Live Like You Mean It

by Ava Stone

  I grabbed my purse and walked outside to find him leaning against the hood of his Jeep looking up at the night sky. He wouldn’t have struck me as the star-gazing type. He hadn’t noticed me yet, which left me free to look him over in the moonlight. His t-shirt hugged the muscles in his arms and chest and I couldn’t help but sigh.

  The sigh however, he heard, and he turned his attention from the night sky to me. A slow smile slid across his face and I nearly tripped from the intensity of his gaze. His smile got bigger as if he knew exactly how much he affected me.

  “Hey,” I said, because I had to say something.

  He pushed away from his car and met me half way in the middle of the parking lot. “Hey.” He dipped his head down toward me and brushed his lips across mine.

  It was the softest, gentlest kiss I’d ever experienced, and it left me wanting so much more. I could just stand there all night and breathe him in.

  When he lifted his head, I grinned up at him. “Aren’t you tired from playing tonight?” He’d already played a gig. He didn’t have to wait for me to get off work in the middle of the night. I was going to see him tomorrow anyway.

  “Yeah.” His blue eyes twinkled. “Exhausted. Why don’t you come home with me and tuck me into bed?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You. Are. Bad.”

  “Can’t blame me for trying.” He laughed and the sound floated around me like a warm blanket. “Is your mom gonna be waiting up for you?”

  “Sometimes she does.” I shrugged. “But she hasn’t texted me tonight, so she’s probably already asleep.”

  “You wanna follow me to Duke’s?”

  The greasy diner was one of the few places open this late. I wasn’t hungry at all, but going to Duke’s with Brody was better than going home without him. “Yeah.”

  I followed him out of the parking lot, away from the fluorescent lights of hospital and into town. Duke’s parking lot was almost full. But it was one of the few places open after midnight. After I parked, Brody met me behind my car and reached his hand out to me.

  My breath caught in my throat. This all seemed too good to be true. A guy who made me melt whenever he was near was going out of his way to spend time with me. He knew about Aiden. He was willing to meet Mom. He was every dream I ever had rolled up in one gorgeous package.

  Brody wiggled his fingers at me and I took his hand. Warmth shot through me as we navigated the parking lot together - hand-in-hand. I knew that most things that are too good to be true usually are, but…I glanced up at him beside me and my heart expanded with hope. Please let him be the real thing. I don’t think I can take it if he’s not.

  Brody opened the door to the diner and I walked inside and in an instant I was in a time warp. Of course, everyone went into a time warp when they walked inside Duke’s. It looked like a 50s diner with little mini-jukeboxes at each booth and the waitresses looked like extras out of Grease.

  But the time warp I went to was five years ago. I was sitting with my dad at the bar drinking a chocolate malt and listening to Elvis Presley singing about his blue suede shoes. Shit. I hadn’t been in Duke’s since dad died.

  One of the things you find out after someone you love dies is that there are memories hiding everywhere that come upon you and hit you in the gut when you least expect it. Like hearing a certain song or smelling a certain scent that takes you back or… Walking into a place where your last memory of being there was with the person you lost.

  Tears swelled in my eyes and my hands shook slightly. God, I was still a mess. I tried so hard not to be. And I’d thought I was fine as far back as five minutes ago. I really did, and then boom…I walked into Duke’s and I remembered sitting at the bar with Dad and him trying to steal the cherry from the top of my malt. I remembered complaining about my science project. And I remembered him patting me on the back and promising to help me tackle it when he got back from Chicago.

  I couldn’t quite breathe.

  Brody’s hand settled on the small of my back and he leaned close to my ear. “Where do you want to sit?”

  “Just not the bar,” I choked out. My voice cracked, but I wasn’t sure if he heard it over Splish Splash being played through the diner’s speakers.

  He squeezed my hip. “You ok?”

  He’d heard it. Damn. I couldn’t explain what was wrong with me, not and make sense. So I lied, “Yeah. Just tired.”

  “What are you doin’ here?” One of the middle-aged waitresses glared in our direction, taking me completely off guard. What in the world?

  “Oh, Andris, you say that like you aren’t in love with me.” Brody swaggered past me and planted a kiss on the woman’s cheek.

  She didn’t look like she was in love with him. She looked like she was going to stab him in the eye with her pen. “Don’t think to use your charm on me, Brody Campbell. I’m not in the mood for it tonight.”

  He laughed, though I had no idea what was funny. The woman practically terrified me. “When are you gonna run away with me?” he teased. “We could start for the coast right now and be in the middle of the Atlantic by noon. And—”

  She narrowed her eyes on him. “I will take you right out of this world and into the next one. Don’t think I won’t.”

  He grinned. “I’ll take my usual and—” he looked at me “—do you need a menu, Leah?”

  I wasn’t sure what I needed just then. The whole encounter had been the strangest I’d seen in…Well, maybe ever. But it had distracted me from my memories about Dad. “Just a Coke.”

  He turned back to the waitress. “My usual plus a Coke.”

  “I don’t know why you’re tellin’ me. Sit in Marquita’s section. She can deal with you.” And then she turned her back on him and started talking to a couple at a table on her right.

  Brody gestured to an open booth a few feet away. “This ok with you?” he asked me.

  “Sure.” I said, still wondering if I’d stumbled into an old episode of The Twilight Zone that my grandpa used to watch. “What was that?” I whispered as I slid into the booth.

  “What?” He glanced over his shoulder where the waitress was still talking to another table. “Andris? She loves me.”

  “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t,” I said.

  He only laughed at that. “Yeah, you don’t know her. That’s just the way she is.”

  “And I thought Abby was bad.”

  His smile faded and his brow creased. “Your boss, right?”

  “My supervisor, yeah.”

  “Seems like a real bitch.”

  “Well, she’s always a bitch to me.”

  “Just to you or to everyone?”

  “Me, always,” I said. “And everyone else depending on the day.”

  His frown deepened. “Why does she have it out for you?”

  I shrugged. “She doesn’t like nepotism. And she’s still pissed she had to hire me. It’s like she keeps pushing me and pushing me, trying to get me to quit. So she can be right or something.” Not that quitting was an option for me.

  “Nepotism?” He sat back in his booth and looked me over as though he could determine who I knew to get my job.

  “I needed a job," I explained, and getting one in Wheston with all the students wasn’t an easy feat. “So Mom called the hospital director and asked for a favor.”

  “She knows the guy in charge, huh?”

  For more years than I’d been alive. I smiled slightly. “Dr. Milner was a friend of my dad’s. He worked for him for like twenty years.”

  “And?”

  “And nothing.” I shrugged. “The hospital hired me.”

  Brody shook his head. “That’s it? That’s why she hates you. She wouldn’t last a day in corporate America. Everything is who you know and who’s willing to say they know you. My father has the rest of my life all planned out. Where I’ll work and for who and what my job title will be.” He sounded angry and bitter all of a sudden, not at all like the Brody I’d gotten to know over the last week.

 
Before I could say as much, another waitress stepped up to our table and she put a Coke and straw in front of each of us. Then she smiled at Brody and said, “Everything will be out soon, cutie.”

  “Thanks.” He winked at her.

  I couldn’t help but laugh when she walked away. I’d lived in Wheston all my life, but he seemed more comfortable here than I ever had been. “Come here a lot, huh?”

  He shrugged. “They’re open twenty-four hours and after a playing a gig, you get really hungry.”

  I guess that made sense.

  “Ok. I need some inside information now,” he said, leaning forward, resting his elbows on the table.

  “Inside information?”

  Brody nodded. “About your mom. Anything I shouldn’t say to her? Anything she loves?”

  That kind of inside information. I smiled. “Well, she’s a baseball fan, and I know how much you love the game.”

  “Shit,” he muttered, though his blue eyes twinkled at me.

  “Yeah,” I teased. “You could discuss your mutual love of the 7th inning stretch and your favorite infielders.” Then I nodded with mock seriousness. “But if you say Mike Willett is your favorite first baseman, she’ll probably think you’re sucking up to her.”

  “Uh-huh.” He laughed. “It’s in your best interest that she likes me, you know?”

  Yeah, it was. If Mom liked Brody, I could actually date him. My life could almost be like everyone else’s. Before I could even reply, though, Kevin McEwan appeared at the edge of our booth, right behind Brody’s bench.

  “Leah?” he said in surprise with a giant smile on his face.

  “Hi, Kevin.” Wow. This was the last place I’d expect to see him. Not that I expected to see him anywhere except in class, but seeing him out of that environment just seemed weird. “What are you doing here?”

  “Studying,” he said, tapping a book in his arms.

  “Studying?” I laughed. “How can you possibly study here with all these people and this music?”

  He shrugged. “Oh, I can tune anything out. People, music, noise. I know I won’t fall asleep here.”

  I supposed it would be hard to fall asleep in in Duke’s. But I would never get any studying done. Way too many distractions for me.

  Brody turned on his bench to glance up at Kevin behind him. Oh! I was being rude. “Sorry,” I apologized. “Brody, this is Kevin. We have several classes together. And Kevin, this is…Brody.”

  “Hey.” Kevin glanced briefly at Brody. “Well, I won’t keep you. See you tomorrow.”

  Shit. The study group tomorrow! I never had anywhere to go, and what were the odds I’d somehow double booked myself for the same Saturday afternoon? I should take advantage of the study group, of Kevin’s brilliance. That would be the smart thing to do, but… It had been a very long time since I’d had any fun, and Brody… Well, it just wasn’t a contest.

  “Oh, Kevin,” I said regretfully. “I’m so sorry. I completely forgot about the group. I actually have plans tomorrow.”

  His gaze flicked to Brody once more, before returning to me a second later. “Oh, ok. Well, maybe next time.” He shrugged, stumbling slightly over his words as he backed away from us.

  I felt awful. He was such a nice guy, and he was offering to help me. “Yeah, next time,” I promised. “Please tell Ashley I’m sorry.”

  “Will do,” he said as he started for the exit.

  “You had plans with that guy?” Brody asked, drawing my attention back to him across the table.

  “Study group,” I said. Then I frowned. “Did he look angry to you?”

  “He looked jealous to me.” Brody leaned forward and rested on his elbows. “What’s his deal?”

  Jealous! I couldn’t help but laugh. “He’s not jealous. He’s brilliant, and he was just trying to help me out with a study group.”

  “Uh-huh.” Brody’s brow lifted at that. “He may be brilliant but he’s not dead.”

  I rolled my eyes. Kevin was not interested in me. That was completely ridiculous. “All he ever does is study.” He never had his nose not in a book. He was hanging out in a loud 50s diner after midnight studying, for God’s sake.

  “Well, brilliant Kevin should have made his move before I met you.”

  It wouldn’t have mattered who I met before Brody. There was no one I’d ever met that I liked as much as him. “You’re crazy.”

  “Sexy.” He reached across the table and squeezed my hands, making lust shoot right through me. “The word you’re looking for is sexy.”

  I laughed. He was sexy as hell and he knew it.

  “All right.” Our waitress loomed over us with a large tray. “Here you go.”

  I pulled my hand from Brody’s and sat back against my bench, making room for his order. And then the waitress placed scrambled eggs, 4 strips of bacon, 6 pancakes, hash browns, biscuits and gravy on the table in front of him.

  I know my eyes were wide. God, there was enough food to feed a third world nation. “Are you going to eat all of that?” I asked after the waitress left us.

  He was already scooping up a forkful of eggs and looked surprised at my question. “You hungry?”

  Not really, but I snagged a piece of bacon anyway. “Just this.”

  His blue eyes twinkled and sparked something in my chest. “You are so lucky I like you.”

  And he was right. I’d never felt so lucky in all my life.

  I shouldn’t have been nervous. Leah had given me enough inside scoop on her mom that I felt relatively sure she’d like me. I had to stay away from politics, but that was the same as dealing with my dad. She hadn’t mentioned anything about her dad, now that I thought about it. He must be out of the picture, so it was another topic I’d avoid.

  I drove through Somerset Downs and the feeling of old East Coast money started to descend upon me. Large houses made of brick and stone, perfectly manicured lawns and two car garages. Different from what I’d grown up with in Buckhead, but most people would find it nice and tranquil. It would fucking kill me to live here.

  I turned onto Leah’s street and spotted her Civic in the driveway of her house. I pulled in behind her and took a steadying breath as I retrieved my keys from the ignition. I really shouldn’t have been nervous. But I was. I’d never needed someone to like me before. I didn’t usually care if anyone did or not. But I cared now. I cared a whole hell of a lot.

  I climbed out my Jeep, scooped up a bouquet of pink roses – Kelly’s suggestion, and started up the path to Leah’s door. Then I took one last calming breath before I knocked.

  “Coming!” she called from inside. Then there was some sort of scramble on the other side of the door. “Ack! Winston!”

  What the hell?

  And then the door opened a crack. “Hurry, so he doesn’t get out,” Leah said.

  Who? Her son?

  I pushed the door wider for me to slip inside and then found her in the foyer, trying to hold on to a big black and white cat.

  “Shut the door,” she said as the cat twisted and turned, batting at her face, trying to get out of her grasp.

  I shut the door, and she dropped the cat to the floor. “Little jerk,” she muttered.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d been so nervous all morning long, but the scene in Leah’s foyer had put me more at ease.

  “Oh, yeah, laugh.” She narrowed her eyes on me. “If he’d gotten out, Mom would have never liked you.”

  “Sorry.” I stifled my laugh. God, she was sexy in that dress, a little color in her cheeks and her dark hair brushing the top of her breasts. It wouldn’t take any effort at all just to slide my hands right up under her dress and…

  “Are those for me?” she asked, gesturing to the roses in my hands.

  “I’m for you,” I said, my voice low enough not to be overheard by anyone except her. “These are for your mom.”

  “Oh.” She blushed. Damn, I did like it when she did that. “Um, well, Mom’s in the kitchen.” She took my free hand and s
tarted towing me down the hallway.

  But I stopped a second later to look at the framed pictures lining the walls. Leah as a little girl in a sparkly blue ballerina outfit, her dark hair up in a bun. “You still dance?” I asked.

  “Not in a really long time,” she said, pulling me away from the photos. “Come on.”

  Leah led me into a sunny kitchen at the back of the house with large windows around a breakfast nook. It was warm and cozy and I could imagine her sitting there over the years, doing her homework or gossiping with friends. Very interesting to get an insight into her life like this. Much better than any picture I might have found on Facebook.

  Mrs. Willett was standing at a large marble island, stirring some lemonade in a glass pitcher. She looked up as we entered the room, and she looked me over like I was some foreign species she’d never seen before.

  Shit.

  I was back to being nervous.

  “Mom,” Leah began, tugging me closer to the island. “This is Brody.”

  “Ma’am,” I muttered with a nod.

  Her lips pursed a bit. Shit.

  She seemed to force a smile to her face and reached out her hand out toward me.

  “Oh.” I dropped Leah’s hand and shifted the flowers to my left to shake her mom’s hand. She had a firm handshake which pulled at my stitches. But I didn’t even wince. Then I lifted the pink roses out to her. “These are for you, Mrs. Willett.”

  “Me?” She narrowed her eyes slightly as though she was trying to figure me out.

  God, I hoped she wasn’t able to. If she had any idea of the things I wanted to do with her daughter she’d throw me out on my ass. “Yeah.” I flashed her one of my best smiles. “My mom always said you should bring flowers the first time you’re invited to someone’s house,” I lied. Well, I could hear my mom saying something like that, but I don’t think she ever had. At least not that I could remember.

  Her eyes softened slightly. “Where are you from, Brody?”

  “Atlanta.”

  She seemed to like that and she smiled at the roses. “They are pretty.”

  “I’ll get you a vase,” Leah said as she brushed past me toward a set of cabinets. Her dress swished across her ass, and I had to drag my eyes away from her since I could feel Mrs. Willett’s eyes on me.