by Brent, Cora
I joined Leah behind the counter and didn’t even try not to stare at her. She wore a form fitting t-shirt with the Dirty Cactus logo created by none other than Cord Gentry, Cadence Gentry’s father and the longtime owner of a popular tattoo parlor up in the Phoenix area. Below the shirt she wore tight dark jeans that stirred something other than my heart.
I opened my arms for a hug because it was Christmas dammit and I was going to exploit the opportunity to take one.
Leah was pleased, instantly stepping into the embrace and pressing her face to my chest, her arms barely long enough to wrap all the way around my waist. My hands were impatient go everywhere and the quickening of my pulse was not only lust but definitely worked as its companion as I rubbed her back and inhaled the sweet warmth of her skin.
She locked her hands together at my back and tipped her head up. “Did you come here just for this?” she teased although she made no move to pull away.
“No,” I said, sliding my hand up and down her spine before lightly fisting her hair at the base of her neck, satisfied by the shiver that rolled through her. “I came here for a hell of a lot more than this.”
Her breathing sped up and her cheeks were flushed.
“You might have another gift to unwrap, Jedson, but you’ll need to stick around until closing time.”
I pressed against her. “I can stick around as long as it takes.” This was getting really interesting really fast.
She arched into my hardening dick, all kinds of turned on. “You don’t know what you’re doing to me right now,” she muttered.
I brushed her hair aside, ran my tongue over her neck and sucked the skin lightly between my teeth before whispering in her ear, “Consider it payback, for making me wait.”
“Behave,” Leah warned, “or I’ll make you wait even longer.” But she would do no such thing, practically grinding on me right there in front of all two of our customers. Leah was about as close to her breaking point as I was.
“What is a four letter word for a rooster?” Mr. Goldstein wanted to know.
“Cock!” yelled the lady in the corner.
Leah snorted with laughter and the moment kind of ended, to be continued later. She turned to fold some towels. I leaned against the bar with my arms crossed and stared at her ass.
“What’s that?” I pointed to something sitting on a shelf under the bar.
“It’s called a fruit basket, Ryan.”
“I see that, Leah.”
“It’s a gift.”
“From who?”
“Terry and Misty.”
“Terry and Misty are giving out joint Christmas gifts?”
“Yep. They’re a thing now. Didn’t you know?”
I did know. I knew that because last week when I was minding my own business taking the trash out to the dumpster I witnessed a very enthusiastic hand job in action. I wished I hadn’t.
“Good for them,” I said and started polishing the shot glasses.
The sky was completely dark and I was trying to persuade Leah to close up early when Steven Pike wandered inside with his mother in tow. Mrs. Pike was wearing a dress that made her look like a Christmas tree. From the perplexed way she glanced around I wondered if she’d ever been inside a bar before. Apparently she’d been dragged away from a quiet dinner.
“Jedson!” Pike shouted, delighted to find me here. I’d been investing time in Pike, sensitive to his disability and to the fact that some of his half buried memories of me weren’t very good. I took him out to lunch at least once a week, paid for as many hamburgers as he wanted to eat, and gave his mother money when he wasn’t looking. When I got the diner up and running I’d find a part time job for him to do.
Pike slapped me on the back before selecting a bar stool beside his mother. Leah quickly filled a couple of glasses from the tap and slid them over to the Pikes.
“Hey Pike,” Leah called. “I got you something.”
“Like a present?”
“Exactly like a present.”
“Oh.” He was suddenly worried. “I didn’t get you a present.”
“Sure you did. You came here to see me on Christmas. That’s all the present I need.”
I rolled my eyes at her but she shot me a warning glare saying that if she wanted to be corny with Steven Pike then I should stifle my sarcasm because it made him happy.
Leah disappeared for a moment and I heard her rummaging in the supply closet. She emerged with the world’s largest bag of pretzels.
“All for you,” she said, plopping the humungous bag down beside Steven at the bar. He couldn’t have been happier if the bag was packed with weed.
Mrs. Pike inquired after Leah’s father and she said Eddie was spending Christmas in Lake Tahoe with Nancy Albertson.
The tiny crowd thinned out when Mr. Goldstein’s grandson arrived to escort him back home. The grandson was wearing a prison guard uniform, obviously having just come from work, and thanked us for hosting his grandfather on Christmas Day. They had no other family anymore, just the two of them.
Soon after, the woman scowling in the corner approached the bar to settle her tab. “That should cover it, sweetie,” she, sliding a few bills over to Leah.
Leah smiled at her. “I hope things get better, Brandy.”
Brandy snorted. “Fat chance. I need to see about getting the locks changed in case that cheating, lying sack of shit thinks he can just waltz right back through the front door.”
“I’d totally fuck her,” Pike said nonchalantly, chewing on a pretzel and jerking a thumb at Brandy.
Mrs. Pike was dismayed. “Steven!”
Brandy, on the other hand, was charmed.
“Thank you,” she gushed to Pike and swooped in to confer a sloppy kiss on his pretzel-filled mouth.
I chuckled. Leah elbowed me.
Brandy sailed out the door with a smile on her face and Pike enjoyed his pretzels and beer and I shamelessly brushed too close to Leah’s body a few times behind the counter so she’d understand my horniness was reaching a critical level.
Steven’s mother was not keen on hanging around all night. She urged her son to say goodbye to his friends so they could head home and watch Christmas movies. Pike was agreeable as long as he could bring his bag of pretzels, which I assured him was not a problem.
“Jedson loves you, Leah,” Pike announced and when I saw the mischievous twinkle in his eyes I understood he was fully present right now. He was the old Pike.
“Merry Christmas, buddy,” I said, the momentary glimpse of my old friend leaving me kind of choked up.
“Merry Christmas, Steven,” Leah added as Steven Pike followed his mother out into the quiet darkness of Main Street while hugging his pretzel bag. Aside from the prison, the bar was the only establishment in town with the lights still on.
I made an executive decision. I turned the sign to CLOSED and locked the door.
Leah came from behind the counter to confront me. “It’s barely nine p.m.”
“I’m aware. I’m going to bribe you to close a little early tonight.”
She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, enjoying this game. “What are you planning to use as a bribe?”
“My colossal dick.”
She clucked her tongue. “That is so cliché.”
“Maybe.” I reached behind my head and pulled my shirt off. “But effective.”
She laughed. Then she crossed her arms and her smile became something more serious. “I admit I’ve been watching the door. You have no idea how happy I was to see you walk through it.”
There was no place I’d rather be. Here with her was exactly where I belonged.
Something was troubling Leah though. She sighed and grew pensive.
“I was sort of feeling an attack of the holiday blues earlier with no celebrations of my own to attend. My dad’s not in town, Daisy’s in Hawaii, and Tristan and Cadence are up in the valley celebrating with family.”
That was it. The way she said the word ‘family�
��, full of wistful longing, gave me some idea about what was bothering her. And I knew what I could do about it.
Leah’s lips twitched when I moved closer. She thought she knew what I was coming for. And she was right. But that’s not all I wanted. Pike in his rare moment of complete lucidity had spoken an absolutely perceptive truth.
I lifted Leah and set her on top of the counter. Her arms slipped over my shoulders and I positioned myself between her legs so I could get as close as possible.
“I’m your family,” I told her.
Her eyes closed and her head tipped forward. “Ryan.”
I cupped my hand underneath her chin, insisting that she needed to look at me to hear what I had to say. “I want you, Leah. We belong together. Do you think you could love me?”
I’d never used those words before. Never asked anyone that question before. Never waited for the agonizing passage of seconds to hear an answer like this before.
“Of course I love you, Ryan Jedson. You’re my dream come true. You’re my knight. You’re my eternal pain in the ass. You’re my lover and you’re my hero.”
I’d been holding my breath. Now I could exhale. “I really do love you, Leah.”
“I love you too, Ryan.” She touched my cheek. “Now take me home.”
“Dying to. But whose home?”
“Wherever we’re together is home.” She resolutely pulled me in for a kiss. “Don’t you know that?”
Epilogue
Leah
The Following Summer
“How’s your hamburger?”
“Excellent.”
“Give me a bite.”
“What’s that on your plate, Ryan? Looks like a hamburger.”
His charming grin became naughty. “I want to taste yours.”
He did that on purpose, got me all worked up with his words and his smile when receiving satisfaction was impossible right now. My only outlet was to fidget on the red vinyl and indulge in a recent flashback circa this morning. His mouth. My body. Heaven.
I held out my burger. He promptly chomped down, severing a sizeable segment and chewing while the gleam in his eyes remained.
“Does it taste as good as you hoped?” I asked sweetly.
He swallowed. “Even better.”
“Hey guys, how is everything?” Sharon appeared beside our table wearing the red polo that had become the Emblem Diner uniform. When the diner opened she’d quit her second job on the hospital janitorial crew and began splitting her time between here and the Cactus. The arrangement made her happy. Her young daughter was occupying herself at a nearby table with a kids’ menu while Sharon’s mother gnawed on some French fries.
“Delicious,” I assured Sharon.
Underneath the table Ryan’s hand landed on my knee.
“Give our compliments to the chef,” he added. Tonight’s chef was none other than Ryan’s buddy McGraw, who’d been given a chance to prove his talent for flipping meat and deep frying. Joining him in the kitchen tonight were four other newly hired staff members plus Steven Pike. Pike was hired as a dishwasher and he appeared to enjoy his job, oblivious to how the rest of us conspired to keep him out of the dining area lest he begin randomly questioning customers about their upcoming sex plans.
Sharon asked if we had any interest in dessert and Ryan’s fingers secretly moved higher to communicate his personal dessert selection. I squeezed his hand between my knees. Hard.
“Thanks, but no.” I smiled at Sharon. “We’re just going to finish up and be out of here so you can have the table free before the dinner crowd shows up.”
Sharon left. I stole Ryan’s hamburger off his plate.
“What am I supposed to eat?” he asked.
I shoved my hamburger, the one he’d already helped himself to, in his direction. “Finish what you started.”
“I’d love to. But your knees keep trying to cut off my circulation.”
“I feel obliged to remind you this is a family establishment.” I gestured to the collection of tables and booths in the Emblem Diner. The seats were filling up quickly tonight. McGraw would have his hands full trying to flip hamburgers fast enough.
Ryan became distracted from his activities under the table and searched the room with satisfaction. “The place looks pretty good when it’s busy.”
“Now finish your dinner,” I ordered. “We need to get back to the bar.”
“Ah yes. It’s Saturday night.”
“Saturday night.” I grinned. Terry and Misty were over there handling the early evening crowd while we ducked out for a dinner break and to check out how things were doing down the street at the diner. The Emblem Diner had opened last month to much fanfare and local excitement. The menu was straightforward, the typical burgers, fries and chicken wings variety. But business had surpassed our most hopeful expectations and I was thrilled to see activity picking up on Main Street.
This was just the beginning. We had big plans, Ryan and I. For Emblem. For each other. Forever.
In the springtime I moved into the house on the hill with Ryan Jedson. It was just a formality. I’d pretty much been living there ever since New Year’s. Tristan and Cadence didn’t mind my departure from their spare room. They had a wedding to plan now. Cadence was determined to get married right here in Emblem. I was to be a bridesmaid.
Ryan and I finished up our meal, left Sharon a significant tip and waded through the dinner crowd to reach Main Street outside.
Ryan grabbed my hand. “We’ve got a little while until the bar will be hopping,” he said. “Let’s go for a walk.”
“It’s blazing hot.”
“A short walk,” he amended.
We strolled slowly, basking in the ordinary scenes of our hometown. The high school. The Mart. The Cactus. All other things aside, Main Street was due for a facelift. The town council had recently installed ten quaint park benches along either side of the street. The funding was gifted from a local businessman, the same one whose hand held mine.
Ryan stopped abruptly and lifted me until I was standing on the nearest bench. I enjoyed this vantage point, being the same height as him. My arms wrapped around his shoulders. I tipped forward until our heads touched and my hair fell around us in a soft cloud. It had grown in considerably since last fall. I wouldn’t allow it to get much longer though. I liked being free from its excesses.
We stared into each other’s eyes.
“Do you wish we would have known?” I asked him.
His eyebrow arched. “Known what?”
“That we’d end up here. It would have made the years in between infinitely more bearable don’t you think?”
He considered. “Yes,” he said. “And yet, at the same time, no.”
I touched the medal that now hung on a chain on his chest, the one that had been lovingly restored and now shone as a testament to his long and complex journey. As I did so the silver bracelet on my wrist slid down a few inches, reminding us that it existed as a twin to the first.
“We’ve come pretty far for two people who wound up right back where we started from,” I mused, rocking slightly in his arms.
Ryan was thoughtful. “We have. But our adventures are far from finished.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.” He kissed me. “Just wait until I make you my wife.”
If I had one wish it would be for Celeste to see us now. Perhaps the soft breeze that suddenly sifted through my hair was her happy sigh. I liked to think so.
I held out my left hand and watched the substantial diamond on the fourth finger catch the sunlight. The ring was over the top, just like his recent proposal had been. One day Ryan called me over to where he had his laptop open on the kitchen counter and told me to pick somewhere, anywhere, on the map on the screen and he would take me to that place. He laughed when I stared at the map for fifteen minutes and ultimately decided there was nowhere I wanted to go.
My excuse was simple. There was nowhere else I wanted to be except here in Emblem wi
th him.
The following Sunday morning I awoke to the sound of a violin. Ryan had hired a string quartet and he waited in the courtyard out back at a table drizzled with rose petals. And there, impeccably dressed in a very costly suit and deliberately looking like he’d just stepped from the plot of one of my romance novels, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
His wife. Yes, that would be a never ending adventure.
Ryan swept me off the bench, spun me around in a circle and kissed me how he always kissed me, with all the fire and desire I’d ever fantasized about. Then he gently set me back on the cracked concrete of Main Street and held my hand again so we could keep moving.
“This was my dream,” I said, hoping he knew what I meant.
He kissed my hand and gazed down at me with undeniable devotion. “It’s every bit my dream too.”
“What do you think of a New Year’s Day wedding?”
“Leah, you know I’d marry you anywhere, any day.”
A pack of kids ran our way, hollering and laughing, all of them different shades and different sizes, and we had to step aside to let them pass. The boy in the lead was in his early teens and projected confidence and boldness. The other children clamored for his attention. He was the popular one. The obvious king. One girl hung back, the youngest of the pack. Her curly black hair spilled down her back and her hand covered her lips like she was trying to prevent a secret from escaping. But I noticed the direction of her gaze. All the poetic feelings in the world were packed inside her young eyes as she watched the boy wrestle good-naturedly with one of his buddies. And I saw how he paused, spotted her, and presented her with an authentic smile that would make her day.
Ryan knew me well enough to follow my train of thought and he stopped, leaning down to kiss the top of my head before we left the children behind.
We hadn’t gotten here easily, he and I. The route had been difficult and packed with painful detours. And every one of them was indispensable.
We had to navigate all the disasters and heal all the forsaken ruins to earn the right to walk this very road.
