My Sunshine (28 page)

John
hurt for her. He stroked her hair. “Just calm down and tell me. It will be okay, I promise.” He held her for a several moments while she regained her composure.

She took a couple of deep breaths. “There’s a reason why
the people back in Canton think that I’m a tramp.”

“More than just because
Trevor said so?”

She nodded. “Yeah,” she said quietly. She moved from in
front of him and hopped up on the table so that she was sitting next to John. It was easier to tell this story if she didn’t have to look at him.

“
Trevor was the first guy I ever had sex with. I was sixteen. We worked together, and I really didn’t want anything to do with him. I didn’t have any friends. I was a weird kid, you know. I didn’t know why he was showing any interest. I wasn’t Smith enough to know it was just a game.”

“Anyway, one night after work he…umm…he invited me
back to his house and I went. I knew I didn’t like him; he wasn’t nice to me even then, but I didn’t think I would, I could, do any better. After that, I was just under his total control. I would do whatever he wanted, and what he wanted was sex, and a lot of it. I had that voice, that awful voice, in my head telling me that this was the best I was going to do. My mom

was a slut and so was I.”

John
started to speak, but she cut him off. “Let me finish, please. One night, a few months into our relationship, we were at his house and some guys from the football team came in. I didn’t know it was a set up, but evidently Trevor had been bragging about how he could…” She paused and shook her

head. “There were seven of his friends there that night, and I
had sex with all of them…willingly.”

“But
Chloe, you were sick. This was something that happened to you. It’s not something you did. You didn’t know what you were doing.”

“Yes, I did,
John. I wasn’t so far gone that I didn’t know what I was doing. I liked that these guys all wanted to have sex with me. I liked it so much, that for the next few weeks, up until the time I jumped out of the window, I had a lot of sex with a lot of guys, and not just high school guys. I was no better than my mother.”

“But that was then, right?”
John said. “You’re not that person anymore, no more than I’m the person I used to be.”

“Yeah, I guess, but…”

“But what?”

“Didn’t you ever wonder why I didn’t hesitate to have sex
with you that first night?”

“Not really.”

“I didn’t really change that much, John. Even after I got out of the hospital and the voice was gone, and after Eli, I still really enjoyed sex. Well, no so much the sex, but the power that came with knowing I could get a guy to want me.”

John
shrugged. “So what? You think I jumped into bed with you because of love at first sight? That I knew that you would be the one I wanted to marry? See, it’s the same, Chloe. We were both just looking out for ourselves that night.

We didn’t know it was going to lead here.”

Chloe was silent for a moment. “What if I told you that I’ve had sex with someone else since we’ve met?”

John
’s first reaction was anger and jealously. A picture of him bedding Rachael Gerber calmed him. He squeezed his hands together. “When?”

“After that first weekend together. I didn’t know you would
come back. It was Ray, that guy from the parts store. I kinda used him for a few months last year, you know, whenever I wanted to...Then I stopped, because I was feeling guilty about the causal sex, and I didn't have sex with anyone for many many months.

Then you and I met and I had a great time and it just awakened this
horniness in me. A couple of days after you left, I called Ray up. I didn’t know I’d ever see you again. I'm sorry.”

John
nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. He kissed the side of her head. “It’s okay. I have a confession, too, then. I forgot all about this, but I had sex with someone else that week, too. I guess we’re even.”

“I guess so.” She looked at him. “I don’t have anything
else. I think I’m clean.”

“Then I’ve got something for you.” He hopped down off
the table and dug into his pocket. He pulled out the ring box.

“
John,” she whispered.

He smiled and opened the box. “Does it seem real now?”

He removed the ring from the box and reached for her hand. He slid the ring on her trembling finger. “Will you marry me?”

She nodded and began crying all over again. “You know I
will.” She held her hand out in front of her to get a good look at her ring. It one large diamond flanked by two smaller ones set on a platinum band. A dozen tiny diamonds encrusted the band.

“This thing is huge! I’ve never seen anything so beautiful!”

“I have,” John said softly.

Chloe
looked up and met his eyes. “Oh, John.” She waved her hand in front of her face, trying to wave the tears back in. She felt like a silly beauty pageant contestant. She held her hand closer to her face, getting a good look at the ring.

“How many carats? You know, so when people ask.”

“It’s eight altogether. The big diamond is three, the smaller two are two carats each and the diamonds on the band make one.”

She looked up at him. “This sounds like a stupid question
and all, because I feel like I should know, but when are we going to get married?”

“What do you think?”

She shrugged. “Does it make a difference? I mean, really what’s it going to change if we do it soon or if we wait 5 years?”

John
shook his head. “I ain’t waiting five years!”

“It was just a number.”

“I’d like to not wait too long. I want to be married to you. I want more that saying that this is my girlfriend or my fiancée. In my business, girlfriends and even fiancées come and go like the breeze. I want to walk around with you on my arm and say,

‘This is my wife’.”

“Wives don’t come and go?”

“You ain’t going no where, baby.”

Chloe laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I ain’t going no where.”

“Well I am,” he said, pushing her away. “I’m going to get
in the shower and wash some of the stink off.”

She waved her hand in front of her face. “Pheww.”

“That’s sweat, baby,” he said as he pulled his shirt over his head. “That’s what a real man smells like.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she said. She handed him one of the
unfolded towels. “Go hit the showers, chief.”

“Chief,” he repeated, laughing. He took the towel. “You
know you’re welcome to join me.”

“I’ll be up in a minute,” she said, returning to the towels.

John disappeared up the stairs and Chloe finished folding the towels. She left the basket sitting on the table and went upstairs. The phone started ringing as she ascended the stairs and she ran to the nearest one.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Chloe?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Hey, Chloe,” the voice said cheerfully. “This is Catherine.

How are you?”

“Oh, hello Catherine. I’m fine. How are you?”

“Good. Listen, is
John around? I tried his cell, but didn’t get him.”

“Yeah, he’s here, but he’s in the shower. Can I have him
call you back?”

“Please do. Thanks,
Chloe. Bye.”

“Bye.”
Chloe hung up the phone and walked down the hall to the bedroom. John, already finished with his shower, was standing at the closet naked, looking for something to wear.

He didn’t turn, so
Chloe assumed he hadn’t heard her come into the room. She tiptoed across the carpet until she was inches behind him.

There were drops of water still on his back and shoulders.

She stepped one step closer to him, put her hands on his hips and flicked her tongue at one of the drops. She felt him tense then relax and exhale loudly. She continued kissing him across his back while her fingers worked their way to the front side of

his body. She placed her hands just below his waist. He put his
hands on top of hers and pushed them down to where he needed her to touch him the most.

When he was sufficiently aroused, he turned around. He
kissed her. She pulled her over-sized sweatshirt over her head and threw it to the floor. She wasn’t wearing a bra and John immediately lowered his mouth to her breasts. She pulled away from him, stripped off the rest of her clothes, and led him by the hand to the bed. She pushed him back on the bed and spent several minutes kissing every inch of his skin.

She moved back to his face. “I’ve missed you so much,”
she whispered. She wasn’t just talking about sex, even though this would be their first time since her hospitalization. She had missed being able to be with him fully, in their own bed, on their own time.

He responded by kissing her again. He rolled on top of her
never removing his lips from hers. They made love for several hours that night with hardly any words being spoken.

It was close to midnight and they were almost asleep when
the phone rang. John rolled over and picked up the extension next to the bed. Chloe sat up and removed one of her earplugs. “It’s Catherine,” he said.

Chloe
winced. “I forgot. She called earlier.”

John
clicked on the phone. “Hey Meg, what’s up?”

“I’m throwing a birthday party for
Kidd next Saturday.

Can you come?”

“Next Saturday, as in a week from tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Can you make it?”

“I don’t know. We’re in rehearsals for the tour. We’re

working with the choreographer twelve hours a day. I don’t
know if I can get away.”

“Well, if you can, it’s at 2pm at King’s Castle.”

“King’s Castle? What the heck is that?”

“It’s this new amusement place. It’s kinda like an arcade,
but they’ve got this huge play area for toddlers. Anyway, that’s where it’s going to be. Kidd would love it if you were there.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Bye.” He clicked off the phone and
looked at Chloe. “Birthday party for Kidd,” he explained.

“Saturday?”

He nodded.

“You going?”

“Not without you.”

“Okay, then, are we going?”

He shook his head. “We’d have to fly there and back in the same day.”

She shrugged. “Whatever you want to do,
John. It’s totally up to you.”

“This looks like the place,” John said as he maneuvered the rental car into a parking spot in front of the huge castle-like structure.

“What gave it away? Was it the castle or was it the big sign
up there with the name of the place?”

“Ha ha. I’ve got to tell you,
Chloe, that I am not looking forward to going in there.” He sat back in his seat and made no move to get out of the car.

“So are we just going to sit here until it’s time to go back to
the airport?”

John
moaned and climbed out of the car. He walked around to close Chloe’s door for her. “I’d open it for you if you give me time to get around there.”

“I know you would,” she replied, taking his hand. She
leaned into him to shield herself from the cold wind.

John
took her left hand and ran his thumb over the ring. “I guess I’m going to tell them about our engagement.”

“Yeah? You’re not afraid of taking the focus off
Kidd?”

“Not really. He’s two years old. All he cares about is

presents. Speaking of presents, you did get that bed shipped here, right?”