Chapter 1 – Bea
“Shit. Bea, it’s six. The girls are going to be up at any minute,” Marco says as he gently shakes me awake.
“Oh, no. My alarm must not have gone off.”
He gets up first and is completely naked. I know I have to hurry, but I can’t help but marvel at his back muscles as he bends down to pick up clothes that are scattered on the floor.
“Bea?”
“What? Oh, sorry.” I follow his lead and get dressed. After that, as I have every other morning after staying the night at his house, I quickly check the hallway to make sure his young daughters, Aurora and Alessia, are not around to see me leave.
Then, I tip-toed out the door. He follows close by, and I steal one more peck before actually leaving.
“I’ll call you later,” he whispers.
“Sounds good. See ya.”
He playfully slaps my ass. In response, I look back at him with a shocked face and laugh.
I just rolled down the driveway and started to drive off when I got a call.
“Miss me already?” I say after answering.
“Always.” His deep and raspy voice booms from the speakers, and it makes me want to melt.
“But in all seriousness, did I forget something?”
“No. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
I smile. “Aw.”
“And I also want to say sorry.”
“Sorry?”
“Yeah. That we have to sneak around like this.”
“Oh. It’s okay. If you think it’s what’s best for the girls, then that’s the way it will be.”
He sighs. “At least for now. I just don’t want them to get all excited and then—”
“Well, I don’t plan on going anywhere. But I understand where you’re coming from. Especially after Clara left.”
“Exactly. I can’t bear to see them go through that again.”
“Or you.”
“Nah, I’m tough.”
“Oh, yeah? Did I or did I not recently see you in a pinky frilly tutu?”
“Hey! You promised you’d never speak about that again.”
I shrug. “I lied.”
“Well, I’m just going to need to punish you for that then.”
I bite my lip and look at my wrists, which were previously tied to his bed post.
“Please do.”
“God, you’re so sexy. Oh, sorry. The girls are up. I gotta go. Bye.”
Then, the line goes dead.
Hmph. I love how good of a father he is, but I could continue our sexy banter forever. However, I also had obligations and needed to get to work at the record store. But I have one stop before that.
“Took you long enough,” Micky says after I finally pull up.
“I’m sorry!”
“I’ll only forgive you if you tell me the explicit details of your salacious evening with the sexy Italian guy.”
I roll my eyes. “His name is Marco.”
“I know. But is he not also a sexy Italian man?”
“He sure is.” My mind effortlessly wanders back to one of our many intimate moments. The sound he makes while climaxing—although usually muffled by something like a pillow—makes me weak.
“Come on! Don’t keep it all in your head. Spill!”
“Well, there may have been some bondage.”
“Hot.”
She’s leaning on the door frame, and I unlock it.
“I didn’t realize you were into that kind of thing.”
“I didn’t either. But it’s not going any further than that. Rough stuff kind of scares me.”
“There’s the vanilla Bea I love so much.”
“I am not vanilla!”
“Please . . .”
“Just because I’m not as adventurous or sexually free as you doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with me.”
“I didn’t say there was. You’re just boring.” She takes off her hat, and I see that she has once again changed her hair color.
“Well, I have to take this. Is that so boring?” I take out a morning-after pill I picked up at the convenience store on the way in.
“Pffft. Wow, you’re so edgy.”
I scoff and then swallow the medication.
“What shade of green would you call that?” I inquire while simultaneously starting to open the store.
She runs her fingers through it and then ruffles it out so the sides are standing up wildly. “Fabulous, baby.”
“That’s one word for it. Don’t you ever worry it’s all just going to fall out with all of the dying you do?”
“No. Why don’t you say we should change your look? This bohemian thing is so last season.” She does her best to mimic Valley Girl as she says those last words.
“No way!”
“It doesn’t bother you that you’ve looked the same since high school—heck, middle school, even!”
“Some looks are just classic.”
“Whatever you say, Kat Stratford.”
“You keep saying I’m tired, yet you make old-ass references like that.”
“10 Things I Hate About You is a treasure.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that it came out almost twenty-five years ago.”
“Twenty-five years? Seriously?”
“I think so.” I went over the old rental VHS tapes we have, and I found it. “Yeah. 1999.”
“That makes me feel so old. Maybe I need to get an old dad like you. Then, I’d always be young by comparison.”
“Marco isn’t that old.”
“He has a mortgage, doesn’t he?”
“He does. But there are plenty of people our age who own houses.”
She pops her gum. “Name one.”
“Uh . . . Jessica Robertson.”
“That doesn’t count. She’s a trust fund baby.”
“Well? She still has a house.”
“And you could, too, if you ever faced your fear and sang in front of people. Imagine it! We could travel the world together—you’d be singing, and I could be your manager. Oh, I’d be so good at beating people away from your tour bus.” She mimics holding something and jabbing it at people.
I laugh. With her tiny frame, I highly doubt she’d intimidate anyone. “I don’t think that’s what managers do.”
“Well, I would.”
We continue to work on opening the store, and I don’t realize it until Micky points it out, but I’m singing.
“I’m serious, Bea. You’re depriving the world of your talent. Listen to you! You should like a freakin’ angel.”
“I’m sorry! I can’t do it. I’ve tried. Remember karaoke two years ago? I almost fainted.”
“Well, you sing in front of me all the time.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
I don’t have time to answer because my mother storms in shortly after.
“Hello, Mrs. Carter.”
“Hi, mom. How are you?”
She kisses me on both cheeks before going on a rant about this, that, and the other thing. She’s the kind of woman who always has something to complain about.
“Mhm, interesting,” I mutter as I pretend to be listening.
“Really, Beatrice? The fact that rabbits are eating all of my tomatoes is interesting?”
“Uh, no. I meant—”
“That sounds very frustrating,” Micky jumps in to say.
“It is.”
I shoot a grateful look at my bestie. She just nods.