by Gina Mint
“So how’s your girlfriend enjoying her Thanksgiving?” Ellie asked on their way to pick up the pizza.
“There’s no girlfriend for me, Ellie, at least not right now.”
“Seriously? Someone as good-looking as you doesn’t have a girl?”
“Not yet. Being a double major with a minor focus as well, doesn’t leave me much time for dating. I only go out about once a month and that’s usually cheap and fast.”
“Cheap and fast, huh?” she laughed.
“Like drive through ice cream fast.”
Ellie smiled and patted his knee. “Don’t worry Chase. The girls will come along in droves once they get wind that you’re dating.”
“I’m not particularly interested in girls. No offense to them, but the ones I’ve seen so far don’t hold a lot of intrigue.”
“No? I would think some beautiful college girls would be what most boys dream about when they’re in school.”
“Well, I’m certainly not most boys, but for me I guess I just want a woman with more substance to her. Most of the girls I go to school with haven’t made that important transition into being women yet. Now you, you’re a woman of substance. You’ve got dreams and ideas and a spine, no offense.”
“None taken, as I’m pretty sure there was a compliment in there somewhere.”
“There was. Matt’s always talking about how amazing you are. Now I can see for myself why he brags so much.”
Ellie smiled as she pulled into the pizza parlor’s parking lot. Gregorio’s Pizza and Subs was the absolute best place in town to get pizza and Ellie knew her son and his friend would love it. “Matt likes garlic butter sauce, is there any you prefer?”
“I like the buffalo wing sauce personally, but any of them are fine.”
Ellie stood in line and waited until it was her turn. “I have an order to pick up under Thompson.”
“Certainly ma’am,” the young girl at the counter smiled. She turned around and grabbed Ellie’s order, placing it on the counter. “That’ll be twenty-eight thirty-five.”
“Can I get two garlic butter and two buffalo wing sauces to go with that order as well?”
“Sure.” The girl rang up the sauces and gave Ellie the total. Once they were paid for Ellie was about to pick them up when Chase stepped over and grabbed them.
“I’ll carry them out for you.”
“Thank you,” she said. Ellie knew a player when she saw one and thankfully Chase, for all his trying, wasn’t even close. It was true that he was gorgeous and overly blessed with good looks. His personality though was too logical to be the player type. “So tell me what attracted you to computers.”
“I’ve always liked taking things apart and seeing how they worked. When I showed an interest in that my parents sort of went with it. They’d bring home old junk and let me tinker with it. Sometimes I could fix it and other times not so much. As I grew older my math skills improved and I did decently well in science, but computers were where my passion was. I begged my parents to send me to a computer engineering camp a couple summers ago. After that I knew for sure that computer engineering was what I wanted to pursue.”
“It’s a lucrative career for sure. I wouldn’t doubt that you’ll have more than enough opportunities to cultivate not only the career you want to, but also the sort of personal relationship you’d like to have.”
“Speaking of, why isn’t a woman as gorgeous as you dating anyone?”
“It’s not that I don’t date, it’s just that finding a man my age who is as young feeling and vibrant as me isn’t always easy. Most men my age are still raising kids and mine is already grown. I don’t want to go back to being just a mom. I want a relationship that meets my needs for a change.”
“Yeah, Matt said his old man’s a real piece of work.”
“To put it mildly,” Ellie scoffed.
***
Chase carried the pizzas in and sat them on the counter. “Pizza’s here, Matty!”
“Awesome. So what’d you think of town?”
“It’s small as shit, man,” Chase laughed tossing his friend a garlic butter. They both snagged four pieces of pepperoni pizza and headed for the living room. Ellie joined them and sat next to Matt on the couch.
“So who’s up for watching some TV?”
“I don’t even know what’s good anymore, mom,” Matt laughed. “It’s been so long since I watched TV that I’m not clued into anything that’s hot right now.”
“Well then, let’s rent a movie. Surely you’ve seen something interesting.”
“I vote for The Last Witch Hunter,” Matt said.
“I’m down with that, although in truth I’d rather see Bridge of Spies.” This came from Chase and Ellie grinned. Wasn’t it just like boys to disagree?
“Well I’m good with both choices, so why don’t you two decide and I’ll get the beer? Budweiser okay with you, Chase?”
“Yes ma’am,” he smiled.
“We have regular and Bud Light.”
“Bud Light. please,” he requested. “And thank you.”
“Absolutely,” she smiled.
***
Reaching out, Ellie ran her hand along Chase’s arm as she passed. Loving the way his muscles flinched under her touch. Ellie couldn’t help wonder if Chase had much experience with women. She couldn’t exactly blame him if he did, he was stunningly handsome. If he didn’t, however, she was certainly hoping he’d let her show him a thing or two.
Ellie took out three bottles. Two Bug Light’s and one regular for Matt. She popped their tops, grabbed some snack chips, and headed into the living room. “Are you on a junk food bender, mom?” Matt asked, eyeing the chips and beer.
“No, but it’s not every day my only son comes home to see me. I like to stock your favorites when I know you’re going to be here. Would you rather eat one of my Weight Watchers snacks?”
“No, thank you.” Ellie laughed when Matt grimaced.
“I could just see you chowing down one of my bite-sized snack cakes.”
“If it’s bite-sized it would take the whole box for me to actually be chowing them down.”
“That’d be my point, son,” Ellie smiled.
The trio watched Matt’s movie and finished off the two pepperoni pizzas. “How do you two manage to keep in shape? You each ate an entire pizza.”
“Matt really got into karate while we were in school. I run long distance for the school track team, but also just enjoy running. I don’t normally eat pizza, but I figure if I’m going to indulge I might as well go all in.”
“Karate, huh?” Ellie asked, surprised by her son. At over six feet tall she just couldn’t imagine him in a dojo learning the skill of martial arts.
“Alright. I didn’t join the class because I was particularly interested in it. I was more interested in the instructor.”
“And there’s my son,” Ellie laughed.
“Well, I did get her to go on a date with me. I also learned that martial arts is amazing. I’ve really enjoyed learning the art and I found out I have a knack for it. I’m a black belt now, working on improving even more.”
“Well, keep it up because it’s paying off.”
“What do you enjoy doing physically Ellie?”
Ellie pretended that she hadn’t heard the innuendo in his question and turned her piercing, honey-colored eyes on him. When he grinned her whole body quivered. Oh yes, it was going to be very nice when she got her hands on Chase Dansberry.
***
Chase was pretty positive that Ellie knew of his interest. Her hand on his arm had been a huge red flag that spiked his system with an edgy need. He didn’t know how old she was, except that she’d been young when she’d had Matt. However old she was, she was so damn hot. After the movie, he took his plate into the kitchen and placed it in the sink. “I’m gonna head up to bed if you all don’t mind. I want to get an early start.”
“You do know we’re on vacation right?” Matt chuckled. “Always the overach
iever, huh, Dansberry?”
“You know I can’t skip too many runs. I’ll end up on the couch in ten years weighing a hefty two-fifty and fast as f-“
“Alright boys,” Ellie laughed. “The spare bedroom is all yours Chase. We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thanks Ellie,” Chase said. Taking a risk, Chase winked at her and smiled before he headed up the stairs.
The next morning, Chase headed down at dawn to start his run. He’d mapped a route on his phone that would take him close to the edge of town and back, marking a long fifteen mile run. It was ambitious, but Chase needed to clear his head. The last twenty-four hours had been full of Ellie Thompson and too much of that was dangerous territory. He sat down on the couch and put his new running shoes on. He’d broken them in yesterday so hopefully his feet wouldn’t pay the price later today.
“Good Morning.” Chase turned to see Ellie coming down the stairs in running pants and a tank top. Her dark hair was pulled into a ponytail that made her look five years younger and her smile turned Chase’s insides to putty. Could the woman really get any better looking?
“Morning,” Chase greeted her.
“Mind if I join you on your run?”
“Have you ever done long distance?”
“I run regularly, most of the time at least five miles.”
“I’m doing fifteen today,” Chase said, his blue eyes catching her almost translucent brown ones. He’d never seen a woman with such gorgeous eyes. “Don’t get me wrong. I’d love the company, I’m just weary of taking you on such a long run.”
“Long and slow right?”
She did have a point. You couldn’t set out on a fifteen mile run and treat it like a two-mile. “Yes, but if you’ve never done more than five at a time it may get tedious at best.”
“I’ll have you to keep me company,” she smiled. Chase felt his heart give a kick in his chest at the sight of her, dressed up to run and smiling so that she rivaled the sun.
“Alright,” Chase agreed. “Do you need to leave a note for Matt or anything?”
“Yeah, I probably should. Don’t want him to get up and freak out.”
“Knowing Matt he’d probably eat and not even notice we were gone until we got back.”
“That’s definitely, Matt,” Ellie laughed. Chase opened the door for her after she’d written the note and placed it on the fridge. “So when did you two meet?”
“Our freshman year. Matt and I joined the same karate class, but my love was running. Can’t blame him for sticking with it though. He’s good and that instructor was hot.”
“What made you decide to double major?”
“I wanted as much education as I could get for the four years I planned on going. I’ve always loved computers, growing up in that era, so I chose computer engineering. Science is relatively easy for me so I decided to double down and take Chemistry as well. My minor is sort of just for fun.”
“School for fun, god, your parents must be thrilled.”
Chase laughed. “My mom thinks I’m crazy and my dad couldn’t care less.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“No worries Ellie. Not everyone can have parents as involved as you are. I’ve seen the care packages Matt gets. You’re an amazing mom.”
“Thank you,” Ellie said. She stopped for a moment and pressed a kiss to Chase’s cheek. Before she could shift away Chase touched her cheek, turning her face toward him. His lips pressed gently against hers, gauging her reaction. When her arms came around his shoulders, Chase pressed a little harder, sliding his tongue over her full bottom lip. She gave willingly, opening to him and together they went deeper. Much to his surprise, it was Chase who pulled back.
“Ellie,” he murmured.
“Before we dive too deep into that, why don’t we do our run? Maybe it’ll help clear our heads.”
“Yeah,” Chase sighed.
Chapter Three: Thanksgiving
Ellie tried hard to concentrate on running. She thought about her breathing, using her muscles to her advantage and keeping a steady pace, but beneath all the superficial her mind was consumed with what she’d done with Chase. Kissing wasn’t the problem, unless you took into the fact that she’d been kissing her only son’s best friend. What the hell was she thinking? She fought the grin that wanted to spread across her face. She knew exactly what she was doing as a woman. An insanely good-looking man seemed to be interested in her. Did it matter that he was nearly eighteen years her junior? Not in today’s world.
Still, Ellie knew Matt would not look favorably on his best friend and mom shagging, not in the least. The run went well as they set a decent pace for town. After the first five miles Ellie was definitely feeling the burn of the extra time. “Only two more to go Ellie, you can do it. Then we’ll take a break before we head back.”
“Sounds…good…” Ellie huffed. Even in great shape, Ellie rarely did more than five miles and the extra work was straining her tired muscles. Still, she trudged on, determined to keep up with Chase. She had to give him credit, the kid looked as if he could go for another three or four hours. She was barely holding on and they still had to make it to town and all the way back home. The mere thought of continuing past town made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.
***
Chase helped Ellie cross the street to a tiny café as they finished the first leg of their run. Seeing her face, he knew she needed fluids and a ride home. “I’m calling you a cab, or I’ll call Matt to come get you.”
“I can finish the run, Chase,” Ellie said, defiant and stubborn.
“I don’t doubt you can, Ellie, but I’m not going to let you. You’re nearly worn out now. If you try to do the last leg, you’ll be in trouble before we ever get home.”
“You don’t think I can do it,” she stated, anger evident in those beautiful honey eyes.
“I think,” Chase said slowly, “that you are pushing yourself too hard. You’ve never done a distance this long and if you don’t stop now, you’ll only injure yourself and then where will we be? I’ll be trying to figure out how to get you home before we both get into trouble.”
“I don’t need a lecture,” Ellie said. When she turned to go Chase grabbed her hand, turning her toward him.
“I wasn’t lecturing you, Ellie,” Chase said, his own frustration showing. Never had he met a woman like her. She was so strong and beautiful. Need curled its tight fists deep in his gut. Quickly wrapping his arm around her waist, Chase drew her closer until he could see the flecks of gold in her slightly surprised eyes. Grinning, Chase swept his lips over hers. Back and forth and then again with more pressure. Just when she would have opened to him, Chase pulled back and smiled. “Do it for me, Ellie, so I won’t have to worry so much.”
“Fine,” she acquiesced.
Chase saw Ellie into a taxi and finished his run. By the time he made it back home, Ellie was making a brunch that smelled amazing. “Come in and get some coffee,” she said when she heard him come in the door. “Matt!”