And it didn’t escape Neve that one day, when she found her own perfect man, she was hoping he’d forgive her for the poor decisions of her promiscuous past. And if she expected him to forgive her, maybe she needed to find it in herself to forgive her birth-mother for decisions she made in the past. Maybe Missy really wasn’t a good person back then, and maybe giving Neve to a loving couple who would raise her as their own was, for the most part, for the best. Neve’s childhood hadn’t been that bad, and if she tried to look back with an impartial view, she could see that she’d caused a lot of her own problems.
“And what about you?” Missy smiled. “Does Rory make you happy?”
Yes. “We’re just friends.” Neve gave her standard answer. “He’s only here for another couple weeks.” Then he’ll go back to his old life and she’d get ready for her new adventure. “To help me with my antibiotics.” She motioned to the PICC line in her left arm, hidden by her blouse.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine.” Since “fine” didn’t seem convincing enough, Neve added, “Great, actually.” Not a lie, exactly. When she wasn’t trying to dance or exercise or participate in any strenuous activity, she did feet great.
“I’m glad.” Missy took Neve’s hand between both of her own. “Thank you for coming today. It means a lot to Aiden…and to me.”
They sat together in silence for a few seconds, hand in hand. Then Missy added, “I hope this is the beginning of us spending more holidays together.”
“When Mom gets back…” It wouldn’t be easy for Neve to spend holidays with Missy and her family.
“Maybe now that you and I have reconciled, it’s time for me to repair my relationship with my sister. Then we can all spend holidays together.”
Yeah…good luck with that. “I’ve got a big audition coming up in December. Cirque du Soleil.”
“Cirque du Soleil? That’s wonderful!”
“So I probably won’t be around much for the next year and a half.” Hopefully longer.
“But we can at least keep in touch,” Missy said hopefully. “I’m not looking to resume my role as your mother. You already have a mother, and she’s done a wonderful job in raising you, like I knew she would. I’m hoping we can be friends.” She leaned forward to make eye contact. “Do you have room for another friend?”
Since one of Neve’s goals for her new self was to have more female friends, she said, “I think we can give that a try and see how it goes.” But no promises, because once her mother found out…
Chapter 14
Since the day after Thanksgiving, Neve had been on an exercise tear, pushing herself too hard and eating too little, in Rory’s opinion. Four days of tiny, toddler-sized portions, mostly fat-free yogurt, steamed or raw fresh vegetables, and grilled chicken breast and he’d have been wilted into a useless blob on the floor without enough energy to move.
Yet here they were, outside jogging. On the plus side, Rory had been right—chasing after Neve had turned out to be an excellent motivator to get him up and moving. Her tight ass and toned legs in skintight black running pants being the only reason he’d suit up for a jog—as a civilian—on a frigid day like today.
Yeah, she ran at a good pace, but he only hung back a little for the chance to ogle her stellar body parts in action without getting caught. Well, that, and because one neighborhood looked like the next, and since they’d veered off the sidewalk bordering the main road through town he hadn’t paid enough attention to their route to know where the hell they were.
“Slow down,” he told her.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Why? Can’t keep up?”
A nice easy jog, she’d said. Be back in twenty minutes. According to his watch, they’d been at it for close to an hour. “You’re favoring your right leg.” Had been for the past few minutes. “Why don’t we take a quick break?” Maybe a slow walk back to the main road for a hot cup of coffee and a doughnut.
“I’m not…going to get,” she spoke in between panting breaths, “…into…the shape…I need…to be in…by taking…breaks.” Damn it. She actually picked up her pace. “I’m not…going to build…up…my endurance…and…lose weight…by taking breaks.”
“The doctor said no strenuous exercise.” He’d have a heart attack if he could see what she’d been up to. “The way you’ve been pushing yourself, your body won’t have any energy left over to fight off a very nasty infection.” She typically ended her days so exhausted, she’d been falling asleep on the couch and didn’t wake up when he carried her to bed.
“That’s what…the…antibiotics…are for.”
“And you don’t need to lose weight.”
She shot him a glare over her shoulder. “I am five…pounds…above my…performance…weight. Five pounds! Luca…is going…to kill me.” She stopped talking, he assumed to catch her breath. “Do you…have any…idea…how hard it is…to balance me…and toss me around…for fifteen…minutes?”
Rory could do it without any difficulty at all, without breaking a sweat.
“An additional five pounds…will throw off…everything.”
Assuming Luca was the same man she’d partnered with in her YouTube dance videos, he looked like he could handle it. Rory said, “I think it looks good on you.”
At that she came to a dead stop and turned on him. If Rory hadn’t jumped to the side—thank you, excellent reflexes—he would have plowed right into her.
“You think it…looks good on me?” She planted her hands on her hips, not taking his words as the compliment he’d intended.
Here we go. Oddly enough, right then, he didn’t mind going a few rounds of verbal sparring, actually looked forward to it. She got his blood pumping, kind of like navigating a route known for IEDs—an adventure, a challenge. Would he make it through intact?
“News flash, Rory. An additional five pounds on a woman my size is like ten pounds on a taller person. I don’t have many places to put it. Look how tight these pants are.” She turned and stuck out her butt.
Oh, he’d been looking, all right, for almost an hour, and enjoying it…immensely.
Taking advantage of their sudden stoppage to get her to rest, Rory pulled on the top of his water bottle, took a few sips, and decided to keep her talking. “I think you look beautiful.” A little fuller, a touch rounder, but he didn’t dare get into specifics. Not likely she’d appreciate either description.
“Fat is not beautiful.” She removed her water bottle from the holster at her waist and took a sip.
He laughed. “You are not fat.”
“Everything I have is because of my body and my ability to perform, either as a dancer or a gymnast. College?” Hands at her lower back, she arched and stretched. “Part academic, part gymnastics to make a full scholarship.” She bent at the waist, leaning forward. “My condo? A talent scout for a movie approached me after my first-place finish at NCAA Regionals. I had similar looks and body type to an actress in some movie they were getting ready to film. Asked if I’d consider doubling for her in all the acrobatic scenes.”
“You were in a movie?” And yet she’d never mentioned it. “Which one?”
“Doesn’t matter.” She waved him off. “My point is, they hired me based on my looks and my gymnastics ability. I spent the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college filming, made a bunch of money, which enabled me to put down a big deposit so I can afford the mortgage payments on my condo. Do you think Cirque du Soleil would have approached Luca and me if we both weren’t in top form? Like it or not, the way I look and the shape I’m in is responsible for the life I’m able to live.”
“And it gets you lots of unwanted attention.”
She looked away, stretching one arm across her chest, then the other. “It’s only been unwanted for the last year or so. Up until then, call me shallow, but I liked it.”
“You’re smart. Don’t sell yourself short by thinking all you are is pretty to look at. What about this new person you plan to become?
Is she going to starve herself and work out to the point of exhaustion so she can have a beautiful body too? Because if she is, then she’s going to have the same problems with unwanted attention as the person you are now does.” Unless she had a strong, confident boyfriend by her side to protect her from the idiots of the world.
Lil’s words popped into his head. It’ll take a strong, very confident and trusting man to handle her and all the attention she attracts. Are you that man, Rory?
God help him, the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to be.
“Typical man,” Neve huffed. “You want a woman to have a nice, thin figure, but you complain about what it takes for her to maintain that look. And it’s not having a nice body that attracts the unwanted attention. It’s if I choose to flaunt it, which I don’t. Not anymore.”
Yes, the baggy blouses or sweatshirts she typically wore in public effectively hid her upper body. But Neve in tight jeans or her running pants? My God. In a leotard or spandex workout gear? Only a blind man wouldn’t notice her, and only a gay man wouldn’t want her.
“Typical woman,” he countered. “You think all men want is a woman with a nice body and a pretty face.”
She gave him a look that had him backtracking. “Okay.” He held up both hands. “Most heterosexual men do want that. As I’m sure I’ve said in the past, we’re visual creatures. Exterior traits attract us. But if you want to snag a man with long-term potential, you need to give him more than nice boobs, tight abs, and amazing legs.”
She smiled. “You think I have nice boobs, tight abs, and amazing legs?”
“You know you do, you pain in the ass. I can see why Nate calls you that, by the way. The point I’m trying to make is, you have that and more. You graduated high school and college with honors. You have degrees in elementary education and early education. You placed in NCAA gymnastics competitions. That’s a big deal. You starred in a movie.”
“I didn’t star in a movie.”
“You’re always downplaying your accomplishments.” And that made him mad. “Do you even know you do it? You may not have starred in that movie, but you doubled for the star and probably performed in some of the most important scenes. Am I right?”
She looked away, then nodded.
“And you never told me any of that. If I hadn’t come to visit I never would have known.”
“No one likes a bragger.”
“Talking about your accomplishments in casual, getting-to-know-you conversation is not bragging. You’re sweet and caring, kind and supportive, but it took a couple of months of us communicating back and forth for me to see you as more than a fun distraction. You’re great with kids. You risked your life to save Aiden.”
“I didn’t risk my life.”
“There you go again. Stop it,” he yelled. “You have so many relationship-worthy qualities. Either the guys around here are complete idiots or you’ve never shown them the real you.” She wouldn’t look at him. “You say men think all you’re good for is sex. Did you ever consider maybe that’s because all you show them is sexy and all you give them is sex?”
Without a word, she turned and slapped him across the face, then took off, fast.
He deserved the sting on his cheek, he’d gone too far. Shit. Not bothering to call out for her to wait up, because she wouldn’t, Rory started after her, following a safe distance behind, hoping the time it’d take to get back to the condo would be enough for her to cool off. If nothing else, at least she no longer favored her right leg while running.
Once back on the main road, when he recognized where he was, Rory slowed it down and let her go on ahead. A risky move—because she could lock him out. But he had a plan…one that happily involved him spending a few minutes in his new favorite doughnut shop on the next corner.
Two delicious cinnamon crullers and half a cup of strong black coffee later his cellphone buzzed. He read her text: You lost?
Even pissed off, she still cared about him. Nice.
He texted back: I was out of line.
She responded immediately: Yes, you were.
Let me make it up to you.
He practically held his breath, waiting.
And she made him wait a good couple of minutes before texting back: What do you have in mind?
Dinner and a movie. Tonight. They needed to get out of her condo to do something fun for a change.
He finished his coffee, wiped down the table, and carried his trash to the garbage can in the time it took her to respond. Okay. I choose the restaurant. Your treat.
Of course.
I’m getting in the shower.
He couldn’t help but ask. Is that an invitation?
Might have been if you were here. But you’re not. That’ll teach you to lag behind.
He laughed. No way she’d have invited him in as mad as she’d been. But she didn’t seem mad now. Proud of himself for creative anger management (of someone else’s anger) that had warmed him up and provided some much-needed sweets in the process, he put on his gloves and went back out into the cold with renewed energy, a combined sugar/caffeine rush, and excitement for the night to come.
—
Later that evening, after dinner, Rory complained, “I get it. You wanted to make me pay for what I said earlier. But that was just plain mean.”
“You said I could pick the restaurant,” Neve said as innocently as she could, walking beside him on their way to the car, trying not to smile. “I told you I don’t eat out much because I’m picky.” Was it her fault he hated Rockin’ Rawfood? Yeah, totally, because she knew he would.
“Organic is one thing. Soy and gluten-free I probably could have dealt with, but raw and vegan? Who the hell knows what I ate in there! Next time I take a crap I’m going to see seeds and grass in the bowl, aren’t I?”
Neve laughed like she hadn’t laughed in months.
“Rabbits eat that stuff, probably horses and goats, gerbils and other rodents for sure. Men need meat. Real meat. And that green smoothie shit you made me drink. I bet it looks the same coming out as it did going in.”
Even though it made her overworked abdominal muscles ache even more, all the laughing felt good, much better than worrying over the fact that her training was not going well.
He held out his hand. “Give me the keys to the car.” With his Boston accent, “car” sounded like cah. “I’m gonna need a double cheeseburgah and fries for dessert.”
“They had a delicious selection of desserts. If only you would have looked at the menu with an open mind.”
He walked to the passenger side of the car and opened her door. Such a gentleman.
“No way I’d chance it.” He closed her in. After he climbed into the driver’s seat he continued. “Cheesecake, pudding, and ice cream are made with real milk…from a cow. Who knows what vegans use as a substitute.” He shivered as he put the key in the ignition. “Besides, I was brought up on the “no dessert until after dinner” rule, and the hay and sprouts you tried to force on me hardly qualified as dinner. Point me to the nearest drive-through.”
“There was no hay.” But plenty of sprouts. As much as she’d been enjoying all of his grumbling, from the moment they’d arrived until this very minute, she couldn’t let him suffer any longer. “Make a left out of the parking lot.”
A few minutes later, her mouth watering and her stomach cramping with cravings like she hadn’t just eaten, Neve was the one suffering as the smells of a fast-food burger and fries filled her car.
“Good?” she asked, knowing the answer.
His mouth apparently too full to talk, he nodded. Then he held out the container of fries to her.
“Now you’re the one being mean.”
He smiled.
“Okay. I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
No. She wasn’t. But she could compromise. “I picked dinner. You can pick the movie.”
He picked action adventure. So typical. Luckily, Neve was an action adventure
kind of girl. Since he didn’t know his way around, Neve got to pick the movie theater. She chose an older one outside of town where hopefully she wouldn’t know anyone.
If Rory noticed the long time it took to get there, he didn’t mention it.
Inside, he insisted on paying for their tickets and buying popcorn—the huge bucket, drenched in butter. “Do you know how much fat, salt, and calories are in that fast-track-to-a- heart-attack bucket?”
He shoved a huge handful, right from the top, glistening with goodness, into his mouth and shook his head. “Doesn’t matter,” he said while chewing. “Because I don’t care.” As they walked down the carpeted hallway he tilted the bucket in her direction. “Want some?”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
No. She didn’t.
In their theater he motioned to the last row. “Let’s sit in the back so if some obnoxious tall person sits in front of us we can sit on the armrest if we have to.”
Short people problems they shared.
“Okay.” She followed him to the center of the empty row. “But it’s a Monday night.” Another plus for not running into anyone she’d rather not see. “I doubt many people will be out.” They sat and joined the other twenty or so audience members scattered around in watching the opening commercials.
Seated to her left, Rory leaned in. “My brother Derry told me the stunts in this movie are a wicked pissa.”
“Please don’t be one of those annoying people who talk through a movie.”
He motioned to the screen. “The movie hasn’t started yet. Do you remember that letter I wrote you? The one that took place in a movie theater?”
Oh yes, she did. A “Read when you’re alone” letter. “If you think I’m going to have sex with you in this movie theater…”
He smiled. “Damn, you’re easy to rile up.”
For some strange reason, he seemed to like that.
“Just wanted to make it clear that a reenactment of that particular fantasy is not why I suggested we go to a movie tonight. Didn’t want you getting any ideas.”
All I Need Is You Page 16