She threw a pillow at me, but it didn’t go more than a few feet. “I’ve melted,” she said. “I’m just a puddle of girl on your mattress.”
“A puddle of hot girl,” I said, rummaging for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “Listen, there is something I need to tell you.”
“Oh no,” she said. “Don’t tell me anything bad today. I just want one more day.”
“It’s not bad exactly.” I pulled my jeans on and then my shirt. I grabbed her bag and carried it over to the bed. I never had gotten rid of that mini skirt. “I need you to get dressed though because—”
Natalie chose just that moment to beat on the door from inside the house and yell, “Hurry up, Luke. It’s time to go.”
Savannah was out of bed, tugging her skirt down and frantically looking for her shirt before I could get over to the door.
“Hang on, Nat. I need five more minutes.”
“I can’t be late for school, Luke.”
“You won’t be,” I said.
Savannah was tugging the shirt over her head.
“You live with a girl?” she asked, her eyes wide with alarm. “You aren’t married, are you?”
“No. I live with my sister,” I assured her. “I have to drive her to her high school today. Then I’ll take you home and go to work. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you last night. I didn’t mean to startle you with this.”
“Your sister! Your little sister heard me last night. Who else, Luke? Who else heard me?”
“Probably Mom,” the girl said through the door. “But maybe not. They had a lot to drink.”
“Natalie,” I yelled. “You are not helping.” This was not the time for the girl to come out of her shell.
“You live with your mother?” she asked. “Are you kidding me?!”
“Look, Savannah, if I didn’t have to take Natalie to school, I’d just let you take my truck and go home, but I have to get her to school. I can’t be late to work, and you have class. This is all a huge misunderstanding. I don’t live with my mother.”
“He doesn’t,” Natalie said.
My sister had slipped in when I wasn’t watching. “Natalie! You aren’t supposed to pick the lock and come in unless I say you can.”
“He doesn’t live with us,” she said again. “We live with him. It’s his house.”
Savannah looked at Natalie and then back at me. “It’s your house?”
“Long story,” I said.
“But your mother and your sister heard me,” she said again.
“No they didn’t. Did you Natalie? You didn’t hear a single thing.”
“Umm,” Natalie said.
“You can’t just intimidate her into lying. I already know the truth. You can’t make it go away.”
Savannah’s fury was burning out, but I’d rather she be mad than embarrassed. “I changed Nat’s diapers,” I said. “Don’t be embarrassed.”
As I watched, Savannah pulled herself together enough to hold out her hand to my sister and say, “I’m Savannah. It’s nice to meet you.”
Natalie shook her hand. “I’m glad you’re dating my brother. He seems happy.”
Groaning inwardly, I interrupted before Natalie scared her off. “I’m going to grab my shoes and socks. Natalie, why don’t you help Savannah find her shoes?”
Savannah started searching the floor near the bed. “I can’t believe your mother heard me. She must think I’m awful.”
“Nobody cares what she thinks,” Natalie said.
“Don’t worry about it, Savannah,” I said as I tied my boot. “My mother’s opinion is not something you need to worry yourself with.” It occurred to me that she wouldn’t understand, but there was no time to explain now.
“Found them,” Natalie said, and she handed a pair of black slides to Savannah.
“Time check,” I said.
“Seven twenty.” Natalie swung her backpack onto her shoulder.
Savannah scrambled to zip her bag, grabbed her phone, and followed us out the door.
“Sorry about the rush,” I said.
“I can drive in six months,” Natalie said. “If you help me talk Luke into buying me a car, you will never have to be inconvenienced again.”
Natalie was out of control. She was going to scare Savannah off. I needed to distract my overnight guest before she realized that she had a better way to avoid being inconvenienced by us, like never coming back.
“Natalie’s usually shy,” I said, shooting Natalie a dirty look. “I’m glad she’s comfortable with you, but…”
“Maybe I’m not shy around your girlfriends,” my sister said. “You never brought one home before.”
“I’m not really his girlfriend,” Savannah said as we got in the SUV.
“We haven’t known each other that long,” I said. “But I like her, so be nice.”
Savannah blushed, just as I’d hoped.
I’d have to remember to thank Natalie later for letting Savannah ride in the front. If only I’d get lucky and Nat would put on her earphones and ignore us so we could talk.
I reached over for Savannah’s hand, half afraid she’d push it away. She didn’t. Instead, she threaded her fingers through mine. So there was hope at least.
Savannah
After we dropped off Luke’s sister, the sister that he apparently was raising, I wasn’t sure what to ask him first. Why do you own your mother’s house? Why doesn’t her opinion matter?
“I am sorry about this morning, Savannah.”
“Your life is pretty complicated,” I said, reflexively reaching up to smooth my hair and finding a tangled rat’s nest. “I thought my life was nuts. I don’t have time to date. I have school, and two jobs. But I don’t have any siblings to worry about, and my mom can usually find some man or other to take care of her so I don’t need to.”
“My sister has never been so normal with anybody before,” he said. “She’s so shy and awkward around people. I worry about her. I think she has two friends now, but school isn’t exactly fun for her.”
“I like her,” I said, being honest. “She certainly wasn’t intimidated by me, but I guess when you’ve heard someone yelling ‘Oh my God’ and your brother’s name over and over, you aren’t going to be intimidated.”
He laughed. “It was more ‘Oh God’ than ‘Oh my God,’ but you definitely said my name a lot too.”
I smacked him. “Don’t make me show you your ejaculation face,” I threatened.
“You can try,” he said. “But you probably need to do some more research first, before you can get that exactly right.”
I giggled. “I think I have all the data I need.”
“Better safe than sorry.”
“I guess a little more data wouldn’t hurt,” I teased.
He groaned. “Thank God.”
“Are you going to be on time to work?”
“Close enough,” he said. “Today I’m working on a remodel that we started two weeks ago. I’ll pick up some coffees on my way in. Can you make it to class on time?”
I shrugged. “Yes. I’m not complaining or anything, but I don’t feel like I got enough sleep.”
“How late do you work tonight?”
“Just til six. Otherwise, I might not have agreed to come over last night.”
“I’m glad you came.”
“Me too,” I admitted. The man was unbelievably talented in bed. I needed to clarify that this thing we were doing was taking too much of my time.
“Savannah, this one-month stand we’ve got going,” he said, “isn’t over yet, is it?”
“One-month stand?”
“Right. It started out as a one-night stand at least for you, but then we stretched it to a week, right, like we agreed last night?”
He was really stretching this, but I was fine with his logic, or lack thereof. “Was that what I was doing? Agreeing to a week?”
“You were pretty vocal about your agreement.”
“But now it’s a month?” Could I allow mys
elf a month? We’d be finished before Thanksgiving, and I could focus on finals and my research paper. “What kind of time commitments do you anticipate?”
“Three nights a week, minimum, and whatever else you can spare,” he said without hesitating.
Three nights a week would not be enough. I didn’t want to climb inside this relationship and lose myself like my mother always did. One month. I could have incredible, mind-blowing sex with this great guy for four whole weeks in a row. What kind of moron would I be to say no?
“I can almost see those wheels turning,” he teased. “You know you want to.”
“Yes,” I said.
“Really?” He turned to look at me.
“Really, and if you would keep your eyes on the road, I’d really appreciate it.”
He turned his attention back to traffic. “I get off around seven. Can I take you to dinner?”
“I work every other night this week,” I told him. “Are you sure you want to waste those precious hours in a public place?”
“I think I should show you that I can entertain you somewhere besides the bedroom.”
I shrugged. “If you insist.”
“Do you have to study tonight? If you do, I don’t want to get in the way.”
“I can get it done at work. But thanks.”
“I’ll pick you up around eight,” he said as we pulled up in front of my house. “Should I walk you to the door?”
“No, you should get to work on time.” I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
He didn’t let me get away with my lukewarm goodbye. He reached up and swiped my hair out of my face. Then he pulled me closer and claimed my mouth with the passion we’d shared last night. By the time, he finished, my heart was thumping and I could have been convinced to have sex with him right there in the front seat of his SUV.
“I’ll see you tonight,” he said.
Unable to form a rational thought, I just grabbed my bag and stumbled to my front door.
Chapter Five
Luke
Work had been great today. I’d almost finished rebuilding the back deck at the Coopers’ house. They were using a beautiful cedar that I loved working with. The quality of the materials mattered to me, but a lot of the renovations were for people who couldn’t afford the pricier stuff.
I should have enough to do a bench on one end. I was going to run that by the homeowner tomorrow. I wouldn’t charge for my labor on that project. I swiped at the sweat on my brow. The day had been hot, and I needed some ice cold liquid and a long, long shower.
When I stepped into my garage room, I was surprised to see my sister perched on the sofa. I automatically searched her face for tears, trembling lips, or blotchy cheeks. Nothing jumped out at me. “Are you okay?”
When she pasted a too-bright smile on her face, I knew to brace myself for bad news.
“First tell me that you’re okay,” I said. “Then tell me what our mother has done now.”
“Relax, Luke, I’m fine.” But the pasted-on smile was still there. “How was work?”
“Good. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I like Savannah. Are you seeing her tonight?”
“I am. At least I think I am.” I sat down on the sofa next to her. She was taller than Savannah by a couple of inches, and I was glad she kept her hair in her face because it hid how cute she was turning out to be.
“Well get ready. No need to let me slow you down.”
“Nat, you usually aren’t just hanging out in my room with a fake smile, talking nonsense.”
“I just wanted to make sure you had everything you need. Do you need anything from inside the house? I can grab it for you and save you some time.”
Something was wrong inside the house. Something bad enough to derail my night and so obvious that I would notice right away. “Just tell me, Nat. I’d rather face it and get it over with.”
“Mom got ahold of another credit card.”
I stood up as my muscles tensed so hard that I was worried I’d crack into pieces if I tried to take a deep breath. Anger and frustration at the hopeless situation, channeled into churning bile and a burning acid rising in my esophagus. I hated being trapped in my mother’s illness. I took a deep breath to fight off that feeling that my blood pressure was rising and that the top of my head was going to shoot off like I was a cartoon chasing a roadrunner.
Nat was stuck here with me, and I couldn’t take a fifteen-year-old away from her mother.
“You okay, Luke?” she asked.
When I looked at the sadness in my sister’s green eyes, I saw the eleven-year-old who’d spent two weeks telling me that our father was coming back and then crashed in a three-day long cry-fest when she finally admitted he wasn’t.
“I’m fine,” I said. “You’re going out to dinner with me and Savannah though because I’m not leaving you here with Mom after I get her all riled up.”
“I can just stay in my room, Luke. I don’t want to ruin your date.”
She stood and came over to give me a hug. I loved my sister’s hugs. If it weren’t for Nat, I would have taken off when I was sixteen. I might not have finished school, and I would never have ended up doing the work I was doing. I had a good reputation in the building and renovating industry partly because I had to take care of the two of us. I’d had some job offers, but I owed Bill my loyalty. I may have ended up on the streets, but I wasn’t having my sister dig through garbage for food or go without bathing for days on end.
“I love you, Nat.”
“I love you more, Luke,” she said.
“Promise you’ll come with me and Savannah.” If I just demanded that she go, she might go lock herself in her room.
“I promise,” she said, stepping out of the hug. “I’m going to change.”
“Don’t take too long. I don’t want to stick around for the fallout.”
“Okay,” she said.
I followed her into the house, and then waited until she went to her room and closed the door. These scenes weren’t easy on either of us.
I turned toward the kitchen and living room. There was a new rug in the hall. I had no idea how much those cost. In the living room, I noticed the giant throw pillows first. Big bold floral prints. They didn’t look to be discount store merchandise. I’d developed an eye for the quality of clothing and home furnishing over the years. These were pricy. Four oversized pillows, matching throw, make that two matching throws, some decorative bowl thing on the coffee table with pinecone-looking balls or something, oh nice, a coordinating rug as well, but she had put that in the dining room. I actually liked the rug, which pissed me off. I couldn’t afford nice things because I was taking care of her family, but she thought nothing of throwing away money. The only thing that I’d ever splurged on for myself was my tattoo.
The kitchen counter was covered with bags of various sizes from three different department stores. My heart sank as I realized she had not one, but three, new credit cards. I could hear my mother talking on her phone, chattering away at a speed I recognized as dangerous, from the other side of the kitchen where the master bedroom was. I had a few minutes to find the cards. I’d need those to check the balances. Mom might have some receipts but there would be too much drama if I tried to collect them.
I opened her wallet to find not three, but five new cards. Dammit. I pulled them free of their slots and stuffed them in the back pocket of my jeans.
Mom’s voice grew louder, and I knew she was walking back to the kitchen. She was smoking in the house again, but the overflowing ashtray full of butts was the least of her transgressions today.
You can do this, Luke.
The problem with expending time and energy lecturing my mother, trying to get her to see reason, was that it was a total waste. She wouldn’t change unless she started taking her medications regularly, and twenty years of stress had taught me that wasn’t going to happen.
“Oh, Luke,” she said as she saw me. She beamed at me as if she’d b
een dying to see me. Then she set her cigarette on the ashtray, and told her friend, “I have to go, Judy. Luke’s here.” She set the phone down on the counter and came over to hug me. She squeezed me tight, enveloping me in the stink of her cigarette smoke and the contagious frenzy of her mania. “I’m so glad to see you. Oh my goodness, you just came from work? Your shirt is sopping wet.”
“I love you, Mom,” I said. “I need to talk to you though.”
Her expression turned petulant as she realized I wasn’t as “up” as she was. I almost expected her to say something like, “Don’t harsh my mellow,” but it would be more like, “Don’t rain on my crazy-ass hyper parade.”
“Luke,” she pouted. “I’ve been smoking outside most of the time.”
“God, Mom! It isn’t the smoking. It’s the shopping! Why would you go buy all this crap that we can’t afford?”
The disappointment in her eyes turned to anger. Full-out rage was what I needed to avoid at all costs.
“Luke Mashburn, I am a grown woman. I don’t need you telling me what to do. You aren’t the parent. I am.”
If only she were right. I had been the parent for far too long. “Why aren’t you taking your medicine?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I have been taking it.”
“Fine.” I had expected this answer. “If you’ve been taking it, then show me the bottle.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Luke.”
I held out my hand and waited.
She glared at me with the hatred that made me fear for Nat’s safety. “Fine. I just ran out.”
“When? Last week. Last month? During the summer?”
She no longer met my eyes, and I knew it was bad.
“Make an appointment first thing in the morning,” I said. “If you don’t, I’ll have to take you to the emergency room after work tomorrow.”
“I’m fine,” she snapped.
“If you are so fine, how in the world do you explain five new credit cards and all these shopping bags?”
“I deserve nice things.”
“You know you can’t pay these off. You know you won’t pay these off. What you call shopping is really just stealing. You have got to stop!”
She raised her hand and slapped me across the cheek. “I can’t believe you would say that to me.”
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