“And on your finest stationery,” Iman teased. “Preferably, written in cursive with a feather pen.”
Latosha had thrown a pillow at her. “You can’t blame a girl for asking for some effort. You and I, we’ll both be alone in cities that are totally new to us. You have to admit there’s something comforting about coming home to a letter.”
Iman had ducked her chin and nodded, the reality of her future sneaking in.
“You’re both social creatures. In no time, you’re going to replace us with a new group of friends,” Shania said. “Maybe you’ll even find some bikers.”
“Replace the Vixens? Never.”
It was the next night that things got real. When Isabella showed up fifteen minutes late to Iman’s house, breathless with chapped lips, we took turns giving her hell.
“Decided you could make time for us in between make out sessions with your new boo thang?”
“Is your face all red because it’s cold outside or red because someone’s got you all hot and bothered?”
Isabella peeled off layers of winter attire, leaving her coat and plaid wool scarf in a colorful heap by the front door. “I hope you heckled Jody about Jessup just as much as you’re harassing me.”
She raised her eyebrows, waiting for me to spill the juicy details of my whirlwind romance. When all the other Vixens turned their attention my way, I tried to speak but came up with nothing. Instead, my eyes filled with tears, hot and embarrassing.
“Whatever that was, it’s over,” I managed, voice shaky. “Can we change the subject?”
“Sure, after you let me say just one thing,” Shania said.
“Yeah?”
“Fuck him. Seriously, fuck him. No one gets to make you cry. If we were back home in my neck of the woods, I’d get my brother to beat the devil out of him.”
Before I knew it, I was in the middle of a group hug, enveloped by my friends. Maybe their warm bodies were the only ones I needed pressed against me. They were enough.
* * *
Saturday morning I was up far before my alarm for the gym was set to go off. Instead of hitting an early cardio dance class, I decided to reward myself with a rest day for surviving my hardest semester to date. I’d stressed my body enough. The weekend would be a good chance to rest and renew.
After a breakfast smoothie, I indulged in a long shower. Normally, I timed myself, eager to get in and out in under three minutes. If I needed longer than that, I turned the water off while I did things like shave or condition my hair. If I was to be an environmentalist, I had to practice what I preach. Part of that meant conserving water. After a week spent hunched over my desk staring at scantron sheets so that I could color in the tiny test bubbles, the hot water felt luxurious pelting hard against the muscles of my back and my neck.
It made me think about how nice it would be to have a massage. Strong, masculine hands kneading out the knots in my back sounded exactly what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately, Jessup wasn’t around to play the part. His face was the first and only face my imagination was willing to conjure.
History had taught me that acts of service were the best way to give my spirit a lift. With a full day stretching out in front of me, I had plenty of time to get cracking on my Christmas presents for the Vixens. I just needed my supplies.
I was the first person in the craft store after the staff members unlocked the entrance. In no time, my cart was filled to the brim with glycerin melt, soap base, essential oils in a smattering of scents, and soap molds. Earlier in the year, I’d gotten all of the Vixens into aromatherapy after treating them to a workshop on it at a local yoga studio when we celebrated Valentine’s day together. For Christmas, I planned to make each of them a season’s supply of soap in a signature scent. With each bundle of soap would be a letter explaining why I chose a certain scent for each person and what it’s properties were.
Iman was a powerhouse, but sometimes didn’t know how to listen to her body or know when to stop and rest. In her new job, I was worried she’d burn the candle at both ends until she felt she’d proven herself. Her essential oils were jasmine and chamomile. They’d help her unwind at the end of the day and prepare her body for sleep. For Isabella, I chose Juniper Berry, a scent known for mental stimulation that would assist her as she prepared for her citizenship test. For the others, I chose Rose, Lilac, and Jasmine.
Smelling each vial of oil as I made my selections helped center me. I felt a little like a witch woman preparing to make a potion.
Out in the parking lot, I popped my trunk to load up my car and saw the pile of bags from my last shopping trip that I’d more or less forgotten.
Amy’s gifts. I’d driven off with them when I was trying to get home before any real snow started.
I closed my eyes and took a breath. Jessup was the last person in the world I wanted to see, but I wasn’t going to punish his little sister for his cruelty. I was woman enough that I could deal with a moment’s discomfort to ensure a grieving girl would have a halfway decent holiday after losing her mother.
After loading my craft supplies, I turned my Honda toward Jessup’s apartment complex. When I saw the lights were on in the main office, I realized I might not have to interact with the man that rejected me at all.
I could just drop everything off at the concierge desk like I would if I was from the postal service or UPS and delivering a package.
I made my way into the building with my arms loaded up like I was Santa Claus, nudging the front door open with my hip since my hands were too occupied to deal with the door handle.
The girl at the desk looked up from her magazine. “Good morning! How can I help you?”
Her head tilted to the side a little as she took me in. Clearly, I wasn’t a resident or someone ready to sign lease paperwork.
“I was wondering if I could drop something off for a resident? Jessup Rice?”
She stood and walked over to her computer, nails clacking against the keys. She bit her lip, looking back and forth between me and whatever was on the screen. It was like she was hesitant to tell me something.
“Jessup Rice moved out last week. I apologize, but we’re not allowed to give out a resident’s new mailing address for privacy reasons.”
I sat down on their couch, letting the bags slide off of my arm where they were cutting off circulation and onto the floor. “Is it okay if I sit here and just collect my thoughts for a minute?”
The attendant nodded. “We have hot chocolate and cookies. You’re welcome to help yourself.”
As tempting as it would have been to eat my feelings, I decided to do what I should have done the night Jessup kicked me out of his apartment. I needed a rational male’s opinion on next steps. Without being able to talk to my dad, Reggie was the only other man I knew that I could go to for advice. The only reason I hadn’t done so before was that I didn’t want to put him in a strange place. Given that he was still friends with Andrew, I knew it might be awkward for him to listen to me drone on about another guy.
Reggie was groggy when he answered. I’d forgotten it wasn’t even 9:00 AM and the rest of my classmates were likely still in hibernation. While I gave him the rundown about what transpired with Jessup from start to end, he crunched dry cereal on the other side of the phone. Probably Captain Crunch. I could picture it because I knew from our study sessions that he devoured it by the handful without any milk.
There was something comforting about knowing exactly what my friend was doing even when I wasn’t talking to him face to face. It’s the little rituals and consistencies in the people we believe in that make the world seem familiar and safe even when everything’s careening toward disarray.
“Clearly, he was spiraling out because he was jealous. Any idea why?”
“Not a clue.”
“Is there any chance he saw you with another guy? Or had a reason to believe that you were getting back together with Andrew?”
I replayed the week we spent together in my head and let out a
groan.
“The only guy I spent any time with one-on-one that wasn’t him was you.”
Reggie was quiet on the other end. Even the chewing paused. I could tell he was thinking through something.
“You said he mentioned something about you kissing someone else under the mistletoe?”
“Yeah.”
“Jody, do you remember when you told me you’d knee me in the balls?”
“Uh huh. Right after you made that joke about cornering me under the mistletoe.”
Clearly, Jessup missed the part where Reggie told me that physical violence wouldn’t be necessary because the thought of kissing someone that was like a sister made him want to vomit in his mouth.
While I wasn’t thrilled that Jessup had gone cold on me after jumping to conclusions, I could understand why it happened. He thought I’d been ready to cozy up with someone else right after I’d agreed to explore where our connection might lead. I hadn’t promised him anything. All the same, a promise had been implied.
I didn’t have to think about it. I just loaded up my car and keyed up the GPS so that I could get to Rice Family Barbeque. Without a home address, the restaurant was my best bet.
As an afterthought, I went back in for that cup of hot chocolate. It was going to be a long drive.
16
Weekends were always a shit storm at the restaurant, but I was lucky to be working Saturday instead of Sunday. I didn’t know what it was about Sunday dinner, but folks tended to feel free to be the rudest and tip the worst right after church let out. It was like they knew they’d be forgiven no matter how badly they treated food service folks and decided to see how far God’s grace was going to stretch out to cover them. I knew those wooden benches could be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t my fault they had bony asses and a boring minister.
When the lunch storm died down, I took advantage of the calm to start a deep clean. My brother’s best friend had connections to the office that did health inspections for local restaurants. She’d tipped him off that we were probably getting a surprise visit the week before Christmas. Sounded an awful lot like someone was trying to be a Scrooge and screw us before the holidays if you asked me.
To my brother’s credit, everything was clean enough already that we didn’t have any real reason to worry. At first glance, there were parts of the kitchen that looked bad, but it was only because they were old.
I was covered in a sexy combination of degreaser and water that had slopped out of the mop bucket when one of the new waitresses came to find me in the back. “I don’t want to bother you, sir, but there’s a customer that’s been sitting out there for more than an hour. When I asked her if she wanted some cobbler before her check, she said all she wanted was to talk to you.”
I dunked the mop back in the bucket and washed my hands with hot water and dish soap. If my instincts were right, it was another customer that wanted a comped meal for an unsatisfactory dining experience even though they’d liked the food enough to wolf down an entire pulled pork platter. We got a lot of those. Our regulars were smart enough not to pull that kind of thing but there were plenty of passers through that liked to take advantage when they could. I wasn’t in the mood to pretend the customer was always right.
I usually wasn’t the type of guy to assume to worst, to sulk and sour, but keeping my frustration in check was becoming increasingly more difficult. That’s why I’d taken to hiding in the back and scrubbing things. Burning off the negative energy seemed like the best bet for both me and everyone around me.
When I pushed through the double doors and into our rustic dining room, there was only one customer. Jody. I wasn’t prepared for this. Hadn’t expected it. Her eyes were steady on mine and told me everything she wanted me to know without her having to open her mouth.
If she could drive all this way, the least I could do was be the first to say hello. She wasn’t asking for much.
Even the muscles of my face were confused as to how I should respond. My lips wanted to curl into a small smile, but my jaw was firmly clenched.
I crossed the room and slid onto the bench opposite her at the picnic table.
“It’s a surprise to see you here.”
“A good one?” she asked.
“I’m not sure yet. I thought we hit it off but then—”
“You heard me talking to my friend Reggie and you left before we got to the part of the conversation that would have made you realize there is absolutely zero going on between us. He’s an old friend that didn’t want me to be alone on Christmas since my parents are traveling while they try to salvage their relationship.”
I covered my face with my hand, rubbing my forehead. “And then I acted like an ass and kicked you out of my apartment right when you were about to kiss me.”
“Something like that, yeah,” she said. “It took me up until this morning to figure out what had made you so angry. I wish you’d just told me.”
“Is that why you’re here? So we can start over?”
She shook her head. “I came here to give you Amy’s Christmas presents.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted. Regardless, the answer made her even more endearing. Someone that cared about my family and would drive three hours to do something nice when I’d given her every reason not to was a woman worth winning over.
“How about you give me one last date to change your mind?”
“It shouldn’t be hard in the beginning. When you first meet someone, things are supposed to be fun and light. We couldn’t even make it a week without you getting possessive. Let’s say today is good. When I’m back on campus in January surrounded by other guys, how are you going to act then?”
“Like a gentleman. Like someone that’s learned his lesson.”
Jody didn’t seem impressed.
She stood. “I’m already paid up. You can follow me out to my car if you want Amy’s gifts.”
I trailed behind her into the parking lot. “I can’t wrap presents for shit.”
“That’s what gift bags are for.”
“My mom never used gift bags. She said they took the fun away of being able to tear something open and see what’s inside.”
Jody bit her lip for a moment, staring at me.
“Most wrapping paper isn’t recyclable. Anything that’s glossy or glittery just goes into a landfill.”
“I had no idea.”
“Most people don’t. I got a roll of red butcher paper at the craft store this morning. If you agree to use that instead of regular wrapping paper, I’ll help. But after that, I’m leaving. No funny business.”
“How about you head back inside and enjoy some of our cobbler? On the house, obviously. I’ll let the head waitress know I’ll be leaving a little early. If you give me twenty minutes before you meet me at the house, that will give me enough time to take a quick shower. Deal?”
She nodded in agreement, but it was clear that she couldn’t believe she’d acquiesced to my request. I didn’t want to keep her waiting while I cleaned up in case it gave her time to change her mind and leave, but I also didn’t want to subject her to the smell of the kitchen oozing from my pores while we worked in close proximity.
Jody handed me her phone and I keyed in my address.
* * *
To my relief, she showed up at the house as promised. I’d already warned Amy that she was under strict orders to go nowhere near her She Shed for the next two hours.
Mom built Amy the She Shed behind the house for Amy’s seventh birthday. Amy had claimed that the house was too manly and that as a young woman, she needed her own space. She had a litany of complaints, most of which were valid: my brother and I made the house smell like a locker room, we hogged the remote, and she could never find a quiet place to read because Randy was always yelling at the television. Between video games and losing football teams, it seemed like there was always something for him to rail against.
The She Shed was a decent size for what it was and looked a little bit like
a one-room cabin in miniature. Instead of covering the floor in rugs, my mother had covered it in fuzzy blankets and pillows so that every possible inch of space was a cozy place to cuddle up. Instead of putting a television in the She Shed as my sister had hoped, mom had purchased a mini-projector we could hook up to a laptop and hung a white sheet over one of the walls. That way, Amy could project whatever she wanted. It was like having a tiny home theater hidden away in the woods. The place had a lot of charm.
As soon as I’d gotten out of the shower and sprayed myself with a light spritz of cologne, I’d turned on the twinkle lights that decorated the She Shed for ambiance and threw It’s a Wonderful Life up onto the wall without the sound.
I intercepted Jody in our driveway before she could ring the doorbell and helped her carry Amy’s gifts and the wrapping supplies into the shed.
“What is this place?” she said.
“Somewhere my sister knows to stay away from while we work. I didn’t want to risk her seeing us bringing stuff into the house.”
“If I lived here, I would never leave. It’s not really practical, though. There’s no table to work on.”
With a foot, I pushed some of the blankets to the side to expose the wooden floor for the flat surface. “We can get creative.”
“Tape and scissors?” she asked.
I nodded, running back to the house. While I was in my room, I grabbed a couple of empty cardboard boxes from things I’d purchased on Amazon for the restaurant.
I was going to have to wrap slowly to buy myself time. Without a master plan to win her over, I knew I might never get the pleasure of Jody Daniels’ company again.
17
I’d forgotten how good Jessup smelled. Like cloves and the woods with a hint of coriander. In that aromatherapy class, we’d learned that coriander was good for creating a sense of calm and uplifting the spirits.
Carolina Christmas Kiss: A Vixens In Love Novella Page 9
