True (23 page)

This was Alex’s weekend, and he had come by to pick up the girls a couple of hours earlier. As soon as they were gone, I took a long bath and prepared myself for my date with Will. I had invited him over and planned to cook dinner, and he would bring a movie. Even though we didn't see each other, we did occasionally talk or text so each time, I felt better about his interest in me, though I was still nervous about the age gap.

At 8pm exactly he rang the doorbell. The welcomes scent that was all Will overwhelms me as he steps inside and pulls me into a hug.

“Hi, beautiful.” He whispers against my ear before placing a soft kiss on the side of my neck. I back out of his embrace and smile up at him. God, he was gorgeous. Even more so up close. His hazel eyes
seem even more piercing than from afar. I admired the way his t-shirt rested on his broad shoulders and tighten just slightly around his muscular biceps. I always loved the jeans, and t-shirt and sneakers look.

“Hi, come in.” I said in response and forced myself to stop eying his body like a starving woman. As I turned to walk into the direction of the kitchen, he grabbed a hold of my hand gently before following. My heart started to race. He had kissed me briefly a few times on our last date, but they were sweet and unsure kisses. I knew we were still feeling each other out
, so the way he grabbed my hand caught me off guard. It excited me yet I couldn’t stop my mind from repeating over and over. He’s twenty-four...He’s twenty-four...He’s twenty-four.

*****

“Mmm, that feels really good.”

“Told you.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever done this to me before.”

“Just relax and let me work.”

I feel boneless as I watched him massage my left foot before moving to the right. It turns out that Will is allergic to peanuts, and I used peanut oil in my stir fry. As a result, we had to toss out dinner and order pizza. I must have apologized a million times before he made me promise to never say those words again in exchange for a foot massage while we waited for our food to arrive. I could not resist. It turns out that he is a master foot massager. It made me wonder what else he was good at. I could tell that my reaction to his hands was working him up a bit just by the way his breathing became heavier, and his eyes began to roam over other parts of my body.

Why wasn’t I experiencing the same response? Aside from enjoying a fantastic foot massage, I wasn’t getting tingly down there. Before I could spend any more time analyzing this discovery, the doorbell rang.

“That’s the pizza.” Will caressed my calf one last time before sliding my legs off of his lap. “You stay. I’ll take care of it.” He went to answer the door, but not before I caught of glimpse of the heat and promise in his stare. It should have done something more than make me nervous. I knew that look. He was turned on and was considering all the ways he could try to get into my panties tonight. Did I want that?

I heard male voices getting closer until I looked up to see Alex striding into the living room. He gave me a determined glare with his lips pressed tight as he scanned the living room.

“Who is this?” Alex demands as he threw his head in Will’s direction. I caught what looked like a flash of something in Alex’s eyes that resembled hurt.

I realized that I was lying with my feet up on the couch, and my head propped up on a pillow. My loose skirt was bunched up around my thighs. His sudden presence stunned me for a second before I stood and found my voice. I sit up to start introductions.

“Will, this is Alex my uh...er...ex-husband.” God, it hurt to say that. Since the divorce, I haven't run into a situation where I needed to introduce Alex to anyone. Calling him my ex-anything stung worse than I ever thought imaginable. It’s one thing to say it in my mind but another to speak the words aloud. It just reiterated the fact that he wasn’t mine anymore. But that also meant that I was no longer his.

Will being the sweetheart that he is, extended a hand out to which Alex noticeably ignored and opted instead for a head jerk and a “What’s up, man.” Will simply nods back in return.

“Alex, what are you doing here?”

“Liv has dance in the morning and she forgot her stuff.”

“Oh, that’s right. They moved rehearsal to Saturday this week. Let me get her bag.” I rise from the couch and make my way up the staircase. As soon as I am in Olivia’s room, Alex enters right on my heels and shuts the door behind us.

“Who is that?” He closes the distance between us quickly.

“I told you, that’s Will.”

“Yeah, but who is he?”

“A friend.”

“Just a friend?”

“Why does it matter?”

“I have the right to know who you are having around my daughters.”

“First of all, Will hasn’t been around the girls. Second, I don’t seem to get much of a say in who you have around our daughters. Third, you have no right to come in here with all this,” I wave my hands around him, “this aggression. You didn’t see me throw a fit over Kimmie being in my house, in my kitchen while I had to see you two together, did you?” His head snapped back at my words, and I suddenly realized that I had backed him against the door while poking a finger into his chest.

“How did it make you feel?” He asks quietly.

“I…” I sputter, not wanting to admit to him that I wanted to rip her hair out and smash her face in repeatedly. I realized by the knowing look in his eyes that he knew exactly how it felt to watch the person you loved with someone else. Suddenly one of my granddad’s favorite phrases appears in my head.

It's not so fun when the rabbit's got the gun.

Payback's a bitch. Instead of addressing his question I decided to deflect.

“I don’t want to talk about this with you. Where are the girls by the way?”

“In the car.”

“Alone?”

“No.”

“With
Kimmie?”

Silence.

“Exactly.” I thrust Olivia's backpack in his hands and leave the room without another word. He follows me downstairs still seething. I smell the pizza before I got to the bottom of the stairs. I found Will setting out two plates for us in the living room, a bottle of wine already opened sitting next to two glasses. I caught his expectant eyes, and I realize that he was nervous about the exchange between Alex and I and where that left him in the equation. I smile at him with a wink, and his shoulders instantly relax as he walks to stand beside me. I turned back to Alex.

“Do you have everything you need?” I ask pointedly. He remains silent as he stares between Will and me for several seconds before he mumbles, “No.” then abruptly turns and stalks towards the door.
No? What does that mean?

That night, while I was letting Will round second base, I couldn’t get Alex’s visit out of my mind. What right did he have to be angry? He left me. He has a girlfriend. He has made it clear to me that he is moving on. Why is it wrong for me to do the same? While these thoughts were going through my mind, I barely noticed that Will has pulled down the cups of my bra and is licking my nipples. I clear my head and force myself to focus on the man in my arms not the one in my head.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Present.

“This is it, old lady! The big Three- Four!” My sister Macy singsongs the second she opens the door with her daughter Jasmine on her hip.

See, mom got Macy with a flower thing too, except this time as a first name.

“Don’t remind me, Mace.” I grumble ushering Liv and Jordyn inside. Since my birthday happened to fall on Saturday, of course, all of my friends and family decided on the most unoriginal idea of going out dancing. While I’m not exactly a club person, I am looking forward to a night of fun. It’s something I’ve vowed to have more of. The past year has been the hardest of my life, and I am starting to feel like me again.

“Girls, Uncle Judd is ordering pizza. Go and tell him what you want.” Macy announces, and the girls takeoff shouting, “Uncle Judd! Uncle Judd!”

“
Peeet-zah!” Jasmine begins to kick her legs furiously to let Macy know she wants down. Soon she was off and running. “Dad-dy. Peeet-zah. Peeet-zah.”

“Are you sure Judd doesn’t mind watching all three girls?”

“Psh, he’s better at it than me. The girls usually follow him around like baby ducks all over the house.” I look around the corner just in time to see Olivia, Jordyn and Jasmine follow behind Judd as he talks on his cell phone and paces the living room with the pizza delivery menu in his hand.

“Help me finish getting ready.” Macy tugs my hand and leads me down the hallway to her bedroom.

*****

“So, is Will going to be there?” Macy asks trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably. Ever since I told her about him she’s wanted to meet him.

“Yes, he is going to meet us there and drive me back home.”

“Drive you back home, huh?” She gives me a side glance as she applies her mascara. “Is he staying the night then?”

I shrugged dismissively. “We’ll see.”

Will and I still haven’t had sex. I don’t know why I can’t seem to go there with him. I’ve allowed him to touch me but always stopped him before things get too heavy.  I don’t know why. The moment just hasn’t felt right yet.

“Well, don't force it, Court. If you're not ready, then you're not ready. The rest of your life is a long time to make hasty decisions you'll regret.”

Isn't that the
truth.

“Alright, let me get a good look at you.” She gestures her hand for me to stand up and twirl. She chose a white strapless dress from her closet for me to wear. Macy and I are nearly the same size so the dress fit perfectly. It was snug in the hips and breast area and stopped about mid-thigh. I thought I looked like the sexy thirty-something woman I wanted to be. I also let Macy flat iron my hair, so it fell down my back and applied heavy eye make
up to complete the look. I felt good and ready to celebrate.

“Eh, you look alright.” Macy says with an amused smirk. When she turns her back on me, I grab a cube of ice from my drink and drop it down the front of her dress. I laugh hysterically as she screeches and wiggles while trying to fish the ice from her cleavage.

“That’s what you get for being a jerk, Mace.”

*****

We return to the same low key bar where I met Will. When I first step in I realize that it is a lot busier than I had expected. I scan the room and slowly start to recognize all of the faces in the crowd, I saw my friends and my co-workers standing there smiling at me. Before I can register what this means, a booming “Surprise!” rings out causing me to jump.

“Surprise! Surprise, birthday girl.”
DeeDee squeals as she steps forward from the crowd and wraps me in a hug.

“Wait, you knew about this?”

“I did.” she replies with a proud nod.

“And you managed to keep it a secret.”

“I did!” She screams as she jumps up and down clapping her hands. “I am so impressed with myself.”

“So am I, you sneaky bitch!” I give her one last hug before I am tugged in different directions and receiving all of my birthday well wishes until I am face to face with Will.

“Happy Birthday, beautiful.” He leans forward and kisses me right there in front of everyone, clearly staking his claim. It felt nice. Really nice.

It turns out that the entire night was booked for me as my own private party complete with the
dee-jay playing songs from my ipod playlist. I later realized that Dee managed to swipe it from my house a few days ago. I knew it was missing, but I thought I’d eventually find it in one of the girls’ rooms.

I mingle with my guests and drink a special green drink that Sexy Gabe created for me and was having more fun than I can ever remember having. For a while, I felt that everyone looked at me in pity or disgust. Like I should be wearing a scarlet A or something on my chest. Tonight I finally feel like me again.

When conversation seemed to get too heavy with a few of my friends, like, for example, when Nora from work started to share her divorce battle scars.

“Oh honey, at least you got the house. My bastard ex-husband kicked me out and moved that bitch in before I had the damn trunk closed on my car.” All I could do is gape at her because shit, what am I supposed to say. Yeah, I am lucky? I sure as hell didn’t feel lucky.

Before I could reply, Will had my hand and was pulling me to the dance floor and twirling me around to the music. The smile on his face was contagious and soon I found myself grinning back, Nora completely forgotten.

We are moving around each other to “
A Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay, and I’m positive we’re both slightly off beat. I decide that my excuse is the level of tipsiness I am feeling, but I would be lying if I said that Will was a good dancer, he was actually quite goofy but he owned it. I could not stop giggling as the song reached a point where it only seemed appropriate to begin jumping up and down. The urge was irresistible. We became the reason for all of the bobbing heads on the dance floor around us and the silly grins from spectators. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. It was fun. I was actually having fun. Finally.