by Evelyn Sola
“Excuse me, sir,” I say playfully. “I have a boyfriend. Please, keep your lips to yourself.”
“He’s one lucky fuck.” He looks around and quickly kisses me again. “What were you smiling at?”
“I was just thinking about The Bahamas.” In my excitement, I clap my hands together. “Can’t wait to have you on the beach. Shirtless.” I wiggle my eyebrows at the last part. “And a cabana!” I say before he can speak. “I’ve never had my own cabana before. Does the cabana boy automatically come with the cabana, or is that extra?”
He looks at me for several seconds before he starts laughing. He shakes his head, probably at a loss for how to respond.
“I’m the only man you’re going to need on this vacation. Are you going to wear these on the beach?” he asks, reaching for the antlers I’d forgotten I have on top of my head. He shakes one, and to mess with him, I take the antlers off, get on my tippy toes and put them on his head.
“No, but I was looking at bikinis online and I’m considering a few. Wait until you see these hips in a string bikini.” Not caring that there’s a store full of people, I swing my hips from side to side. “Pow,” I say, bumping his hip with mine. “That’s the sound my hips will make on the beach.” To prove my point, I bump him again. “Pow.”
“I never know what the hell will come out of your mouth, but don’t hurt yourself, sweets. I like the feel of those hips against me, but I don’t think they say pow.”
“Not pow?”
He shakes his head no.
“What about boom?” I swing my hips from side to side again, bumping him each time. “Boom. Boom. Boom.”
“Nope.” He shakes his head again.
“How about boom chick a boom, boom?” This time, instead of swinging my hips slowly, I do a series of fast moves. When he shakes his head a third time, I pretend to pout. “I guess my hips just don’t talk to you then?”
“Oh, they talk, pretty girl.” He turns me to face him and puts both hands on my hips. He looks down into my eyes and starts to move my hips from side to side. “You want to know what these hips say?” He lowers his voice and says, “They say Nick, Nick, Nick.”
“Nick, Nick, Nick,” I repeat, lost in his eyes.
Right there, in the middle of the busy floor, I let my boyfriend guide my hips from side to side as we both whisper his name. I’m lost in his blue eyes, but someone bumps into him, breaking us out of our trance.
“I’ll be ready in about ten minutes,” I tell him as I step away, my face flushed, and my body awakened and ready.
“I’m going to look for some stuff for my girlfriend while I wait. Not that she needs this stuff.” He picks up a lacy thong and holds it with his index finger. I smile at him, and just as I’m about to say something that would drive him wild, my eyes bug out at what I see in front of me.
“Hey, baby girl!” my mother practically screams in the store. She’s not alone. She has my brother, my aunt, and five-year-old cousin with her. “We’re here to pick you up. We all have some last-minute shopping to do, but we’re going to have dinner first. Your shift is almost done, right?”
My mouth opens like a fish, but no words come out. I look over at Nick, who has now gone still at the sight of our guests. Mom doesn’t notice him at first as she automatically starts looking through a stack of panties at a display in front of her. My brother looks around, but I can tell he’s ready to go when he checks his watch.
The pair of panties my mom is holding slips out of her hands and lands on the floor. She looks up as she grabs them and finally notices Nick. Presumably shocked by his presence, she loses her balance, and he quickly moves to grab her and keep her from falling.
“Mr. Bain,” she says, confused and a little bit embarrassed, “what are you doing here?” She narrows her eyes and looks from him to me. “You do remember Miranda, don’t you? She came with me to the Christmas party a few weeks ago and had lunch with me at the office recently. This is my son, Andrew, my sister-in-law, Vanessa, and my niece, Tandy. Andrew is the one who got me the mug you destroyed.” She nervously looks around the store and when she looks down to see the racy, lace panties in Nick’s hand, she quickly looks away and clears her throat. She looks back at me, her eyes that are so similar to mine, trying to read me.
“Yes, I remember Miranda, and I’m here for my girlfriend,” he says, clearing his throat loudly as he waves the lacy panties in the air. Like the gentleman that he is, he shakes hands with Andrew and Vanessa. He looks at me, and I know from the look in his eyes, he’s waiting on me to say something. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.
“Can we go?” Andrew asks. “I’m starving. And Dad’s waiting for us.”
“Wait. You got Dad to come to the mall? My dad is in the mall a few days before Christmas?” I ask.
“Come on, baby,” Mom says. “We have a reservation at Legal’s in twenty minutes. You know that’s Andrew’s favorite place, and I’m sure he’s ready to gnaw at his own arm by now. Your dad can be social when he wants to be.” She looks away from me and back to Nick, who is still holding the panties. “I’m sure Mr. Bain wants to shop in peace.” My mom takes me by the shoulder and pushes me toward the back of the store, toward the cash registers.
“Mona, wait,” Nick begins. “Listen”
“Mom,” I blurt before Nick can say anything else.
“Can we please get the hell out of here?” Andrew says when a group of shoppers come walking by.
“Why don’t you find yourself a girlfriend, Andrew? If you did, you wouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave this place,” my mom says. Andrew throws his hands in the air and tells us he’ll wait for us outside of the store before stomping out. “Go, Miranda. Meet us outside before your brother has a tantrum.” She pushes me toward the back of the store where she follows me and tells me she’ll wait for me by the fragrances.
Like someone being controlled by a remote control, I walk to the cash register, sign out of work for the day, return to the break room, and grab my coat. Still dazed at how close we came to getting caught, I walk out of the room like a zombie.
Nick is still in the store when I return, but Mom grabs my arm and we walk to the door. She waves goodbye to Nick, and when I look back at him, he’s still standing in the same spot, looking at me with the same pair of panties in his hand.
To my shock, my father is waiting patiently for us at the restaurant while sipping on a piña colada. Dinner is lively and fun as we talk about Christmas plans, but all I can think about is Nick and how empty his blue eyes looked when I was walking away from the store.
As discreetly as possible, I check my phone and find no texts or missed calls from him.
Me: I love you. I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were coming.
I check my phone throughout dinner and nothing. After dinner, we do some last-minute shopping at the mall, but Nick doesn’t text back, and he doesn’t call. It’s not until after midnight when I crawl back into my bed and call him. His phone rings several times until it goes to voicemail.
I ignore the voice in the back of my head. The little voice telling me that Nick is upset about what happened at the mall. I convince myself that he understands why I left, but I don’t think I do a very good job and end up tossing and turning all night, missing the comfort of Nick’s strong arms wrapped around me.
CHAPTER 28
NICK
I’m not the least bit surprised when my front door opens and Miranda walks in the next morning. I lean against the kitchen counter, drinking my coffee out of a Christmas mug she left here the other day. The mug is decorated with a drawing of a muscular man wearing a Santa hat with the words Feliz Navidaddy.
She takes off her coat, dressed like an elf, complete with the hat and pointed ears. The closer we get to Christmas, the more ridiculous her outfits get, it seems. I force myself not to laugh when I notice her green pointed shoes. Where the hell does she find this stuff?
She walks up to
me, takes the cup from my hand, sips my coffee, and scrunches her nose at the bitterness.
“You do realize that’s my mug, right? I texted and called you last night. Why didn’t you answer? You should see the shorts I ordered for The Bahamas this morning. That place won’t know what hit it when I get there. I hope I get it before we leave. When are we leaving, by the way?” She leans up and kisses my lips. Despite the feelings raging inside of me, I kiss her back, long and deep, before abruptly ending the kiss.
I can see the confusion in her eyes, but she blinks and looks away. She reaches into the cabinet and pulls out another mug.
“This one is yours.” I look at it and hold back my snort. Where My Ho’s At is written on it. “Just wait until I come back tonight. There’s going to be lots of ho ho hoin’ around here. So much that I don’t know how your old man heart and back will handle it.” She then puts both hands on her hips and does a series of thrusts.
She reaches for me, her delicate hands caress my chest, paying special attention to my pecs. My lower half reacts automatically.
“I won’t be here tonight.” Those words get her attention, and she looks at me again. She drops her hands, and she studies me for the first time since she walked in. She’s an open book. Always has been. That’s how I knew she wanted me as much as I wanted her since the night we met.
I can feel the nervousness and tension oozing out of her. She takes her thumb and nibbles on the nail.
“Where are you going?” she asks. “I thought I’d come over right after work and make you dinner. I’ve been thinking all last night, and I think maybe it was a good thing our plans to tell my mom got railroaded.”
I lean across the counter and raise my eyebrows, my ears perking up at this sudden change. “Oh, really? Why is that?”
“We have to tell my dad first.”
“Oh, yeah? When? Next week? Next month? Next year? Maybe by next Christmas?” I try to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but I don’t think I succeed.
“Of course not. Tomorrow. He gets home before Mom on Mondays. You’ll come over, and we’ll tell him together. Then, when Mom gets home, we’ll tell her, but we’ll have the support of my dad. It’s perfect. Dad’s rational and calm, and Mom’s emotional. Dad will help calm her down. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.”
I put the mug down and cross my arms over my chest. She’s looking at me, eyes wide, probably waiting for me to speak, but I don’t say a word. There’s plenty that I could say. I could remind her that I wanted to tell her mother right away, but she didn’t. I could tell her I was ready and willing to have this conversation last night at the mall, but I didn’t get the chance before she shut me down and walked away from me.
“It’s tomorrow, now? Not days ago, like you said?”
“Is something wrong, Nick?” She takes a tentative step to me, but when I don’t put my arms down, she starts to bite on her nail again.
“What do you think, Miranda? Yeah, I’d say something is wrong.”
Her eyes widen at my sharp tone. In all the time we’ve spent together, there’s never been a reason for me to have such a tone with her. I see her steel her shoulders and take a deep breath.
“If this is about what happened at the store yesterday, I was just as surprised as you. I had no idea my family was going to show up, and to be honest, I was really irritated by it because I wanted to be with you. I’ve missed you.” She closes the space between us, her eyes searching mine. I know what she’s waiting for. She wants me to open my arms and let her in, and I want that too, but my anger and hurt from last night just will not leave me.
I step away from her and go stand behind the kitchen island, using it as a barrier between us.
“You were irritated?” I ask in complete disbelief. “I couldn’t tell. You know why? Because you left with your family and left me standing in the middle of the store looking like a damn fool. And you walk in here and act as if it’s just another regular Sunday morning. As if you didn’t treat me as irrelevant a little more than twelve hours ago.”
Her shoulders sag and she lowers her gaze, and all I want to do is go to her and take her in my arms and apologize for upsetting her, but I stand my ground.
“That’s not fair. It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like then?”
She walks around the island, but I take a step back. She gets the hint and stops walking, but all I want to do is go to her and make fun of her outfit.
“We agreed we would wait to tell my mom. What did you want me to do? Tell her about us while I was at work? With my brother, aunt, and the entire store as witnesses? Is that how you wanted her to find out about us?”
“I expected you to act like a damn adult and not walk away from me!”
“I didn’t walk away from you!” she yells back. “And I am an adult. I’m trying my best to handle this for us, with minimal collateral damage. Think about it, Nick! She loves her job. She has worked there all my life, and her daughter is now sleeping with her boss. You wanted me to tell her that in the middle of Victoria’s Secret in front of my boss and coworkers? That would have been the absolute worst place and time.”
The rational Nicholas Bain would understand where she’s coming from. He would concede that her words make sense. It was the wrong time at the wrong place, but rational Nick has left the building. All I can focus on is one thing she said.
“We’re sleeping together?” I ask, my voice low. “Is that all we’re doing? Good to know.” Disgusted, I pour the contents of my mug into the sink and walk out of the kitchen, giving her as wide a berth as possible. I take the stairs two at a time, and she follows me into the bedroom.
“What are you doing? Where are you going?” I don’t answer, but I grab a duffel bag from the closet and start to shove clothes into it.
“I told you I won’t be here tonight. I’m going away for a night. I need some space, and I need time to think. Is that good enough for you, Miranda?”
“Think about what? Us?” She tries to grab my hands, but I pull away from her as if her touch is laced with acid. “And I know we’re not just sleeping together. Why are you twisting my words? I love you. You know that.”
“Do I?”
“Yes! Why are you acting like this? I’m sorry about yesterday, but I didn’t know what else to do!”
“If you loved me, you wouldn’t have acted like I didn’t matter last night.”
“I didn’t do that!” She stomps her feet and her hands ball into fists. “You’re being unfair. I told you that—”
“You’re waiting for the right time,” I say, interrupting her. “What the fuck would happen anyway? You’re a twenty-three-year-old adult. Would she hit you? Would she kick you out? Would she disown you?”
“No, of course not.” She looks at me as if I’m crazy to even ask such questions. I walk out of the closet and toss the duffel bag on the bed, zipping it up with such force I’m surprised I don’t break the zipper.
“Then what, Miranda, would be so terrible? You’re scared of mommy’s anger? You just admitted that there wouldn’t be any serious consequences, but throughout all of these weeks, you’ve said nothing. You’re acting like a scared little girl, and frankly, that’s a turnoff. I want to be with a woman, not a child.” She rears back as if I slapped her. I can feel her sadness, and I want nothing but to soothe her, but I can’t. Even now, she’s looking around the room, the fear in her eyes evident.
“I’m acting like a scared little girl? Well, how the hell are you acting right now? You knew the situation from the beginning. This is exactly why I was reluctant, but you decided to pursue me. We both agreed to wait and find the best time to tell her.”
I take the bag and throw it over my shoulder. That move causes her to come and stand before me, her stance determined.
“I didn’t agree to shit!” I yell, slamming my hand against the wall. This obviously shocks her because she takes an involuntary step back. I lower my hand from the wall as wel
l as my voice. “Think back, Miranda. I wanted to tell her right away, remember? The very first night you came here, I told you I wanted to tell her, but what did you do? You ended things. When you came back, I told you I disagreed with waiting. So, no. We didn’t agree. You decided.”
“Let’s talk, okay. I’m sorry about yesterday but seeing her there was the last thing I was expecting.” She reaches for my hands, and this time I don’t immediately pull away from her touch. “Maybe I handled it all wrong, but you know I love you.”
I pull my hands away and take a step back. “That’s what you say, but your actions don’t show it. I’ve opened up my entire world to you. From the very beginning. I’ve introduced you to my family. You come and go, but I’m your dirty little secret.” I take a deep breath and prepare myself for my next words. “Go to work, Miranda. I need some distance, and I need time to think about things.”
“Think about what things?” she yells. “Are you thinking of ending things?”
I can’t even fathom the thought of ending things, but I know I can’t keep going the way things are. “I said I need to think!”
“You’re being ridiculous! I came here to make you breakfast and tell you my plans, and you need space to think? You’re the one who’s acting like a scared little boy because I didn’t tell something of this magnitude to my mother in the place where I work. How the hell do you think it would have turned out?” She grabs my hands again and puts them on her face. “Let’s talk. I told you I have it all figured out. It’s best if my father is there when we tell her, we have to tell him first. Mom is all emotion, but Daddy is logical and pragmatic. We’ll tell him, and then when Mom gets home, the three of us will sit down with her and tell her everything. We’ll deal with the consequences, okay?”
“Do what you need, Miranda, but I need to go.” I drop her hands and grab my bag. She comes running after me, practically colliding into my back.