Chapter 18
It was after dark by the time Remi closed down the restaurant, got everything prepped for the morning shift, and headed home.
The thunder and heavy rain made him glad he’d driven his car over rather than just walking to work that morning.
He set the alarm, stepped outside and locked the door behind himself, then quickly got in his car.
The short drive to his house barely took a minute, and then he was pulling up behind his house, parking beneath the carport attached to his back porch.
He took his time getting out, locking his car door and finally heading inside.
When he unlocked his back door and stepped inside, he smiled at the scent of spaghetti permeating his home.
“Hi!” Cristie said, from where she stood in the living room, watching him walk into the kitchen.
“Hi,” Remi said, looking around his kitchen.
In addition to what he assumed was a pot of spaghetti sauce on the stove, the place mats Cristie had bought a couple of nights before were on the table and there was a vase filled with wild flowers in the middle of the table as well.
His gaze went back to Cristie and he noticed right away the new dark oak blinds in his windows, the white Battenburg lace edged curtains, the new camel colored sofa and the throw rug she’d chosen for the middle of the room.
“What do you think?” she asked.
He laid his keys on the kitchen counter top to his immediate left, then started toward her, really taking in all the changes she’d made. “It’s nice. It really is, you did a good job, Cristie.”
“Thank you,” she said delightedly. “I hope you don’t mind, I also brought over some vases and knickknack's to fill your shelves until you get around to it with your own things.”
Remi looked over at his shelves. There were some glass trinkets, a couple of small decorative statues, a crystal candy bowl, and books scattered across the entertainment center his television sat on.
Everything on his shelves belonged to Cristie, except the photo of his family, which she’d made sure to place front and center of everything else she’d displayed there.
“It looks really, really nice, Cristie. You made it look like a family lives here instead of just me. It’s warm and inviting now.”
Cristie smiled happily. “That’s what I wanted.”
“You did a good job.”
“Thanks.”
“Should I go look in the bedrooms, too?” he asked, pointing down the hallway.
“Yes!”
Remi walked down the hallway, stopping to peek into the extra bedrooms, and bathroom, before going into the master bedroom and its attached bathroom.
Every room had new curtains that matched the colors on the comforters and pillows in the rooms. The bathroom had fancy new towels, bath rugs, and shower curtains to match.
And in his master bathroom, was no exception.
The only difference was the design and colors between the rooms, and the fact that in his bathroom Cristie had also left a bottle of her shampoo and conditioner, and her favorite soap.
Once he realized that, he actually did a quick scan of the vanity to see if she’d left some of her makeup there as well, but there wasn’t any.
He turned and looked at her when he saw her shampoo and soap in his shower.
“It was storming when I went back and forth to home a few times, so I just grabbed my shampoo and soap so I could get cleaned up here after I was done.”
“Ahhh, I see,” he said.
“It’s beautiful, Cristie. It’s not just a house anymore. You gave it the feeling of a real home. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, smiling at him. “I just wanted you to be happy here. Maybe stay a little longer.”
He turned to her, walking toward her, his posture relaxed but the look in his eyes sharp and focused. He was less than a foot away when he stopped and looked down at her. “I wasn’t planning on leaving any time soon, Cristie. Did you think I was?”
“I don’t know. I thought you might be considering it.”
“Why would you think that?”
She gave him a little shrug as she looked away from him. “I haven’t exactly been the nicest.”
“But you’ve been you. And that’s what I care about — you. Not the nicest, not the easiest path to wherever it is we’re going, but the realest one. The one we work everything out on, so there are not more issues holding us back from where we end up.”
“I didn’t have to be so mean, though. I’m sorry for that.”
“I’m sorry I made you feel like you had to keep me at a distance.”
She nodded, her gaze still on the wall behind him. “I know that food is probably the last thing you want to think about, but I thought you might be hungry after a long day, and might enjoy something you didn’t have to cook. So I made spaghetti.”
“Sketties. Your favorite,” Remi said, smiling as he remembered.
“Yeah. It’s still my favorite.”
“Do I smell garlic bread, too?”
“You do. Can’t have spaghetti without garlic bread.”
“Then why are we standing here instead of the kitchen?” he asked, lifting a hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
Cristie looked up at him, her eyes wide as his hand lingered against her cheek near her ear.
Remi leaned down slowly, giving her time to pull away, and kissed her right beside the corner of her mouth.
He pressed his lips against her, then held still for just a second too long before pulling back.
“How about some of that spaghetti?” he asked, allowing his fingers to softly trail along her jawline as he sidestepped her then headed up the hallway toward the front of his house.
Cristie followed him into the kitchen, shooing him away from the stove. “Sit, let me get your plate. You worked all day.”
“So did you. You completely redecorated my house, and cooked me dinner.”
She smiled to herself as she served his plate. “I wanted to. Made me feel good.” She set his plate in front of him, then served one for herself, and sat down across from him.
Remi reached across the small round table toward her with both of his hands.
Confused at first, Cristie put her hands in his, and watched as he closed his eyes.
“To all the powers that be, and all the fates themselves, thank you for bringing me to this moment. Thank you for good friends, good food, family, and second chances.”
“And thank you for placing me right here, exactly where I’m supposed to be,” Cristie added quietly.
Remi opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Over the lips…”
Cristie grinned, remembering the children’s prayer Maverik had taught her when it was her turn to say grace at the dinner table. She joined in with Remi and they finished it together. “…and past the gums, look out stomach, here it comes!” they said, laughing when it was finished.
Remi tried his meatballs and then dipped his garlic bread into the thick, rich tomato sauce. “This is amazing,” he said. “Might be better than my mom’s but don’t tell her I said that.”
Cristie grinned at him. “It’s Richie’s recipe. I’ve tried others but always come back to this one,” she said, twirling her fork in her pasta to make a small tornado shaped bite of food topped off with half a meatball.
He laughed when she popped it in her mouth and made yummy noises while she chewed and spun her fork in the middle of her pasta again. “Still eat it the same way you did when you were little.”
“Oh, without a doubt. There’s no better way.”
“Unless you run out of pasta so you spoon the sauce and meatballs over the garlic bread and eat it that way,” Remi said.
“Ohhh, there is that way. That’s good, too,” she said, dipping her bread in the sauce again.
It wasn’t long before they’d finished dinner and just sat at the table talking and laughing, reminding each other of some of the memories they shared as kids.
“Remember when you threw a cherry at me at dinner at Kaid’s house?” she asked, laughing joyously.
“Yeah, I do. Food fights were fun,” he said, grinning and shaking his head.
“Every time Richie made me pancakes or waffles when I was little, he’d put whipped cream and cherries and strawberries and banana slices in bowls so I could decorate with them. And it never failed my dad would say, ‘don’t throw the cherries like Remi did!’.”
Remi laughed. “I wasn’t even here and still got a bad rap,” he said, shaking his head.
A particularly loud round of thunder and a driving rain caused the electricity to flicker then go out.
Cristie looked up at the ceiling, then across at Remi.
“You alright?” Remi asked.
“Yes, just startled. I hate when the power goes out.”
“Why? You can see in the dark.”
“True. But, I’m a little spoiled. I have to admit I like my air-conditioning, and my hot water, and my television, and my…”
“Okay, I get it. You like your conveniences,” Remi said.
“I do. I can survive without them, and have many times through snow storms and all. But I’d prefer not to.”
Remi listened to the driving rain outside, his gaze on the rain obscuring any view from the kitchen window. “How do you feel about being out in the storm itself?” he asked.
“What?” she asked, turning to look across the room to the window above the kitchen sink to see what he was watching. When she turned back to him he was watching her, almost a dare behind his eyes.
“What do you think about being outside in the storm?”
“I guess it depends on the whys and hows of it,” she said, leaning closer to the table and him, watching her intently from the other side.
“It’s hard for me to find a chance to shift. My Dragon is pretty big. Storms give me the opportunity. Want to go play in the rain?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.
Cristie’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious?” she half-whispered.
He smirked at her and nodded slowly as he stood from his seat at the table, his hand extended in invitation.
“Hell, yes!” she said excitedly, taking his hand and holding tight as he led her out of the house and onto the back porch.
“I thought we’d just leave our clothes under a tree or something so we don’t have to walk back to the house naked,” Remi said.