Chapter 12 - Asher #2
“I think it’s a good idea if we can maybe settle and celebrate. Oh…” I point to the menorah with four lit candles on the fireplace mantel. “You know that seems to be a special menorah, very old and classic. A lot of meaning and truly exquisite.”
Piper perks up and is elated by my comment. “It is. Everyone talks about Hudson’s tree, but really look at it. It belonged to my grandmother Ruth.” She splays her hands in the direction of the fireplace.
Gracie turns to me and gives me a thumbs-up that nobody can see for buttering up her mom. “Come on, Dad. Your chicken will get dry if we drag this out.”
He bobbles his head side to side and cracks a smile. “My little girl is no longer a little girl.” She walks to her dad, and he gives her a side hug. It’s heartwarming to see actually. “How are you feeling?”
I follow as they walk side to side, and Piper smiles affectionately at me as she too follows.
“I’m doing well. The baby is due in July.”
“The off season. At least something was well planned.”
She playfully pinches his arm. “Funny. Now let me tease you about your apron.”
The calm after the storm is a welcome relief. A few minutes later we are all sitting at the dining table with food in the middle. The table is elegant, decorated with little details.
Piper pours me a glass of wine. “A shame Drew couldn’t join us, but it’s his wife’s year to be with her family. A few neighbors will stop by later. Of course, we will keep everything under wraps until you two are ready.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Gracie turns to me and squeezes my hand, leaning in to speak into my ear. “We did it. We survived. Another step achieved.”
Yeah, we did. Now we can focus on other things: us.
That makes me smile to myself.
Hudson passes me the plate of latkes, but my nose begins to tingle in the process, and I sniff, as do the others. It’s smoke.
“Do you smell that?” Piper squinches her nose.
Hudson peers over her shoulder only to bounce up. “Oh no.”
I follow his line of sight and instantly follow.
It’s the fucking poinsettia on fire. It’s a small containable blaze, but we make no mistake that the leaves are lit up. It’s on the floor and not close enough to the fire in the fireplace but burning the edge of a stocking with Hudson’s name on it.
“What is happening?” Piper sounds panicked.
I feel Gracie and Piper following me, and we all watch Hudson throw a blanket from the sofa onto the plant.
“The candle from the menorah on the mantel, it fell,” Hudson explains as he continues to extinguish the smoke and flame.
Gracie touches my shoulder from behind and sputters a laugh. “Kind of funny, no?”
Her father looks at all of us with a serious stare until his gaze lands on his wife. He tips his nose up. “This is your grandmother. She is haunting us already.”
Piper struggles to take him seriously. “Why?”
“Piper, you know that your grandmother and I got on famously. But I already know what discussion we need to have.”
“Humor me.” Gracie is struggling to keep her hysterics in check.
“Circumcision. We should talk about if the baby is a boy. Otherwise, your great-grandmother is going to ensure I have a nightmare tonight.”
There isn’t an ounce of humor in that sentence.
Closing the passenger-side door, I circle my Porsche and slide into the driver’s seat. Starting the car, I turn to Gracie while we wait for the car to warm up. She’s resting her head against the headrest and staring at me with a tiny smile and entwines our fingers on the middle console.
“Not going to lie. This evening will go down in my history books,” I admit.
She blocks her big smile by biting her bottom lip. “Really? That’s surprising. It was just normal conversation. I mean, marriage, fires, circumcision, or if you will pass the ultimate test of installing a baby seat into your family car that you now have to buy.”
I glance quickly to the backseat of my sports car. “Your dad might have a point on the car issue.”
“All of the other stuff might come up again, but between us and not anytime soon.”
We both look down on our joined hands. “The next few weeks we can just focus on us and the little things,” I suggest.
“Exactly. I’ve already started packing a few things for your place. I can’t end my lease so fast, but I can start to stay at yours more.”
“Good.”
It’s more than appealing having her at my place every time I return home. No matter the type of day, she brings life and allows me to be carefree for a moment, even if the world around us is full of decisions and pressure.
There are a few seconds of quiet that drift through the car with our eyes tethered. “You know, I’m beginning to realize something about you.” Her voice is floaty and quiet.
“Enlighten me.”
“Behind the steely coach in a flashy suit, you are actually a family man. Maybe you didn’t know, but your mood changes when you are around family. You might come across as annoyed and firm, but inside, you are always smiling. Enjoying the moment. Using it as a reason to forget about the world.”
I want to highlight that she’s been observing me. Instead, I jump into defeat. “Seems you solved me then.” I speak in barely a whisper. “Or…” My thumb begins to rub circles on the top of her hand. “All of what you said is because I’m around you.”
Her pressed lips draw into a wistful smile. “I think I only noticed because it’s what I’m experiencing.”
I could have any woman in my bed, but I want her. I’ve never known addiction until I met her. The instant sight of her lips, a shade of pink roses, and her laugh that is a magnet and every word an adventure.
Now I have the chance to have her. The baby is just a bonus. Maybe that makes me a bad father for not thinking the baby is first and Gracie is the prize. It’s just if I close my eyes, it’s Gracie I’m beginning to inhale in every breath.
Everything inside of me knew from day one that she was an entrapment, purely from our eyes meeting and something crazy leaving her mouth to tease me. I just thought my life with her in it was unimaginable.
Leaning in, I cup her face with my hands and place a gentle kiss on her lips.
The baby just makes me grateful that he or she pushed me to see Gracie as imaginable.
Our mouths part, but I brush my lips along her jawline, feeling her warm breath and the tug of her fingers curling around my coat lapels. My intention is to lay her down on my bed, but I’m confident that we’ll both be too tired, and that’s okay. I just need to kiss her for my fix.
But damn, the feeling of her grip and the way her body curves into me will make it difficult for me to drive home without a hard-on. Her mouth follows the outline of my face and travels to my ear.
“There are things that I want you to do to me,” she rasps. “But we have got to leave because making out as an adult in my parents’ driveway is not what we need right now. Plus, my dad has cameras everywhere and it’s just awkward.”
There we go.
Hard-on issue no more.