by S. E. Rose
“Yeah, it’s like stepping back in time out here,” I agree.
She turns to me. “Mom never gave up her love of romance books. And every year for her birthday, Dad would buy her another one. It doesn’t seem like a big gift, but it was his way of re-affirming his love for her, his acceptance for who she was.”
“That’s sweet,” I say to Gran.
“Can we go inside?” I ask her as I look up at the old colonial home.
She pulls out the key and grins like a little girl, her whole face lights up with mischief and it makes me giggle. We carefully step up to the front door, navigating our way around a few rotten wood boards. She unlocks the door, and we go inside. For not being worked on for a while, it’s in decent shape. There are white sheets over the few pieces of furniture that remain. She walks over to one and pulls off the sheet. It’s an old bookshelf.
She picks up a stack of books and sets them on what I presume is a table covered in a white sheet. She opens it to the first page and turns it to me.
There’s an inscription.
Bea,
Not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for that storm. It brought you into my arms and I will never let you go. Happy Birthday, my love.
Your George
I look up at Gran as she wipes a tear from her eye. “I want you to have these. Mom would have loved your book collection.”
“Really?” I ask as I feel tears well in my own eyes.
She pulls me in for a hug, and I wrap my arms gently around her, smelling her perfume and committing it to memory.
“Now, let’s each grab a stack, and we’ll take them back to Dotty’s. I’m sure she has a box sitting around there somewhere that we can use.”
I pull back and look down at Gran. “Thank you. This is…it means a lot to me.”
She pats my hand. “Don’t give up on love.”
I sigh. I want to tell her about the kiss and Garrett, but I don’t want her reading into anything. I don’t even know how I feel about that kiss. It might have all been a giant mistake.
Garrett
After a night of not sleeping, I’m having a coffee on my front porch. The morning air is warm for October.
I’m about to sit down when I hear Sam call my name.
I lean over the edge of my railing. “Morning.”
“You look deep in thought,” he says.
“I am.”
Sam pats the empty chair next to him.
“No Ethan this morning?”
He shrugs. “He’s sleeping in. We might have partied a little too hard for old men last night.”
I laugh. “OK.”
I walk over and sit.
“What’s eating you?” Sam asks.
“I kissed Di.”
Sam’s eyes widen. “Wow. I didn’t think you two were compatible.”
I sigh and run a hand through my messy hair. “I didn’t think so either. I…I don’t know what’s going on. One second we’re friends, clearly just friends, and the next second we’re in her parents’ laundry room making out.”
Sam laughs. “The Moores are a nice family.”
I give him a curious look and he shrugs.
“Small town, I know Kathy Moore from some work she did on the community garden project.”
“Oh,” I say as I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees.
“I don’t know if this is a good thing or not,” I lament as I sip some coffee.
“Maybe give it a try. You won’t know until you do.”
“I don’t know. I mean…we have to be able to work together on this charity project and I don’t want that to be weird if things don’t work out.”
“So, put a pin in it until after that,” Sam suggests. “You can still hang out, just make a rule that there is no hanky-panky until after.”
“Hanky-panky? Really?”
Sam laughs. “Yep.”
“It’s not a bad idea…” I trail off as I question whether or not I can keep my hands off of Di for another four weeks.
“You really like her, don’t you?” he states.
“I…fuck, yeah, I guess I do.”
“Well, then, let her know, but tread lightly. She seems like she’s different than other women you’ve dated.”
“She is…in more ways than one.”
“I gotta go get Ethan some coffee and toast and probably some painkillers. Feel free to sit out here and ponder the meaning of life as long as you need,” he says as he stands.
“Thanks for the pep talk,” I tell him.
“Anytime.”
I watch Sam head inside as I sit rocking and thinking. I don’t know why I don’t want to like Di. It’s weird and not like me at all. I just, I guess I do like her and I don’t want to hurt her. But I don’t know if I’m relationship material. I don’t know if I can give Di what her parents have and that scares the shit out of me.
Chapter Eighteen
Di
Bailey stands by the door to her kindergarten class.
“What’s up, Di? You looked flustered,” she asks as I walk over to her. I pull her into the janitor’s closet across from her classroom and turn on the light.
“I’m an idiot,” I whisper.
“Why are we in Frank’s closet?” she inquires, referring to our janitor.
“Because…” I motion to the door. “Out there isn’t safe.”
“Is there an alien invasion that I don’t know about?”
I punch her arm.
“Ow,” she pouts, rubbing it.
“Focus! I need my best friend to tell me what to do,” I say.
“What about Lanie?”
I groan. “Lanie is too practical. And this is about L-O-V-E.”
“Oh?” Her eyes light up with curiosity.
I love Bailey but she is a giant gossip. I hold out my pinkie. She sighs because she knows if we pinkie swear, she can’t tell anyone. She might be a gossip, but she is also a loyal confidant if you invoke the treaty of silence.
“Spill,” she urges.
I lean back against the painted, brick wall. “I sort of, kind of, maybe kissed Garrett.”
“Wait, what? Like Garrett, Garrett?”
I nod, hoping the dim light from the single light bulb dangling above us hides my blush.
“Holy fuck! Oh my God! I mean, wow.” She pauses. “Was it good? Please tell me it was good!”
“Shhh,” I hush her as I still and try to listen for footsteps outside. Hearing none, I turn back to her. “It was…magical. That man can kiss. I mean, like better-than-a-movie kiss, like I-was-transported-to-another-universe kiss, like out-of-body-experience kiss, like—”
Bailey places her hand over my mouth. “I get it. It was good.”
I shrug. “Yep.”
“So, are you like, together?” she asks in a hushed voice.
I shake my head. “No. I mean…” I trail off and frown because I don’t know what we are. I had one missed call from Garrett last night, but it was late by the time Gran and I got home, and I was up early to help in the carpool lane this morning.
“OK, so tell me exactly what happened,” she demands.
I launch into the story and Bai leans back against a shelf and listens intently. When I finish, she’s tapping her cheek, which means she is deep in thought.
“I think you should talk to him. Clearly, there’s more than just friend feelings between you two, but there’s also an entire history of being on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to dating philosophies.”
“Yeah,” I start to speak, but then the door opens. Frank gives us one look and puts his hands up. “I’ll leave you ladies to your discussion. I’ll be in Miss Matthew's room if one of you can let me know when you are done.”
He walks away before either of us can speak. Bailey giggles as I turn back to her, not bothering to shut the door as I think our conversation is about done.
“I just…fudge, I really do like him.” Bailey’s eyes grow large. “Come on, it’s not that sur
prising, is it? I mean, he’s sexy AF and he’s smart and nice.” Her eyes continue to grow larger by the second. And then I feel the presence behind me.
I close my eyes in mortification. “He’s behind me, isn’t he?”
Bailey nods and presses her lips together to keep herself from laughing.
“I’m sexy AF, huh?” Garrett’s voice whispers in my ear.
FML. I turn around to face him. But as I open my mouth to speak, he puts a finger over my lips. He looks behind my shoulder at Bailey.
“Mind giving us a minute?”
Bailey shakes her head and scrambles past us and out of the closet.
Garrett slowly closes the door. The room seems smaller with him inside it. “And I’m smart and nice?”
I nod. My face is probably redder than the red bottles of paint that sit on a shelf behind Garrett’s head.
“Do you need anything?” I ask.
“I was looking for you. You didn’t return my phone call.”
“Sorry about that,” I say. “My grandmother decided to make me drive her to the Eastern Shore for an overnight and we didn’t get back till late.”
“The Eastern Shore?”
I shrug. “Yeah. It was…fun and enlightening.”
“I take it you just enlightened Bailey about…” He trails off as his eyes lock on my lips.
“Yeah…about that.”
His eyes snap to mine. “I wanted to talk to you, too.”
“We probably should…” I trail off looking for the words, but my eyes find his lips again. And then he leans in and, suddenly, we’re kissing and not just a-peck-on-the-lips kissing. We are full-on, tongues-tangling, teeth-clashing, lips-parting kissing. His hands press my lower back so that I’m flush against him. His erection digs at my belly, and I groan.
He tugs on my ponytail and he yanks, my head goes back, and he trails kisses down my neck. I moan as he makes his way back up the column of my neck to my jaw and then back to my mouth. His leg presses between mine and I shamelessly grind against his thigh. I need a release, even more than I did on Saturday. Something about being here at school, sneaking a kiss in a closet seems so wrong, yet I’m super turned on by it.
Our hands explore as our bodies grind against each other and our tongues tango. A loud chattering of students approaching makes us jump apart even though there is no way they could hear us over their loud voices echoing in the hallways.
We stand there staring at each other, panting.
“Garrett,” I manage.
“Di,” he says back.
“I…” I trail off because I don’t want to say the thought that just popped into my head.
“We should…” He stops as though also unsure of what to say.
“Let’s talk after school,” I suggest, as I clear my throat.
“Good idea.”
“OK.”
“Right.”
We both don’t move for a long moment. Finally, Garrett walks to the door but he turns back to me before he opens it. He takes my face in his hands and runs his lips gently over mine.
“Until later,” he says as he turns and leaves. I stay inside, my fingers touching my swollen lips, the only proof that Garrett was actually in here with me, kissing me, just a moment ago.
I slowly make my way back to my classroom. My kids should be done with gym class soon and I need to get my head back on straight.
Bailey pops her head into my classroom. “I need details!” she whisper-yells.
I flick her off and grin. “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”
She squeals and then closes her mouth. “So, there was kissing?”
I laugh and throw an eraser at her. “Go away. We’ll have girl time this weekend and I’ll debrief you. Plus, Garrett and I need to talk after school. I think we need to keep things light, at least until the charity stuff is done. It just makes it too complicated.”
“Yeah, I get that. But afterward…” Bailey says with a smirk.
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Go get your kids from art class.”
“I think you might have to reconsider giving up on love,” she says as she walks away. My stubborn side says it’s not true, but my heart tells me that it’s already falling for Garrett.
Garrett
I’m in a daze all afternoon. How did I go from placing Di in the friend zone to making out with her in Frank’s closet? I sit at my desk after the kids leave, staring at nothing, trying to wrap my head around everything that’s transpired over the last few days.
A knock at my door pulls my attention away from my thoughts.
Di walks in and shuts the door behind her, taking a seat in one of the students’ chairs.
“So,” she says as she looks at the dry erase board behind me. She’s biting her lower lip and it’s driving me crazy and not in a good way.
“Yeah, we need to talk.”
Her gaze flickers over to mine. “I know.” She takes a deep breath. “I think we should keep this platonic, at least until after the race. I don’t want to complicate things and then have to work together on something so important.”
I’m surprised she’s thinking the same thing I am. Since we teach different grades, we typically don’t work together on anything for school. In fact, this is the first time we’ve ever worked together on a project.
“I completely agree.”
Her eyes widen. “Really?”
I nod. “I was actually thinking the same thing.”
“OK, so, no more kissing, just friends for at least four more weeks.”
“It’s a deal…or an agreement?” I fumble over the words.
“It’s something,” she says with a laugh.
“Did you really have a nice time with your grandmother?” I ask as I stack up some papers that I want to take home.
“I did. It was…enlightening like I said.”
I tilt my head as I consider her words. “How’s that?”
She shrugs. “She showed me her old house and gave me some of my great-grandmother’s books. It was nice. When you come from a big family, you don’t always get a ton of one-on-one time with your grandparents. I guess it was special because it was just the two of us.”
“It’s impressive that someone her age would be down for such a short, last-minute road trip,” I point out.
She laughs. “Gran Tilly is like eighty-three going on twenty-three. I swear that she’s aging backward.”
“Well, good genes, then,” I say as I place the papers in my bag.
“You want to grab a burger and go over the details for the race?” she asks.
I nod. “That’d be good. I’ll meet you at the pub in about thirty minutes.”
“Sounds good.” She heads out the door, pausing for a moment at the threshold but then continues as though she changed her mind about what she was going to say.
There’s so much I want to say to her, but it’ll have to wait.
Chapter Nineteen
Di
After a long week, I settle in to grade a quiz. It’s been difficult trying to keep myself from kissing Garrett the last few times I’ve seen him.
We’ve sorted out everything for the race. We have a permit from the city. We have vendors. We have parent volunteers. We even have a company donating ribbons and the local farm that’s donating little pumpkins for the kids. The farm was excited to be able to get rid of their extra pumpkins after Halloween.
The race invite went out to the schools, including the middle and high schools. And now, we are getting people signed up and ready to race.
I have a feeling this will suck up all my time which is a good thing because it means less thinking about Garrett.
My phone buzzes, and I glance at it.
Bailey: Remember you said you wanted to take a cooking class?
Me: Uh, yeah?
Bailey: Well…I signed us up for one. The chef at the little inn past the apple orchard is teaching one on Thursday nights. It’s a four-week class. Want to do it?
M
e: YES! Also, I may be stress eating during the first two sessions. This race stuff is consuming my life.
Bailey: And done. It starts this coming week. And you’ll be fine. You’re a master multitasker.
Me: Cool beans. And I’m not sure my skills are at a master level.
I put my phone down and smile. Maybe cooking will be my thing. I already know that I like it. It might be a nice break from all my stress. My phone pings again and I don’t bother looking, assuming it’s Bailey with details for our class. I decide to bake cookies to take to my parents’ house since it’s Clark’s birthday party tonight and he loves chocolate chip cookies.
I decide to shower and change while the cookies cool. Getting out of the shower, I glance down at my phone and freeze.
There are missed text messages and calls from Garrett. I press my text app.
Garrett: Uh, Kylie invited me to Clark’s birthday party tonight. I wanted to make sure it’s OK with you before I say yes.
Garrett: Earth to Di? Kylie is blowing up my phone.
Garrett: Di? Are you OK?
Garrett: I’m coming over there.
As if on cue, there’s a knock at my door. Shit.
I open it to find Garrett standing there, looking at me like I’m resurrected from the dead.
“Thank God!” he exclaims.
“Hello to you too.”
“Why didn’t you answer? I was worried.”
I sigh. “Well, I baked Clark cookies and then took a shower. I know it’s crazy, but sometimes I go an entire hour without looking at my phone,” I say, my voice laced with sarcasm.
He smirks. “An entire hour? Impressive.”
I roll my eyes and stand to the side, so he can come in.
“So, are you coming to dinner?” I ask as I start packing up cookies.
“Kylie said she’d kick my ass if I didn’t.”
“Well, then you best show your face. Kylie doesn’t like it when people don’t do what she wants them to do.”
“You have a complicated family, Di.”
I shrug. “Not news to me.”
“Want a ride?” he asks, motioning to the bag of cookies on my counter.
“I suppose so,” I say, biting my lip and then releasing it.
