Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Randall
He’d gone and said it all out loud. Our time together may have felt like everything I ever wanted, but there was a world beyond my snow globe mountain, a world that included his parents. I couldn’t tell if he’d noticed the change in my expression until he moved in front of me.
“Randall,” he chastised before bending to his knees, his hands firm on my upper arms. “It’s okay, Randall.
Please, just let us have tonight. Tomorrow, we have to pack up and head home, but tonight I just want it to be you and me, snuggling together.
Please let the outside world stay out there for one more day. ”
“But …” He put a finger to my lips and shook his head no, stopping me from posing an argument.
“Nuh-uh,” he insisted instead. “We have hours in the car tomorrow to talk about the past and the future and how crazy this is and what we think is happening or could happen between us. For tonight, please, can we just climb in this bed and snuggle and fall asleep in each other’s arms?”
I held in a sigh and smiled at him. I loved how my smile lit up his face as well. “That sounds perfect,” I said.
And of course, he responded by teasing, “Parfect.” I pecked his lips through both of our smiles and stood up. He followed me downstairs, and we raided the refrigerator quickly, snacking on deli meat and pretzels while leaning on the kitchen island and chatting about our favorite foods.
We moved to the couch with another bowl of popcorn when we were done.
Only that night, Austin positioned himself in the corner of the couch with one leg resting on it, his arms open wide in welcome.
I nestled myself between his legs like I belonged there, draping the blanket over us and dragging the bowl of popcorn onto my lap.
At Austin’s insistence, we watched a truly insane movie where a snowman came to life and lived happily ever after with the widowed owner of the small town’s main-street diner.
The film may have been ridiculous, but we both managed to stay awake to witness the happy ending.
Afterward, Austin took the bowl to the sink and washed it while I folded the blanket. Then he silently followed me back up to my room. I rounded the bed to the side I usually entered from but stopped to face him and waved my hand over the bed.
“Do you have a preference?” Austin gave the question some thought, staring at the bed.
“Never shared a bed before, but I think this should be my side.” He generously chose the side I hadn’t walked to.
“Okay,” I agreed.
He flipped the covers back with a flick so that my side would turn over as well, and we climbed in.
In some ways, crawling into bed with someone brought back memories of my years being part of a couple, but part of me also felt giddy, knowing that this wasn’t the rote routine of the past; this was something new and fresh and exciting.
I sighed as I stretched out and reached up to shut off the light. Austin slid over to snuggle into my side. “Parfect,” he said, laying his head on my chest.
“You know I really can’t hear it, but I suppose there are a few words I’ve adopted over the years.”
He propped his head on my chest and looked at me. “Yeah? What’s your favorite?”
I didn’t hesitate before answering.
“Chuffed—it means pleased. I had to guess from context when I heard it for the first time. I don’t know, chuffed. It sounded to me like it could mean something negative, but it doesn’t.”
“Well, I’m chuffed to have met you, Randall.”
“And I’m dead chuffed to have met you too, Austin.”
He rested his head back on my chest, and I wrapped my arm around him like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Tell me about that time, when you first got to England,” he insisted, and I just started talking about those early days but also about my marriage and divorce, my work and friends. We spent time laughing and joking as we listed other “English” words.
But I wasn’t the only one to share. Austin told me about growing up in New Jersey, his family moving full-time to a beach town when he was ten, his mother sometimes working remotely and sometimes spending days away from home when she was needed in New York.
“They never wanted the city life for me. Plus, you know my dad,” he said casually, like it wasn’t a big deal. “He’s so low-key, he really adores the beach life. He has the bar, which he loves. It’s right on the beach, and our house is walking distance from it.
“Mom could take it or leave it, I think, but she wants him to be happy. I love summer evenings when she’s in town, and we’re at the bar; whether we’re hanging out or helping out, she just beams at my dad to see him in his element.”
“It must have been hard, Steph being away so much?” I asked, and he shrugged.
“She wasn’t always gone, and she worked hard to be there for the important things, big games or school performances, but Dad was definitely the primary. He took care of me. Came on every field trip, coached me in soccer when I was a kid, and was team mom when I played in high school.”
I scoffed, and Austin looked up at me. “Yeah, we never bothered to call it anything but team mom, but he volunteered to help out. Was at every game.”
“He sounds like a good dad.”
Austin sat up a bit and tapped me on the chest. “That’s why I was so surprised when he called me last week and told me he wasn’t coming to pick me up. He always comes to pick me up.”
“You don’t have a car?”
“Nah, I hate the drive, and dad loves it, so I’ve avoided bringing my car up here. Dad keeps threatening to sell it. I’ll probably bring it up next year.” He shrugged. “I won’t have as much time when I’m in med school to walk everywhere.”
“Makes sense. So why didn’t Marty come this time?”
Austin buried his head so deep in the crook of my arm that his breath tickled my armpit when he spoke. I could barely hear him. I was also oddly turned on by the sensation.
I think he mumbled, “I probably shouldn’t have said that,” but I stiffened as he said it, and his head popped back up. He looked so adorable and a little lost because of my change in body language, I presumed.
I couldn’t help but draw him toward me and kiss the shit out of him, mumbling the word, “Tickles,” as I did so. We both relaxed substantially.
We ended up on our sides, arms and legs entangled, his member stiffening against my leg. I reached my hand down to wrap around it, but he swatted it away.
“Don’t worry about that,” he said as he guided my arm back around his waist. “It’s fine.”
He ignored my “are you sure” look and returned to the topic at hand with a sigh. “I think my parents used you giving me a ride as an excuse to make you come visit for the holidays.” He looked at me as he said it but dropped his head to the pillow and closed his eyes after he had.
I’d had my suspicions.
“Oh, well. I guess I would have been alone otherwise.” I squeezed my hand at his waist to get him to look at me. “And now I’m not.”
His smile lit up the dark room once again. “And now you’re not.”
We kissed some more and talked some more and eventually, we faded in each other's arms.
I awoke first and headed down to make breakfast, taking a moment to inventory all the food that remained in my refrigerator. Most of it would keep, but I found a cooler and tossed a few ice packs in so we could take perishables with us.
Austin came down a few minutes later. I spoke before I turned to him, busy whisking eggs. “I hope I didn’t wake you. I may need to rethink this open-loft concept.” I turned then to see that he had my balled-up sheets in his hand.
I don’t think my face hid my surprise or my disappointment as I took him in.
He was all smiles. “I thought I’d start a wash. Figured you’d want to come home to crisp, clean sheets.” I tried to quickly plaster on a smile. I was about to thank him, but he spoke first. “Did I do the wrong thing? You seem decidedly un-chuffed right now.”
I was amazed at his perception. The thought of someone knowing me so well was somewhat scary.
The thought of someone knowing me so well so quickly seemed remarkable.
The thought of him knowing me so well was absolutely thrilling.
How had my life become such confusion and contradiction in such a short time?
How had I gotten so turned around by the man before me?
Since it felt like he could see right through me, I figured there was nothing for it but the truth. I laughed at the phrase “un-chuffed” and came to stand before him.
“No, you’re right. The last thing I did was wash those sheets and make the bed right before I came to pick you up.
” Seeing him for the first time at the bus station felt like a lifetime ago.
I sought out my feelings. “I think, maybe, the thought of coming home to sheets that smell like you would be nice.” I was too embarrassed to smile, but I held his gaze.
He leaned over the pile in his hands and kissed me before shrugging and heading toward the laundry room. “Well, I’ve pulled them off now. Let’s get them washed, and maybe I can come back sometime and stink them up for you again!”
I returned to the stove and mumbled, “Okay,” to myself as I picked up the whisk. We talked about simple things as we ate, Austin animatedly explaining some of the holiday traditions that were in store for me. In the background, the weather station assuring us we had a cold but clear day ahead.
“Dad will open the bar and serve lunch and dinner to holiday shoppers who brave the cold to shop at the beach. Sometimes I take a shift or two waiting tables. Have you ever worked in a restaurant?”
“Not once. I worked in my local video game store at the mall as a kid in Kansas. I’ve been in IT ever since.”
While we were eating, the sound of a vehicle heading toward my home got louder and louder.
Austin got up from the dinette to take a look. “There’s your plow guy.”
“You sound disappointed.”