by Lolah Lace
“I wished you would’ve called me and woke me up.”
“I believe you needed your rest. But if you want me to do something in particular in the future I will do it. I told you before that I’m your slave. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”
I shook my head no. “Slave, like no. You don’t have to do all that.”
“I want to.” His grin was too much.
“I’m sure there are plenty of girls that would love to tell you what to do and when to do it.”
He raised one eyebrow, something I never learned to do. “Do you know what it means to deflect?”
“Yes, I do. I have an extensive vocabulary as an editor.” I felt my lips press firmly together.
“Deflector.” He muttered.
“I’m just stating the obvious.” I couldn’t seem to win this thing, whatever this thing was. “I left my laptop upstairs.”
“I’ll watch the store while you get it. I swear I won’t break out of here while you’re gone.”
I sighed. “You’re such a smart ass.”
“My kind of ass to aspire too.”
I took a step toward the back of the store. Jason blocked my movements with his body. I moved to the left and he quickly moved with me.
“Hey,” I called out to him and he was staring down at me. “Why are you always in my personal space?”
“Is that what they call it?” He was grinning that same grin that made the little girls hang around and store, drooling, leaning on the counter and leaving fingerprints all over the glass.
“Yes, that’s what I call it. Now move out of my personal space.”
Of course, he didn’t move so I gave him a playful punch in the stomach and pushed past him.
I was too far away when he turned to look at me.
“Cheater.”
“Whatever.” I dashed up the stairs to get my laptop. I’m not sure why it didn’t bother me that Jason broke into the store and made himself at home. I didn’t think he had any ill intent. I decided to just trust him the way I had the entire three weeks he worked in the store.
Jason closed the store at nine. I had gone out to the backyard around eight to finish up a few edits on an interracial steampunk novel that I actually couldn’t believe was acquired. I loved working in the backyard in front of the fire pit. It was nice and cozy out there once the temperature dropped. I had a glass of red wine, my laptop and my bare feet up on the patio furniture. Out there at night was so pretty and peaceful. The stars always seemed brighter in the back of the store at night.
I looked up when I heard the back door open. Jason was walking toward me looking perfect. Not a bead of sweat or a hair out of place. He was something to stare at.
“Look at what I found in the basement.”
I figured it out because he was holding a wooden acoustic guitar in his hands. “You found a guitar.”
“Yes, isn’t it lovely? Do you play?”
Me? “No.”
“Who plays?”
“Absolutely no one in my family.” We could carry a tune but we couldn’t play any instruments. “I have no idea where that guitar came from.”
Jason placed the instrument on the patio table next to where I was sitting. He removed a dishtowel from his back pocket and wiped away the cobwebs and dust from the guitar. His fingers were touching the strings. I didn’t know exactly what he was up too. I turned my attention back to my open laptop.
The night sky was clear and the air was warm. I wished I had this fire pit back at home. I have to look into the cost of getting one. Hopefully, I would be able to afford it. I knew my son would love it. In the summer and spring months, it would get used and I would be able to keep an eye on him and his friends.
Jason sat next to me on the little outdoor couch. He placed the guitar on his lap and I couldn’t help but look over at him. What was he up to? His skin had a warm tone that reflected a slight cooper color in the glow of the bright fire in front of us. He was tan now and a completely different complexion from when he arrived at Sweet Treats.
I watched his fingers as he strummed the strings on the guitar. What was he doing?
“Tell me. What kind of music do you like?” He asked after he stopped playing with the guitar.
Was that a trick question? My music was everything that he was too young to have ever heard of.
“I like music you’ve never heard of.” I was just telling the truth. With two decades between us, my music and his music weren’t the same. Almost everything new had a sample from a past song and the remakes were a travesty of epic proportions. Don’t even get me started on the dismal state of rap and hip-hop.
“How do you know what music I’ve heard of?” He was giving me his intense brown-eyed glare.
“The music I enjoy was released before you were born.”
“Doesn’t mean I haven’t heard it.”
“No, it doesn’t but I can guess what kind of music you like.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes, I think I got you pegged.”
“Okay guess.”
“Taylor Swift. You probably like Taylor Swift.” I wish I could’ve taken my guess back when I remembered his hidden arm tattoo and that other faint wrist tattoo. I should’ve said, Post Malone. My son listens to him.
“She’s a really nice person. If you like nice.” Jason blinked a few times like he’d said something wrong. Huh, what did that mean? “I mean she seems nice. You know from seeing her on the internet.”
“I don’t follow her so I don’t have much of an opinion on her level of niceness.”
“Tell me, name an artist, a singer. Tell me, who do you like or love, tell me?”
I sighed. “Geez, the pressure.” I looked up in the air at nothing. I hoped to pull a name from the heavens above. “I like Steveland Morris.” I decided to be difficult.
Jason raised the guitar and cradled it in his arms. He propped it on his lap. He placed his fingers carefully on the neck and the flat part of the instrument. What was he doing? I waited with uncertainty and then it happened.
He sang the words— My Cherie Amour. . .
Whoa! And then another line from the song by Steveland Morris also known as Stevie Wonder. Lyrics came cascading from Jason’s lips, His tone, his pitch, and his delivery, all flawless and incredibly soulful. My mouth tumbled open as he crooned and played at the same time. I couldn’t believe that a powerful and melodious voice came from that kid. Jason was full of surprises.
I listened carefully and peacefully as he sang a few verses of what I thought was one of the greatest love songs of all time. He seamlessly moved to sing another Stevie Wonder song, Ribbon in the Sky, then Lately and then All I do. He did an entire medley of Stevie’s hits. I didn’t want him to stop. I was amazed. I was shocked. I was a whole bunch of adjectives. He ended with a slower, soulful version of Master Blaster Jammin’.
He opened his eyes, stopped singing and looked over at me. I happily clapped for him. He deserved it. He deserved a recording contract. Or at least an audition on one of those singing competition shows. His voice was magical. But I was about to take him to task.
“Jason, I heard you tell those teens you couldn’t sing.”
“Do you think I can sing?”
“Come on, I know you can sing and you know you can sing. Why did you lie to them like that? If you sing for them just like you did right now, they’d be in here every day buying candy.”
“It’s my secret. I can’t share my secrets with everyone.” His eyes were focused on me when he said this. I shifted in my seat.
“But you can share them with me?”
“Yes, I can. I like you. You’re special.”
My cheeks were on the road to forming a smile. I stopped my facial muscles dead in their deceptive tracks. This young man wasn’t flirting with me. He couldn’t be. I was just too old to know what flirting looked like nowadays. I had been married for twenty years. I didn’t know much of anything anymore.
“You
are very talented,” I said to distract my thoughts.
“I’m all right, I guess.” One of his shoulders went up in a half-shrug.
“Bull. Do you have any other hidden talents?”
“Of course I do.”
“Tell me.”
“I can show you.”
“No, tell me first. I don’t want to see anything gross or weird.”
“I promise it’s not gross or weird.”
Jason placed the guitar on the side table. He scooted closer toward me. He took my laptop off my lap and placed it on top of the guitar behind him.
“What are you doing?”
“Showing you one of my hidden talents.”
“Ah, you’re just staring at me. Are you trying to hypnotize me?”
“No, I’m not. Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Katrina Sweet, stop being so difficult. Just trust me.”
“Let me see your hands.”
Jason placed his hands out between us. I don’t know what I was looking for. I knew he didn’t have anything in his hands. Maybe this was a childish magic trick. He was probably going to pull a quarter out of my ear.
“Close your eyes.”
I pursed my lips and reluctantly closed my eyes. My heart picked up the pace while I waited. I didn’t have to wait long. I felt it. His lips were on mine. One of his hands was on the side of my face. The other hand was pressed into the back of my neck. He had me. I was trapped. I was stuck to his lips and his tongue was dancing inside my mouth. My entire stomach fell to my feet. My brain said resist but my mouth and my body were like mashed potatoes. I just sat there and let him do it— kiss me.
I was fighting the urge to participate in the kiss. My tongue was too fluid to be rigid and stiff. I was lured into kissing him back. My brain was confused and my heart was beating out of my chest. My head wouldn’t lean out of it because it was so damn good, tender, sweet, filled with passion, packed with lust.
Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!
God, please make him let me go!
My shoulders were limp. I could feel heat pooling between my legs. Finally, he released me. I slowly opened my eyes and he was sitting there staring at me.
I think he wanted me to say something. I couldn’t slap him. That would’ve been a lie. I let it happen and made zero effort to stop it. My dumb ass participated in it. But I had to say something.
All I had was, “What was that?”
“One of my talents.”
“Huh?”
“I’m a really good kisser.”
“Oh.”
Silence, silence and more silence.
“You need to go to bed early because you have to open the shop alone tomorrow.”
“Yes, it's Sunday tomorrow,” I whispered.
“And you make me take at least one day off every week.”
“I do.”
He was acting normal. Just like he hadn’t kissed me into submission, heated my core and confused the hell out of me. He had crossed all the damn lines but he seemed cool.
“Do you need me to ring you to make sure you’re up?”
“No, I’ll just set my alarm.”
Jason reached behind him and grabbed my laptop off the top of the guitar. He handed it over to me.
“Don’t stay out here too long. Don’t forget to turn off the fire pit.”
Was a twenty-year-old really telling me what to do? It sure appeared that way.
“I think I can handle it.”
“I’m going to put this away.” He looked back at the guitar. “And be on my way.”
“Okay.”
I watched him stand and grab the guitar off the table. He walked inside the back door. My eyes only followed him when I knew he had his back to me. Jason’s body was a work of art. I didn’t want to think about it. I opened my laptop and pretended to look at the screen. He wasn’t inside for long. He walked out the back door and walked over to me. I looked at his giant stature. He had a real grown man’s body.
“I’m going to head out.”
“Okay.”
“See ya on Monday.”
“Okay.”
Jason bent to kiss my forehead. “Goodnight.”
I just sat there and let that kiss happen also. I didn’t know what to do because I wasn’t ready for what was happening. What was happening?
He walked to the back of the yard. He rolled his bike out of the wooden gate door. He was gone. I slammed my laptop screen down. I hopped off the couch and turned the nob on the fire pit.
This night was inexplicable, the guitar serenade and the surprise intimate kiss. I didn’t know what to make of it. I did know it could never happen again. No matter how good that one kiss felt it was wrong on so many levels. No man had kissed me in over a year and that’s probably why I let it happen.
Probably.
Chapter 7
KATRINA
I had quite a few customers come inside the store on Sunday. I handled them quite well while alone. I had to admit things felt different without Jason. I noticed the young girls didn’t come into the store at all. I guess they had figured out what day Jason didn’t come into work. I wouldn’t have noticed the lack of pre-teen groupies if I didn’t have Jason on my mind. There were no shipments on Sunday so I didn’t have to lift any heavy boxes. I let Jason pick his off day. I wondered if he picked Sunday on purpose because of that reason. I didn’t think he took Sunday off to go to church.
Last night I tossed and turned thinking about him. I felt so ashamed that I’d had a dream about a young man old enough to be my son. My daughter was older than him and that just made everything feel wrong. I wasn’t a cougar. I didn’t have any desire to be one. In due time, the dreams about this young man would stop and I could just go back to normal.
I needed to go out on a date with a man my age. What occurred yesterday was probably a sign that I should get back into the dating world. I only had a few months left in Galena so finding a single guy in this town would prove to be tough. Even still, I could try to find someone to date. I needed to do something so I can get some practice in before I went back to Naperville. It was a good idea. I wouldn’t have to run into any of these Galena guys if things went south. I was leaving town soon.
After work, I was going to drive out to my childhood home. I couldn’t wait to see my parents. I spent most of my time with Jason. I needed to be around someone other than him. Quality time with my folks would take my overloaded mind off of the wildly forbidden kiss. I’d made it up in my mind, Monday morning I was going to address the kiss and keep it moving. I was going to tell Jason to keep his damn lips to himself.
My cell phone rang. My sister’s face appeared on my screen. I swiped to answer.
“Hey.” I tried to sound upbeat.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Nothing. I was just closing the store. How is your vacation?”
“It’s good, great actually.”
“Where are you guys now?”
“Aruba. We’re staying here for two weeks.”
“How is it? I’ve never been.”
“Hot, beautiful and gorgeous.”
“Does Ken like it?”
“He loves it. You know he’s never been anywhere. You say you’re closing?”
“Yeah, I just locked up. I’m going to head out to Mama and Daddy’s house.”
“So everything is going well? You’re not overwhelmed?”
“No, I’m good. I haven’t had any problems yet. Things are going smoothly. I’m glad you found someone to help out before I got to Galena. That guy you interviewed is perfect.”
“What guy?”
“The guy you interviewed before I got here. I hired him.”
“What guy are you talking about?”
“He came in. He said you talked. He’s the tall White guy. His name is Jason, Jason Smith.”
“I never interviewed any men to work at the store. I interviewed two women.”
“Really?”<
br />
“You told me you hired a guy a few weeks ago.”
“I did but I only hired him because I thought he was the person you interviewed.”
“No honey, I didn’t interview any men.”
“Shit!”
“You said it’s working out. So what’s the problem?”
“There’s no problem. I just thought. He must’ve seen the sign and just walked in. I don’t know.”
“If he’s working out—”
“He is. He’s been working here for three weeks.”
“I know you’re counting down the days until I come back. You hate it in Galena.”
“No, I’m not. I’m good. I don’t hate it here. You just have fun. I can handle everything at Sweet Treats.”
“Of course you can. You’re the overachiever in the family. I expect some improvements when I get back. You sis, you just can’t help yourself. You are the Queen of doing the most.”
She was right. I was thinking the store needed a fresh coat of interior paint.
“Don’t worry about the store,” I said.
“I’m not worried. I will call you in a few days. Love you. Give Mama and Daddy my love.”
“I will. Love you too. Bye.” I ended the call.
I double-checked the locks and the alarm system. I grabbed my purse and hopped in my car. As soon as I turned the radio on, Stevie Wonder’s voice came through the speakers. It wasn’t My Cherie Amour, it was These Three Words and I smiled as I drove. I hadn’t heard that song in years. I wondered if Jason knew this song. Why was I wondering about him? I’m sure he wasn’t thinking about me.
My childhood home was only a few miles away. I made it there within record time. There wasn’t much traffic Sunday evening. I pulled into the driveway and I parked as far as I could from my brother’s old gray Cadillac Seville. The car used to belong to my father and now it belonged to my trifling ass brother.
I wished my brother wasn’t here. He always had some smart ass shit to say and I wasn’t in the mood. I’d had a pretty good day at work. Cherise could deal with him but I couldn’t. He was always high and always lying about something irrelevant.
I walked up the porch steps and was happy that Cherise had made sure they were rebuilt. Last year they were on the verge of collapse. I used my key to get in the front door. I called my mother in advance and told her I was coming. I walked inside the door and Robert was loitering around in the entryway. He was dressed in a white wife-beater t-shirt, Nike slides with white tube socks, and long worn out khaki shorts. His shorts were so long they looked like culottes. I don’t know why he walked around looking like this. I still can’t figure out why women dealt with him and his bullshit. Actually, I did know. He used to be attractive and if you were into tall, light skin Black man. He was both.