Chapter 14 Part Of Her Body
PART OF HER BODY
“Happy New Year,” his mother said that afternoon. “Are you back home now? I want to say I was surprised you stayed as long as you had at the cabin, but since you weren’t alone…”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m home. Saylor had an earlier flight than me by an hour, so I’ve been in the airport longer than I wanted.”
“Is she home?” his mother asked.
“No. She had a layover and should get there in another hour.”
He’d hated to let her go.
The fear that he might not see her again wasn’t diminished, even though she not only filled out her endorsement paperwork the day after they’d first had sex, but they drove into Denver to get the live scan of her fingerprints sent too.
She didn’t hesitate to take that step.
Didn’t mean she might not change her mind though and he was hoping it didn’t come to that in the next two weeks.
“What’s the next step?” his mother asked. “Or is that it? You’re breaking your mother’s heart having a vacation fling.”
He flopped on the couch in his living room to look out at the ocean through the glass doors.
He loved his beach home that he’d owned for over a year.
He could have bought something earlier, but he wanted the right place. The three-story home gave it to him with balconies and decks on each level.
“She’s moving here with me.” Might as well get it out there.
“What!?”
“I wish I could see your face right now.”
“Then call me on video because I think you’re joking.”
His mother hung up on him before he could tell her he wasn’t.
Rowan did what she said. If he didn’t, she’d just call him that way.
“I’m not joking,” he said when she answered.
“Say it again so I can see if you’re smirking or not.”
His mother knew all his tells. “Saylor went back to Iowa to finish her last two weeks of work and then she’s packing and moving to California.”
“Damn. Your brother was right.”
“Which one?” he asked.
“West. He called this, but no one believed it.”
He should have figured. Though he wasn’t as close to West as some of his other siblings, it felt as if his oldest brother knew the signs with him too.
Could have come from West having to play the father to them all.
“He was right.”
“Is Saylor going to work? This won’t be one of those things she’s living with you and off of you, is it?”
“It’s not your business if that is the case,” he said. “But she put in to get her license in California several days ago. She didn’t have her laptop with her with her resume on it, but she’s going to apply for jobs this week. I doubt she’ll have any problem getting something lined up.”
He didn’t care if she took a few weeks off. Seemed someone who worked as hard as she deserved it.
But her lack of medical insurance worried her, even though her coverage lasted until the end of January.
He’d make sure she was fine, but she’d said she had plenty of money in the bank and would pay for CObrA until she got a job.
She actually hadn’t seemed too worried about finding employment.
He didn’t want her stressed out, but he knew how stubborn she was when it came to him paying for anything.
They hadn’t even talked much about his life here. She said she didn’t want to know too much because it could scare her off.
He wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but knew it was different with her.
Someone who was used to working fifty to sixty hours a week on second shift.
She didn’t have much of a life and didn’t have a problem with it.
Guess those were some things they were going to have to talk about in a few weeks.
“I don’t think she will,” his mother said. “And you’ll make a few calls if you think it’s a problem. Right?”
He sighed. “I said that. She didn’t care too much for it. I’d like her to get a job close to me if possible. She is most likely going to be working second or third shift.”
“How is that going to work? You won’t see much of each other.”
“I work a lot too,” he said. “We’ll figure it out. It might be for the best anyway. No one should spend too much time together at first.”
“You just spent a week with her alone. If you’re saying that now, I’m worried there will be issues.”
He rolled his eyes. “No issues. Or I don’t see them. Maybe she does.”
“Do you know why?”
He shrugged. He wouldn’t share all his conversations with his mother. He was telling her more than he thought he would.
He could have easily hidden the fact Saylor lived with him for months if not a year since no one came out to visit him.
But the consequences of his mother finding out after the fact wouldn’t be worth it.
“We didn’t get too deep,” he said.
He knew her family life was stressful. She stayed with her grandmother when she was in town, not her parents.
She talked to her grandmother a few times this past week, but her mother only on Christmas day and it was brief.
He’d find out what her family knew about her location when she got here.
“Do you think she’ll change her mind?”
“I hope not,” he said. “But not much I can do about it if she does.”
“Please.” His mother waved her hand. “None of my kids give up if they want something bad enough. I can see it on your face you do.”
There was no hiding anything from her. “I do. But I’m going to give her the time to come to that on her own. She’s got a lot of insecurities about things in life.”
His mother frowned. “That’s not good. I mean we all do to an extent, but if you’ve got to hold her hand on things, it’s not your favorite thing to do.”
He laughed. “It has more to do with her health.”
“Tell me about it. You had a friend in college who was a diabetic, right?”
His mother never forgot a thing. “I did. Damon. I think the fact I knew so much helped. She kept waiting for me to make some negative comment about the devices she wore on her body. When she tested her blood sugar or had to stop to make a correction to her pump.”
Even when she changed her pump and sensor, he asked her to show him how or if she needed a hand.
“You wouldn’t. You probably asked thoughtful questions. You’re the most thoughtful of my kids though you want no one to know that.”
Again, Aileen Carlisle knew her children well. “I did. I asked things to understand and I could see how much she appreciated it.”
The look in her eyes when he joked about gummy bears or worms and then picked them both up.
He ate them with her when she needed them, and she’d giggle.
He wasn’t even trying to be funny but just grabbing one since the tin was open.
“Do you have any concerns over it?”
“With what? Her being a diabetic? Nope. No one would know looking at her.”
Unless they saw the two devices she wore. Even then, they weren’t that noticeable to him.
He was no idiot. Every time they got naked, she watched to see if his eyes landed on them on her body.
He glanced and moved on just like he would have any other part of her body.
That is what it was to him. Just a part of her body.
A mechanical pancreas was how he thought of it.
“And if anyone knew, you wouldn’t care.”
“Exactly.”
“Tell me what you feel for her,” his mother asked.
“Nope. You’re getting too nosey and I gave you more than anyone else has this early. I even told you she was with me and you didn’t want to believe it.”
His mother laughed. “It was worth a try. I’ll let you get settled in now.”
He hung up with his mother and went to the kitchen to get a beer.
He wasn’t on his deck for even twenty minutes when his phone rang.
A quick glance told him his mother was already spreading the news.
He hit the button to answer West’s call. “Hey. Mom told you you were right?”
“She did,” West said.
“How did you guess?”
“I’ve been in your shoes,” West said. “I saw it on your face. No one believed me.”
He smiled and took a sip of beer. “Scary as fuck. What if she doesn’t come?”
“Then you go get her,” West said.
He laughed. “I thought of it. The next two weeks are going to be interesting.”
“Speak your mind with her,” West said. “Hiding things or giving space won’t work. Learn from me. She’s the one making the big change, not you. Make sure she feels she can be open and honest with you and that you’re doing the same.”
He heard the underlying message there. He practiced avoidance more than most to keep the water calm.
“I’ve been trying that already. I think we are in a good spot there.”
But he worried once she was away from him, she’d have second thoughts.
“If you want this to work, then make sure you keep her in that spot. Do you know her address?”
“Yep. I made sure I got it.”
Saylor even laughed and wanted to know if it was to come get her if she didn’t show up.
He wanted to say yes, but wouldn’t do that.
For him it was more to send her something. He was going to send flowers, but thought they’d be cheesy.
He had time to figure out the right gift.
“You’ve got her number and address. For the next two weeks, you know where she is.”
“Meaning what?”
“That once she moves out, you don’t know where she is going if she doesn’t come to you.”
“She’ll always return to her grandmother,” he said. He didn’t have the woman’s exact address, but he knew her name. Leslie Beach. With enough money he could find anyone. He had plenty of it.
And he hoped to hell he got to meet Leslie soon.
He was reserving judgment on the rest of her family.
Which worried him based on the little he knew.
How would they react when they found out who he was? Who his brother was?
“Then it sounds like you’ve got a plan.”
“Always. I know many don’t think I take much in life seriously.”
“We didn’t,” West said. “When you were younger. Now, it’s never a worry of mine.”
“You’ve never said that before.”
“Maybe you didn’t need to hear it until now.”
Damn, it wasn’t just his mother who knew her kids, but his brother who knew his siblings so well.