“I know about your parents, and you like to read. Tell me something about you.”
“I like to sing.” I wasn’t necessarily good at it, but I liked it.
“Oh? Sing something for me.”
“No!” I laughed. “You’re crazy. I used to sing in school, all through middle and high school. I had quite a few solos,” I said with pride. “My mom sang, too. It helped me stay close to her after she… left me.” Too bad if you didn’t use it you lost it. I couldn’t sing a lick anymore.
“One day, Ellie Asche, I’ll hear those pipes.”
I rubbed his arm consolingly and a little flirtatiously. “Sure, dear. Whatever you say.”
The last few sips of coffee were cold and unappetizing. I twisted my lips into a wry smile. “I guess it’s about time for our coffee date to be over. I promised Todd I’d meet him after class to go grocery shopping. Both of our pantries are bare.”
“Alas, dear lady. The grocery cart calls thee.”
I giggled at his ridiculous accent. “We should do this again sometime. I’d like to learn more about growing up on a farm.”
“And I’ll think of ways to get you to sing for me.” He winked.
“You can try.” I snorted. “Thank you for the coffee.”
He reached over and lifted my hand, giving it the lightest brushing of a kiss. The intimate gesture caused my chest to rise and fall rapidly. I controlled my breathing. He didn’t need to know how he affected me. “You’re welcome, sweet lady. Can I offer you a ride to the grocery store?”
“No, thank you,” I said, shy after his kiss. “I brought my car today.”
“Then, goodbye. I’ll text you about another date.”
“Sounds wonderful.” My face held a goofy smile. With dreamy eyes, I watched him walk away. My gaze lingered on his backside and the way it curved in his well-tailored suit for a moment longer than propriety called for, then I turned and practically skipped to my car. I couldn’t wait to fill Todd in. It’d been an exciting day, and it wasn’t even noon yet.
Chapter Eight
“Then, he kissed my hand and said he’d text me to make another date!” Todd and I rounded out our grocery trip in the produce department, loading up on fresh fruits and veggies.
“How do you get yourself into these sorts of situations?” he asked as he thumped on a watermelon. His voice sounded jealous. “I mean, up until my whirlwind courtship with Rick, my love life has always been bor-ring. Thank God for that man.”
“How has mine been eventful? This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me!” I grabbed a bag to hold several cucumbers. “I’ve never mixed into a love triangle… hell, this isn’t even a love triangle! It’s a love square!”
“Darlin’, this love thing you’ve got going on is more interesting than anything else we have in our lives right now, so enjoy the ride while it lasts.” He placed a bag of onions in the cart.
“Secretly, I’m hoping to hear from Wes tonight.”
“Grab the bull by the horns and call him yourself!”
I stopped short, hand halfway to the apples. “I couldn’t do that!”
“Why the hell not?” Todd added a few more apples to my bag before tying it off.
“I don’t know! I never have.”
“Now’s a great time to start. Text him when you get home and tell him to be over at six for dinner. You’re cooking for him. Then, the ball will be in his court.” He spoke with his hands, waving them around. “Make your lasagna. It’s to die for.”
“But it’s such a simple meal. Shouldn’t I make something more complicated?” Would my lasagna impress him enough to make him think I could cook everything as well as I could cook lasagna?
Todd turned to the checkout. “It is simple, but it’s delicious. And make your homemade cheesy garlic bread to go with it. I’ll be expecting leftovers for dinner tomorrow night, please and thank you.”
My metaphorical backbone straightened itself, and I turned the cart toward the dairy. “Let’s go get some cheese then. I didn’t get enough to make lasagna.”
“Now you’re talking. Do you have enough garlic?”
“Please.” I rolled my eyes. “I always have enough garlic.”
Once I found all the ingredients I could possibly need, we checked out and headed home. I started the lasagna the minute I got home, knowing it would taste better if I put it in the fridge to set for a few hours before reheating it for dinner.
Todd turned up soon after I got there. He must’ve put his groceries up and headed over right away.
“Did you text him yet?”
“Not yet, I wanted to get this started. It would’ve been tastier if I’d made it last night.” A few hours in the fridge should do the trick.
“What if he has plans and you’re making a huge, delicious lasagna for no reason?”
I paused my unpacking. “You’re saying the lasagna will go to waste if he doesn’t come over?” That’d be the day.
“Heck, no! Text him, already! You’re stalling.”
“Fine!” I grabbed my phone off the counter.
Ellie: Hey! Do you have plans for dinner tonight?
“There. Sent. Are you happy?” I scowled at Todd.
“Yes. But I’ll be happier when you get his reply.” Luckily for Todd’s nerves, it came through quickly.
Wes: I’m free after six. Would you like to go out to eat?
I studied at my watch. I had plenty of time.
Ellie: Come to my apartment. I’ve already started dinner. Bring a big appetite.
Ellie: Wait, do you have any allergies?
Wes: Just Penicillin. Try not to put any antibiotics in the food, and we’ll be fine.
I laughed and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Ellie: Deal. See you at six thirty.
Todd read the texts over my shoulder. “Why do you spell everything out? You’ve always done that. There are text shortcuts, you know.”
“I hate them. There’s no reason we can’t be grammatically correct whenever possible.” I lectured. “Forget those kids and their texting fads. And they can get off my lawn while they’re at it.” I giggled at myself.
Todd rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to go pick out your dinner outfit. He’ll be wearing a suit from work. You don’t want to look like a slob next to him.” He waltzed toward my bedroom, humming. He enjoyed my flirtations far more than I did. He didn’t have to worry about the hard part when multiple relationships got more serious. He only focused on the fun.
The lasagna came together beautifully. I’d made it so many times it was second nature. Once it was in the oven, I wandered into my room to find Todd in my closet, reorganizing again.
“Isn’t it time to donate some stuff? I’m never going to wear the skinny jeans. Ever.” There are some dresses in there not appropriate to wear in the bedroom, much less out of the house.
“Puhlease. You’re smashing in anything I pick out for you. But, I thought along the same lines. There are some styles in here at least a couple of years old. It’s been ages since we organized. I love organizing your clothes.” Todd came out of the neatened closet with straight-legged gray slacks and a blue silk button up shirt covered with white polka dots. It had cap sleeves and a ruffle at the neck. Satan followed him out. He loved Todd.
“Todd, I’m impressed. I love the outfit.” It was cute and feminine, but I wouldn’t feel like a peacock in it.
He grinned a Cheshire cat grin at me. “Good, then you’ll let me play with your hair and add another layer of mascara.”
I ignored him. “When does Rick get off work?” I asked.
“He’s been working a ton of hours, still the work audit. It’ll be late.”
I rolled my eyes and plopped down on the bed. “Aw, I’m sorry. But it won’t last long, and you’ll get your lovey back.”
With several hours before Wes was due to arrive, we opted to pile up in bed and watch Netflix.
All too soon, the lasagn
a was ready to chill. The wine breathed in the bucket. The bread was about to go in the oven. Todd perched behind me on the bed, leisurely putting curls into my hair as we laughed at the show.
The doorbell interrupted our makeup session a few minutes later. “I’ll get it,” I said.
I remembered to check the monitor. Arch stood in the hall. I opened the door to find him visibly irritated. “Don’t you know how to answer your phone?” he asked as he pushed past me into the apartment. “Are you okay?”
“Hello, Arch. It’s nice to see you.” My sarcasm game was on point as he barged in. “Would you like to come in? Oh, good. You’d like to.”
“We’ve been worried!” he replied as he yanked his phone out of his pocket. “I’ve got to text the guys and let them know you’re fine.” His fingers flew across his phone as he presumably notified his friends of my safety status.
“My phone hasn’t made a peep!” I marched into the bedroom to find Todd trying to perch himself on the bed to peer out of the bedroom. He jerked back as soon as I stormed in. “Hand me my phone, Todd, please.”
He complied. I tapped the home button to find three missed calls and seven missed texts. All three of them had tried repeatedly to get a hold of me. I pulled down the settings menu to find the phone silenced.
“It’s on silent. I didn’t hear any of this, did you?” Todd shook his head. I turned to find Arch approaching my bedroom. “Honestly, don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?” I asked Arch.
Arch stood in my doorway, speechless. The fading bruises around his eyes were prominent, and his mouth slack-jawed. “Overreacting?” he spat out. “Anything could’ve happened to you. Wes hears from you one moment, then the next you drop off the face of the earth. We thought you were dead.”
It was my turn to be speechless and gawk at him. “What if I was asleep? Or, you know, my phone was on silent? It seems like you borrowed a little trouble today. Besides, who says it’s your job to worry about me?” I was incensed. “First of all, I’m not anyone’s to worry about, yet. Maybe someday, but not at this point. I won’t be smothered, not for one moment.”
“But—”
“Second of all, next time, call Todd. Or, I have a landline here. You could’ve called that number. It’s in all the paperwork I filled out at your office. You didn’t think about that, did you?” He freaked out, over nothing.
Arch gazed back and forth between Todd and me. Then, his face shut down, and he whirled around and marched out of the apartment, slamming the front door behind him. Todd scrambled off the bed and joined me in time to watch him storm out.
“Daaamn. Boy is pissed.” Todd tugged me to the bed. “Let’s get you finished.”
That surprised me. “Shouldn’t I go after him?”
“Nope. We don’t know why in the world he’s overreacting. You’ll argue. When he calms down, he’ll realize he overreacted, and he’ll come talk to you. Let it ride.”
“I guess.” I worried I ran him off for good with my talk of smothering, but I figured Todd had more experience with upset men than I did. The TV show lost its appeal, so I brooded while he finished my makeup. I ended up looking fantastic, but as though I hadn’t put in any effort. He really was a genius.
We packed up the mess we’d made all afternoon, and Todd left with a huge chunk of chilled lasagna. With only about thirty minutes left until Wes arrived, I put the lasagna in the oven on a low temp to warm. I then proceeded to pace my apartment until the knock from Wes came.
My nerves were shot. I’d already spent a significant amount of time with these guys. I had no reason to be apprehensive. But my altercation with Arch wasn’t sitting right with me. Something was majorly off about the whole encounter.
Wes knocked a second time before I came out of my contemplations. When the second rap sounded, I scurried over to open it. “I’m sorry, Wes! Please, come in.”
“No problem! It smells delicious in here.”
“Thank you. We’re eating simple tonight, but I think you’ll like it.” He’d better like it. I didn’t know how to make anything better.
“I’m sure I will if you made it. What’re we having?”
“Lasagna with garlic bread and Italian wine. And if you’d like, a salad while the lasagna finishes up.”
“I’d love a salad. One question though. Do you put fruit in your salads?”
What a ridiculous question. “Fruit goes into fruit salad. Vegetables go into salad. I don’t mix the two.”
“Marry me.” The twinkle in his gray-blue eyes told me he joked, but a rock still dropped into my gut. The imaginary rock vibrated and sent tingles all over me.
“Maybe after I see how well you cook.”
“Deal.” He followed me into the kitchen and helped me put a salad together. We were compatible in the salad-prep department. We agreed on every ingredient except celery.
“I’m sorry, Ellie. Your taste in salads is ruined by the celery. It’s an abomination.” He laughed at his little joke and turned toward the fridge to grab the salad dressing to put on top of his carefully prepared stack of veggies. While his back was turned, I dumped the entire pile of celery I’d chopped for my salad into his bowl.
“What the heck?” He glared at me, eyes narrow.
I tried to stay straight faced, but couldn’t stop the laughter. Wes picked the celery out one by one and threw it at me. Little did he know, over the years, Todd and I practiced the art of catching food in our mouths until we mastered it. Celery was no challenge. After I caught three in a row he became more impressed.
“That’s quite the hidden talent you have there!”
“Thank you kindly, sir.” I curtsied.
He threw another piece of celery and kept going until I missed on number eight. We stopped then and took our salads to the table. After we sat, Wes studied me for a minute, contemplating his words. When he spoke, he acknowledged the elephant in the room we’d worked to ignore.
“Ellie, I need to tell you something about Arch. Something he probably won’t be able to tell you himself, at least not for a while. I shouldn’t be telling you now, but you need to know.”
“Okay.” I imagined all sorts of scenarios, the least scary was Arch thought I was a troll but wanted my money for his firm.
“If he cares about someone, he can’t stand not being able to get a hold of them.” My eyebrows furrowed with indignation. Wes stopped picking at his salad. “It’s not like he needs to know where you are at all moments of the day. He’s not controlling or anything. But if he randomly needs to get a hold of you and doesn’t hear back quickly, he gets major anxiety.”
“Why?” I couldn’t understand why he’d freak out over something so minute.
“See, that’s the private part. Arch has only been in one serious relationship in his life.” Wes sighed. “Enough time has passed; I hope he doesn’t get mad at me for this.”
“One?” I asked in disbelief.
“He’s had dates, sure, but Penny was different. She went to school with us, we grew up around her. She knew our parents, knew the farm—Gray said he told you about the farm?”
“Yeah, it sounds kinda idyllic.”
He took a big bite of salad before replying. “It kind of was, kind of wasn’t. That’s a whole ’nother story though.”
“Okay, so she was his high school sweetheart?”
“Right. We were in school at Emory. It was great because of how close to home it was. We were all there, the three of us and Penny.”
“How old were you?”
“Juniors. Arch and Penny had an apartment off campus. Gray and I had one beside it, same floor and everything.” He paused to clear his throat. “They were pretty serious. He bought a ring, but she didn’t know it yet. They talked about all aspects of their future. It was all planned out. They even discussed kids.”
He stopped to clear his throat again. I jumped up. “Let me get you some wine.” I scurried into the kitchen and soon returned with a glass.
“Tha
nks, I had some lettuce stuck.” He took a few big gulps. “One day, Arch texted Penny to call him after her morning class. He had some question to ask her. Something about dinner or some such. She never called. He wasn’t worried, assumed she missed his text or got busy or something.” He gulped down some more wine. “He waited until he knew she was done with her afternoon class and called. She didn’t answer. He kept calling all evening. When it got so late she couldn’t possibly still be held up at class, he called us, and we started searching for her.”
“Why didn’t he call the police? Or her parents?” My salad wilted in front of me, forgotten. I sipped my wine mindlessly as I listened to the tragic story, tears gathering in my eyes. I foresaw a tragic ending.
“He did. The police basically blew him off, of course. Her parents freaked and joined us in the search. From what he could tell, she could’ve disappeared before she even got to her first class. We hacked into her e-mail, found one from her study group, and contacted them. They confirmed she never made her morning class.”
“My god, what happened to her?” My heart hurt, knowing where he was going with the story.
“We couldn’t search well in the dark, though we tried. It wasn’t until daylight that we found her car.” He shook his head, the pain of the memories on his face. “It happened in the winter. Atlanta winters are mild, but the temperature had dropped pretty low the night before. The best we could tell, she hit a patch of black ice and went off the road.” He took another moment to drain his glass.
I filled it up. At this rate, he’d be drunk before the lasagna. If it was that hard for him to share the story, I couldn’t imagine how hard it must be for Arch to tell it. Wes sighed. “Her brown sedan blended in with the branches and trees in the ditch, and no one spotted it. By the time we found her, she was dead. She would’ve made it if the wreck had been found sooner, but she had a bleed on her brain. That’s what killed her.”
My heart thumped painfully. “I don’t even know what to say.” I had to find Arch. I had to tell him I understood, and I’d be considerate of his feelings. “Wes, I’m so sorry to do this to you, but I have to go apologize to Arch. Would you be upset if I invited him to join us?”
Falling For Them Volume 2: Reverse Harem Collection Page 44