulse to work so I can just come home and distance myself, but I know it doesn’t always work out that way.”
“No,” he said. “It doesn’t.” Which was why he had an office with just as much stuff in it at home as he did at his main headquarters. He wished he could distance himself like her, but his business was different and was just too big.
Her room wasn’t what he expected. Here it was very simple. The walls were gray, just a darker tone, the curtains almost a slate color. Her bedspread was filled with more jewel-toned colors. Nothing overly bright like she surrounded herself with as a teen. Now it was a more adult way of standing out.
There were tons of pillows on her bed, all lighter colors to bring out the bedspread.
“Let me get my boots on and we can go. I’m starving.”
She walked into her closet and he popped his head in getting a glance at all her clothes. Her bathroom was right next to it with the door open and he noticed it was an extension of her bedroom. Another gray tone on the walls, but with deep vibrant bold accents. Not a lot, but just enough.
That seemed to be her style now. Just enough.
“I have to say I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked in here, but not this.”
She’d walked over to her bed and sat down to put on a pair of knee-high brown boots that looked more like riding boots than anything sexy. When she stood up, she reminded him of a gypsy and he realized that this might be the sexiest she’d ever been to him.
She looked like Meena always did, but
more mature. More his style though he never would have guessed that if someone asked him.
“I’m not a teen anymore. I’ve found other ways to express my love for color.”
***
Meena wasn’t sure how Troy was going to react to how she lived.
When she was younger it was all about being bold. Being wild. Making a statement. Getting attention.
She didn’t always get the right kind of attention and learned that the hard way on her quest for a mate.
Men saw the way she presented herself and just thought she was the wild girl that would never settle down. She was great to have fun with, but not someone to bring home to their mother.
She was who she was and though she didn’t want to change, she knew there had to be a happy medium in there somewhere. She felt she found that after a lot of soul searching.
This was probably the happiest she’d been in life. She didn’t worry about walking out in public and someone giving her an odd look. Well, that wasn’t true—her hair colors still got her some odd looks, but not like it did years ago.
The fact that her clothing was more toned down—her style and attitude that of someone who knew what they were doing, and was successful—tended to make people glance and look away quickly now rather than judge.
There was no judgment in Troy’s eyes either when he walked around her home. Rather there was something like admiration. It was stunning to see, but pleasantly so.
“I’m ready to go if you are,” she said, walking to the front door and pulling her long jacket out of the hall closet.
Though Troy still had a coat on, it was barely zipped up and she could see he’d put some effort into dressing up a bit more than normal.
She would have been fine with him dressed like he’d been the last few times they’d been together but was thrilled that he stepped out of his normal comfort zone of a cotton shirt and work jeans. Instead he had some nice fitted dark wash ones on, reminding her that he still was a physical specimen.
She’d had a hard enough time figuring out her outfit and was glad she went with what she did. The heat in his eyes said he appreciated that she looked fun, demure, and whimsical. He’d said he liked her the way she was and she was going to still be that person, just toned down.
No use putting on some skin-tight party dress. She had one or two of them that friends of hers talked her into buying years ago, but she couldn’t remember the last time she wore them. Her clubbing days were over in her mind.
“After you,” he said, holding the door open for her.
It didn’t take long for them to get to the restaurant. Thankfully he’d made reservations since the place was jam packed. “Have you been here before?” she asked.
“A few times. The food is good. They’ve got a nice wine selection if you want a glass.”
“I might have one.”
“You don’t have to,” he said. “You said you don’t drink much.”
“Not really. But tonight might call for a glass.”
He smiled at her and when his eyes got all soft and the muscles around his mouth and jaw relaxed a little she felt the heat of a thousand fireplaces inside her body. She’d never felt that way before over a man’s smile.
Then again, those men weren’t Troy.
Important in My Life
Dinner was going well. The two of them were talking about old times. Talking about the town they grew up in and people still in the area.
He knew she was aware of most of the people that were still around since she and Brian talked all the time and Brian and he had a lot of the same friends.
“So do you wish you stayed in New York City?” he asked.
“No. I told you it was time for me to come back. Time for a change.”
“I thought going there was the change,” he said, picking up his beer and finishing it off.
“My parents wanted me to get the best training I could. They’re great that way. I could have stayed locally, but there was just so much more to experience there and they understood that.”
“Which is funny considering how much you butted heads with them growing up.”
She laughed. “They were so much older when they had Brian and me that part of me didn’t think they understood me. I guess in the long run they understood me well enough.”
“It is our parents’ jobs to parent us and not always be our friends.”
She shook her head and finished up the glass of wine she’d been nursing for the almost two hours they’d been here. “No kid wants to hear that.”
“It’s boring, I know. I appreciated being my father’s friend when I was an adult. If he’d treated me like that as a kid I think I would have been even duller than everyone thought I was.”
“You weren’t dull. You were just responsible, unlike me. Even Brian was more responsible than me. My parents were just...old fashioned and laid back. Brian takes after them.”
“You were the wild child,” he said.
“Someone has to be.”
“Very true. Being wild doesn’t have to be a bad thing though. You were always respectful.”
“When you were around. Not always to my parents. But like a parents’ job is having to parent, a kid’s job is to be a kid and push the boundaries. I pushed them plenty. I’ve got regrets that maybe I made life too hard on everyone. Those are thoughts that filtered through my brain often over the years.”
He was surprised to hear her say that. She never seemed to have regrets about anything in life that he knew of. “How is your relationship with your parents now?” he asked.
“It’s good. They still roll their eyes at my hair now and again, but for the most part they look past it all. I think my mother has realized that how I look shouldn’t dictate who I am as a person. But I made a promise to her that on important days in my life—when something matters and I can plan it—I will have my hair my natural color.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because when I’m older, I don’t want to look back on something that was so important in my life and regret that I wasn’t mature enough to think of someone other than myself.”
Words he’d never heard from a woman before and shouldn’t be surprised he was hearing them from Meena, but he was. “How long did it take you to figure that out?” he asked.
“Longer than I wish it did.”
He didn’t find that statement odd at all. “But you figured it out,” he said.
“I did. Just like I’m sure you’ve figured out some things in life. I guess we’ve got to make a lot of mistakes for that to really happen.”
“I’ve made my fair share,” he said.
“I find that hard to believe. Or not as many as I did,” she argued.
The waitress came over and handed him the bill. “You’re sure you don’t want any dessert?” he asked.
“No. I’m good. But thanks, dinner was delicious.”
He pulled his credit card out and put it in the leather billfold. “Just because I’m serious all the time doesn’t mean I didn’t make mistakes. I’ve made enough of them where women were concerned.”
She put her chin in her hands. “What mistakes are those?”
“I’m not sure I want to tell you,” he said. No use airing dirty laundry.
“I’m guessing you didn’t make as many as you think. It was probably more about picking women that just didn’t understand you.”
“It amazes me how you can say something so simple that took me forever to figure out on my own.”
“So the question is—do you think I understand you?”
She was the serious one right now, her light blue eyes almost glowing while she waited for his answer. If he was fanciful—which he never was—he might even think she was holding her breath a little.
“I know you do,” he said.
She held her hand out to his, waited for him to take it, then said, “Then you’ll understand when I say you are going to be changing your routine tonight.”
***
Meena had been waiting for the right time to bring it up. She hadn’t wanted to hit Troy with it last minute, but she had no intention of him leaving her alone tonight.
She didn’t care whose house they stayed at, but they weren’t going to be separated until she was damn good and ready.
She watched him gulp when she voiced that statement, then his head nod. The waitress came over and took the bill and she waited to see what he’d say. He didn’t disappoint when he said, “It’s a routine that can change for you anytime you want it to.”
The minute his credit card was returned, he finished up paying and they stood up to leave. The cold winter air hitting her in the face didn’t even come close to cooling her body down.
“Where to?” she asked.
“Your choice,” he said.
“You planned this date,” she pointed out.
“But I didn’t plan on this. I didn’t assume. I’m glad I didn’t because now I’m looking forward to it even more. Like wanting the biggest best gift for Christmas but being afraid to tell Santa about it because if it wasn’t under the tree I’d be so disappointed.”
“Instead you’re being given it without asking,” she said.
“Exactly.”
“Then if you’re okay with it, we can go back to my place. I have no intention of letting us spend the night apart.”
They climbed in his truck and he started it up, turning the heat on full blast and pulling out of the parking lot.
It wasn’t long before they were at her house. When they walked in the front door she said, “You’re awfully quiet. Having second thoughts?”
“That was going to be my question to you,” he said.
“The only thoughts I’m having are how fast I can get you out of those clothes.”
“Then we’re thinking alike once again.”
They hung their jackets up and the minute that was out of the way, he turned and picked her up, then carried her down the hall to her room. She wasn’t sure any man had ever picked her up and carried her like this, cradling her almost in a loving embrace. Nor had she wanted anyone to.