Chapter 17
BLYTHE
A month later…
She lookedup for the fourth time the moment that Lance appeared in the doorway of the bathroom where she was putting on her eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss and smiled. This was the fourth outfit he’d put on, and she had never seen him so agitated.
“How’s this look?” Lance grumbled.
“You look wonderful – just like the other three outfits looked good. Are you nervous or something?”
Her husband stood there, opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, before hesitating.
“Uh, nooo? Why would I be nervous about tonight?”
“I have no idea. It’s just dinner.”
“With your coworkers, remember?”
“Exactly. It’s all the managers only, and the owner might come to dinner, but I doubt it. He only shows up usually at Christmastime. Relaaaax, Lance.”
“Your boss is a sexist pig and a jerk,” he began, muttering and holding up a finger with each comment he made. “I hate him, but the money is great. The used car manager is also a pig, and I had to make small talk with him on Friday when I picked you up. Do you know how hard that was? The new car manager is a bigger twat than the other two – and I didn’t think that was possible. Don’t even get me started on the parts manager. That man would sell his grandma on a street corner if he got a bonus out of the deal. Five bucks say that ol’ Duane-the-Pain drinks water and eats soup tonight. I’ve got a good mind to sit directly across from him and order a steak so big that it’s hanging off my plate since the dealership is paying for this fiasco.”
“You should,” she chuckled, putting on her earrings and smiling at him.
“And dessert,” he retorted. “I’m getting a dessert to eat there – and one to bring home. Can we drink?”
“Yup. Jack doesn’t have a problem with you ordering a drink to celebrate.”
“Top shelf then. I’m gonna enjoy glaring at the parts manager over a nice expensive bourbon…”
“Lance,” she laughed. “Duane isn’t so bad. Yeah, he’s cheap – but he became a manager because he runs a very profitable department. You get one drink, too.”
“And my gorgeous wife can talk the socks off a nun… or a firefighter into marrying her.”
“It’s a good thing, too,” she smiled tenderly at him, plucking an imaginary piece of lint off his shoulder just so she could touch him. It was still sometimes so hard to believe that this wasn’t some glorious dream.
Sure, they had moments that were tough. Her sweet husband could be just as stubborn as her. He insisted they needed a four-hundred-dollar pellet grill and she said no – only to find out it was already assembled on the back porch. A week later, he was talking about replacing the carpet since she had a large bonus check coming in, and they had argued about that, too.
The man was always wanting to improve the house, spending money, and trying to impress her – and none of it was necessary. It wasn’t until she was so frustrated that she’d yelled it at him, that they both realized they’d crossed a line.
“I’m sorry, Boop,” he said brokenly. “I just want our home to be everything you could possibly imagine – and when we start to have a family, I want them to feel like our ‘nest’ is special too. I love what we have, but I do see small things that I want to make better, and I’m sorry.”
“Dang it, Lance,” she rasped, sighing and near tears. “I don’t want to argue or fight with you… especially when I want the same things. I’m commission. The money ebbs and flows. Sometimes, I have a massive bonus check, and other times it’s going to be enough to eat ramen for five days straight. I emptied my savings to buy this place. The bill for the bedroom furniture came in, the hospital bills are starting to arrive – it’s all just a lot, and I need a second to breathe.”
“Shhh,” he began, immediately walking toward her and enveloping her in his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about any of that – and maybe we should look at the bills together so I know more about what’s going on. I mean, I get my check and go to pay the truck payment only to see you already mailed it off.”
“I’m a bit controlling…” she muttered, burying her face against his chest.
“Nah, you are pretty awesome, but that is why I bought the grill. I thought we were good.”
“We are, but it doesn’t last, and I need that security blanket.”
“Now that I can appreciate,” he smiled, turning her face toward him. “I saved my first three months of paychecks when I left the orphanage and slept on a buddy’s couch to avoid paying rent, because I needed the same financial cushion you are referring to.”
“Can we give it six months to a year before we do anything else major? Or at least can we talk about it first?”
“Deal,” he breathed, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. That had been a turning point in their marriage, realizing that neither was alone anymore. It wasn’t just a partner in the bedroom, emotionally or physically but planning for the future, finances, and making decisions together was a big step.
“You can have my one drink tonight, too,” she offered, getting back to the moment at hand. “And yes, we’ll sit in front of ‘Duane-the-Pain’ and his wife, ‘Electric Barbarella.’”
“Oh?” Lance perked up at the nickname she’d dubbed the woman the first time she met her.
“I shouldn’t have said that…”
“You gotta tell me now…”
“You have to promise not to laugh, stare, or make a comment.”
“It’s that bad?”
“Yes.”
“Then I make no promises…”
“Lance!”
“What? I’m not going to ever lie to my wife, and if it’s that bad – do you know how hard that’s gonna be not to comment on whatever is wrong with the woman?”
“Look, she’s different. Her name is Barbara and...” Blythe took a deep breath and pointed at him. “You’ve got to promise me you’ll be on your best behavior… please.”
“For you – yes. I’ll try.”
“Ughhh,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes. “Why am I almost sure that I’m going to regret telling you?”
“Obviously, I’m going to find out in about… oh, thirty minutes?” he grinned, looking at an imaginary watch that he didn’t have on his wrist yet.
Blythe glared at him.
“Spill it, Betty Boop…”
“Barbara had a facelift, Botox, and a lot of work done last year… a lot. When you mix that with the fact that she has zero expression, almost no eyebrows, and looks plastic with all that foundation…”
“Well my, my, my Blythe Cortes… you are a wretched little fiend when it comes to nicknames,” he chuckled smugly and grinning from ear to ear. “Electric Barbarella indeed. What a brilliant moniker, and I’m not sure I would have thought of it.”
“I’m probably going to hell for it one of these days…”
“You are smokin’ hot, wife.”
“You are not helping things.”
“I’m kidding, Boop,” he laughed, hugging her. “And I promise to be on my best behavior tonight.”
An hour later,the large group was finally seated at the table, and Lance made a beeline to sit in front of Duane, turning to wag his eyebrows at her playfully so no one saw it. Her husband was a complete mess – and she loved it. He held out her chair, ordered two bourbons, and kept this knowing smile plastered on his face as people chatted around them.
It was a peaceful evening.
Almost perfect.
When she felt Lance freeze, put down his napkin, and shoot to his feet, every irrational thought ran through her mind in that moment. There was such surprise written on his face along with a reckless, driven look that she’d only seen a few other times.
Was she about to come face-to-face with an ex-girlfriend?
Was the kitchen on fire?
Was he choking?
“Uh, Killer… what’s with your man?” Jack asked bluntly from the end of the table as Lance nearly knocked over his chair and started weaving his way through the dining room like a crazed man.
“I have no idea,” she began – and was getting to her feet when she saw her husband stop, talking to a man in the distance, and suddenly knew what he was up to. Boneless, she plopped back down and stared as the scene before her unfolded.
She loved this steakhouse. It was warm and inviting, with an expensive atmosphere that bordered on pretentiousness. Velvet curtains, leather seats, dim sconces along the walls with brick facia peeking through the plasterwork, almost giving the look of a speakeasy from the Twenties, but there was also live music.
And her husband was on the stage with zero hesitation.
“Is he for real?”
“Your husband better not get us kicked outta here, Blythe…”
“It doesn’t come out of our gross then…”
“What is that man doing?”
“Is he drunk?”
“I saw him order the two bourbons…”
“Jack, why do you let people drink at these things?”
Blythe heard the comments – and ignored them. She only had eyes for the breathtakingly beautiful man who was looking directly at her. His eyes were glowing with warmth; he looked so blissfully happy, and she knew that this was a moment she would never forget.
“Oh shoot…” she began, grabbing her phone and hitting ‘Record’ immediately – only to see Lance’s smile widen as he nodded in approval.
“This is for my beautiful wife…”
Lance didn’t hesitate as he looked at the other musician holding a bass guitar. The man was strumming rhythmically, and Lance was nodding, getting the ‘feel’ of the song. At that moment, she knew exactly what her husband was about to do.
Blythe had once quoted one of her favorite songs to him – and they had discovered they both shared a love for the same kind of music. For the longest time, she had no idea how much he loved getting carried away by the sound of it because he didn’t look the part of a ‘rockstar.’ No, her husband was clean-cut and looked like he could be modeling for a magazine – not slamming his head, playing his heart out, or singing at the top of his lungs to rock music.
She saw him take a deep breath – and held hers, ignoring the comments around her once more as her entire focus zeroed in on her soulmate.
And he winked.
The tidal wave took over, and she watched, mesmerized, as a different being seemed to snap into his gorgeous frame. He began playing the electric guitar, strumming it violently as his foot tapped. All you could see for a brief moment was the top of his head as he hung it, focusing on what he was doing… and then he stepped forward, looking at her, singing.
She stared, completely starstruck.
Lance was belting out the lyrics, the cords on his neck straining as he played. His whole body physically moving toward the microphone, darting back to inhale and then again pounding out word-by-word the lyrics to ‘All My Life’ by The Foo Fighters.
It wasn’t a romance song, not by any means, but it didn’t matter. Her husband was singing directly to her, in front of everyone, serenading her so sweetly… and she was enthralled.
Before she knew it, the song was over – and everyone in the entire restaurant shot to their feet, applauding. It was so funny to see her bold singer suddenly looking shy – and she laughed. He was so uncomfortable with the attention, which was probably the only reason he wasn’t on stage at every chance he could.
No, he was doing that for her, making memories that would last a lifetime.
She would never forget that first meeting in her office, the first real look when the calendar picture was taken, nor seeing him when she woke up at the hospital. No, he was her every dream, her wish, her fantasy,… and life would never be the same – for any of them.
“That’s your amazing Daddy, my little squishy,” she whispered, tearing up, and couldn’t wait to replay this for Lance tonight. Her period was late, and she had only tested positive this morning. All day long she had been racking her brain how to tell him, but this was everything all wrapped into one precious moment.
“Dude!” Jack hollered as Lance moved to take his seat, looking at her sheepishly. “I had no idea you could play guitar.”
“Nope,” Lance replied. “I only play for Blythe, and she’s the real rockstar here tonight.”
“Now, I beg to differ…” the used car manager chuckled – and Lance interrupted him.
“Beg all you want. It changes nothing. My wife slays, and we all know it. Why do you think Jack calls her Killer. What does he call you?”
“He’s got you there,” Jack crowed in delight causing everyone around the table to laugh. He held up his drink to Lance – and Blythe nudged the other bourbon toward her husband. She wasn’t touching the stuff and knew Lance had only ordered it to irritate Duane-the-Pain.
“To amazing people and incredible moments,” Jack grinned.
“On that, I can agree,” Lance smiled, relaxing for the first time since they had arrived, and tapped his glass against her water goblet. “Amazing people and incredible moments we’ll never forget.”
“Indeed, Hero… indeed.”
That evening,Lance was smiling and talking as they got ready for bed. He came out of the bathroom with a towel slung low around his hips as she was smoothing moisturizer onto her face and neck. She really liked that they were so comfortable around each other, could be themselves, and he never teased her about anything. It was as if everything she did was deemed as amazing or incredible by him – even if it was something as simple as this.
“Dang, you are beautiful…” he grinned, coming up behind her and hugging her.
“Says the man who is barely decent – that scrap of terry cloth that is about four feet long and one breeze would…” she started and collapsed into laughter as he began playfully nuzzling her neck, pretending to bite at her like a little vampire. “Stop that, silly.”
“Why? Since when are you not wanting to fool around?”
“Since my incredible husband played his heart out on stage, I thought we could watch it again.”
“Ughhhh,” he groaned and rolled his eyes.
“Are you seriously blushing, Lance?”
“Me? Never… I just don’t want to look stupid in front of you.”
“You were amazing… and so sexy,” she teased and saw him perk up as he grinned.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, Hero – you really got to me,” she smiled. “I love our life, you know that?”
“I love our life, too.”
“I’m gonna brush my teeth and throw on something. I’ll be right there, and maybe we can cuddle or watch the news on the television.”
“Sure,” she smirked, realizing he was a little embarrassed about his performance – but there was no way she was missing this. “Do you want a Coke or some tea?”
“Nah, I’m good,” he brushed her off, already moving toward the bathroom.
Now was her chance!
Hopping into the bed, she flipped on the television and did the ‘Mirror Image’ from her phone to the Apple TV, waiting a brief second for her video to appear on the screen. Hitting play, she stared at the screen smiling, watching her gorgeous husband work that guitar, sing, and dance. She ignored his groan of awareness in the distance, letting the video play through deliberately and then heard it.
“That’s your amazing Daddy, my little squishy.”
Her voice was loud and clear on the television speakers, and it took all of two seconds for Lance’s face to appear in the doorway, the toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and his lips covered with foam.
“Pway dat again…?” he ordered; his dark eyes were huge.
“Hmm?” she said innocently, fighting back the urge to smile and dutifully hit play once more. He stood there, waving his hands impatiently as if to hurry along the three-minute video, and when the song was over, he flung his hands wide to make sure everything was silent, staring at the screen.
“That’s your amazing Daddy, my little squishy.”
“Squishy? We’re dunna hab a squishy?”
Blythe laughed as a big ol’ blob of toothpaste rolled down his chin.
“Go rinse your mouth…”
Lance reached down and grabbed the plastic wastebasket, spit and chunked his toothbrush in there like he was spiking a football.
“Don’t do that…!” she yelped – but it was too late. He was already climbing onto the end of the bed, scrambling up to her and smiling from ear to ear before he tackled her against the pillows.
“Omgosh, if it’s a girl – we are naming her Stacy, ‘cause you know Stacy’s mom has got it going on…”
“Don’t even,” she interrupted, laughing as he tickled her stomach.
“Where’s my baby Squishy?”
“Lance…”
“I don’t see her…”
“What if it’s a boy?”
“Bahhh – boy’s are pests.”
“How are you going to feel chasing off some boy when our daughter is seventeen.”
“Lucky for you, I do look good in prison orange,” he chuckled tenderly, kissing her as she laughed, not bothering to hide it. “Stop giggling. It makes it hard to do some serious neckin’, woman. I wanna celebrate.”
“I think you ‘celebrated’ several times which is why I’m pregnant.”
“I forgot,” he taunted, grinning playfully. “Time to refresh my memory.”
“Oh my gosh, you are terrible…”
“I’m amazing, and you love me.”
There was something there in his voice that made the both of them stop wrestling and playing around. She met his warm, tender gaze and touched his cheek, neither moving.
“I never dreamed that life could be so good,” he whispered intimately, and she felt such a bond, something so magnetic and indescribable between them as her thumb caressed his cheekbone.
“I love being a part of your world.”
“I can’t believe we’re going to have a little piece of us to love on and hold. It almost seems surreal, like this is some dream.”
“If it is, I never want to wake up…”
“Then dream with me forever, darling,” he invited, his lips brushing against hers as she arched into his kiss.