02 Unforgivable - Untouchable

by Lindsay Delagair

  “We can give you a ride,” I offered, remembering how terrible Ty drove yesterday.

  “Sure,” Ryan added.

  “I don’t want to impose,” she started to say when Ty frowned.

  “You don’t mind ‘imposing’ on me!”

  “That’s because riding with you isn’t imposing, it gives you another chance to figure out how to drive.”

  I liked this girl; she could put those boys in their place and, more importantly was the reaction on Ryan’s face when he saw her.

  “Come on,” I said touching Ryan’s arm and waking him from his daydream. I grabbed my purse and the three of us went out to the car.

  “Pearly’s car? Did you buy this?” she was clearly impressed.

  “Yeah, yesterday. But Leese actually—”

  “Worked out the deal,” I finished for him. “But it’s Ryan’s car.”

  Candace started to go into the back seat, but I told her to sit up front so she could show Ryan the way to where she worked.

  Ryan’s brow furrowed as he watched me slip in the back seat.

  I noticed that Ryan remembered Pearly’s instructions as he hit the gas once and then turned the key. I stayed quiet and let them talk as she pointed the way to the JC Penney’s in the Citadel Mall.

  “So did you graduate high school?” Ryan asked.

  “No, this is my senior year, but we go back after Labor Day. We were in the same grade. Did you graduate?”

  “Not yet, I mean we will, but that depends on where we decide to stay.”

  I was wishing he hadn’t said it that way because she became noticeably quiet.

  “We are just friends, though. Nothing more,” I added from the backseat. “He’s been really great to help me get settled somewhere before he moves on with his life.” I got another nasty glance in the rearview mirror from him. “Hey, Candace,” I continued, “Do you know of any places around here for rent?”

  She twisted in the seat to look at me, “Are you looking for a house or an apartment?”

  “I prefer a house, but anything at this point would be good.”

  “There are some houses near the historic district that they recently renovated. I’d love to live over there; all the shops and restaurants are within walking distance.”

  “That sounds perfect. Do you have some paper so you could write us some directions?”

  “Yeah sure.” She pulled out a small note pad from her purse and drew a map to show how to get there from the Citadel. “I could show you guys around there after I get off work at three today, if you’d like?”

  “You’re going to need a ride home anyway, right?” Ryan finally spoke up.

  “That would sure save me from having to bum a ride from someone at the mall.”

  “Great. Then we’ll pick you up at three,” I said, leaving no room for an argument as we pulled into the large parking lot and drove around to Penney’s.

  Candace thanked us for the ride. I climbed out of the back seat and into the front.

  “What are you doing?” Ryan snapped.

  “What?”

  “Don’t ‘What?’ me—you—you’re trying to put me and Candace together, aren’t you?”

  “She’s adorable and I saw your face when you heard who was at the door. I’m betting you had a thing for her at some point.”

  “Yeah, Leese, I did—when I was twelve! You haven’t given yourself enough time yet for me to know if we have a chance.”

  “Hey, you promised I was not going to be what holds you back from finding the right girl.”

  “But, that doesn’t mean you get to play match-maker. Okay?”

  “Okay, but—”

  “No buts!”

  “I was just going to ask if you find her attractive,” I said, putting out the bait.

  “I don’t like discussing that with you.”

  “Do you find me attractive?” I’ll start with small bait.

  “You know I do. If you asked me right now to—”

  “Then what’s wrong with telling me if you find her attractive?”

  “You can be relentless, you know that? Yes, Leese—I had a huge crush on her in middle school. When we moved, I…”

  “What?”

  “Never mind,” he snapped.

  “You know I’m going to bother you until— Ryan, pull over!” I said as I motioned to a gas station coming up.

  “Why?”

  “I’ve—I’ve got to get to a bathroom—now!”

  He whipped the car swiftly off the roadway and into the station, as I grabbed my purse and ran around to the ladies room.

  I had been expecting this, but I was trying to mentally will that it wouldn’t happen, now that it had, I was caught off guard.

  I came back to the car ten minutes later; I didn’t have myself together. I didn’t realize how hard it was going to hit me and I couldn’t stop crying.

  Ryan’s face was pale as he watched me clutching my abdomen. “Leese,” he said softly, “are you okay?”

  I handed him Candace’s paper and just asked that he drive there, I wasn’t ready to talk. He made it to the historic district and located where the developer had a section of homes remodeled. We found the office as I dried my tears and tried to open the door to the car.

  “Tell me what’s wrong, please,” Ryan pleaded, gripping my arm and preventing me from leaving.

  “I’ll tell you, but I can’t do it now or I’ll never make it through talking with these people and, as much as I like Naomi, Andy, and Ty, I don’t want to stay at their house any longer than necessary.”

  “All right, but you promise to tell me before the day is over, okay?”

  “I will,” I stated as I took a ragged breath and opened the car door.

  There were about fifteen houses left to choose from and it only took a glance for me to decide which one I wanted to see. It was a two bedroom, two and a half bath stone house with a 1,700 square foot open floor plan. It came with all new appliances, including a washer and dryer and was available for immediate occupancy. The sales woman drove with us the block and a half to unlock it so we could go inside and look around. It was clean and crisp with new hardwood floors and fresh dry wall. The kitchen was a rich cranberry with deep mossy green granite counter tops. The bedrooms were each designed to be suites with their own bathroom. The bathrooms were a little smaller than I liked, but they were new and private. The half bath was situated just off the living room so company didn’t have to traipse through the house to get to it.

  “It’s only two blocks to one of the area’s best little sidewalk bistros and there is a farmer’s market just a little further down from there every Saturday morning,” the woman explained.

  “It’s perfect. We’ll take it.” But then I rethought my statement, “Wait—I’m so sorry,” I said, touching Ryan’s arm and getting his attention as he was looking around the room smiling, “I didn’t even ask if you like it.”

  “Leese, do you see the smile on my face? Yes, of course I like it. We’ll take it,” he said, slipping his arm around my shoulder and facing the sales woman.

  “I—I haven’t given you the price yet,” she stated. It must have surprised her that I never asked that question. “It’s fifteen-hundred per month; that includes everything except gas and electric. We require a minimum of a six-month lease and I’ll need a first, last and a security of a thousand dollars.”

  “Okay,” I said quickly doing the math in my head. “That’s four thousand, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can we start moving in today?” I continued.

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “Leese, can I talk with you, privately for a minute?” Ryan asked, looking at the sales woman who quickly took the hint.

  “I’ll wait outside so you two can discuss it; it is a big decision.”

  As soon as the door closed behind her, he gripped my shoulders and pointed out the obvious, “What if you put all this money into this and—and Micah finds us? Shouldn’t we
give it a few days, before we slam several more thousand out of your purse? I mean at the rate you’re burning through that cash, you might be broke pretty soon.”

  “First of all, I agree, I’d prefer to give it several more days, or even a week or two before we know for sure if we can stay here, but I can’t spend another couple nights like last night. Secondly, I have access to my account, I’d just have to have you fly me to another state to make a withdrawal, and you know as well as I do that I can’t burn through that much money. So let’s do this. I hate to say it, but I’m ready to ‘play house’ with you and—”

  “Whoa, baby girl, does that mean what it sounds like?” he asked with a smile tugging at the edge of his lips.

  His grip on my shoulders was changing and I could tell he was getting ready to pull me against him. I put my hand on his chest to stop him. “I didn’t ask you to make love to me. I’m just saying I want this whole ‘Ryan and Leese’s place’ kind of thing.”

  “How about we celebrate finding this place with a kiss?” his voice dropping into a husky range.

  I could tell the idea of ‘our place’ was a definite turn on for him and he was getting ready to step over a line as the distance between us began to erase. I turned my face without a moment to spare, but he eagerly went for my cheek and then his mouth was moving toward my ear and neck. His hot breath became as soothing as a caress on my skin. He was kissing my neck as he tucked me against his chest. I was caving in without thought, my arms starting to slide around to his back, when reality slapped me hard.

  “Stop it!” I snapped, pushing him away. “This isn’t what I was… Don’t do that again!” I couldn’t help the fresh tears that rose to the surface.

  “I’m sorry, Leese, you just feel so damn good to me. I didn’t mean to—”

  “You are sleeping in the other bedroom when we move in.” My trembling hands moved to wipe away the tears.

  He sighed, “I’m sorry, really I am.”

  I turned and walked out to where she was waiting for us, “Let’s get this done because I want to be in here by tonight.”

  “I’ve never seen anyone move in that quickly,” she laughed. “It might take you—”

  “I’ll be in by tonight,” I stated firmly.

  When we sat down to complete the lease she tried unsuccessfully to get our driver’s licenses, “I can’t accept checks or charge cards without—”

  I pulled out twenty thousand dollars and laid it on the table, “Would twelve months rent in advance make this a little easier?”

  She sat there with her mouth open.

  “The name is Smith,” I said pointing to the line for our names. “Ryan and Michelle Smith. I’d really like to hurry this up because I’ve got a lot of shopping to get done if we’re moving in by tonight.”

  She filled in the names as I instructed and we signed the lease and left with the keys to our new home. I asked to use her telephone book before we left, copying down the addresses to three different furniture stores. We stopped at the first store and went inside. As mad as I was over what he’d done, I was excited to let the shopping trip begin.

  “First question, how do you expect to get furniture delivered today and secondly, who is Michelle?”

  “Later, Ryan, just follow me,” I headed straight back to customer service. “Hello, I want to purchase a complete houseful of furniture this morning, but I want it delivered by five or six o’clock tonight, can your store handle that or do I need to shop somewhere else?”

  The young boy just stood there and looked at us for a moment and then said, “You’re serious?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let me get my manager.”

  Within moments a medium aged-dark haired man came to the counter and shook my hand and asked what he could do to help me.

  “I’m furnishing a house today,” I stated, laying the paper with the three furniture stores names and addresses on the counter. “If you can’t deliver today, I’ll have to choose one of your competitors. Can you help me with this?”

  “How are you paying for your furniture?”

  “Cash,” I said, folding the paper and returning it to my purse.

  “If you’ll take floor models, since they’re unboxed, assembled, and ready to go, I think we can rework the schedule for this afternoon to get what you need delivered. There is a standard delivery charge that applies.”

  “I understand, and floor models are fine with me.”

  “I’ll have Charlie walk around the store with you and he can mark down everything you want, but please look it over before you decide to purchase it. Floor models are sold as is and might have damage.”

  I don’t think young Charlie ever had customers quite like the Smiths. It took a total sum of forty minutes to pick out two full bedroom suites with mattresses, a dining room set, living room furniture, an entertainment center, lamps, tables and accessories and a couple area rugs.

  Thirteen thousand dollars later, we had a furniture delivery scheduled for four-thirty that afternoon. It was five minutes to eleven in the morning and we were headed back to the Citadel.

  “So who is Michelle?” Ryan asked as we climbed back into the car and pulled out onto the road.

  “Me. Annalisa Michelle Peterson Winslett… Gavarreen,” I added, knocking myself right off my shopping high.

  “You want to tell me what happened back at the service station,” he asked softly.

  I mumbled what I didn’t want to say, but it was enough to send the Javelin off the road and onto the shoulder.

  I braced as we came to a sudden stop.

  “Pregnant? Did you just say—”

  “I said I’m not pregnant,” I sobbed.

  “You wanted to be?” he asked incredulously.

  “Micah didn’t want me pregnant and to tell the truth, no—I don’t think I’m ready, but we knew there was a chance.”

  Ryan’s face was turning red as he was struggling to say something to me, “So you’re not on anything—no bir—birth control.”

  “No, I didn’t want to take anything.”

  “If we cross any lines then… I mean if you asked me to… We’d be taking the same chance?”

  I nodded, still crying over the fact I had been secretly hoping my period wouldn’t start. I’d ignored my calendar and today was the day. I knew the moment I asked him to pull into the service station that any hope of carrying Micah’s baby was gone.

  He leaned across the seat and held me for a few minutes, “You could have told me about this sooner, Leese. I wouldn’t have changed my mind about helping you if you thought you were pregnant. Matter of fact, if you were and you decided we had a chance, I’d love you either way. I don’t have to be the first guy, I’d just be happy to be the last.” He kissed my temple as he straightened in the seat and put the car back in first gear. “Maybe we should do this shopping thing another day. The furniture is all we need for tonight.”

  I dried my eyes, “You know who ever turns out to be right for you, she’s going to be a very, very lucky person.” Then I gave a smile and told him I was fine and we should continue shopping.

  We met Candace in JC Penney’s just before three o’clock and took her back to her house in the cram-packed car. Poor Ryan was exhausted, but shopping only seemed to give me more energy. We had bought dishes, cookware, utensils, bedding sets, bath and kitchen towels and such to the point that we literally had no more room in the car. The trunk was packed and there was only a small space for me in the backseat as I was surrounded by bags. Even Candace had to give up a little space because there were a few bags on the floor board by her feet.

  “I’d love to see your new place, and I don’t mind helping you unbag everything and set things up,” she offered. We had pulled into Naomi’s driveway as we crawled out from the bags and boxes.

  “That would be awesome to have some help,” I admitted, accepting her offer. Besides it was another chance to see how she and Ryan were around each other.

  “Great, then I
’m going to go change my clothes and I’ll be back over at Naomi’s in a few minutes.” With a wave of her hand, she crossed the street.

  Another wonderful aroma hit us when we stepped inside.

  “Where the crap have you two been all day?” Ty exclaimed when he saw us.

  “Blowing wads of money,” Ryan replied as he literally flopped into a nearby recliner. “Don’t ever go shopping with Leese. She can kill a mortal man.”

  “Ah,” Ty said with a sly smile, “I think I could handle a day with her.”

  “But could you handle a night with me?” I asked. I had spoken it before I realized how very badly it came out. Both he and Ryan looked like their eyes were going to pop out after I uttered it. “What I mean is that I was hoping you and Andy could help me and Ryan tonight get moved into our new place.”

  “You guys got a place today?”

  “Who’s got a place?” Andy asked as he came into the room.

  “Leese wants me to spend the night with her,” Ty laughed lightly with a wink to me.

  “Whoa,” was all Andy managed to get out of his mouth.

  “That’s not exactly what I said.”

  At this point Ryan and Ty were starting to double over with laughter as they confirmed I actually did kind of say it that way. I snatched up two throw pillows and hit them both.

  “Would you be willing to help me and Ryan get some furniture moved around our new place this evening?” I asked, turning to Andy.

  “I don’t know. Do I get the same deal as Ty?”

  Men! Lord, now they were all laughing. I was glad to hear Candace’s knock at the door; at least I had some female assistance to help control the male population in the house.

  Naomi insisted we all eat before heading over to the new place. No one would argue with that. She had made oven roasted chicken, real mashed potatoes, gravy ,and sweet peas. She had even baked a big pan of double-chocolate brownies for dessert. A person could get used to eating with this family. Well, if you didn’t lose a limb at the dinner table as Andy and Ty dove for the food.

  We had no space in the Javelin for our duffel bags, but Andy offered to take them in the Caprice. And, even though Ty and Andy had plenty of room for Candace in their car, I told her, for safety sake, she’d better ride with us; she agreed.