Like You Read About (13 page)

The silence grew, both feeling awkward, neither knowing why.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow at four then. I’ll bring dessert and a movie and an appetite.” He could hear the smile in her voice as she broke through the weird for both of them.

“I’ll be here waiting
. I hope you like steak.”  He was starting to feel giddy again and got up and walked around. “See you tomorrow, night Cora.”

“Night Dan.”
And with that, she closed her phone and went back to her workout.

Dan started unpacking the boxes of dishes and loading them into the dishwasher, at this rate he’d probably have to run three loads to get through all these.  Then he grabbed one of the big bags from Bed Bath & Beyond and dumped the contents
out on the sofa, throw pillows and a nice big cozy blanket which he hoped they might snuggle under tomorrow night, maybe he’d turn the heat down to encourage that.

He grabbed the other
bags and headed upstairs. When he bought the house every aunt, cousin, and friend of his parents, and even the guys at work bought him gift cards to the Depot and the housewares store. At first, he wasn’t sure what he’d do with all that money at a housewares store, but today he was thankful for it.  He bought new towels for all the bathrooms, an actual bedding set for his bed. After the mattress was delivered, he’d just bought a fitted king sheet and used his full sized comforter, not at all inviting to a potential guest.  Then there was the fact that he only had one pillow, which put out a vibe he SO did not want to put out. He was not likely to drag her off to bed tomorrow but when he gave her the tour, he wanted his place to seem warm and welcoming.

Remembering she was allergic to flowers, and also not wanting his house to smell like a box of potpourri
, he strategically placed apple and cinnamon air fresheners around the house. The kid who helped him at BB&B today said it was a nice subtle smell that was homey; what did this kid know, he was probably still in high school, but as Dan piled his carriage and then another he could see all these things fitting in to his house. He wanted to do the minimum since maybe someday if he was lucky she might want to pick out the rest on her own.  Hell, almost everything he bought was some shade of green or had green in it, she’d already invaded his home before she’d set foot in the door.

After cleaning everything up,
setting Matt up to work his magic at the computer with the music, putting out the towels and the hand soaps and running two more loads in the dishwasher and filling the cabinets, things were just about ready.

“I can’t thank you enough for the tuneage
, Matt. I’ve got no clue and she’s always listening to music. I’m going full out tomorrow night and I want everything to be perfect for her.”  Opening the fridge, he grabbed himself a beer and offered one to Matt.

“No thanks
, bro. I need to hit the road; it’s getting late and I need to see what’s still available at the club for tonight’s entertainment.”  Matt was a manwhore, no doubt about it, but that was the thing about DJs, they never lacked for pussy, just a perk of the job like dental, or Blue Cross, or a 401k.

Locking up behind him
, he plopped down on the couch with a cold beer and flipped through the channels on TV. As he flipped through the on screen guide, he saw one of the channels was playing that movie Cora had mentioned was her favorite. He was wide-awake even though it was already eleven so he sat back and hoped this might give him clues to what made her tick.  It was just a movie so probably not but what else was he doing.

Two hours late
r, he’d figured out three things:

1.
      
Women her age loved this movie because that Lloyd kid was the fantasy boyfriend.

2.
     
The back seat of a Chevy Malibu did not look like a comfortable place to get laid.

3.
     
Sometime between now and four tomorrow afternoon he needed to download that Peter Gabriel song, if it wasn’t already in what Matty left and some other stuff like that.  Cora loves music, and he wanted to woo her, so he needed some music to woo by. 

Also
, a trench coat was not a look he could pull off… and thankfully boom boxes no longer weighed thirty pounds.

He was putting an awful lot of effort into an evening where he
wasn’t even expecting to get laid, but he didn’t really give a shit. This was about the end game, for once he was sure that Joe was right.

Chapter 18

Sunday morning dawned early for both of them, each up earlie
r than usual and keyed up.  Dan spent his morning making the bed, fluffing pillows, hanging curtains and starting the prep for dinner.  He felt like Martha fucking Stewart; all he needed was a frilly apron. 

Cora spent her morning taking a really long walk around the lake
—twice. It was cold as hell and the air smelled like snow, because what they needed was more snow. Then she headed to Kaelyn’s house to play with the boys and to have Kaelyn help select her outfit for the evening; she brought four choices.  After feeding the boys an early lunch and putting the kids down to nap, Cora pulled out two pairs of jeans and four different sweaters, three of which were green.

“Don’t branch out on the color wheel sweetie,”
Kaelyn chuckled as she picked up each top and inspected it carefully.

“I want to be comfortable, and look casual, but not too casual and also attractive,
and aren’t I sexy and don’t you want to have hot sweaty monkey sex even though we won’t because it’s only our second date and I’m not that kind of girl. How do you say all of that with jeans and a sweater?”

“Actually you say that with a pair of lace panties and matching bra, or at least that’s how I played it the first time I slept with Tommy.  This one I think.”
Holding up a soft cashmere Kelly green sweater with a scoop neck, she explains, “It’s really soft to the touch plus it will show off your rack nicely.  What are you wearing underneath?”

“I’m not going over there to sleep with him
Kay, it’s only our second date. It doesn’t matter what is underneath the sweater.”  Cora wasn’t even convincing herself when she said that.

“You don’t have to have sex for him to see what’s under that sweater,
and if you want to make sure you aren’t even tempted to have sex don’t shave your legs, you’re not going to want him to touch your hairy legs.  I will however, bet you a week’s worth of cocoa that he gets you out of that sweater before the night is over.  Now what’s going under it,” she said with a pointed gaze that wasn’t going to take any answer but the truth.

Cora sighed and pulled a smaller bag out of the bottom of the
bag the clothes had been in, “This, I bought it when I was out buying the outfit for Friday’s date, the one I wore that night was purple.”  She held up a stunning green silk and lace bra that was designed to be pretty even though it had some pretty heavy duty lifting to accomplish and then the matching lace boy-shorts.

“Hubba hubba
, Cor.” Kaelyn let out a low whistle, “You have to let him see that, he’ll be at your mercy forever if he sees you in that.”

“Yeah, me and all my stretch marks and floppy skin and the scar, don’t forget the lovely scar, which I am not at a point where I even want to contemplate explaining.  I mean
, I know I will if we get serious because it could be a big issue, but I just don’t want it to ruin anything yet. This whole thing we have feels like it’s made of cotton candy coated awesome and I’m not ready to be all truth-y and grown up and spoil things yet.  It’s my turn to enjoy myself and not be responsible for anyone but me.”  Her voice continued to raise and shake as she went on, close to tears by the end.

Kaelyn
walked over, sat next to her on the couch, put her arm around her shoulder, and squeezed her tight.  “You don’t have to tell him anything until you’re ready, and he won’t be examining your body for marks and scars and imperfections. I’ve seen the way he’s been looking at you over the last two weeks, he thinks you’re beautiful, it’s written all over his face.”

Wiping her eyes and making a very unladylike sniffle Cora stutters out,
“Y-you really think so?”

“I know so, I’m married
, and I have two point two five kids. I know that look, I see it on Tommy all the time. It’s a wonder I can hold a steady job with all the chasing me around the house he does.  Now go home and get ready it’s two and you don’t want to be late.”

On the drive back to
her apartment, she decided she was going to shave her legs and throw caution to the wind. Then she changed her mind, and then back again, her constant inner monologue is so distracting she almost missed the tum for her own street.  Grabbing the bag, she ran upstairs, giving Gwennie a little love, a lot of food and water and heads into the shower.

Leg shaving it is, and let the
panties fall where they may. Forty-five minutes later, she was dressed in a pair of jeans that she thought actually made her ass look decent, the sweater Kaelyn picked, her Grandma’s ring, a pair of love knot earrings, and a simple Celtic knot pendant.  She might as well be marching in the St. Patty’s Day parade.  She changes out the knot for a Celtic cross, less theme-y since lots of people wear crosses as religious pieces and not jewelry, although for her it’s a little of both.  A sweep of mascara and a swipe of her strawberry lip gloss and she’s ready to go.

She checked
her bag with dessert fixings three times to make sure she has everything. An Angel food cake, some fresh berries, which are not easy to come by in January in Boston, and a container of heavy whipping cream and a hand mixer fill the bag. Dan is a bachelor, he likely doesn’t have one and she wants to have the fresh whipped cream, it just tastes so much better.

Hopping in the car
, she plugs in the iPod, checks her directions one last time, and heads out to Dan’s house.  Deep breaths, once again her mantra, because passing out on that way over and wrapping Ringo around a telephone pole would probably put a damper on the date.

Chapter 19

It’s
three thirty; he’s got half an hour to finish getting everything ready. He has the wine breathing, red for him, white for her.  He was so glad they played pen pals, he learned so much about her including what not to feed her to avoid giving her a migraine or an allergic reaction.  His youngest sister gets migraines and he knows how much they can suck. He hates that Cora gets them, and after learning she got them he spent more than a few minutes researching things on the internet to make sure he avoided anything he could that would trigger one. 

His job, for tonight, and hopefully a hell of a lot longer than that, was to make her feel good, to take care of her, to protect her.  He wasn’t sure where all the he-man machismo stuff was coming from, but it didn’t scare him one bit, bring it on Cupid, I can take it.

At three fifty, he turned on the music. Thankful that Matt was around to help last night and had also helped him with the surround sound and whole house speaker system when he moved in. He wasn’t sure he’d ever need or use it but Matt got the parts at cost and did the labor gratis because he wanted to get the practice.  Now in every room in the house, save the two bedrooms and the bathrooms Aaron Neville was crooning.  A final walk through to make sure everything was set and he went to sit on the couch and wait.  At three fifty-eight, he heard her car pull up.  It was all he could do not to run to the door, fling it open and fly down the stairs and grab her and kiss her blind.

“Show a little restraint numb-nuts, she’s a guest and we REALLY want her to come back
.” He wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself, his brain, or his dick, but all three best be paying attention.

He waited until she rang the bell and then slowly walked over to open the door.

“Hi,” she said, her voice small and nervous, and her nose and cheeks red from the cold.  The snow had started to fall gently.

“C’mon in, you must be freezing, it’s getting down right arctic out there.  You can take your boots off and leave them
over there.” Pointing to a rubber mat where there were all manner of men’s shoes laying in a pig pile. “Let me take your coat.”  As he helped her out of her coat, he smelled her hair, he couldn’t help it, it smelled fruity, almost like lifesavers candy and it just made him even hungrier for her.

“The house looks beautiful from the outside, the lighting pieces look original.”
She tried not to sound like a gushing fan girl and was failing miserably but maybe he didn’t notice.

“The ones on the porch are original, the ones on the walkway are very good reproductions
. The previous owner really took pride in restoring as much as he could before it just got to be too much and the wife dragged him down to Florida permanently.  Can I show you the rest of the house before we have some wine and eat?” He knew he was talking too fast, but he wanted her to see everything at once, to like everything, to see herself here on a regular basis.

“I’d love to
. I want to see if you were as good with your descriptions as you said I was.” She smiled as he took her hand and led the way.

In the living room there was an overstuffed sofa covered in a weird mix of throw pillows and a fire going in the
fireplace.  Hanging above the fireplace was a television that put even hers to shame.