Seventeen Days

by D. B. James

  Harrison stands when he notices Mac near the back door, and goes to let him in. Maybe he can install a doggy door for Mac like the one Dog has.

  “I’m going to do what I did before and let you two ladies talk this out. I’m here as moral support for you both. But I do need to add in, I’m going to Paris; my mind was made up as soon as she sprung the idea on me. If you’d like to stay in a hotel, the one we stayed in this weekend was perfect and within walking distance to Julian’s apartment.”

  Gasping, I turn to him. “Well … that’s not completely true. You were a little upset. Not with my including you but maybe with my including Savannah in the plans. You were so upset you stopped in the middle of the street blocking the traffic! Don’t sugarcoat this and say you were onboard with the whole entire idea.” Turning so I can see my aunt again, I continue, “If you don’t want to stay at Julian’s, we’ll get a hotel. I’ll do separate things with him, and you don’t have to cross paths with him. We can celebrate with you in the morning and him in the evening. New Year’s Eve is the only time I would ask you to be in the same place at the same time.”

  Grabbing a humongous blueberry muffin, I start picking at it, waiting for anyone to talk. Mac could even bark, and I’d be happy. Someone say something!

  “Red, that’s for eating not demolishing.” Grinning, he lets me know my little outburst at him didn’t piss him off. Throwing him under the bus probably wasn’t the nicest thing I could’ve done.

  Taking a big ass bite of my muffin, he starts talking again, only it’s not about my muffin.

  “Okay, so I was a bit shocked when she mentioned the plans. Like she said, I wasn’t angry at her for making plans that included me but for making them for you. But now that I hear about the hotel offer and keeping y’all separate for the majority of the time, I think it could work. If it doesn’t, you’ll still get a free trip to Paris. Sounds like winning to me.”

  Turning so he can see me, I mouth the words, “Thank you.”

  “And when I’m spending time with Julian, for random things, Harrison could take you places. He hasn’t seen much of the city yet, and I’m sure he’d love to explore more. And I want a whole day devoted to only you and me, doing all sorts of girlie things. Makeovers, manicures, pedicures, massages, and shopping. You name it, we’ll do it that day.”

  She takes a sip of her coffee before continuing, “Okay. I’ll go. But I have a few requests.”

  “Requests are good. We can do requests,” I say a bit too brightly. Overeager, even.

  My trip planning may not have been such a bad thing after all.

  “I won’t stay at his apartment, at least, not right away. I’d like a hotel room booked and waiting for me to stay there and see how things go. If things aren’t a big issue for me, I’ll start staying with everyone. That’s my first request.”

  “Sounds reasonable to me, Savannah. If you want, I could stay at the hotel too, so you’re not alone. Morgan could use that time to bond more with Julian.”

  Um, excuse me? Nope, you’re staying with me.

  “That won’t be necessary. My last two requests are pretty simple. I don’t want you to have to spend time with us separately for days such as Christmas. We’re both adults, and I’m sure we can be in the same space celebrating. The last one is, that we find a person we trust completely to watch over both Mac and Dog.”

  “Steve will take the dogs in, it’s no problem. So it shouldn’t be an issue. And it’s far enough in advance to rework any tours that may be booked then. Especially if I hire the new kid full time.”

  What new kid? Is he contemplating hiring the guy he interviewed last week? Hmm, maybe I should ask him? Maybe I should continue on with the rest of my news. Or wait. Waiting sounds good to me.

  “Now all we need to do is get you a passport, Aunt Savannah. We should start that soon; it can be a long process.” Sort of changing the subject may work in my favor, and the news bomb I dropped on her, may also make her forget I had other news to share with the both of them. I’m not ready to burst this happiness bubble.

  “I was already planning on getting one before I was made aware of your plans. I’ll get one fairly quick. I’m going to head back out to the office. Why don’t you wait till dinner to tell me the rest of your news?” Fuck, she remembered. “Harrison, come over for dinner. She said she has news you hadn’t heard yet. My pantry is pretty sad so you’ll have to run to the grocery and fill up. Use the card I gave you, Morgan. See you two later.”

  Disaster sort of averted. For now.

  “Grocery shopping works out perfectly. I need to go too. We’ll go fill up on lots of junk we don’t need but love anyway, and maybe grab a movie or two. Although, tonight it’s an early bedtime for us. I have to be in at six, you at eight. We so should tell our boss he’s a hardass. He could’ve given us another day off to be lazy. The nerve.”

  That made me laugh. He’s a big ass dork, but I love him. “He is a real dick. Or wait, is it he has a real nice dick? I’m confused and may need to be shown it again to know for certain.”

  Groceries can wait. It seems like I’ve been saying this with a lot of things lately. This love shit has me neglecting all my responsibilities.

  Turns out my shower wasn't made for two. Who’d have guessed? Or let’s state it more clearly: it wasn’t built with enough room for two people to have sex in it. Because one of them is practically a giant.

  After our attempt at shower sex, he hopped out to let me continue getting ready to clean up. While I got ready, Harrison ran home and grabbed Dog to bring him here to stay with Mac so they can keep other company while we run errands.

  “Did you make a list of what all you need from the store?” My list may or may not take up two sheets of notebook paper. Front and back. We’ll be buying groceries, all. Damn. Day.

  “Don’t need a list, I’ll grab what I like and hope it’s everything I need. It only needs to get me through till my next day off and I run and do the same thing again. Unless you want me to pick up a few things for you, to have at my house. If so, you can toss them in my cart.”

  “Want to know something sad? I’ve never been to a grocery store. That’s probably why I made such a huge list. I wasn’t sure exactly what all was needed. When I walked into the kitchen, I took a quick inventory of the empty fridge, almost bare pantry, and wrote like crazy.”

  He presses the tip of a finger on my nose and taps twice. “Boop. Boop.” Seriously, what the fuck was that?

  Laughing, he grabs my hand and proceeds to lead me out of the house. Not bothering to explain what the hell he did that for. Weirdo.

  “I’ll make this first grocery trip, ah-maze-ing. Wait and see, Red.” He opens my truck door for me and doesn’t wait for me to climb up in, he picks me up and places me in my seat. “Also, I’m kind of sad you didn’t get the show reference a minute ago.”

  Say what?

  “The ‘boop boop’ thing?”

  “Yeeeeees, it’s only from the best show ever, but if you don’t watch it don’t worry, you will soon enough.”

  Well, what fucking show is it already?

  “You honestly don’t know?”

  “What gave you that idea, my silence?” the only logical way to reply is with sarcasm. “Can’t say I do. Haven’t watched much TV lately. Although, I do watch The Vampire Diaries. I’m a season behind, but that’s what my Netflix subscription is for.”

  Rolling down my window, I place my arm on the door and lay my head on it, watching out the window, letting the breeze move over me. My hair will be a rat’s nest, but I don’t give a shit. It’s worth it to have this feeling of completion.

  “Supernatural. I’m talking about the show Supernatural. I know you’ve heard of it since your vampire show plays on the same channel. Don’t worry, we’ll watch it together, and you’ll love it.”

  Turning my head to the side so he can hear my reply, I say, “What’s it about? Is it badass?” I have seen the commercials for it and the cast appears to be pret
ty sexy, you’d think I’d watch it for that reason alone.

  “Yes, it’s badass. And it’s about, saving people — hunting things — the family business.”

  Forgetting my window, I turn around to fully face him. “How the hell does that describe the show? Tell me what it’s about, dammit! Like what do they hunt? What’s the whole point of the show? Give me something here, you jackass.”

  “It is about those things, babe. It’s too frickin’ complex to describe because it only gets better and better with each new season. But at its core, it’s a show about brothers who will do literally anything for the other. Toss in a few ghosts, demons, angels, werewolves, and vampires to make it interesting. Good versus evil. You’ll love it, I promise.”

  “Well, it does sound interesting. We can watch it sometime.” Hopefully.

  How am I going to tell him I can’t watch it with him now, and maybe not for months? That when I leave, I’m leaving until we go to Paris? I have a feeling I’ll need a better cell phone plan, one with unlimited data for video chats.

  “Okay, we’re here. Let’s kill the ‘little’ list you have going on.”

  Wow, it was a fast drive. Again, I wasn’t aware we were so close to the store. Correction, to a lot of stores.

  “Hey, Morgan?”

  “Hmm?” He’s looking at me funny. What did I do now?

  “You coming?” It’s then I notice he’s out of the truck and standing next to my open door.

  “Yep, sure am.” Jumping down, I start walking toward the entrance.

  “You’ll need a buggy for all your groceries. Would you like to share one? My things won’t take up much space.”

  What the hell is a buggy?

  “Sure it’s okay, but what the hell is a buggy, and why do I need one?”

  “You’re so damn cute when you’re confused. Some people call them carts, I call them buggies. It’s right there, the line of green things with wheels. They help you with your groceries, unless you planned on carrying them all. But with the size of your list, you’d be here all damn day taking things to the checkout counter.”

  Oh. Okay then. Grabbing one, we walk through the store and proceed to fill up not one but two buggies. Good thing he drives a truck; we’ll need it to haul all this shit back.

  First trip to the grocery store, completed.

  I’ve been worried since this morning when Savannah invited me to dinner she said Red has more news. What else can she have to say? Is she staying? We only have tonight and the next seven days left together before her flight leaves, and the last I knew, she was still going back to New York.

  Admittedly, I don’t want her to leave here. Ever. But it’s not logical. She has a life to go and live. Even if her life doesn’t include staying near me, I need to support her in any decision. She said she wants me in her future, and I need to believe her. If it takes her away from me while she gets her education, so be it.

  Wonder if she made more plans for the future with Julian? It’s the only thing I can think of, besides school. He had to have helped her make some sort of plans.

  Please don’t let her be moving to Paris.

  Long distance is one thing, but it would be hell on us as a couple if she plans on moving to Paris. We’d never see each other. It’s not like I can hop on a plane and spend a day with her and come back. Fuck, I’d be paying out the ass for airfare. If she moves back to New York, I’ll still spend a lot but airfare from Mobile to New York is much cheaper. Besides, I could be on a plane and see her within a couple hours. Not so if she moves to Paris. Could her connection with Julian be strong enough to lure her away to a different country on a permanent basis?

  Instead of letting her see my worry, I kept things light between us all afternoon. Tapping her nose and goofing around was my way of deflecting.

  Dinnertime can’t get here soon enough. My worrying won’t stop until I hear her news.

  After helping her haul in what seems like the whole damn store, I start putting things away. I’m faster than her since I know where pretty much everything goes. She got a little bit of everything.

  Savannah will probably freak when she sees the receipt. Who goes to the grocery store and spends nearly five-hundred dollars for two people? Red, that’s who.

  “What did you have in mind for dinner? You’re planning on cooking, right, or should I go grab takeout before Savannah gets home?”

  Hopefully she doesn't need much help if she is cooking. Eggs are pretty much the only thing I can make. And a mean ass box of macaroni and cheese.

  “Nothing too difficult: chicken marsala and tossed salad. Which is why I had you buy the wine, I needed it to cook with.”

  So she can cook? Holy shit. Better marry her, tomorrow.

  “Do you need any help?” Please say no, I’ll ruin the whole meal.

  “Yes! You can wash and cut up the veggies for the salad. That’ll save me tons of time. And before you ask, yes I can cook. Sienna fired the last cook we had a couple of years back, and she never bothered to hire a new one. Learning to cook was a necessity, unless I wanted to live on take-out.”

  “Consider the veggies done. So you taught yourself how to cook? Shit, I can’t cook. But you already know that.” Grabbing the carrots, I begin washing them off in the sink.

  “Cooking shows and the good ol’ Internet taught me how to cook. If you can read and measure you can cook. It’s all about following instructions. Cooking relaxes me. It’s been a stress reliever for me on several occasions. Baking too.”

  She bakes. Those may be my favorite words to leave her mouth yet. I’d kill for a homemade peanut butter cookie.

  “If you tell me you can make peanut butter cookies, I’ll be your love slave for life.” Not even kidding. Like I said, I’d kill for one. Grabbing the red pepper, I do exactly what I did with the carrots. I should probably check with her and see what all veggies she plans on using for the salad.

  “Tell you what, I’ll bake your cookies, and we’ll call it good. No love slave needed.”

  “Woman, you have a deal!” Peanut butter cookies shall be mine. “Now, tell me what veggies to use before I wash and cut them all.”

  We proceed to work together until Savannah’s truck pulls in. She even started measuring ingredients for the cookies. I’m sure I’ll salivate when she actually starts to bake them. I haven’t had homemade peanut butter cookies since my mom died.

  “Mom used to make the best peanut butter cookies. Before baking them, she’d make the dough into balls and toss them in sugar. Once they were all covered, she’d press them with a fork. They were the best damn cookies in the world.”

  Savannah walks in and waves before quickly heading up the stairs.

  “You haven’t told me much about your mom. What was she like? From the limited amount you’ve shared, she sounds like one of the moms from a TV show—fantastic.”

  I haven’t shared much about her yet because I don’t want her to think about her awful mother and everything she’s missed out on. She already thinks about the bitch too much for my liking.

  “She was. My parents were the type of people you couldn't help but love. Don’t get me wrong, they weren't the picture of perfection, nobody is. Mom was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen until you. She had this mass of long, deep-ebony hair. So dark, it reminded me of coal. She was the type of mom who didn’t miss anything. Every football game she was there in the stands, cheering me on. On my birthday, she’d wake me up with a huge piece of chocolate cake, she claimed everyone should eat cake for breakfast on their birthday.” Smiling to myself at the memory I add, “She was simply amazing, Red. She would’ve loved you the moment she saw you, thorns and all.” Like her son.

  “One day, I would love it if you told me everything about them. They raised an amazing man, Harrison. I’d love to know everything about the people who helped you become who you are.”

  Taking the bowl of pasta from her and placing it on the table, I gather her up into my arms. Pulling her close and h
ugging her tight.

  “I know this may be soon and probably not the greatest time to say it but I love you, Morgan. You’ve crashed into my life, turned it on its head, and sent my heart spinning. You make everything that doesn’t make sense, make sense. I know I’m fucking it all up, so to put it simply I’ll say it again. I love you. Cherish you. Crave you. No matter what happens between now and when you board the plane bound for New York, I want you to know. You don’t have to say it back, or fuck, even feel it yet. My world before you was dull; you’ve brought it back to color. You’ve made me want things for myself I never knew I wanted. Happiness.”

  If I never hear her say it before she leaves and our future is unknown, I’ll be at peace because I told her how I feel. She’ll undoubtedly take the biggest piece of me with her.

  Cupping her head, and wiping the tears I didn’t know she was crying, I gently kiss her soft lips.

  Breaking away, she gazes into my eyes. “God, I’ll never tire of staring into your emerald depths.”

  Savannah comes walking into the kitchen, breaking the spell that had been cast over us. Whatever she was going to say dies on her tongue. It’s okay, I don’t want to know if she was going to say it back or not. If she wasn’t, my heart would splinter. If she was, it’d burst.

  “You’re right on time, Aunt Savannah, dinner is done. Hope you’re hungry because I made enough for ten people.”

  “It smells wonderful in here, Morgan.”

  Pulling a chair out, I motion for Morgan to have a seat. “Thank you, Harrison.”

  Dog and Mac come bumbling into the kitchen. Before I take my seat, I lead them outside. Otherwise, they’ll be begging for scraps. I’m sure they’ll have leftovers.

  Seeing the helping she served me, I can’t help but laugh. “There’s no way I’ll eat all of that. Some of us don’t have never-ending stomachs like you.”

  Swapping her plate for mine, she digs in. After the first few minutes of silence, she breaks it. It's one of the things I love about her, she can’t stand the silence.