by Lesia Reid
Sebastian felt a slight shimmer in her when he bent to kiss her. Her skin was cold.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah…yes.” But her voice was breathy like a child who’d just received the scare of her life.
“Deana?”
“Goodnight.” This time her voice was stronger, because she wanted nothing else but to be locked in her house. She closed the door, turned out the lights and double checked every window and every door in the familiar darkness.
She sat intently at the window in the dark watching the car. Her tired brain screamed paranoia, but her heart said caution. It was two hours before the car finally drove away. So someone had been in the car—watching. Were they watching her? Did Tony finally catch up with her? Deana’s heart bled. She loved this neighborhood, she loved that Joey finally had a real life, with best friends and sleepovers. How dare Antonio try to take this from him? The fear that gnawed at her earlier was replaced with anger, and her chilled skin would have been hot to the touch if anyone touched her.
Deana reigned in the emotions. She didn’t survive by being an emotional wreck. She would watch. Every dark Caddy was now a suspicious vehicle. If they were watching her, she would watch them and be ready.
Staying up to watch the car despite her tiredness had given her a headache. She would be worse for wear in the morning with the little sleep she was expecting tonight. She looked in on her son, checked the house once more then went to bed.
Chapter 8
Sebastian thought if he could figure out women, he would be the most fortunate and sought after man in the world— not that he wasn’t sought after or fortunate now. But the woman he was seeking certainly wasn’t seeking him. Deana had turned down all his dinner invitations since the barbeque. She refused his calls and refused to speak to him, even when he waited out her shift at the diner. Her excuse was always the same, too busy. He sent flowers to both her home and work hoping to smooth out whatever had gone awry since their diner at Jaime’s. He came up empty handed.
On bring-your-kids-to-work day, she’d greeted him coldly when she opened the door. Joey was already waiting for him, and he realized she timed it so he didn’t have a minute to spare before leaving.
“I want to know why you’re mad at me,” he said as Joey came towards the door.
“If he’s not home by three o’clock, I’ll find you,” was her reply. “Bye, Mom,” Joey said.
“Have a good time, sweetheart. But if you don’t like it, call me. You have all the numbers, right?”
“I’m sure it will be cool,” Joey said, running towards the Lexus in the driveway.
“We have to talk,” Sebastian said. “Later.”
“Bye.”
She waited until they were out of the driveway. She knew she was treating Sebastian badly, but she was much too preoccupied with finding the Cadillac.
She’d slammed the door on him when he dropped Joey off that evening. There was too much going on to spare a minute explaining her actions to Sebastian.
Every day wherever she went, she checked mirrors, parking lots and even spent nights waiting; watching, but the car eluded her.
She appreciated and looked forward to seeing Sebastian after her shifts, but she was focused on the Cadillac. Romance could wait if Tony found her. Romance, she chuckled to herself the first week. What am I thinking? He’s a goddamn millionaire. Cinderella stories didn’t happen in real life. There was no happy ever after. This thought made her sad. Before she hit the wonderfully confused and frightening age of thirteen, Deana believed in fairy tales. She believed she would fall in love, marry a nice guy and live happily ever after. Tony had snatched that dream from her.
But there might still be a chance, she reasoned with herself. I do like him after all—but ‘dreaming is for losers’, the words of Simone Pacelli ran through her head.
The Caddy never came; never tailed her in traffic and Deana started to relax again. It could have been a stranger who took a quick nap in their car. She’d done that once in Chicago. She was sure Tony had found them, and in her run, she’d parked in the driveway of what appeared to be an empty house. It was three in the morning and she was tired of driving. Joey was four then, and had fallen asleep in the backseat. It was possible.
“Do you have a few minutes?” Thelma asked as Deana drove up her driveway.
“Sure, is something wrong?” Deana asked.
“Let’s go out back,” Thelma said, looping her arm through Deana’s. “The kids are playing video games now.”
“Did something happen to Joey, Trevor or Carlton?” Deana was now worried.
“No. Did you know that Joey now calls me Aunt Thelma and Carlton, Uncle Carl?”
“No.”
“Well he does, and I must say we get a kick out off it. I asked him why he decided to call us that. He says his friend Britney calls Sebastian uncle because if anything happens to her, she will live with him. And he feels if anything happens to you, he will live with us.”
“I’m sorry Thelma, I never—”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. Of course, if something should happen to you, Joey has a home with us. We love him and would never turn him out. He and Trevor are already joined at the hips so that would be like giving up my own son. It’s this Sebastian thing I want to talk to you about.”
“Sebastian?” Deana asked, taking a seat in one of the patio chairs.
“Yes. Joey thinks you are not seeing Sebastian because of him. I might have put my foot in my mouth when I told him Sebastian would be a nice daddy for him, but I thought everything was smoothed out after the mall thing. What is happening?”
“I don’t know what to say,” Deana said. “I obviously have to correct Joey on that, but—”
“Deana, you are young, nobody expects you to live a celibate life, not even for Joey’s sake. There are bound to be a few broken hearts now and then, but you will bounce back.”
“It’s not my heart I’m worried about,” Deana said. “I’m scared Joey will start looking up to him then things go crazy, and he gets hurt in the crosshairs. I don’t expect Sebastian to suddenly father a nine- year-old boy either. Joey is already asking the important questions, you know?”
“Have you discussed your feelings with either of them?”
“I don’t think Joey will understand and well, I don’t want to throw my problems at Sebastian. Anyway Thelma, I have to run—I have a huge order of cookies and pies for the mall tomorrow.”
“I’m here any time you want me, kiddo. I don’t know what to tell you. You need to sort out Sebastian for yourself then have an open discussion with Joey. This is not going to go away by ignoring it. They had a splendid kids’ day at work. Joey really enjoyed it and apparently Sebastian did too.”
“I know the kids’ day went well. Joey couldn’t stop talking about it. He even got a hardhat with his name on it.”
“Where did you get that?” Deana asked Joey. He was in the living room playing a new video game that she hadn’t bought. It was typical for him to play his games as loud as possible, this was very quiet and it got her attention.
“In a minute, Mom,” he replied. She waited him out for five minutes until he paused the game. She usually interrupted him for school-related work or for his part of the chores. On evenings such as this when she had work for the mall, she would let him play or read uninterrupted. “Sebastian bought it for me.”
“When did you see Sebastian?” Deana asked.
“A couple days ago. He stopped by Aunt Thelma’s.”
“Are we keeping secrets, Joey Lang?”
“No, Mom. You told me if he hurts me, I’m to tell you, he didn’t. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I knew you would get mad at me because you’re mad at him. And I asked him before you were mad at him.”
“When?” Deana asked.
“When you let him read to me. Nobody else every read to me except you, so I thought you liked him. Is it because he read to me why you’re not talking to him?”
“No. I am working hard to make our lives better. Sebastian is a distraction.”
“What’s a distraction?” Joey asked.
“He gets in the way,” Deana said. “And I have tons of stuff to do. We have to move by next Saturday and I’m not even done with the packing. You see, Joey; I need time to focus on what we need. I want you have a great life and all the things I never had. I want you to go to a great school and not worry about how I’m going to pay for it. To do that, I need to focus on my goals. With Sebastian I lose my focus.”
“But I have a great life, Mom. And if Sebastian gets in the way, you can ground him like when I’m bad.”
Deana wanted to laugh. Sometimes Joey’s logic was eight going on forty, and sometimes he was just eight years old. The picture of a grounded Sebastian brought a smile to her face.
“Oh I get it,” Joey said, watching his mom strain to contain her laughter. “You have already grounded him that’s why he sends flowers. I’m never dating because I’m not going to waste so much money on flowers and I hate being grounded.”
Now she couldn’t contain the laughter. She laughed until tears came to her eyes. Joey stood looking at her suspiciously.
“I love you, son.” She hugged him and went back to the kitchen, still smiling. Joey followed her and the scent of fresh baked cookies.
“Oh, Mom,” Joey said. “Sebastian’s coming over with Britney. I think her mom and dad are out of town for the weekend. I didn’t know he was grounded. We were going to play this game together.”
Deana was still laughing at the original joke to be upset at the moment. It wasn’t Joey’s fault she had not explained the finer concepts of dating. She had only gone out a few times since being a mother and he was probably too young and none of those men had even glanced at him twice for him to understand what such relationships were. His finest example of relationship was Thelma and Carlton, and whatever he could divulge from a book.
Sebastian is coming over, rang somewhere in her brain and she realized she had only planned cold cuts tonight. There was no time for cooking and she had several more pies and cookies to go.
“I wasn’t making dinner tonight,” Deana said.
“I know. He said whatever we were having is fine. We could order pizza. I have sixty bucks in my piggy bank.”
“Sixty? You are getting richer by the second.”
“I hope so, because I’ve not been wasting my money. Oh and Mom, you owe me allowance for last week and this week.”
“I’ll write you a check,” Deana said.
“Man, you are a poor boss, but a great mom.” He pulled a fresh Macadamia cookie from a platter. He knew his mom always baked extra. “Love you,” she said.
“Ditto,” he replied.
Sebastian and Britney showed up at seven. Deana had finished the cakes which were prepped the night before, and was waiting to add another five batch of cookies to the oven. Every time she had a huge order such as this, she promised to get a bigger oven, but the money was always needed elsewhere. She was in the kitchen icing the cakes when Joey opened the door.
“I didn’t know you were grounded,” she heard Joey say. “Hi, Britney.” “Grounded?” Sebastian asked.
“Yes. Mom said you were grounded because you are a—Mom!” he yelled. “What was that word again?”
Deana didn’t answer as she flushed with embarrassment. Oh God, she thought. Joey had never been this open with anyone except her.
“Mom,” he strutted in the kitchen with Sebastian and Britney behind him. “What was that word, it means he gets in the way?”
“Distraction,” Deana blushed even more under Sebastian’s intent stare.
“Right,” Joey said, turning to Sebastian. “You are grounded because you are a distraction. When I’m grounded, I don’t buy flowers. I can’t afford them anyway. You have to sit it out.”
“Okay,” Sebastian said. “Hi, Deana.”
“Hello, Sebastian, Britney,” Deana said, refusing to look up from the cakes.
“We should order pizza now,” Joey said. “Let’s go to the living room, Mom never allows me to steal the cookies when I’m grounded.”
“Can I have a cookie, Aunt Deana?”
“Sure you can, sweetie, and it’s just Deana,” Deana said.
“No, my daddy says it’s Aunt Deana because you and Uncle Sebastian are—I don’t remember the word but it means he’s Joey’s daddy so you’re Aunt Deana.”
“Oh,” Deana said and stole a glance at Sebastian who shrugged his shoulder. “Well, if your daddy told you so.”
“He did. I’m going to play video games with Joey,” Britney walked over to Deana and whispered conspiratorially. “He’s cute for a boy.”
“I think so too,” Deana bent and whispered back. “But don’t tell him, he will get a big head.”
“This cookie is good, Aunt Deana. Thank you.” The girl placed a loud smack on her cheek and streaked off to the living room to find Joey. “Grounded?” Sebastian asked.
“The pizza number is on a refrigerator magnet. He likes meat lovers; you can half and half if there’s something you or Britney would prefer.”
Sebastian walked over to the counter and held her chin in his right hand, forcing her to look at him. God, she said to herself, why’d he come with those irresistible blue eyes?
Beautiful, Sebastian thought. He’d missed this face. When he ran into her the past two weeks, he barely had a chance for more than a glimpse before she ran away. But this face, slightly etched with worry, lips curled upward and beautiful mysterious eyes had been lost on him. He bent his head and kissed her lips. She tasted sweet like before, and not of the cookies and cakes she had surrounding her. It was a natural sweet feminine taste that made him want more than stolen kisses.
“Yuck!” Joey said from behind them, and they turned to look at him. “Joey,” Deana said in a worried voice.
“When you finish swapping germs, could we order pizza?” he asked and took two cookies off a tray.
“I’ll get on it right away,” Sebastian said. To Deana he whispered, “He’s okay with it.”
“No more cookies until dinner,” Deana said.
“One’s for Britney, she’s trying out the new game.”
She wanted to explain to Joey in her own words. Sebastian was not used to a child, there was no way she could be sure what Joey was thinking and no way had she trusted that Sebastian could explain this to him. But Joey was already with Sebastian on the other side of the kitchen. He was reciting the numbers as Sebastian dialed. She would have to make the time to explain to him tonight.
By the time pizza arrived, she had the last batch of cookies in the oven and was cleaning up the kitchen. Sebastian had brought extra controllers and was playing with the children. They paused for the door bell.
“If Mom sees you doing that,” she heard Joey admonishing Sebastian, “you will be grounded again. Always check the window before opening the door. That is Lang rule number one.”
“You’ll have to teach me the Lang rules,” Sebastian replied. She heard the door close.
“I hope you have lots of money for flowers because Mom does not allow sodas in the house. Oh boy, you’re going to get it.”
“Sorry,” Sebastian said, holding up the bottled soda as he got in the kitchen.
“No problem,” Deana said. “He’ll have juice though. Sebastian, could you get everything ready, I need to talk to Joey for a minute.”
“No problem,” he said.
Deana walked Joey to the living room. Sebastian fetched Britney so they would be alone. She motioned for Joey to sit on the sofa, and then she sat in the loveseat across from him.
“About me kissing Sebastian,” she started.
“Mom, it’s okay. I don’t care if you swap germs. As long as he doesn’t hurt you or give you bad germs. One of my friend’s mom got bad germs from her boyfriend and she had to go to the emergency room. And he didn’t come to school for a whole week.”
“
Let me explain,” Deana said. Now she felt like a child pleading with a parent. Isn’t it funny how kids make you do that, she thought.
“Sebastian and I like each other, and sometimes we kiss because we like each other. It doesn’t mean I love you any less.”
“Mom, I understand,” Joey said.
“You do?”
“Yes. Uncle Carl and Aunt Thelma kiss all the time, and sometimes, Trevor says they make funny sounds in their room and Aunt Thelma likes it when Carl makes her make those funny sounds. Uncle Carl said that’s how they make a baby. And I don’t know if that is true because they don’t have a baby, but they’re working on one.”
Sweet Jesus, Deana thought, how do I explain this?
“Need a hand?” Sebastian asked. He’d heard them from the kitchen. He suspected Deana had been dying to explain the kiss to Joey, now he confirmed. Britney ran into the room and sat beside Joey. Great, Deana thought. As if it wasn’t bad enough trying to explain to an eight-year-old boy.
“Is there an easy solution?” Deana asked.
“No, but we could give it a shot.” Sebastian sat on the arm of her chair. “Okay Joey, let’s get this right the first time. When people love each other, they need time together to play and have fun. When you have fun, you tend to laugh loudly and cheer like when you are at the playground. Are you following me so far?”
“Yes.”
“Well, when adults have their fun, it’s like that except they make different noises to express themselves. They both love to hear the other make these noises so sometimes it can get a little loud. Your mom and I will try our best to keep it down when we are at that stage.” Deana went to a shade of lobster red. “Part of loving each other means they touch each other, kiss and maybe sleep in the same bed. Sometimes they make babies when they are having fun, and sometimes they don’t.”
“My mom and dad sleep in the same bed every day,” Britney says. “So you and my mom will be having fun in her room?” Joey asked Sebastian.