Chapter 13 #2
“I didn’t know if he was going to take the job or not until last week.
He accepted their offer and we loaded up our things and came home.
I was ready to be back, I missed my girl.
It’s so good to see you, baby,” she beams and looks over my shoulder.
I follow her gaze to find Cass and David walking toward the kitchen, talking about machining tools and the fabrication shop.
“Looks like they’re getting along just fine,” I smile looking back at her.
“They seem to be. And he is just as handsome as Mindy said! Speaking of…when is she going to be here?”
“Cass talked to Linc earlier and they were just about to head this way. She should be here any minute now. Until then, come see the house!”
I grab her hand and nearly drag her into the kitchen.
I take her on a tour of the entire house, which is now fully furnished, decorated, and stocked with groceries.
We got Cass’s man cave set up along with my office and have the other rooms set up as spare bedrooms adorned with a set of bunk beds and a queen bed in each.
My mom marvels at the house the same way I had when I first saw it and it gives me a sense of pride. I’ve just finished showing her the wine room when the back door pops open and Mindy and Linc walk in.
“Margie!” Mindy runs past everyone and hugs her. The two of them had become close because they had one thing above all in common, they both worried about me.
“Hey, Min.”
“Alright you guys, let’s eat!”
I lift the lid on the pot that is filled with a cream-based shrimp and corn soup with garlic toast on the side.
I distribute plates and utensils and Linc and Mindy are spooning rice onto their plates before I can even move out of their way.
David is right behind me, but my mom and Cass are standing a few feet away whispering.
I eye them suspiciously and Cass looks up just in time to get a good look at my face.
Immediately he busts out laughing and makes his way over to me.
“Is he telling secrets from my childhood?” I ask as my mom approaches.
“Not a chance, sweetie.” But the sly grin on my mother’s face says otherwise.
“Hmm,” I sigh, but don’t press the issue.
Once everyone is seated at the dining room table that’d just been delivered last week, my mom insists that we say grace. She makes it short and sweet and we dig in.
Dinner is a success and I learn that Cass and David worked together on a job a few years before he had opened his own shop.
They know a ton of the same people, too.
Linc didn’t know much about what Cass and David were talking about, but he listened intently anyway since Cass has just hired him at the shop. Cass says he’s eager to learn, too.
Me, Mom, and Mindy are talking about how my mom’s stay in Ohio was and what she did. She’d crocheted fifteen blankets, watched every Harry Potter movie more times than she could count, and did a ton of cooking. That was her life while David worked, that and worrying about me.
“If you would’ve returned a phone call or two every now and then…” she chastised.
“I did! I’ve talked to you every day for the past two months!”
“Yeah, but before that. Before that I was lucky to hear from you once every month. That’s okay, though, cause I’m home now and I know where you live.”
“Good. I might ignore your calls just so you’ll show up.”
“And she will,” David chimes in and the two of them share a googly-eyed exchange. My mom is happy, finally, and it looks good on her.
After dinner, we make our way onto the back patio. The sun has just started to set and once again, the beautiful hues of the evening sky dance atop the water. Sitting at a table around the pool, my mom and David smoke cigarettes while Cass and I head inside to grab a few beers for everyone.
“I like them,” Cass says as he opens the fridge and fills his arms with as many cans of Bud Light as he can hold.
“Whew! Good thing, cause I kinda like them too,” I joke as I grab three Smirnoffs from the bottom drawer in the fridge.
“They’re good people. You’re a lot like her, you know.”
I grin at his compliment and start toward the back door. “Thanks, baby.”
I always take it as a huge compliment when someone mentions she and I being alike.
I’ve always strived to be like my mom. She was my biggest role model.
As the night goes on, my mom and David leave early to get to their hotel since they have a busy week ahead of them.
They’re buying a house and have an entire house full of things to move in a short amount of time.
Cass offered his assistance and told them he’d ask some of the club guys to see if any of them were free to help, too.
Once they’re gone, Mindy and Linc leave shortly thereafter.
I have no complaints about that, though.
I’ve enjoyed our evening with our family and am ready to clean up and relax.
At least that was what I had in mind. Fifteen minutes later, I have a clean kitchen and a boyfriend that’s dragging me out of the back door.
He opens the door to his black F-150, the truck he’d just bought that is identical the rental he’d had in Cali.
I’d wondered when he brought it home if he’d actually bought the rental, but it has a few differences.
The interior cloth is a much darker grey and the steering wheel has thirty different controls, and this truck has a sunroof.
“Baby, where are we going?” I ask as he turns out of the driveway.
“Some place quiet.”
I sigh. I’m not sure about surprises lately, the last few I’d gotten over the past few months weren’t good ones.
I go through a mental checklist. We aren’t going to eat because we’d just eaten.
We could be going to shoot pool or to the movies.
It isn’t too late for that. No, that isn’t quiet.
We could be going to the clubhouse. No, that isn’t quiet either.
Hell, we could be going anywhere, especially if Cass is in charge. Where the hell is he taking me?
***
Cass
I can see that it is absolutely killing Lilly inside as she sits restlessly in my passenger seat while I drive us to our destination.
She’s only asked once, but the longer she sits in the truck not knowing, the antsier she got.
She’s fiddled with the radio at least twelve times in the last fifteen minutes and she’s no longer staring out her window.
Instead, she looks straight ahead and every thirty seconds she’s turning her head to stare at me.
We turn in at the city park and her eyes sparkle as she stares at the array of lights hung around. It’s decorated beautifully for some big event that’s coming up and I am about to take advantage of it. The city shouldn’t mind, I probably helped pay for it anyway.
White strings of Christmas-looking lights are hung everywhere and the fountain in the center of the park has a color-changing light in the middle of it.
I park in front since no one is out here at this hour.
It’s supposed to be closed, but I called in a favor to the security guard who just so happened to be the newest prospect for the Hounds.
“This is gorgeous!” Lilly looks around in awe.
“They just decorated for their big event coming up. I think it’s the city’s hundredth anniversary or something,” I tell her, killing the truck.
I step out and walk around to open her door.
I offer her my hand and she takes it, hopping down.
My arm is curled around her waist as we walk toward the opening.
“The park stays open all night?” she asks, looking at the open gate.
“It might…kind of.”
We walk through the front gate and into the park.
Concrete paths curve their way through the center, all of them branching off then meeting back in the middle, ultimately leading to the fountain and beyond it.
Flowers of all colors line the walls in different place, strategically placed between different monuments.
Slowly, inspecting everything around us, Lilly walks down the concrete path.
She looks around at the large trees decorated with lights and small animal figures, pointing out the cutest ones to me as we walk past. I walk quietly beside her, watching her more than I’m watching anything else.
I wonder how I got so lucky. Lucky enough to find a woman accepting of not only me, but my club.
“Baby, look!” Lilly points at the fountain as it changes from the color-changing light, to a beautiful flash of white lights that looks like miniature fireworks exploding in the water of the fountain.
She takes off towards the fountain, with me on her heels. She stops at the edge of it, and I stop just behind her, pulling her into my arms. We’re so close that the mist from the fountain is coating us in tiny droplets of moisture.
“I wanted you to see how pretty it was here at night. It’s beautiful. Breathtaking.”
She smiles and tilts her head slightly in my direction. “Thank you. For thinking of me and for bringing me.”
Her head rests against my chest and I can feel my heart beating faster with every passing minute. My nerves are on the edge of going haywire, but I’m maintaining my composure quite well for someone who is more nervous than I’ve ever been in my entire life.
“You know why I wanted to meet your mom so bad?” I ask.
“Nope,” she says, her eyes closed and her head never moving from the spot on my chest. Good. Stay like that a little bit longer.
“Because she’s the most important person to you. Your dad isn’t here anymore, so she was the best second.”
“The best for what?” she asks, her brow knitted in confusion but her eyes remaining closed.
I reach into my pocket and pull out the little black box I’ve been carrying all day. I pop it open with one hand, trying like hell not to gain her attention. I don’t want to spoil the surprise just yet.
I kiss the top of her forehead and take the plunge, getting down on one knee. I stare up at a stunned Lilly. Her hand is slapped over her mouth and she’s staring at me with wide eyes that have tears pooled in them.
“The best person to ask permission for your hand in marriage. Lilly, I love you. My life has changed so much for the better since you walked into it and I don’t want to waste another second of it without making you mine forever. Will you marry me, Lilly Summers?”
Lilly’s arms wrap around my neck before she speaks. “Abso-fuckin’-lutely.”