Chapter 7 #3
Well, crap. That’s not what I expected at all. “Oh,” I whisper, having nothing else to say.
“Why do you ask?”
“Oh, um, Kenton mentioned her,” I say, cutting wedges of cheese and placing them on the platter. Susan comes to stand next to me, moving my hair off my shoulder. I look over at her and she smiles.
“You have nothing to worry about.”
“Okay.” I smile but I know it doesn’t reach my eyes. I’m just praying that she doesn’t say anything else. I really don’t want to cry.
“Talk to Asher about it if it’s bothering you.”
“I will,” I promise her, knowing that it’s time we talk about his ex-wife and the reason he got divorced.
It’s completely irrational that it bothers me.
I know he loves me, but part of me wishes he didn’t have a past. Well, at least one that he was married in.
Stupid, I know since I was engaged, but I love him more than I ever thought possible.
And now that I feel this kind of love, I realize that I didn’t actually love my ex.
He was a crutch. I wanted him so I could start a life on my own, one where my mother didn’t have any control.
I’m glad it didn’t work out. I’m not glad that he slept with my mom, but our relationship wouldn’t have been fair to him in the long run.
“Hey, baby girl.” I turn and see my dad walking into the kitchen with my grandma following close behind him.
“Daddy.” I take two steps and his arms are around me. He tilts my face back with his hands on my cheeks.
“Are you okay? You look sad.”
“I’m fine. Just helping Susan.” I smile. I don’t want him to worry about me. His eyes narrow, but before he can question me, Asher walks into the kitchen.
“Mike.” He pats my dad on the back. He looks at me and his eyes narrow. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m just happy.” I roll my eyes.
“You don’t look fucking happy. You look sad.”
“Geez, did either of you stop to think that I haven’t had this before, and I’m just sad that I missed out on it for so long?”
“Shit,” Asher mumbles, rubbing his hands down his face.
My dad’s eyes turn angry. Once again, I put my foot in my mouth. “What did you do on holidays?” Dad asks.
Crap, crap, crap. Me and my damn foot. When will I learn to keep it out of my mouth?
“I went to a friend’s. Can we please not talk about this and just enjoy tonight?
” I ask softly. My dad takes a deep breath while pulling my head to his chest and kissing my hair.
I lift my head and smile at him. My grandma and Susan are watching me closely.
“I’m going to help Susan finish these platters,” I say, pulling away from my dad and stepping in front of the platter I was making.
“Okay, baby girl. I’m going to go get a drink. We can visit when you’re done,” Crisis averted. Yay!
Smiling, I look over at him. “I’ll find you.”
My dad smiles then saunters out of the kitchen. If I had one wish, it would be for my dad to find a good woman to love. He deserves happiness more than anyone I know. Plus, my dad is good-looking. It shocks me that he hasn’t had a relationship since my mom.
“You sure you’re okay, baby?” Asher asks, pulling my back to his front.
“I’m fine,” I say, leaning against him.
“I’m gonna finish talking to Kenton. I got worried that someone else was trying to steal you away when you didn’t come back to me.”
“Go talk to him. I’m okay in here. When we’re done, I’ll find you,” I say, but I want to ask right then why he divorced Joan and why Kenton would ask if he needed to talk about her. But we’ll have plenty of time later to talk about her, and it is Christmas Eve. I really don’t want him to be upset.
“Okay, love you,” he says against my ear and goose bumps spread across my skin. He squeezes me then I feel his presence leave the kitchen before I can tell him that I love him too.
“Nice save,” Susan says, making me jump.
“Um,” I mumble and she starts laughing.
“Just promise that you will talk to him about Joan. I know his history with her is bothering you.”
“Promise,” I say, smiling.
“Who’s Joan?” Crap! Of course, I forgot that my grandmother is here. She’s like a damn ninja. She’s constantly sneaking up on you when you least expect it, or she is so quiet that you forget she’s there and say crap that isn’t meant to be heard by her.
“Asher’s ex-wife,” Susan shares, and I watch my grandma’s eyes pop out of her head.
“Well, shit. That’s not what I thought you were going to say.”
“Grandma,” I scold her. She has the mouth of a sailor.
“Don’t take that tone with me. I’ve heard you pull up in that car of yours with that music you listen to, talking about bitches this and bitches that. And I know your man cusses more in one sentence than I do in a day.”
Well, she had me there. Rap music did tend to use the word bitch a little too often, and Asher could curse even when there was nothing to curse about.
“Point taken,” I mumble.
“Why would you be upset that he had a life before you? I hate to remind you, but you were engaged.”
“You were engaged?” Susan gasps. Geez, this day started out so perfectly, and now every time I turn around, someone is talking about something I don’t want to talk about.
“I was, and then I found out that the guy was a total jerk and broke it off.” I look over at my grandma. “I’m not upset. I just want to understand why they split up.” Grandma nods her head in understanding.
“What did he do? I mean, why did you call off your engagement?” Susan asks.
“He cheated,” I say and hear my grandmother inhale. I never told my father why I called off the engagement so he was never able to tell her. Since I’ve been home, she’s never asked.
Besides, the idea of telling them that he cheated on me with my mom didn’t sound like a conversation I wanted to have.
“Well, I think you should talk to him about it,” my grandmother says like she just solved all of my problems. I smile, shaking my head.
“I’m going to talk to him, just not on Christmas Eve. We should be having a good time visiting with friends and family.”
“Such a smart girl,” she says, pinching my cheek like I’m five.
“Thanks.” I smile.
“Okay, let me and your grandma finish these and you go visit with everyone,” Susan says, taking the knife and cheese away from me.
“DO YOU LIKE it?” Asher whispers into my ear. It is Christmas morning and both of our families are over and most are still wearing pajamas. Somehow, everyone decided while they were drunk that we should all have breakfast and open gifts at Asher’s house.
Making early morning plans while drinking is not smart.
I made the coffee extra strong and put out aspirin as an appetizer before breakfast. The first person showed up at eight.
Asher kissed me and got out of bed. I hid under the covers, hoping everyone would forget I was even in the house.
That only lasted about five minutes. Asher came back into the room and dragged me across the bed then tried to stand me up, but I was playing dead and slumped into him, not even opening my eyes.
“Baby, we gotta make breakfast,” he laughed.
“No, all I want for Christmas is to sleep,” I said, trying to cuddle into his chest.
“You can sleep later,” he said while rubbing my back, but that was making me sleepier.
“I’ll be your bestest friend ever if you let me sleep.” He started laughing harder.
“As much as I want you to be my best friend, I need help making breakfast for everyone. I’m pretty sure that last night you were jumping up and down while clapping and saying how much fun if was going to be to open gifts with everyone this morning.”
Crap, I did do that, but that was also after having four cups of egg-nog, so I can’t be held accountable for my actions.
“I was drunk. It doesn’t count.”
“Hmm, so all the dirty things you said you wanted me to do to you last night don’t count,” he said, and I shoved my face deeper into his chest, hoping to block him out. I do not want to even think about what a drunk me would say to Asher.
“Don’t worry, baby. Tonight I’ll—”
I cut him off. I didn’t want to know what drunk me said. “I’m awake,” I blurted out. I ran to the bathroom and slammed the door before he could say anything else.
I made baked French toast and bacon. Asher made scrambled eggs that I swear could win awards. He uses whole cream and cheddar cheese. They melt in your mouth and each bite is like heaven. After we all ate, everyone was gathered around the tree. Asher pulled me into his lap so we could open gifts.
I had a hard time finding him something for Christmas, but since he was always on his phone at the job site either going through emails or putting together orders, I decided to get him an iPad mini.
That way, he could have a bigger screen and wouldn’t go blind from looking at the small screen on his phone.
Plus, I got him a case that has a built in keyboard, hoping that it will make his life easier when sending email and placing orders.
I also got him a few shirts and a New York Yankees baseball hat.
He isn’t actually a Yankees fan but I love him in hats and I’m a New Yorker, so it was necessary.
After everyone finished opening gifts, it took me a minute to realize that Asher didn’t get me anything. I tried not to let this hurt my feelings but it did. He loved the iPad and was still playing with it as people started leaving the living room.
“I’m going to go clean up breakfast,” I mumbled to myself. Asher hadn’t taken his eyes off his new toy since he opened it. I pulled myself up from where I was sitting between his spread legs.
“Can you throw that shit in the closet for me, baby?” he asked, not looking up from the stupid iPad. I was starting to wonder if it was water resistant.
“Sure,” I grumbled. I picked up the stuff I got him, along with the gifts I got from our families. I set my stuff on the bed then carried his crap to the closet. I debated just throwing it in there, but I didn’t want to mess it up.