by Naomi Niles
“I think I can swing it,” I told her as we got into her car. Driving was going to be my next step. I still worried a little about how heavy my foot got sometimes.
“I’ve never been there! I’m so excited,” she squealed. Before she started up the car, she leaned over and covered my mouth with hers. I let my tongue slide up against hers and brought my hand up and cupped one of her breasts. I ran my thumb back and forth across the hard nipple as we kissed. When she pulled back, she was panting. “If you don’t stop that, I’ll never make it home in time to get ready for tonight.”
I grinned. “We could always do The French Room tomorrow…”
“No way, mister! We’ll do THAT afterwards.” I rolled my eyes, but smiled. She very enthusiastically participated in sex and although I’d never felt as overwhelmingly attracted to her in bed as I did Amber, it was still good…and Callie didn’t have an ex-boyfriend she wanted instead of me.
*******
Callie picked me back up at eight that evening. I’d gotten us a reservation for eight-thirty. I opened the door and nearly choked, she looked so damned fine. “Wow!”
“You like?” She twirled around. She was wearing a dress that came to just above her ankles. It was made out of sheer black lace and slit all the way up the front to her waist. Underneath it was some kind of black body suit that covered all of the important things, but shit, it had my imagination working overtime. She had on a pair of black cowboy boots with it and her long hair was twisted into a braid on the side of her head. It was lying against her right breast and I couldn’t help but think how lucky it was to be there.
“Like doesn’t quite cover it. I’m not really hungry…”
She giggled. “Get your coat handsome. Later, remember.”
I sighed and slipped on my jacket. “Speaking of coats, it’s the middle of November and you’re walking around in a…very nice handkerchief…”
She laughed. “I have a coat in the car. I wanted to show off.”
“That you did,” I said as I switched off the light. My mouth was dry and I was probably going to have to ask her to leave the coat on all night or I wouldn’t be able to walk for the wood in the way.
She let me rest my hand on the upper part of her silky thigh on the way. I tried moving it up a few times, but got smacked for my troubles. I couldn’t wait for this dinner to be over. She pulled up in front of the hotel, and I saw the valet checking her out as she slipped into her coat. I grinned at him and slipped him a twenty as I slid my arm around her and walked her away. Poor guy.
The manager Jean Paul greeted us warmly, and I introduced Callie to him. “So, what are we celebrating?” he asked.
Jean Paul didn’t know about my illness, I worked with him before it happened. I just said, “A clean bill of health after a really big scare.”
He looked from me to Callie trying to decide which one of us it was and then as he decided it didn’t matter, he showed us to our table and brought over a bottle of wine. “This is one of my personal favorites,” he said. “Please make a toast to the continued good health of two beautiful young people…for me.”
“Thank you.”
After he left, the waiter opened and poured our wine, and when he was gone Callie said, “This place is so beautiful!”
“Yeah, it is.” The tables were pretty close together, but something about the way they are arranged and the soft music playing overhead made it seem like we were the only ones there. I couldn’t imagine wanting to look at anyone else anyway, with Callie sitting across from me and looking as hot as she did tonight.
The waiter came back and Callie ordered the Salmon and I got the roasted duck. My dad used to hunt a lot when I was a kid and I loved duck season. Sarah was always a good cook, although I’m sure it’ll taste a little different made by an award-winning chef.
“So what did you help them design?” Callie asked me.
“They had some problems with the structure of the roof. I helped them re-design it so they could keep the authenticity of the look and make it sound at the same time.”
She smiled. “You’re so smart.”
“Right and you’re the one in law school.”
“Not quite, but soon. I can’t wait to be a lawyer. I was looking at some literature for the Innocence Project the other day. I’m thinking about volunteering some of my time.”
“That’s the organization that helps people who were convicted wrongly, right?”
“Yep. My dad worked with them Pro-Bono for a while. He said it was really satisfying.”
“Isn’t everyone in prison innocent, though?” I asked her with a smile.
“Some of them really are smarty pants.”
“So, how do they decide which cases to take?”
“They get letters or calls from thousands of people. They screen them and find out if there’s any new evidence, like DNA or something. They go talk to the inmate and each one of the attorneys brings the ones they want to take on to the table. They decide from there depending on manpower and urgency of the case, which ones to take.”
“So when school is all said and done, I’m guessing you want to be a defense attorney?”
“Yeah, for sure. Prosecutors are politicians, in my opinion. They work for the government and with the police and their goal is to incarcerate. I think we incarcerate too much in this country.” I didn’t exactly agree with her, but it was too soon in our relationship to get political, so I just nodded.
The waiter came then with our soup and as he sat it down in front of me I leaned back – and nearly fell out of my fucking seat. Amber had just walked in on the arm of a cowboy I could only guess was Dylan. My chest suddenly felt tight and I was having a hard time catching my breath. I thought Callie looked hot tonight, but there was that thing again – that electricity that reached out and grabbed me by the throat each time Amber and I were in the same room.
“Do you know them?” I looked at Callie and she’d turned to look in their direction.
“Um…yeah, kind of. She used to be my therapist.”
“Oh, she’s really pretty. Is that her husband?” The hostess led them to a table kind of across and diagonal from us. Amber didn’t seem to notice me and she was sitting facing away from us. That was a good thing, except that I had to see the moony-eyed look that Dylan was giving her.
“Her boyfriend, I think. How’s your soup?” Callie gave me a funny look and I wondered what my face looked like. Sarah used to tell me when we were kids I shouldn’t ever try to lie because the truth always showed on my face. I wondered if the truth that even after all of these months I’d cut off my right arm to touch her again showed on my face.
“Kyle?”
“Mm hmm?” I took a sip of my soup. It was hot, and I didn’t even taste it going down.
“Why did you stop going to therapy? I mean, I heard the doctor ask you about it today and I was just wondering…”
“Just like I told him, I was doing so much better I didn’t think I needed it anymore. Like I said, she signed off on it anyways.”
“Oh…did you want to go say hello to her?”
I want to go do more than say hello. I smiled at Callie. “No, I want to stay right here and enjoy my evening with you.” Her face brightened. I took a deep breath and a drink of my wine. It was going to be a long night.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
AMBER
Dylan asked the waiter for a bottle of champagne and a glass of water. I hadn’t drunk in front of him since he got out of rehab, but he insisted he wanted me to have a glass of champagne. The waiter asked, “What are we celebrating tonight?”
Dylan smiled. “Our engagement,” he said. “It took me three weeks to get in here, though.” The waiter smiled. Three weeks was fast for this place from what I’d heard.
“And, our families,” I added. Dylan had done what he said he would for me. He’d driven out to the ranch and had spoken to my father. My mother told me later on that when she saw them go into the barn, she didn’t t
hink they would both come out standing. She said they were in there for over an hour, but when they came out, they were shaking hands. All Dylan would tell me was that he assured my father he loved me and would never hurt me again. Daddy told me later that all he wanted was for me to be happy, so if Dylan was it, he’d accept that. I’ve been walking around on cloud nine thinking about getting married by the lake. We’d decided on March so far, but not an exact date.
The waiter went to get the champagne, and Dylan reached across the table and took my hand. “I have one more surprise,” he told me.
“What’s that?”
“I got a call from Tuck Henry, do you remember him?”
I made a face. “The old pervert? How could I forget?” Tuck Henry is a retired rodeo clown that worked with Dylan’s father for years. One night at an after party when I used to travel to some of the rodeos with Dylan, the old man cornered me and put his nasty hands in places they never should have gone. Dylan was, of course, too drunk to defend me. I’d kneed the old guy in the crotch and caused a big scene. Dylan and I had a big fight afterwards that culminated in him telling me I was dressed like a slut and me calling him a worthless pussy. It’s one of those memories I’d gladly forgotten until now.
He grinned at me. “He is an old pervert, but he also has a lot of friends in the PRCA. He offered me a job, baby.”
“Doing what?”
“Judging. I’d have to attend a few seminars first before the next season starts, but the pay is good and it’ll be a legitimate job.”
I wanted to be happy for him, I really did, but my mind was swirling with a thousand different scenarios. “You’ll have to travel?”
He waited for the waiter. He brought the champagne and popped it open. He poured us each a glass and then he sat a glass of water in front of us both as well. Dylan thanked him and he left. Then he picked up his flute and said, “To us.”
“You’re going to drink that?”
He rolled his eyes. “One glass, Amber. It won’t kill me. There’s hardly any alcohol in it, anyways.”
I didn’t want to argue with him. I picked up my glass and said, “To us.” We clicked them together and drank. As Dylan guzzled his, I felt a little trickle of worry crawl up my spine. “Now, back to the job. You would have to travel?”
“Well, yeah, of course. But you could come with me.”
“Dylan, I have a job. I have a clinic to run. I don’t want to live on the road-”
“Okay, don’t get upset on me, okay? We’re just talking.” He poured both of us another glass of champagne. Again, I let it go as I watched him drink his. “The season is nine months long. I wouldn’t have to be at every event, so I could be home more than I am on the road. I want to do something to make you proud of me, Amber. You were right when you said I needed a job. This is something I know.”
I nodded. I could see how excited he was about it and I didn’t want to take that away. “I know, and if you really want to do this, we can figure it out.”
He grinned. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” The waiter came back to take our orders. I was happy to see that Dylan hadn’t poured any more champagne as we sat and talked.
“Dad’s talking about building another house on his property,” he said.
“Really? For the ranch hands?”
“Nope, for us.”
Dylan and I had lived in that piece of shit house of his dad’s for five years now. He had only been over to our house once in that entire time. He’d sat there for an hour making digs about how bad the house looked, only he directed it all at me. It did look like shit because the paint was peeling, the carpet was old, and the roof leaked…but none of that had anything to do with me keeping house, although he acted like it did.
The bottom line was that his father was kind of an asshole. He was an old cowboy who was never around when Dylan was growing up and when he finally retired and came home, he wanted to be buddies with him instead of a father. He holds the night I had Dylan arrested against me and he thinks I “nagged” Dylan into going into rehab. He drinks like a fish and sees no harm in his son doing the same. As far as I knew, he was not happy about us getting married. I wondered why he suddenly wanted to build us a house. Dylan must have seen the skepticism on my face because he said, “He knows how much I want this to work. He only wants to help.” I forced another smile and took another drink of my champagne.
“It’s nice, really.” I was determined not to let myself slip back into the pattern of finding fault with everything Dylan said or did. He really was trying. “I’m going to use the ladies room before our food comes.”
“Okay, baby.” He stood up when I did and kissed me before I left. I tasted the champagne on his lips and felt that tickle of anxiety again. It had moved to my belly. I made my way to the front of the restaurant where the bathrooms were. There was a young woman washing her hands when I walked in. She had on this gorgeous black dress. I’d seen one like it not long ago and thought about buying it for myself. Now that I saw it on her, I wished that I had.
“Your dress is gorgeous,” I said. She looked up at me in the mirror with a smile. As soon as she saw me something else crossed her face. I wasn’t sure what it was but she said,
“Thanks…is your name Amber?”
Surprised because I didn’t recognize her at all, I said, “Yes, do I know you?”
“No, you were my boyfriend’s therapist. I saw your name in his phone…”
“Who is your boyfriend?”
“Kyle Cloud.” My heart fell into my stomach so hard that it practically knocked the wind out of me. I’d done so well confining my memories of Kyle to my dreams late at night.
“Oh…” I squeaked out. Breathe, Amber. “Yes, I was. How is Kyle?”
“Amber, woman to woman, was there more between you than therapy?”
My throat was parched. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because he won’t discuss therapy – at all. His doctor asked him just today after he told Kyle the tumor was gone-”
“Wait a minute, the tumor came back?”
“It was growing, but he did radiation and he’s fine.” She sounded annoyed with my interruption and she went on. “The doctor asked him about therapy and Kyle kind of brushed him off. I asked him and he brushed me off. He does that anytime anyone brings it up. I saw some of the old texts you sent him in his phone, he never deleted them. I saw that you were texting you were sorry and worried about him…and I saw the way he looked at you when you walked in tonight. Is there something I should know?”
My brain grabbed on to “the way he looked at you” and held it and caressed it for a few seconds before the rational part took over and I said,
“Why don’t you ask Kyle?”
“We haven’t been dating that long. I don’t want him to think I’m all jealous and clingy…”
Yet she reads his text messages and confronts me in the bathroom, I thought. “Kyle and I went out a couple of times when I was split up with my boyfriend. I got back together with my boyfriend months ago and I haven’t seen Kyle since. That’s really all there was…is to it.”
“You broke up with him?” Did I? I’ve never really been sure. I almost believed if he would have asked me to stay with him and forget Dylan that last time we talked, I would have.
“It was mutual. If you’ll excuse me, my fiancé is waiting.” I stepped into the stall and locked it. Then, I pressed my back into the door and stood there trying to get my breathing back under control. I had no idea what it was about Kyle…simply the mention of his name turned my insides to jelly. I’ve poured all of myself into my relationship with Dylan and most days, I don’t even think of Kyle anymore. But he must still live somewhere in my subconscious because almost every time I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, he’s there. The dreams aren’t always good. Sometimes, I re-lived the times we were together and other times my brain took me back to the time I saw him in the hospital…only instead of arranging therapy, I�
��m saying good bye. Sometimes I woke up short of breath and had to remind myself it was only a bad dream. Then, I would snuggle into Dylan and push Kyle back into my subconscious where he belonged. Knowing he was here in the flesh, though, was an entirely different story. It took me another ten minutes to get it together enough to walk out of the ladies room. As soon as I did, I came face to face with the object of both my nightmares…and my dreams.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
KYLE
“Hi, Amber.” She looked at me like she was seeing a ghost as she walked out of the restroom. Her face was pale, and I felt kind of bad for startling her. I guess I might even come off like a stalker, but I just had to talk to her for a second. I’d seen her go into the restroom while Callie was gone and as soon as Callie came back I told her I had to use the restroom. There’s a little alcove here so she couldn’t see us, but I’m pretty sure she knew I came over to talk to Amber.
“Kyle… How…how are you?”
I smiled at her. God, she’s so pretty it makes my insides hurt. “I’m good. How are you?”
She smiled, but it looked forced. I had to wonder if that meant she was happy to see me or not. “Good, really good. I’ve missed you at the clinic lately, though.”
I shrugged. “I’ve been doing really well…”
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s not exactly the story your girlfriend told.”
“My girlfriend?”
“Yeah, the girl in the pretty black dress.”
“Callie? You talked to her?” I suddenly had an even bigger knot in my stomach. How did Callie even know who Amber was?
Amber smiled again and said, “That’s what women do in the bathroom.” Her face and tone turned serious then as she said, “She said the tumor came back. Are you okay?”