by M. B. Feeney
"Well, darlin', it was wonderful finally meeting you. I hope we can catch up again before we head back home." Wayne kissed my cheek.
"I'd love that." And I meant it.
"Thank you for a wonderful dinner. Once we're settled in our room, I'll send Gage back to you." Margaret winked at me again, making me blush.
"Er . . . Thank you." I wasn’t quite what to say in response.
Gage laughed at me. "I'll be back as fast as I can." He kissed me hard before heading to the car to join his parents.
I couldn’t believe how nervous I was while I waited for Gage to return. Time seemed to drag while I sat on the back step with a large glass of wine and my cigarettes. The wine was taking effect and I was starting to calm down when I heard a soft knock at my front door.
Rolling my eyes, I assumed Gage hadn’t thought to take my key with him. I pulled open the door, and he stood before me, wearing a black jacket that he’d worn to a film premier a few years ago. It was a bit snug across his shoulders, but fit everywhere else.
"Hey, darlin'." Grinning, he offered me the daisies in his hand.
I stood to one side to let him in, but he had other plans. He enveloped me in his arms and kissed me. For a long time we stood there, my front door wide open, just wrapped up in each other's arms.
"Well, hello." I panted once we parted. "What's with the jacket?" I closed the door and walked to the kitchen to put the daisies in some water. They looked a bit too similar to the ones the kids had planted in my front garden, but I didn’t call him on it.
"My mom told me to dress to impress you, and I haven't worn this for a while. I threw it in my bag before we flew out."
My mind drifting back to some of the comments I’d seen online about it, and I chuckled. "Well, you're lucky I was probably the only person in the Western World who actually liked it."
Gage looked at me, shocked. "What? People didn't like it?"
He sounded genuinely surprised, and I didn't quite know how to respond until he started laughing at me. I swatted him on the arm, noticing the zigzag lines on the material under my hand.
"No, they didn't, but I did. I never realised it had a pattern on it." I got a serious case of the giggles.
He let out a grunt and sighed, shaking his head.
"What? It does!"
Gage laughed, then rolled his eyes and made a motion with his hands as if to hurry me up.
"Aren't you going to get yourself a drink?"
"But I'm a guest. Shouldn’t my gracious, gorgeous host get one for me?"
"Yeah, I kind of think you're past being classed as a guest. You know where the fridge is." I picked up my glass and handed it to him. "I'll have a refill while you're at it." I lit a cigarette, smirking at the look of mock horror on his face.
"You're bossy, you know that?"
"I'm a mother and a teacher. It's in the job description."
"I did wonder about that." He took hold of my hand and led me into the front room, where we sat on the sofa, curled up together, talking about nothing important. Gage had taken off his jacket, and I couldn't believe how surreal it was to see it hanging over the back of my dining chair.
"Your mum and dad are pretty cool."
"They raised me, didn't they?"
"Yeah, and as soon as you went off to college, they must have had a massive party." He mock-winced, and I giggled, "Seriously, they're good people."
"That they are. I have a thing for good people. Love ‘em, in fact." Gage stretched his arm around my neck. "So I guess you must be a good person, eh?"
"Oh, you do spoil me." I gave him a quick kiss before leaning back against his chest.
"That's the plan," he mumbled into my hair.
" I don't need spoiling." I tipped my head up to look at him. "Honestly, I don't."
"I know you don't, but I want to."
"Yeah, but . . . just don't. Anything out of the ordinary's just too much."
"So, it'd be too much if I did this?" He leaned down and kissed me on the lips, slowly, pulling away far too soon. "Or am I spoiling you?"
"That kind of spoiling I think I can cope with."
Gage wrapped his arms round me and pulled me tight against him. "Let the spoiling commence." He sat up and swept an arm under my legs, supporting my back with the other. "I do believe there's a nice big bed upstairs."
Once we got into the bedroom, the phone rang again, so I had to untangle myself from Gage's arms and run downstairs. It was Jenny again, asking if Wade could come with them. I wanted to laugh at the frantic tone of her voice, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be quite appreciated. I was smiling when I got back upstairs.
"I do think your cousin may have finally worn Jenny down." I told Gage and on the edge of the bed, his arms wrapping themselves around me at once.
"Why's that, darlin?'" he murmured into my ear while his fingers played with the hem of my top.
"Cause he's coming to visit with them tomorrow."
Gage pulled off my top and said, "I'll have to let Mom and Dad know. They haven't seen him in so long." His sentence was punctuated by kisses along my collarbone.
"Are we really talking about this right now?" I pulled his face level with mine and looked into his eyes. "I’m sure we have other things to do."
"I do believe you're right. I think we need to get reacquainted. Mom and Dad can wait until morning."
"Will you stop mentioning your parents?" I pushed his unbuttoned shirt down his arms, and he pushed me back onto the bed.
At what must have been just after dawn, I blinked open my eyes and let out a long yawn, throwing my arm out in a cat stretch and coming into painful contact with a body lying next to me.
"Holy shit, darlin'. You tryna kill me?"
Laughing, I looked across at him. "Not really, but I can try, if you'd like?"
"I think I'm okay.." Gage snaked his arm across my waist, effectively pinning me down. "So what do you want to do today?"
"I'm easy." I groaned at my choice of words and could feel Gage grinning against my shoulder. "Shut up, just shut up."
"Sorry, Charlie, but sometimes you just make it far too easy."
I hit him on the arm, then realised I needed the bathroom, so I shrugged him off and sat up.
"Where’re you going?" He tried to pull me back into the bed.
"I need the toilet, a cup of tea, and a cigarette, in that order, or I will be the grumpiest bitch you have ever met."
He let me go with a chuckle and lay back down on his stomach to watch me look for something to wear.
I'd been in the kitchen for no more than ten minutes when Gage joined me, wearing nothing but his jeans and glasses. He hadn’t worn them around me before, and I nearly passed out. I'd always loved those glasses, but seeing him wear them right in front of me? I was coming undone just looking at him.
"Coffee?" I managed to squeak from my position by the back door.
"I'm capable of making my own, darlin'. You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I'm fine . . . It's just . . . I like the glasses."
A strange look came over his face. "Not what I was expecting." He moved to make himself a cup of coffee, chuckling to himself.
"Well, I've not seen you in them, not in the flesh anyway." Shit. Are you a fan girl or what?
"I know, darlin'. Matt showed me your collection when I was over at his and Karina’s place. I didn't even know there were that many pictures of me in existence." He was still laughing.
"Remind me to kick Matt's arse next time I see him," I mumbled, embarrassed. At least he didn't know about the extensive collection of photos on my computer. Maybe I should hide them.
"Well, I, for one, thought it was cute." Gage paused, "Maybe a little bit creepy, but cute. At least you didn't have fifty posters of me on your wall, like I'm told Karina had of Matt."
"Yeah, she has some stalkerish tendencies."
"Well, you don't need to stalk me anymore. You've got me." There was a short pause, and then he continued,
"Good thing I'm not the type to file a restraining order." He wrapped his arms around my waist. "Do you look at them while I'm away?"
"I have no choice." Me and my big mouth, digging myself in deeper with every word.
"What do you mean by that?" Oh, God.
"Well. You're on my computer’s screensaver, and since I'm on the computer all the time . . ."
"I may need to check this out." Gage jumped up from his seat, made his way into the front room, and switched my laptop on. "I need to check my emails anyway. You don't mind, do you?"
"Not really, but I'm not going to watch you do it. I'm going to take a shower and then phone the kids."
Famous bloody last words. Twenty minutes later, I was on the phone with the kids, hearing about Devon and everything they'd done, when I heard the loudest laugh ever.
He's found my 'porn' stash. Shit.
When I walked into the front room, I was petrified by what Gage might say, so I hovered behind him while he flicked through the numerous folders of photos.
"You need a new folder, darlin'."
Okay, wasn't expecting that. "Oh?" I sat on the bench next to him and rested my head on his shoulder.
"There's no pictures of us."
I took hold of the laptop and scrolled through my pictures, clicking here and there until I found the couple of pictures of us that Jenny had taken in Texas.
"Why aren’t those online?" he asked.
"They are, just not on the account Matt saw." What is up with my verbal filter?
"You have another?"
At that, I slammed the laptop closed. I’d had enough. "So are you meeting your parents today?"
Gage didn't answer for a while, but then said, "Yeah, they want to do a bit of shopping. You want to come, too?"
"Sure. I'll drive. Save on waiting for buses."
He gave me a quick kiss and went to get dressed.
I was quite impressed, to be honest. It took about twelve minutes longer than I’d expected for us to get noticed in the middle of the city centre. Seven girls, who must have been tuned to some kind of Gage Weston Radar, near enough sprinted toward him when they spotted him. His dad managed to get a picture of me, his mum, and Gage next to a local landmark before pens and body parts began being thrust in his face. Perhaps I shouldn't have been, but I couldn't help but be impressed with the civility with which he handled the whole thing. His natural grace and charm when dealing with his fans made them squeal before they moved on at last. Once he was freed, he took hold of my hand so we could walk inside the shopping centre.
We wandered round without any plan, popping in and out of shops to browse. Margaret and Wayne bought a few presents for family back in Texas, and I nearly cried when Wayne took his wife into a jewellers and bought her a beautiful charm bracelet.
Gage had been preoccupied with his phone on and off while we walked around, but he never once let go of my hand. I'd had a call from Dermot to tell me he was bringing the kids back early since there was a problem at work he needed to sort out. Gage was excited that they’d be back the next day. He’d missed my kids as much as I had. I sent Jenny a text to let her daughter know they would be around after all during her visit.
We had to make some plans to keep the kids entertained, but they could wait for a day or so. Gage was still tapping away on his phone when we walked back outside, so I lit a cigarette.
"Listen, I'm just going to pop into the bookshop down here. Where do you want me to meet you?" I asked them.
"We'll come with you, honey." Margaret hooked her arm through mine, and we walked towards the huge shop, my favourite in the whole area.
"Can I just warn you, I tend to lose my hearing around books?" I smiled at her.
"Oh, Wayne's just the same, so I'm used to it." She patted my arm while we walked through the door. "Besides, reading's good for the soul."
I grinned at her. Once she let go of my arm, I drifted away from them, losing myself in the shelves of books. My hand ran over the spines while I read the titles, moving along the aisles and not rushing.
With a few books in my arms, I decided to go into the children's section and pick up a couple for the kids. I pulled a few out that I thought they would enjoy and put them with my own selections. Still distracted, I started to make my way to pay when an arm snaked around my waist, making me jump and drop everything.
"Sorry, darlin'. I didn't mean to scare you." Gage bent down to gather my books, then carried them over to the pay station for me. When I handed the young girl behind the counter my card, I had to wave it front of her face to get her attention. She was busy staring at Gage. When she began to do her job at last, I noticed Gage was looking at me.
"What?" I glanced down to make sure there was nothing on my top. When my eyes came back up to him, I found him grinning. "What's with the smirk?"
"Am I not allowed to look at you now?"
I gave him a gentle shove. "Of course you are, but why are you doing it?"
Gage grabbed me gently by the wrist and pulled me to him. "Because I can." He gave me a quick kiss. "And because I want to."
I smiled at him and took my things from the star-struck girl. Just as he took hold of my hand, she found her voice. "Aren't you Uriel from Wings?"
Gage looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, sometimes." He dazzled her with his beautiful smile before leading me outside to where his parents were waiting.
"Hey, darlin', you weren't kidding Margaret when you said you get carried away in a bookshop, huh?" Wayne wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "We were trying to find you for at least twenty minutes before Gage bumped into you."
I blushed. "I'm sorry."
"Oh hush, child. It’s lovely to see young people reading real books instead of those e-reader thingamabobs. You keep doing it." He released me and took his wife's hand. "Anyway, we're heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. You kids have a wonderful evening." They both gave us tight hugs and then hailed a taxi.
"They love you." Gage wrapped his arm around my waist once more, and we began to walk back to my car.
"They're lovely. I can see why your family is so close." We walked at a slow and even pace, looking in shop windows without rushing.
"When do I get to meet your parents?"
I stopped walking and looked at him, a bit taken aback. "Er . . . You want to?"
"Of course I do. How could I not want to meet the two people who brought you into this world?" If it had been anyone else giving me that line, I would have gagged at the cliché, but he managed to make it sound sincere.
"I'll give them a ring later and see if we can sort something out before you head back home."
Gage just smiled that crooked smile at me, and we continued walking. I wasn't sure how I felt about him asking to meet my parents. Guys just never did that anymore.
We arrived at my car, and I unlocked it and dumped my bags on the back seat. I was just about to slide into the driver's seat when Gage walked round and took a gentle hold of my wrist again.
"Thank you for today." He rubbed his nose along my jawline.
"No need to thank me. I wanted to spend time with you and your parents."
He looked a bit serious as he locked eyes with me. "I'm thanking you for just being you." Gage pulled away and put his hand in his pocket. "I never did get to buy you anything for your birthday, so I want you to have this." He pulled out a bracelet that looked similar to the one his dad had bought for his mum.
"Oh, it's stunning. You didn't need to do this." I fingered charms with a jewelled cowboy boot and his initials.
"I know I didn't," he said, undoing the clasp and fastening it on my wrist. "I never do anything I don't want to do." He pulled me in close and kissed me.
"Thank you. I love it." I managed to say when he pulled away.
"Well, I love you."
Of course, my parents loved him. I'd phoned them and arranged to go over that evening for dinner. Gage's celebrity status didn't faze my mother because she had no clue
who he was, and my dad was just pleased to have male company in the house for a change. Gage was his usual charming self, offering to clear up after we'd finished eating. I helped before my mother could make a snotty comment, as she often did. Not long after we cleared away, I drove Gage back to my house. The roads were quiet, yet it took us almost 45 minutes because somehow we managed to hit every red light on the way.
Gage's deep voice startled me. "They're nice." He placed his hand on my thigh, and the warmth seeped through my jeans. "Plus, they brought you into the world, so I sorta have to like them."
"I love them to bits, but I can only take them in small doses." Taking hold of his hand, I said, "They liked you too, although I am waiting for the inevitable lecture from my mother."
"What lecture?"
I parked the car, and we climbed out. "Oh, you know. The whole 'he hasn't got a proper job and would never be around' lecture." Her voice played in my head, all disapproving and why-are-you-wasting-your-time?
"You think they'll lecture you? You're hardly a child living under their roof." He looked puzzled at the thought.
"All the more reason." I laughed, and he slid his arm around my shoulders and rested his chin on top of my head. "It'll be fine. I didn't listen to them fifteen years ago when I met Dermott, and I won’t listen now. It'll go in one ear and out the other. As long as I say 'yes, Mum' in the right places, it's all good."
Morning came alongside a splitting headache and a huge bed that was definitely too cold on one side. For a minute, my hands searched around, and I wondered if Gage had shifted over too far and fallen out of bed. When my faculties returned, I realised that he had probably gotten up to make himself breakfast.
When I stumbled down the stairs, Gage was sitting on the sofa playing with one of the kids, and I blew him a kiss. Then I moved into the kitchen, where the smell of tea was far more persuasive than even a good morning kiss. Gage was leaning up against the counter, so I gave him a wave. Wait a minute. He seemed to be everywhere today.
What? Hoping my vision was working properly, I blinked hard and looked again at the Gage in the kitchen.