Chapter Fourteen #2
He gave his son and his woman his garage, and he was going
to get into a cold car tomorrow.
I took a deep breath so I wouldn’t get caught by one of his
neighbors sitting in my car in the alley sobbing, and I pulled in.
Since I’d gone gung ho, I opened the back door and heaved
the massive suitcase out of it. No need to waste a trip.
That big case didn’t fit in the trunk with all my bags and
the other suitcases.
Luckily, it had rollers, but still. I had some steps to get
up, which wasn’t easy.
I made it to the back door, entered a mudroom/laundry room
that looked like an advertisement for Crate and Barrel, and then Darius was
there.
He looked to the huge-ass suitcase, to me, the suitcase,
back to me.
“Jesus, babe,” he said, lips twitching.
“There’s more in the car.”
That’s when he started chuckling, and the light that hit his
eyes was humor, for sure, it was also something else that I loved with every
fiber of my being.
He then shouted, “Liam! Get your mom’s shit from the car!”
“On it!” Liam shouted from the bowels of the house.
Darius strong-armed me away from my suitcase and rolled it
in.
I followed him into the kitchen then into the living room
and stopped there to get a kiss on the cheek from my kid and a “Hey, Mom.”
“Hey, honey.”
He kept going.
Darius left the suitcase at the foot of the stairs and came
back to me.
“How much is out there?” he asked.
“You might want to help him.”
That look in his eyes came back, he wrapped a hand around
the side of my neck, and he kissed me.
It was wet, and it was thorough, but it was far too short.
“A red is breathing for you in the kitchen,” he murmured
when he was done with my mouth.
“Okeydokey.” I was breathing too (I still wasn’t over the
kiss).
He shook his head, gave my neck a squeeze and took off.
I went to the kitchen and poured a glass of wine.
I was taking my second sip (I really needed to tour the
cellar, last night’s wine was excellent, tonight’s was superb) when my two boys
came back.
“Jeez, Mom, did you leave anything at Nordstrom?” Liam
asked.
“No,” I answered.
He shook his head like his father had not much earlier and
disappeared into the living room.
Darius, rolling my medium suitcase (Liam had all the bags,
and was rolling my carryon), followed him.
Darius came back quickly, meaning Liam got the job of
lugging that all up the stairs.
“Did you make room for my stuff?” I asked.
“Babe, I’m not a clotheshorse like you. Three quarters of my
closet is empty, and there’s inbuilt drawers in there I’ve never used.”
“So I’m set,” I said before my next sip.
“Did you bring hangers?
I frowned.
“I’ll hit Target tomorrow,” he muttered, going after his own
wineglass.
This wine thing was another surprise. I’d always thought
Darius would be a beer drinker. He was when we were partying in high school.
I guessed he grew up.
Like me.
I noticed it.
And yet part of me was stuck back in time.
Learning these new things about him, I found, was pretty
damned awesome.
“I’ll head out at lunch and go to the Container Store,” I
said. “I’m persnickety about my hangers.”
He poured as he replied, “You tell me what you want, I’ll
get it. I’m out of the office most of the time. It’s easier for me to swing by
than it is for you to get away. And you need a break for lunch, not hitting a
store.”
“It’d be appreciated.”
“That’s nice, but it really isn’t a problem.”
Okay, maybe I could take them ganging up on me, if I got
this diva treatment on the regular.
But we still had to have a conversation about the cussing.
“Did you hear about the party on Saturday?” I asked.
“Brace, baby. They’re gonna suck you into the Rock Chicks.”
The Rock Chicks.
That’s what the book was called that someone wrote about
Indy and Lee.
It was apropos. They’d always been Rock Chicks, and from
what I could tell, that also hadn’t changed.
“Is that bad?” I asked curiously.
“Not even a little bit. They’re good people,” he muttered as
Liam strolled in.
“We got a decision?” he asked. “I’m hungry.”
“Oh, are we deciding on dinner?” I inquired, and my stomach
inquired too. Those pretzel bites wore off several hours ago.
“Kind of,” Darius said then turned to me. “You wanna go out?
A family celebration. Our first dinner together. Or do you want me to cook us
something and have it lowkey here? I got a reservation at Carmine’s on Penn,
but I can call and cancel if you want lowkey.”
I watched him get wavy as the tears filled my eyes.
“Dad, she’s gonna blow,” Liam warned.
Darius got close, bent to me and cupped my face.
“Sweetheart, we don’t have time for this. Liam is hungry and our reservation is
in half an hour. If we’re staying home, I need to call so they can seat our
table. If we’re going, we have to leave in fifteen minutes. You can lose it
when we get back.”
“We-we’re going out,” I forced out. “It’s a celebration.
Nobody does dishes after a celebration.”
It was still watery, but I caught his smile.
I lost it when he touched his lips to mine.
“Rad,” Liam said. “Can we get Chicken Montana?”
With his arm around my waist, Darius tucked me into his
side.
And then he said to his son, “You can get anything you
want.”
I blubbered into my wine.
My boys looked down at me.
I lifted a hand. “Fine, fine, I’m fine.” I took a deep
breath and let it out. “Totally fine.”
“She’s not gonna make it through dinner,” Liam said to his
dad.
“Go get some Kleenex from the bathroom and shove it into her
purse.”
“Gotcha.”
Liam took off.
Serious.
It was like magic.
I looked up at Darius. “Is it really just because you have a
dick?”
“No. It’s because he’s happy and he wants us happy. In a
week, he’s gonna return to being a teenaged kid.”
“So you have times were he grumbles and moans and backtalks
under his breath?”
Darius’s brows went up. “He backtalks you?”
I shook my head quickly. “No. No. Never. Not ever.” And I
hid my lying eyes by looking away and taking a sip of wine.
Darius nabbed his glass and sipped his.
Then he stated, “You’re a shit liar.”
“Whatever,” I said into my glass. After another sip, I told
him, “I want Chicken Montana too.”
He turned me fully into his arms and bent his neck to look
down at me.
“Anything you want, baby. Always.”
I rested against him in his beautiful kitchen held in his
strong arms, thinking this was working out great.
For me.
For Liam.
But especially, for Darius.