Who needed this many knives?
Emily taking a sip of her wine smiled at my clear discomfort. “Dear, what do you do for work?”
Oh, yeah now we were doing the checklist of questions.
“I’m actually a school teacher, like Kasper. I will be working at the same school as him this fall.”
She sat her wine glass down by her empty plate.
“You will be working? Is this your first year?”
And here we go.
Wine glass in hand, I downed the rest of my wine hoping that it would numb at least part of my brain before answering. “I actually just moved here, a few months ago, from Alabama.”
She smiled. “Oh, so that's how they talk there. I always wondered what certain people sounded like.”
Once again was I just insulted?
“Mother, Kelly is very smart, she's in a book club, taking kickboxing, and she refurbished her own coffee hutch.”
Kasper, smiled at me at the same time Damon rolled his eyes. Thank God, at least the favorite could roll his eyes. Because I sure couldn’t.
Emily smiled sweetly at her son, turning back in my direction, going in for the kill.
“Now Kelly, why did you move all the way up here, from little Ole Alabama?”
And there it was. The question she wanted to ask to get this party started. To be able to dig deeper in to all faults and issues that was Kelly Green.
I smiled sweetly back to Emily, two could play this game.
“I am recently divorced, like Kasper, though I didn’t remain friends with my ex.”
“Why did you divorce?”
Well okay then.
“I’m sorry, what?”
Dean chose that moment to intercede on my behalf. “Does it really matter why she got divorced. It’s not that big of a deal, now a days.”
Marshall who had been sitting quietly letting Emily run things, jumped into the fray, “On the contrary, it is a big deal. Why someone divorces, speaks volumes of what kind of person you are.” He took a sip of the brandy that he had carried into the dining room with him. “For instance if she cheated, or was arrested or on drugs, well we wouldn’t want that around our Kasper, now would we?”
As much as I hated to admit it, I could see his logic. Kind of. Though the way things had been handled as of recently, could had been better.
“He cheated.”
Emily choked on her wine,which made me feel a little better.
“Excuse me?”
Dismissing her, I looked at Marshall.
“My husband, who is a lawyer, cheated on me with someone at work. I found out when she called his phone. So I left.”
He took a sip of his brandy and studied the glass.
“Alright.”
Stunned Emily looked back and forth between her husband and Kasper.
“Alright, Marshall, you heard her, she was cheated on. So she couldn’t have been a good wife.”
“Emily, I think you need to be careful what you say about Kelly. We all three care about her and what you just said was wrong.”
Emily? Forgetting the fact that Damon had just stood up for me and basically said they all had feelings for me. I was still in shock that he called her Emily.
Arms rudely resting on the table, Damon leaned forward, not taking his eyes off Emily.
Emily mimicking his posture, which was weird in itself, ignored the rest of us and zeroed in on Damon.
This was bad. So bad.
If you had to pick one of us not to talk about our relationship. It would be Damon. He was blunt, rude and an overall asshole. Which was why I loved him, but…
There’s that word again. It really needed to quit cropping up in the most inopportune times.
Damon was a wild card and he told it like it was. And sometimes that was good. Bad at other times. And I had a feeling that this was a bad time.
Still focusing on Damon, Emily asked the question that I knew was coming.
“What do you mean, you all care about her? Like a friend, that’s what you mean isn't it? You are all friends?”
Shit. I knew what he was going to say before I could stop him and the wafers from earlier curdled in my stomach.
This was not going to end well.
“No, I mean I love her and I’m pretty sure these two bone heads love her too. Though none of us have told her yet.”
They love me?
Elation spread through me. They loved me.
“Marshall, do you hear this, your son is having orgies! Marshall, well say something!”
Kasper’s father looked at him, then at the boys and myself. “Are you happy, is this what you want? Because this will not be easy. Even with all the money I have, this could go wrong for you. Do you understand?”
Kasper took his eyes off of his father and looked at me. “She’s who I want. Nobody else, and I’m happy, really happy.”
Moisture gathered in the corners of my eyes and I blinked furiously to stop them from running down my face.
Marshall, nodded and turned his gaze back to mine. “And you young lady, do you want these hooligans? Because I can tell you right now, you could probably do better.”
Dean mumbled quietly, “Thanks for selling us out Mr. Stone.”
I laughed softly and nodded my head. “I love them so much Mr. Stone. So much.”
The guys turned sharply looking at me in shock. They probably felt about the same way I did when Damon said it earlier to me. Served them right. See how it felt.
“Okay, now that that’s settled.” He looked at his wife who was still sitting at the table in shock over what had occured in the last few minutes. “Emily what’s for dinner?”
Before she could answer, the staff came in with rows of dishes.
Marshall ignoring his wife altogether now, rubbed his hands together. “Oh, my favorite, roasted lamb with rosemary sauce.”
“Marshall!”
Twenty-Two
Kelly
1. I can’t believe the guys said they loved me. Well they sorta said it.
2. I really like Kasper’s dad, though his mother…
3. Did I mention yet, how much I enjoyed hitting Camille.
“Wham!”
“Gertie you have got to stop doing that.”
As we sat, in the diner, where my journey had first began, I listened as Gertie fake punched Betty for the third time since we sat down.
She turned to me. “Well then, tell us again how the bitch got what she deserved and you knocked her out.”
We all sat with our pastries, and for once had coffee instead of liquor, as we went over our week. Or more or less mine and Eloise’s week. She of course had a date with Ben and I had met the beloved parents. I had to admit, Marshall actually grew on me towards the end. Emily on the other hand, had given me the cold shoulder the rest of the night. Which judging by the beginning of the night, it was probably better that way.
“Gertie, I didn’t knock her out. I merely busted her nose.”
Betty, trying the bacon doughnut for the first time, wiped the frosting off her lip and smiled. “It felt good didn’t it? Sucker punching the bitch who tried taking your men.”
I should have known Betty would be blood thirsty. And it scared me how much we two were actually alike. Looking at Eloise beside me, who didn’t look as happy as I thought a girl who went on her date should be, I wondered if we were fated to be the next Betty and Gertie?
Since I was a horrible liar, I answered Betty truthfully. “It did feel good. Though don’t get me started on Kasper’s parent lunch/dinner thing. That went horrible.”
Eloise who finally perked up at the word horrible asked, “Why was it horrible, what happened?”
I hoped she didn’t think she wasn’t going to be questioned about her date. She for sure was.
“Oh, where do I start? Let’s see… Dean pulled the strap of my dress which broke, so I flashed all the guys my boobs.”
“Big deal.”
Iris sat with her ch
erry danish looking bored. “They’ve all seen it, so no big deal.”
Prudie shook her head. “Not ah, Dean hasn’t seen her hoha’s yet, she’s only done the nasty with two of them.”
I rolled my eyes. “Can I continue the story? And it’s not that I don’t want to sleep with him Iris, it’s all about timing.”
Betty snorted. “Timing-siming, you get all the sex you can, when you can, those boobs aren’t gonna last forever.”
I could hear Eloise giggling softly beside me, and the rest of the girls nodded their heads in agreement.
Exasperated I continued, “Anyways, Kasper’s mom questioned me non stop, told me about a girl named Bambi, and the guys told me they loved me. Or I think they did. Hey, Eloise how was your date?”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Eloise said, grabbing my hand. “They told you they loved you?”
I wrapped my hand around hers and I couldn’t stop the smile that crept up my face. “They did.”
“Oh my god!” She wrapped her arms around me squeezing me tight.
Almost too tight. But I didn’t care, my guys had told me they loved me and I finally had girlfriends to share that with. Albeit weird girlfriends. But friends nonetheless. Over Eloise’s shoulder, I looked around the room to see all the girls smiling. Eloise sat back in her seat, but still not seeming herself.
“Guys, thanks for being here, and letting me tell you about everything, but Eloise what’s wrong hun? Tell us about your date, was it that bad?”
She smile sadly. “It was wonderful.”
Betty muttered, “Well she’s not that bright.”
“Betty!” I scolded.
Not feeling bad, Betty just shrugged her shoulders. “What? I’m just saying who looks sad when they say their date is perfect?”
Shaking my head at Betty, I looked back at Eloise. “Ell, as crass as Betty is, she does have a point. Why are you sad, if it was wonderful? What happened?”
Eloise bit her lip, as if to weigh her words. “Ben was great, wonderful, better yet he was perfect.”
“I fail to see an issue yet dear. Can we get to the point?”
I shushed Betty with a look, but focused quickly back on Eloise.
“Okay, he was great. Then what happened?”
She blew out an exaggerated breath then mumbled.
“If you don’t remember dear, seventy-five percent of us need hearing aids but don’t wear them. So if you want us to hear, quit your mumbling,” Iris stated as she shoved the rest of her breakfast in her mouth. Classy.
Eloise coughed out a laugh, as she blinked her eyes furiously.
“It sounds stupid, when I say it out loud. But there was no spark, no wanting to rip each others clothes off, no butterflies.”
Prudie shocked, replied, “Butterflies? Spark? What the hell is that? You want to be electrocuted? And if I felt like I had butterflies in my stomach then I’d be sick.”
Arm around Eloise’s shoulder, I gave her a gentle squeeze. “I think what Prudie meant to ask was, if you didn’t feel”, I paused, “a spark, then what did you feel?”
Prudie cleared her throat. “For future reference that’s not what I meant to ask, a damn spark, what the hell is that.”
I cleared my throat louder. “Go ahead Eloise.”
With a look of doubt she begrudgingly answered, “I felt, content, safe, happy.”
“Well, what the hell is wrong with that?”
“Gertie!” I whispered harshly.
Gertie narrowed her eyes at her granddaughter. “Did you have fun? Was he sweet? Everything was perfect?”
Eloise hesitantly nodded her head. “Yes.”
Gertie leaned back against her seat, but didn’t let up. “Alright then, it was a first date, if you had all that, then I think you should go out again. Not all great things are perfect at first. I couldn’t stand your grandpa at first, but now he’s the love of my life.”
Eloise gazed hopefully at her grandmother. “Really?”
Gertie rolled her eyes. “Of course, your grandfather was a sexist ass. But slowly, he became less of an ass, and I slowly liked him. Which slowly turned to love.”
“Give him a chance, he’s hot and he likes you, I’d say at least you could have a hot night.”
“Iris!”
Iris shrugged her shoulders. “What?”
I shook my head and turned back to Eloise. “They are right about one thing, when I first met the guys, I wasn’t attracted to them in the same way. In fact, it was all different. But the longer I’m around them, the more things I find that I love about them.”
She smiled as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “So I should probably call him back since he’s been calling?”
Good lord, how many times had he probably called? I was going to hear about this at kickboxing I knew it.
I nodded. “Yes, uh, in fact why don’t you go outside for some privacy and call him now?”
She grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I will, thanks.”
Eloise stood up, and hurriedly made her way outside, to call Ben. Thank God, at least if she called, it would make it less miserable for me when I went in later that week.
Once she was outside, I waved at the nearest waitress, to place an order to go.
“Why, do you need an order to go?” Prudie asked mouth half full of pancake.
I smiled. “Damon had a little bit of an issue the last time he was here. So he refuses to come back. I said I’d bring him back some doughnuts and fruit.”
Betty laughed. “What’s my boy scared of?”
Her boy? These women were really invested in my relationship, which I enjoyed, it was like having four grandmothers and now a best friend with Eloise. A dysfunctional family, but a family to say the least.
A giggle escaped my lips at the thought. “He’s scared of a girl.”
Betty’s lips turned downward at my announcement. “Why the hell is he scared of a girl?”
Another giggle burst forth as I remembered when he came to the house announcing no more doughnuts for me. “Apparently, one of the girls he dated in high school works here, she thought he was gay. But since we started dating, she found out he wasn’t in fact gay, and is now waiting for her “soulmate” to come to her.”
Silence descended among the table at my declaration.
I loved when I did that to them, these moments were few and far between when they all shut up at the same time.
The waitress came back with my fruit and doughnuts to go. Money in hand, I paid my ticket and stood up.
“Hey, where you going?”
I smiled at the girls as I pushed my chair back in. “I’ve got places to be and boys to see.”
As I headed to the door, I could hear the girls had already started bickering again. Bell jingling, I walked out into the hot, humid day honestly happy for the first time and where my life was headed.
Twenty-Three
Kelly
1. I had some really tacky things.
2. Damon was a big baby about the diner.
3. I was on a mission.
Why did I buy this?
For the millionth time today that thought had circulated through my head. On a whim, or maybe because I was tired of missing my destroyed hutch. I went up to the attic to look for things to replace the furniture that had either been broken or destroyed in the break in. The guys had cleaned it up nicely, but the evidence of the break in was still there. With no lamps on the coffee table, or only having two coffee mugs, and the fact that any knick knacks I owned were now in garbage heaven. It reminded me of what happened in my house. And everytime I noticed it was slightly depressing. And since I really really didn’t want to paint another hutch, I figured I’d replace the things I could. When I told the guys what I wanted to do they, of course, offered to help. Even Damon suggested going shopping, which I knew he offered for me. But I wanted to do this on my own. Plus it gave me a chance to call Detective Rodriguez and see if anymore was found out. He said he was supposed to
get the results for the fingerprints back today and would call me if he learned everything. So with that in mind I sent the guys all fishing. Surprisingly, the guys always tried to take over when I tried to talk about the break-in. And well I could handle it. I was stronger than I was when I started my journey and if this stupid break-in made me even stronger then at least it was good for something.
It was going to make me stronger and make me sift through the leftovers.
And no not leftovers from your fridge, that’d be great.
The leftovers from my old life. The life that wasn’t me anymore. But I hoped I could find something that could be used downstairs to replace the things that were broken. When I had first moved in the guys had helped me unpack everything, and I mean everything. But there were some things I didn’t want or need, so I had banished them up into the attic. Where only the rats, monsters and ghosts reside. Which was one of the main reasons I had put it off until now because well...it’s the attic. Which equaled scary.
So with my brilliant plan in motion, and ghost and goblins conquered, I sat, criss cross applesauce in the middle of the attic floor, hand held high, with pastel tiki lights hanging from my fingertips asking why and when had I bought this.
Nope, didn’t even wanna know.
Onward to the next item, I tossed the now discarded satan lights in to the abandon pile of no return.
That was to say I put them in the yard sale pile. Along with the pink flamingos, the seashell picture frames and everything gingham.
Why did I have so much gingham?
Not just any gingham, yellow gingham. What had I been thinking? Had I been trying to pretend I lived on the sun?
I did find some special things that up until now, I had completely forgotten that I had bought. Maybe as a stand of defiance against Trevor. Maybe because I wanted to push the envelope at the time. I didn’t know. But what I did know was, that now, I had a set of rainbow coasters, a banana pillow, and...wait for it… Wolverine wall art. Yeah, I had a Hugh Jackman crush, and judging by this poster it must have started right around his legendary movie role.
Road to Them: The Road Series Book Two Page 16