Grandma McShane looked as though she were going to burst into happy tears as she pulled Stevie into a bone-crushing hug. For a little woman she was mighty!
“Ali, who is this woman,” asked Grandma Samadi with interest.
“Grandma, this is Stevie Wilson. Stevie, this is my Grandma Samadi, my mother’s mother.”
Stevie smiled demurely and held out her hand.
Grandma Samadi took her hand and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. “Salaam, child,” she said quietly and Stevie answered her with a bright smile.
“Peace be unto you.”
Grandma Samadi’s eyes shot to me in question. I could only grin nervously and also kiss her on the cheek.
“Everyone sit, sit! Aaron my son, would you please go up and get your brothers? They are moving slow this morning.” Mom came in then and she froze when she saw Stevie, whom I had seated next to my usual spot since Aziz never came for breakfast.
“Mom, this is Stevie. Stevie, this is my mother, Shireen McShane.”
My mother came around the table as Stevie stood up. They faced each other, eye to eye, and my mother hugged her warmly. The look on her face told me Stevie was startled. I heard my mother say to her, “Aaron has told me much about you. Welcome to our home.”
Stevie stepped back from her and smiled graciously. “Thank you, Mrs. McShane. Your son was kind enough to rescue me last night. My purse was stolen and my car keys were in it.” She looked at me and smiled conspiratorially. We both knew that there was a strong likelihood we would have gone home together regardless.
“What kind of a lame ass security guard are you if you let her purse get stolen?” Peter and Patrick stomped down the stairs rubbing sleep from their eyes.
They never liked for me to be the one to get them up so if Mom threatened them with me, they’d usually come down on their own. They said good morning to everyone, gave kisses on the cheek, and hugged Pops.
“Good morning,” they said quietly as they sat next to Stevie. The table had been piled high with biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs and two carafes filled with coffee and juice. Stevie waited until everyone else had started serving themselves before she took a small amount of eggs and bacon. I raised an eyebrow at her and nudged her with my foot.
“I haven’t ever eaten with you,” I whispered to her, “but something tells me that you would normally eat more than that.”
She blushed a little and took a biscuit and another piece of bacon. “Thank you for breakfast,” she said quietly and my grandmothers both smiled.
“Of course, dear,” said Grandma McShane and I could see they both wanted to ask a million questions.
Grandma Samadi started first. I put my hand on Stevie’s leg for support. I had warned her. “You are beautiful girl, Stevie. You are how old?”
Stevie finished chewing and wiped her mouth with her napkin before speaking. “I’ll be twenty eight in a couple of months.”
Grandma Samadi nodded. “And you have job? You work?”
Stevie smiled and said, “I am a High School Teacher, but I took this coming school year off.” She turned to me and looked nervous, like she wasn’t sure what to say. I nodded to her and gave her leg a squeeze. “I, um, needed some time to decide what I want to do. Next. I’m going to do some writing,” she said and took a deep breath.
I gave Grandma Samadi a look that begged her not to continue that line of questioning. She raised an eyebrow at me and sat back.
“Where are you from, dear,” Grandma McShane asked and Stevie smiled.
“I grew up in Santa Cruz. I live in Foster City now.”
She was so brave.
“And you met our Ali at a concert? You do this often?”
I could feel her stifle a laugh.
“Yes. My girlfriend and I go to as many shows as we can. I write a music blog and I include reviews of the shows we go to. She had to go to Alaska to take care of her mother, so Aaron said he would keep me company.”
The twins started snickering. I threw a biscuit at Patrick and Pops smacked Peter upside the head.
“Show some respect for our guest,” he grumbled, but anytime these boys were scolded it was usually half-hearted.
Stevie bit down on her lower lip to keep from laughing.
“Boys, I didn’t hear you come in last night,” Mom said, deflecting attention from how I was keeping Stevie company.
I cleared my throat and said, “Mom, they came over to my place for a while. I brought them in so they wouldn’t wake you.”
Mom smiled at me and then looked at her watch. “It’s time for me to go to work. Husband, you will be alright today?”
He beamed at her as she stood to give him a kiss. “I’ll manage until you are back home, my love. Have a good day.”
They kissed again and there was so much love in their eyes it brought tears to mine. I caught Stevie’s eye and she was obviously similarly affected. Damn.
“Boys, what trouble are ye getting into today,” Pops asked the twins.
I interrupted their grumbles with, “They are going to work for me today. I need them to cover the store until Callie comes in. I’m taking Stevie to get a new ID and her keys taken care of, then I need to take her to get her car.”
The boys groaned, but the grandmothers and Pops made approving sounds.
“That’s my boy. You two better do a good job for yer brother today, ye hear?”
They both mumbled, “Yes sir,” as Pops stood from the table. He nodded at them and then winked at me.
“Guys, we’re leaving soon so get cleaned up and meet me out back. I need the Camry today, so make sure it’s picked up.”
They bitched and moaned as they pushed back from the table. They did remember to kiss their grandmothers and thank them for breakfast before they shoved each other around the whole way up the steps.
Stevie stood and carried the dishes to the sink and asked Grandma McShane, “Shall I do the dishes for you?”
Grandma brought her hand up to her chest and said, “That would be lovely, Stevie dear. Thank you.” Grandma McShane winked at me and started clearing the food from the table. I walked around to Stevie, placing my hand on her lower back.
“That was very sweet of you,” I murmured. “I’m going to run and shower. Will you be ok?” I gestured to the grandmothers who were whispering to each other.
“I think I can handle it. I’ll be over when I’m finished,” she purred at me.
Yes, it was possible for this woman to be sexy while washing dishes. I had such a desire to lift her onto the counter and-
“Ali, you pick up my medication today, please. I am almost finished.” I raised an eyebrow at her, fully aware she was trying to get me out of the way. Confirmation came in the next statement. “You get my card for Kaiser from my purse in living room.”
“Of course, Grandma Samadi. I’ll bring it back tonight.” I stepped into the living room to grab her card out of her wallet and when I came back, I paused by the kitchen, shamelessly eavesdropping.
“I am wondering...Are you willing to be married and fulfill marriage obligations with my grandson?”
I groaned inwardly. I never should have left-
“Your grandson is wonderful, Mrs. Samadi. I’ve only just met him, but I’m hoping to spend more time with him. That’s as much as I can honestly tell you right now.”
She handled Grandma Samadi with so much grace, God love her!
“Fareeza, give the lass a break! We don’t want to be scarin’ her away. Give her time to get to know him, would ye?”
Score one for Grandma McShane. Way to go in for the save. Seriously, what was I doing hiding out here in the hallway?
“Eavesdrop much?”
I turned to find Patrick and Peter crouched behind me, snickering.
“Shut up, I’m trying to hear,” I whispered and they covered their mouths.
“He’s not getting younger. I just make sure she will give him babies, that is all. No reason for him to play with girl who don�
�t want babies.”
I heard a plate drop and I cursed myself. I started to go in to rescue her, but I heard her say, “I understand, Mrs. Samadi. I do. I wouldn’t want him to miss out on having children. He deserves to be taken care of and treated well. Mrs. McShane, is there anything else I can help with?”
“No, bless you, Stevie. Ye are so lovely to help an old woman. I’ll be looking forward to seeing ye again soon.”
I heard the back door open and Stevie said, “Thank you so much for breakfast. I hope to see you again as well.”
The door closed and the grandmothers started arguing with each other. I walked back through the kitchen and gave Grandma Samadi a hard look.
“I’m not sure, Ali. This one a little headstrong for-”
“Give it a bloody rest, Fareeza! Jesus, you will send that one packing, you will, if you keep harassing her! Can’t you tell she’s of a good heart? A bit sad, though. Aaron?”
I shook my head as I got to the back door in time to see Stevie step into the apartment where I was supposed to be taking a shower. I ran after her and took the steps three at a time. She turned around when she heard me and she laughed.
“I know you’re kind of like Superman, but there’s no way-”
“I’m sorry. I went looking for Grandma Samadi’s insurance card and I got sidetracked. I hope they didn’t go too rough on you.”
She smiled and shook her head. “Just how old are you, anyway? She seems to think you’re going to be too old to give her great grandbabies if you don’t get married in the next five minutes.”
Oh shit, please tell me she wasn’t going to run.
“God, Stevie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone with them. I know I warned you, but you just never know how far they’ll take it.”
She was standing in front of me with her arms crossed over her chest giving me an appraising look. “It’s obvious they just want the best for you, Aaron.” She looked down at her feet and took in a shaky breath. “I do, too.”
Shit. I felt like things were unravelling right in front of me. But then that whiplash mood change hit and she hopped up into my arms, surprising the hell out of me.
“So how old are you?” She bit my earlobe and I was instantly insane over her.
I groaned and clenched my teeth together. “How do expect me to answer you when you do that, woman?”
“It’s a simple question, Aaron Ali,” she spoke against my neck, sending chills down my torso and right to where I needed to feel her the most.
“Stevie, you’re killing me...Ah, GOD!”
Her tongue in my ear was too much. I flicked the lock on the door, carried her over to the bed, and laid her out in front of me. Her face was drawn up in such a sexy smile. I didn’t think I could handle her. I stared at her for a long time before I slowly lowered my body over hers. I felt her sigh as I kissed her neck and worked my way down her chest.
“I’m thirty-four, love. Not too old for you, I hope.” My hands found their way to the outsides of her thighs and started to slide her dress up…
“I’m sorry. I want to touch you, Stevie, but we’re going to be interrupted any minute.” I nibbled on her jaw and felt her sigh happily beneath me. “And when I get started with you, I do not want to be interrupted.”
She gazed at me from hooded eyes. “You’re right. Getting interrupted would be very frustrating,” she murmured, her hands roaming down to grab my ass.
I sucked in a breath and my hips reflexively dug into hers. “Jesus! Let me take a shower and let’s go before I lose all control of my faculties.”
She giggled and kissed me on the nose one last time. “Hurry,” she whispered and it was enough to launch me off the bed and into the bathroom.
“I’ll hurry. You can turn on some music if you like.” She smiled at me and sat up on the bed, smoothing out her skirt. It took all of my remaining willpower to close the door behind me.
Stevie -
“Ok, don’t think about him naked and wet on the other side of the door, Stevie.”
What a whirlwind morning! First the breakdown upon waking, the luxurious and wonderful cuddle time with this beautiful man, the breakfast interrogation followed by more of Grandma Samadi’s probing questions. She wasn’t messing around! I needed to tread lightly with her. I didn’t think she would appreciate my flippant sense of humor. And surprisingly, I found myself hoping I did not alienate anyone in Aaron’s family, no matter how awkward I felt being asked if I was going to marry a man I’d only just met. Strangely enough, that part didn’t bother me either. My only fear was the whole great grandbabies part. I very much wanted to have children, but a part of me was scared to death to get pregnant again. I didn’t think I could survive another lost child. When the time came I’d have to trust the doctors and I’d have to trust my own feelings.
Too much of what happened, of what my body was telling me, during my pregnancy, I ignored because I was trying to keep my sanity. In hindsight, there were so many things I would have done differently, number one being I would have left Ben immediately upon learning of his disinterest in the baby. So much time wasted. So much unnecessary stress I put myself through. But I wasn’t going to beat myself up about it anymore. Enough of that.
I stood from Aaron’s oh-so-comfortable bed and moseyed over to his iPod. I scrolled through the artists and giggled at the sight. We could have had an identical iTunes library from what I was seeing here. I stopped at Halestorm, a band I’d recently discovered, and played their debut album. I danced over to the kitchenette sink and proceeded to wash the teacups from last night. I didn’t hear Aaron come out of the bathroom. When I turned, I saw him bent over with only a towel wrapped around him, getting boxers out of his bottom drawer. In his haste I guessed he’d forgotten to grab clean clothes. I watched him move about grabbing his clothes and thought I’d died and gone to heaven!
He had to be near six and a half feet tall and his olive skin was smooth over his nicely defined form. He wasn’t bulky. He was lean and toned. Perfect. He had black and grey tattoos on his chest, both of his shoulders and biceps, and I saw one on his calf, but he was too far away for me to make out what they were. And then he turned around and caught me appreciating him.
“Hey,” he said nervously, maybe even a little shyly. “Thanks for washing those,” he said, gesturing to where I’d set the cups to dry on a towel. I bit my lip and almost told him I’d rather have been washing something else, preferably something below his towel. I knew his brothers would be here any minute and as sweet as they were, I didn’t need them to catch us in a much more explicit act than they did last night.
“Not a problem. If anything, perhaps your family will keep me around because I’m a good dishwasher.”
He shook his head and smiled bashfully. “I really am sorry about that. Let me get dressed and we can go. I, uh, hope I didn’t overstep when I mentioned taking you to the DMV and to get your keys. I just wanted to spend the day with you.” He had his hands on his hips, his towel dipping low in front. My hand came up to my chest and I felt myself blushing. He was unbelievably sexy. He just really had no clue how devastatingly handsome he was standing there, dripping on the floor. My eyes were drawn to the trail of dark hair that led down from his navel-
“You can very much spend the day with me however you want,” I said, feeling light-headed all of a sudden. He grinned and walked back into the bathroom. I had to sit down.
“Asshole, you ready yet,” came a shout and incessant banging on the door. I unlocked it and opened it to the startled face of one of the twins. I think it was Patrick. The boys were identical and wore their hair in the same super short cut. But Peter’s features were a little softer and he smiled a lot more. Patrick, I think, had a beauty mark on the top left side of his forehead. I wasn’t sure yet, so I wasn’t going to let on that I didn’t know who was who yet.
“Sorry, Stevie. He said to-”
“Come on in, he’s just getting dressed,” I said.
The bo
ys walked in looking nervous. They were dressed nicely in button down shirts and khakis with dress shoes.
“You two clean up nice,” I said and they rolled their eyes.
“Mom makes us dress like this any time we are going to work at the store. It’s not like anyone we know ever comes in there, though, so I guess it’s whatever.”
I think that was Patrick. I smiled and turned to see Aaron emerging dressed in jeans and a t-shirt from the bathroom.
“You guys ready?”
They nodded.
“Hey, are you going to tell Mom, you know, about last night?”
Aaron’s expression was solemn. “I am, little man,” he said quietly. “She needs to know in case you guys have to testify or anything. She’s not going to be angry, you know that.”
They both looked at their shoes.
“Yeah, but I don’t want her to be disappointed knowing we were at that kind of a party.” Peter looked really sad.
Aaron burst out laughing. “Right. Like she doesn’t know what the hell you clowns get up to. You guys are doing what you’re supposed to do, going to school and work, pushing yourselves in your sports. It’s ok to have a good time, but you guys do have to be careful. That’s all she would tell you.”
Patrick frowned. “Does she know you went to parties and stuff?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I told Mom and Pops everything when I was growing up. It made my life a helluva lot easier.”
They looked wary and turned to go outside to the car.
“Wow, you are really good at that,” I said to him, almost in awe. “I’m not kidding!”
He laughed and grabbed his wallet and keys. “I try not to lose it with them. I’m just lucky Mom has a much more Western view of everything than Grandma Samadi does. And heaven forbid she ever find out what those two goofballs get up to! They’d never hear the end of it. My cousin Aziz, he lives in the apartment next to mine? Yeah, he is living here because he got into some trouble in college. DUI, that sort of thing. His parents sent him here from New York so Grandma Samadi could watch him. Luckily for me, Mom is much more assertive and laid the ground rules when I was a boy that she would be handling my discipline. Grandma Samadi still puts in her two cents, obviously, but she holds back a lot.”
The Rock Season Page 12
