Chapter 6
6
I don’t know if I should scrunch down in my seat in case anyone I’ve ever met should suddenly appear and look my way or if I should pretend I’ve no idea what store is in this strip mall. In the end I decide to mostly keep my head down scrolling past absolutely nothing on my phone. Sam took his back so I don’t even have the distraction of finishing his story while I wait. Although I don’t think I’m ready to read that kind of book out in public.
It feels like hours before Sam emerges from the only adult shop in town carrying a discreet white shopping bag and looking like the ideal model for any of their possible products. A sudden ray of sunshine emerges from the gray clouds overhead to beam down directly on him. His eyes turn to liquid silver as he pops the trunk and slides the bag in. I raise an inquiring eyebrow in his direction as he slides behind the wheel, but he only smirks in response.
“You’ll find out soon enough, beautiful. Definitely not kid appropriate, though, so the bag stays in the trunk until they’re safely in bed.”
While I appreciate his responsible thinking, now I’m quaking at what he bought in there. Probably not something relatively innocuous like massage oil, right? Because that might require a careful explanation as to why the kids can’t try it but otherwise it’s safe enough.
My mind churns over the possibilities as we head over to the elementary school to pick up Bea.
Naturally my youngest is full of chatter regarding her newfound fame on the playground thanks to my accident. Apparently, she held them in thrall with her description of blood everywhere and Sam riding to the rescue. I shudder and wonder if I’ll be getting calls from the school tomorrow given the graphic nature of her recitation. No point in borrowing trouble, though. And there’s nothing I can do about it now, anyway.
Fifteen minutes later, at the high school, Miranda slides into the back seat next to her sister with her usual stoic expression. Except for a brief moment when she meets my gaze directly and smirks with her head tilted towards Sam.
“So pizza at home or in the restaurant?” Sam asks before I can warn him of the war he’s about to start with that question.
“Ugh, home,” Miranda states definitively while Bea shouts, “Restaurant!” simultaneously.
Sam casts a quick look my way. I shrug and smile. “Most of the staff working there this early in the day go to Miranda’s school,” I inform him quietly.
“Ah.” He thinks about that for a minute before announcing, “Home it is, then. But Bea should come in with me to help order.”
“Yeah!” she shouts from the backseat. Sam misses the grateful look Miranda casts to the back of his head.
He’s quiet for a minute when we park at the pizzeria. Then he turns to make eye contact with the girls. “You two, I’m planning on marrying your mom. She’s smart, as I’m sure you know, so that’s going to take some convincing, which means I’m going to be in your house a lot to reinforce that idea. Any points of order you want to bring up now?”
Bea wrinkles her little forehead at the question but Miranda asks quietly, “Will we have to move?”
Sam’s eyes crinkle at the corners when he smiles reassuringly. “No. There’s no reason for that, since the location works for all of us. Later, if that’s something that seems like a good idea, it would be a family decision.”
“So we get to keep you?” Bea asks with a big smile.
“Ultimately that’s your mom’s call, but I appreciate your vote.”
“Can I bring you to show and tell?”
Sam snorts with laughter. “Maybe. We can talk about that later, kid.”
I don’t miss how both girls take it as a given that Sam is going to get what he wants. Nor did they question how he went from a virtual stranger next door to talking about marriage in the space of twenty-four hours.
Sam and Bea head inside to order. Then I turn to Miranda. “You aren’t going to tell me to be careful? That there’s no good people in the world?”
She shakes her head slowly. “Sam’s good for you. And us. He really listens to Bea, and he took care of you. And he knew what he was doing. He’s not like Dad.”
I wince at that one. It’s sad that a teenager views her own father as basically useless. The worst part is she’s not wrong.
So I guess the only person with the brakes on is me. And it’s not even all of me, just the part that freezes up at taking a chance of looking like an idiot. I sigh, wondering again what plan Sam has up his sleeve to alleviate that.
Pizza night at Noelle’s is hilarious. Bea teases Miranda about the boy she may or may not have a crush on. Miranda teases Bea by saying she’ll always be short. And Noelle simply looks relieved that there are only words and not fists being flung about. The bemused look on Noelle’s face when Miranda hauls her little sister out of the dining room promptly at seven is priceless. “We had a long week at school. We’re going to bed early,” Miranda announced, pushing back her chair. Bea just looks confused. “But we always watch movies on Friday night,” she argues.
“You’re tired,” Miranda tells her, dragging her little sister protesting out of the room. Then there’s a flurried whispered conversation in the hallway, followed by Bea shrieking with excitement. Then silence.
“I don’t feel self-conscious at all now,” Noelle comments dryly.
I grin as I set the pizza box on the counter. “We should probably give them half an hour to make sure it sticks,” I muse.
Noelle just gives me the side eye.
“Come here for a minute, beautiful. And I’ll give you a small preview of what the evening holds.”
She approaches with caution, like she’s about to shoo a bear off the highway which has my lips twitching. I slide both hands to her waist, keeping about a foot of air between us. “Now, telling you to turn off your brain clearly doesn’t work, so we’re going to give it some rules to work with so it can be happily distracted.”
Noelle responds with a short, jerky nod.
“Tonight, I’m in charge of everything. Every. Last. Thing. You can always say no, but basically you’re limited to two words. You can say more or less . Nothing else. No thinking about what you’re supposed to do or not do. Your body can figure that out all on its own. Now… let’s do a trial run.”
I already figured out she has a sensitive spot on the underside of her chin, so I head straight there with my lips, making her neck arch back to give me access. “More or less, Noelle?”
“M-m-more,” she utters with a sigh. I suck lightly on the spot in reward.
Then I go for the irritating trick my uncle loved to play by pretending to steal her nose.
Noelle frowns and immediately responds, “Definitely less.”
Kissing her forehead, I pull her close for just a moment. “There. You already know everything you need to for this evening’s entertainment. Questions?”
“What’s in the bag?”
“You’ll find out later. Now be a good girl and make sure your kids are safely tucked up. Then I want you to run a bubble bath just exactly as you did last night, but without the glass. Including putting up that ridiculous calendar. I need to run next door for a few things and then I’ll be back.”
Noelle turns this over in her mind. “You’ll lock up when you come back?” she finally asks — practical and beautiful as always.
I nod and push her gently out of the kitchen. “Exactly like last night, beautiful, minus anything breakable.”
It’s quite possible all the shit in my life was leading to this one glorious reward of unwinding Noelle. Hell, her name even means Christmas. I saunter next door to pick up a bottle of wine and retrieve my purchases from the trunk of my car. I scan my empty house before leaving. It already feels a little desolate, and I have a feeling I’ll be renting it out in the very near future if all goes well. I’ll have to put the word out at the next IPDIESAC meeting to see if any of the newer guys need a place to stay. Assuming I don’t completely fuck things up with Noelle, that is. But, if I did that, out of good conscience I’d have to move, anyway. Not going to happen, though. We’re good as long as my plan works.
Carrying my armful of loot into Noelle’s house, I set everything down long enough to check and lock the doors. Then I set up in her bedroom. The last thing I do before going to find her in the bathroom is strip off my shirt and lock the door. Then I finally grab one of my purchases and the bottle of wine.