Chapter 15
“I’m gonna kill him,” Carly announced as she walked into the office of the studio.
It was Tuesday morning and the first official day of classes at Dragonfly Dance. Sunday had been spent cleaning and reorganizing the house and Monday they’d opened the studio but only for office work.
“Who are you going to kill?” Mel asked, giving Leah a here we go again look.
“That douchebag, Anthony.”
“What’s wrong with Tony?” Leah asked.
“And why do you insist on calling him Anthony?” Melanie said.
Anthony Scott was the friend of Logan’s who was installing the new security system at their house. They had met him for the first time Sunday and both Mel and Leah had liked him immediately. Carly was another story.
“His name is Anthony, why would I call him Tony?”
“I don’t know,” Mel rolled her eyes, “maybe because he told us to.”
“Eww no.” Carly plopped down in her chair in front of her desk. “Tony is the weird guy who sells you meat at the deli counter. Not the name of a hot guy.”
“So you think he’s hot, do ya?” Leah said.
“Am I fucking blind, of course he’s hot. Have you seen his arms?”
“If you think he’s hot, why is he a douchebag?” Mel asked.
“Level of hotness does not make one less of a douchebag. And he’s a DB because he ‘pretended’ to break into the house this morning to check to make sure the security system was working and he walked in on me naked just out of the shower.”
“Ahh,” Mel looked at Leah, “the plot thickens.”
“He saw you naked?” Leah asked in shock. “What did you do?”
“What could I do!” She threw her hands up. “I had no idea he was there and nothing around me to grab to try and cover-up. Plus, I did not want him thinking that him seeing me naked was an issue for me.”
“But it was an issue for you,” Leah said.
“Can you stop being reasonable and let me just be pissed?”
“So sorry your highness, please go on.”
Carly flipped her off but went on. “Anyway, so there I am, nude as the day I was born and he has the audacity to not even glance down my body. Just stared straight at my face.”
“Ahh,” Mel fake gasped, “the nerve.”
“All right, I’m done talking to you bitches. You aren’t taking me seriously.” She turned in her chair.
“Okay, okay,” Mel said. “We are sorry. Please tell us why him being a gentleman and not ogling your body is an issue?”
“Because I look fucking good!” she shouted. “I am never gonna look better than I do right now and yet I can’t even get a guy who accidentally sees me naked to look at my body.”
Now Leah saw the problem. “So in all actuality, you wanted him to look at your naked body?”
“I wanted him to WANT to look!”
“First off,” Mel said, “you’re a crazy person and you might want to think about therapy. Second, I’m betting he looked.”
“I was there,” Carly snapped back. “He didn’t look.”
“Are you that stupid, of course he looked. Your body is amazing.”
Leah agreed. “I wish I had your body. I’m all bones and ass. Plus, I’m short and it sucks.”
Carly looked at them skeptically. “You really think he looked?”
“I know he looked,” Mel told her.
“Hmm,” Carly said seemingly thinking about it.
“Not to get us off track from Carly’s naked dilemma, but can we talk about work for a second?”
After they both agreed she went on. “I’ve been going over the registrations and it seems we are full for this first session.”
“Full?” Mel said.
“Yep, full.” They were currently only offering classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and only a total of fifteen classes. But somehow, they were all at capacity.
“How is that possible?” Carly asked.
Leah shrugged. “No idea but it looks like people are willing to take a chance on a new business.”
“Should we open more?” Melanie asked.
“My suggestion is that we see if all these people re-enroll before we offer more classes. That way we aren’t making more work for ourselves down the line if there is no need.”
“Smart,” Carly said.
“Another thing,” Leah said. “Brandon mentioned that maybe we should think about getting a security system here, at the studio?”
“Can we really afford that?” Melanie asked.
“Not really, at least not yet but, and let me finish before you get annoyed.” At both of their looks she went on. “I took the liberty of talking to Tony and he said that he would be willing to set us up on a payment plan AND that since we are friends with Logan he would do the install at cost again.”
“Fuck me,” Carly said. “Now I can’t be mad at him for the no-look. Why does he have to go and be so nice?”
“While I hate to spend the money, I agree with Brandon that it’s probably better to be safe.”
“Is that a yes then?” Leah asked.
“Go ahead,” Carly said. “But I’m not dealing with him. He’s all yours.”
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After all the classeshad ended at eight, Leah was shutting down for the night when Brandon strolled in.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” She smiled. She loved that he would just surprise her and show up randomly anytime he wanted.
“I heard there was talk of a nighttime boat ride and I thought I’d see if you were interested?”
Carly and Melanie were taking Carly’s dad’s pontoon boat out for a quiet ride and they had invited her. It sounded like heaven so she had readily accepted.
“Is there room?” she asked, having no idea how big the boat was.
“Plenty,” he said. “Logan is coming, too.”
“Sounds fun.” She grabbed her bag just as Carly and Mel walked in.
“Hey Bran, you going on the lake with us?” Carly said.
“That was the plan.”
“Great,” she said. “You guys can follow us there.”
Inside his car, Leah asked, “You have a boat right?” She vaguely remembered him telling her that he did.
“I do,” he answered. “Two actually. A pontoon and a speedboat.”
“Are they at your house?”
“They are both in storage elsewhere right now. I usually get them out around Mother’s Day.” He got quiet. “Speaking of Mother’s Day...my mom always has a big dinner and she has invited us.”
“Us?” she asked, a little off balance at the thought of going to his parent’s house for dinner.
“Yeah, us.”
“I don’t know, won’t that be weird?”
“Why would it be weird, unless of course you don’t want to go?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to go, I just...” She was doing this all wrong and she could tell from his expression that she was hurting his feelings. “Listen, I love you and I want to meet your parent’s but is Mother’s Day the right time? And yes I know that I technically already met your mom but...” He had stopped driving and he’d pulled over to the side of the road.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did you just say that you loved me?”
“No,” she said adamantly. No she hadn’t, had she?
She replayed the conversation over, OH MY GOD, she had. She just spouted off and it had come out of her mouth. It was the truth, she did love him. But she wasn’t sure she was ready for him to know yet. Hell, she wasn’t sure she was ready to be in love yet. But it had happened and there seemed to be nothing she could do about it.
“Brandon I didn”t mean –”
“You didn’t mean it?” he asked, deflated.
“That’s not what I was going to say,” she told him and took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean for it to just come out like that and I don’t want you to think you have to say it back. I don’t want my feelings to affect your feelings.”
“So I shouldn’t tell you that I love you.” He took her hand. “Or that from the moment I met you, I knew that my life had changed forever. Just one look at you and my dreams for my future all included you. You don’t want me to tell you those things?”
I’m not gonna cry, I’m not gonna cry, she kept repeating over and over in her head. “Well, I mean if you feel that you need to, then that”s what you have to do.”
He laughed. “And that – your mouth and the things that come out of it – I love that.”
“You really love me?” she questioned.
“Do you really love me?” he threw back at her.
“I do,” she sighed. “More than I ever thought possible.”
“Me too,” he said and cupped her head bringing her mouth to his. His kiss was sweet and gentle and filled with love. A love that, thanks to her big mouth, they both knew the other felt.
“How long would you have waited to tell me?” she asked when he pulled back from her.
“I’m not sure,” he said, putting the car back in drive and pulling out onto the road. “Probably not long. It was getting hard to not let it slip.”
His honesty floored her. “So I guess I’m going to dinner at your parent’s house on Mother’s Day.”
“Seems that way. Mom and dad are both home now if you’d like to say hi before we jump on the boat. Only if you want though?”
Meeting them now would make Sunday easier, even though she felt like a slob after working a ten-hour day. “I’m good with that.”
“Only if you’re sure?” he said and pulled into a drive that she assumed was his parent’s house.
“I am,” she said, confident that she could do this. How hard could meeting a boyfriend”s parents be?
Carly and Melanie were already there, along with Logan.
“I’m so ready for a nice relaxing ride on the lake,” Carly said. “I’ve been dreaming of it all winter.”
“Can you guys give us just a few minutes?” Brandon said. “I’m gonna take Leah in to say hi to mom and dad.”
“Meeting the parents,” Mel singsonged. “That’s a BFD.”
Leah shooed her with her hand and followed Brandon inside.
“What the hell does BFD mean?”
“Big fucking deal.”
“Why can’t people just talk normally?”
“Normal is boring and overrated.”
He laughed and they came face-to-face with an older version of him.
“Brandon, hey,” the man, who was clearly his dad, said.
“Dad,” he said. “I wanted to bring Leah in to meet you before we headed out on the boat.”
“Ahh, so this is the lovely Leah.” He shook her hand. “So nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, sir.”
“Please call me Charlie.”
“Charlie then,” she said.
“Is mom here?”
“Alice!” Charlie bellowed.
“What in the world are you yelling about?” She came into the room. “Oh Brandon and Leah, what are you doing here?”
“We are taking the boat out with the other’s but I wanted you guys to meet Leah.”
A look of pride covered Alice’s face. “Leah, it”s so nice to see you again. This time at least, I’m not knocking things over with a cart.”
“I’ve done that more times than I can count,” she said. “So don’t feel bad.”
“I hope Brandon invited you to our Mother’s Day gathering?” she said.
“He did and I’d love to come if you’re sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“None at all.”
“Can I bring anything?” Leah asked. She wasn’t the best cook but she did have a few dishes she made fairly well.
“Don’t even think about it. On Mother’s Day the boys do all the work and us ladies just enjoy our day.”
“You cook?” She looked at Brandon.
“You seem surprised.”
“Why haven’t I seen these culinary skills?”
“Oh I like this one, Bran. She keeps you on your toes.”
Leah laughed and Brandon reached for her hand. “She does and I like it,” he said and kissed her knuckles leaving her speechless while his parents looked on.
“We should probably go,” he said to his parents.
“See you guys Sunday,” his dad said and his mom gave her a surprising goodbye hug. “It was great to meet you,” she said in Leah’s ear.
Leah was shaken to the core at the kindness his mom had shown her. Her own mom, while loving in her own way, would never hug a person she had just met.
“My parents like you,” he told her as they made their way to the lake.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“My dad was smiling the whole time and stayed quiet. When he likes something he always stays quiet. And mom...well she loves when people can hold their own against anyone and when you asked about cooking, that told her that you’re no pushover.”
“They’re so,” she tried to think of the right word, “normal. I mean you’ll never meet my dad because you know, prison but my mom,” she shook her head, “she’s not cold she’s just proper. Extremely proper.”
Just remembering the way she had grown up made her shiver. After living in Cedarville for only three weeks she already knew that she would never raise her own kids the way she was raised. Even though, until this moment, she had thought her childhood was fine.
She was wrong.