by O. E. Boroni
“Okay, do you have any boxers I can wear? I mean, if you don’t mind.”
He smiled, amused. “I don’t, because I wear briefs. So you can have one pair of those … if you don’t mind.”
“I do,” I answered, “but it can’t be helped.”
“Of course,” he said, and started to turn around to leave but then he stopped.
“I’m sorry about last night. I was a bit dense.”
“How did you know to come get me?”
“Beatrice …”
“Oh,” I said, feeling a bit disappointed. He noticed.
“Don’t be disappointed,” he said. “If I wasn’t so tired I would have realized that you’d rather stay here than at a hotel.”
I smiled at him and to my surprise he leaned forward, supporting his weight with his hands on the bed.
“Thank you for a beautiful night’s rest.”
I blushed. “What do you mean?”
“This is the first time I’ve slept in two days.”
The smile left my face. I lifted my hand up to lightly touch the side of his. “I’m so sorry.”
He planted a kiss on my forehead “I’ll be right back,” he said and left the room.
After he left, I laid back down on the bed and listened to the sounds of people talking outside the room. I’d never met or seen Nathan’s second brother before so I was curious to meet him, but with the way his family was I doubted I would be able to come out of the room and not again feel like I was behind a cage in a zoo. The outright stares were a bit too overwhelming.
I did hope that with time I would get to know them, and become comfortable with them. I remained in bed until the noise slowly faded, and so did I. I fell asleep again and the next time I woke up, I met a pair of blue eyes the same shade as Nathan’s, staring down at me. I automatically started to smile since I assumed that it was Nathan, but then the sleep cleared from my eyes and I realized that it wasn’t him. I jumped up again and ran towards the end of the bed. I wanted to kill someone. This was the second freaking time I’d been startled almost to death in the same morning. The man had his hands held behind his back as if he had come in to inspect something, and his head slightly cocked to the side.
“Who are you?” he asked. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This was a strange family. How was it that he could just walk into Nathan’s room like this?
I pushed my hair out of my face. “I’m, uh, I’m Nathan’s friend.”
The confused frown on his face deepened. “Do you mean Alex?”
I sighed, wondering what had caused me to latch onto his middle name back in boarding school. “Yes, I mean Alex.”
“That doesn’t sound right. Alex doesn’t have any friends.”
I was about to counter his statement when I stopped and thought about it. I realized then that it was probably true, at least to an extent. I’d never seen him with anyone other than his brothers. I returned my attention to his brother only to see that he just continued to watch me. I straightened my shoulders and met his stare head on. He brought his hands out from behind his back and folded his arms across his chest, as if to show me that he wasn’t going anywhere, and at that moment I was ready to scream Nathan’s name to come get his brother out of here. I was freaked out.
As casually as I could, I started to move towards the foot of the bed, and was just about to step off so that I could get the hell out when the door swung open, almost smacking me in the face. I sighed in relief when I saw that it was Nathan, and immediately went to him. He held the sides of my arms, wondering why I seemed so disturbed and then he turned to his brother, whose eyebrows were raised at the sight of us.
“What are you doing here?” Nathan asked.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I met a strange girl in your bed.”
“She’s not a strange girl, I left her here,” Nathan said and walked towards his brother. To my surprise, he roughly shoved his brother’s shoulder, causing him to almost fall back, which he would have if he hadn’t shot out his hand to the wall to steady himself.
“Get out!” Nathan said, and before I realized what was happening his brother had bent down and wrapped his arms around Nathan’s legs. He lifted Nathan up and was about to toss him over his shoulder but Nathan stood his ground. Their laughter was wild as they struggled until his brother let go of him.
“Ouch,” His brother complained and held his back.
Nathan spat out such speedy Portuguese that all I could do was just stare at him. He seemed like such a different person, and the Portuguese on his tongue was sexy as hell. He hit his brother again as they laughed, and Nathan started to push him out of the room. Just before he left, he stopped and gave me a small bow. “You’re welcome to our home, Lenora,” he told me and walked out, just as Nathan shut the door behind him.
“He knows who I am?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Nathan replied.
“Then why was he freaking me out?”
“That’s Alvaro for you. Did you fall asleep?”
“I woke up to him watching me. My heart almost jumped out of my chest. He has your eyes.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“No, just an observation,” I said with a straight face as he backed me into a wall.
Sparks of excitement were shooting through my entire body as I stared up at him. Eventually, I needed to breathe, which I realized wouldn’t happen with him caging me in so I moved forward and pushed against him but he wouldn’t let me go.
“Nathan, I need air,” I told him. The very touch of his hand on my arm made me feel as though he was burning a bright red patch of heat on my skin.
“You’ve never complimented my eyes before.”
“What’s there to compliment? They’re just eyes,” I said and kept trying to leave- this room was so goddamn small. With a chuckle, he let me go and watched as I walked to the door ready to open it. But then I remembered that I wasn’t ready to face his family, not until I had at least freshened up. I was sure I looked like a mess. I turned back to him with a frown.
“I need my bag,” I told him.
“I told you to wear my stuff.”
“They’ll look terrible on me, you’re twice my size.”
“Okay,” He said and came towards me. “I’ll take you back to the hotel.”
I pushed at his chest and found my way past him but before I could go too far, he encircled his arms around my waist and pulled me back towards him for a hug. My legs instantly turned limp.
“Let me go,” I told him, and he started to but I immediately drew his arms back around me. “Hey!” I scolded and he chuckled, the hearty sound so close to my ears. I wrapped his arms more tightly around me and leaned my head backwards against his shoulder. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to. Instead we just reveled in each other’s warmth. In his arms had to be my favorite place in the entire world. Everything inside of me roared to life, but at the same time I felt such serenity in my heart. God how I loved him.
“How are you doing today?” I asked softly, and it was a few seconds later before he answered.
“I’m just glad you’re here.”
I turned my head sideways so I could look into his eyes, and raised my hand up to stroke his hair. “You do have beautiful eyes,” I told him and his smile grew even wider. I leaned forward a bit to kiss him, but he leaned away, which surprised me.
“What’s going on?”
“You have morning breath.”
I removed his arms from around me and calmly stepped away. He looked barely able to control his amusement at my expression, but this was far from funny.
“So I have to have brush my teeth first in the morning before I can kiss you?”
“I do too,” he replied, but when my glare darkened he took his gaze away from mine, and said under his breath. “Somebody save me.”
Just then there was a knock on the door, and he told whoever it was to come in.
“Hey,” Beatrice greeted.
“Good mornin
g,” I replied.
Her smile widened. “Is this a bad time?”
“No, it’s fine,” Nathan responded.
“Alex the meeting’s starting now,” she told him and he immediately moved to get past her but I wouldn’t let him leave.
“We’re not done,” I told him.
“Okay, but please, can we talk about this later?”
I glared at him for a few seconds.
“Fine,” I said and let him leave. He said something to Beatrice in Portuguese and then hurried out of the room. She turned to me with a beautiful smile.
“Hope he’s not troubling you too much.”
“No,” I said shyly.
“Sorry about yesterday, he was so distracted that he didn’t realize that sending you to a hotel was rude.”
“I know, he told me you knocked some sense into him.”
“Someone had to.”
“Thank you.”
“I figured out who you are,” she said and I groaned halfheartedly.
She laughed. “I would say don’t worry but that would be a lie. I’m going hassle you with questions.”
“That’s okay,” I told her. “It’ll be my pleasure.”
She squealed in delight. “First of all, let’s get you cleaned up, then we’ll make breakfast for the clan. Alex says you need some personal items; I have some brand new underwear and we’re the same size … I think. You’ll just try them on and if they’re not okay, we’ll go out and get you some new ones.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said, and followed her as she took my hand and pulled me along.
*
Half an hour later, I was freshly showered and dressed in a pair of Nathan’s jeans and a t-shirt. My frame had disappeared inside both, but at least the jeans were held firmly around my waist by a belt. Beatrice had offered her clothes but I’d declined, knowing that I’d feel more comfortable wearing Nathan’s ill-fitted ones.
After drying my hair, I came out and found her putting breakfast together. I hurried over.
“Can I help you with the eggs?”
“Sure,” she said, and showed me where to get a bowl and a whisk. I got to work while she sorted out some pastries from a plastic bag. We were quiet for a while but my mind was running with Nathan’s comment about kissing me this morning. I knew it shouldn’t be an issue but I couldn’t help but think about it.
“Is something bothering you?” Beatrice asked, and when I looked up to see her soft smile it brought one out of me too.
“No it’s just a … it’s a silly concern.”
“I like silly concerns, if you don’t mind, of course.”
“I don’t um, it’s just that … sorry for asking, but are you okay with kissing your husband as soon as you get up in the morning?”
She paused and just stared at me, an amusing smile making her lips quiver. I turned away in shame.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, its fine,” she said with a small laugh. “I am – I mean, we are – he doesn’t mind. Did Nathan say something?”
“Not really, we were just uh, talking about it.”
“Well, if he did I’m not surprised. He’s a neat freak, but he’s not as bad as Adriano. Adriano changes his sheets at least twice a week. He washes his plate himself before eating off it, even though it’s already been washed, and you will never see him barefoot or carelessly touching surfaces. It’s not OCD but its close. So be grateful you got the less obsessive one.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, and so did she.
“I suspect that’s part of why they both haven’t had serious relationships. They’re too set in their own ways, and having someone else interrupt that can seem a bit too much to deal with.”
“So the other two aren’t like that?”
“They’re complete opposites and it’s just hilarious. Sometimes I get angry with my husband for being so messy, but at the same time I know that if they were anything like Alex and Adriano, I’d go mad. I’m not so organized myself. What about you?”
“I’m not so organized either. I don’t like clutter but I can ignore it for a while.”
“Have you been to Nathan’s place in the city? Did you see how tidy the whole place was?”
“I have, but I didn’t really pay attention at the time.”
“Well, start putting your foot down and making some rules because he might nag you to death over forgetting to replace the milk jug in the fridge, or having the end table a little out of position.” She shook her head while I laughed softly. I handed the bowl of whisked eggs to her, and sat down on one of the dining chairs.
“Don’t worry, with time you will get used to each other. He’ll have to compromise and so will you.”
“Um, we’re not really official yet,” I said, not wanting the family to jump to conclusions that Nathan might later refute.
She gave me a dry look as she sprinkled olive oil into a huge pan.
My heartbeat picked up. “Did he say anything?” I asked.
“Not really,” she replied.
“Oh okay.”
She glanced at me again and flashed me a huge grin. “He doesn’t have to,” she said.
Just then, my phone began ringing so I pulled it out of my pocket and frowned when I saw that it wasn’t a saved contact. Strangers rarely called me directly since they usually went through Dorothy so I wondered who it could be. The door opened so I picked up the phone, and stood up when I saw that it was Nathan.
“Hello?”
A quiet voice responded. “Lenora, its Elizabeth.”
Nathan
The meeting outside was breaking my heart, and I needed to leave. We were making arrangements for Dad’s funeral and all I could do was stare at nothing. I couldn’t believe this was happening. There was an unspoken understanding that none of us should show too much sadness because quite frankly, he’d lived longer than we’d expected him to. He’d had these problems for so long, but the reality of his death was crippling.
I couldn’t stop thinking that somehow he’d known. Otherwise why else would he have asked to go see Atilio? He’d acted strangely that day, a little less quiet and a little more nostalgic.
I could still remember his face as we’d rushed to the hospital in the ambulance. The life was gone from him. There was no smile, no frown, just stillness that sent chills down my spine. But I remained calm and tried not to put it together with my memories of Annie. Hers had happened a long time ago, but I discovered that the wound was still fresh, and my dad’s death had just thrust another dagger into that same unhealed wound. But I couldn’t cry, I just spoke when I needed to, but at that moment I had to leave.
A little pressure loosened from my chest the moment I saw Lenora, so I just went to the wall and leaned against it to watch her. She was in my clothes and they fitted her terribly. I was so happy she was here. However, she didn’t look alright. There was a small frown on her face as she listened to whoever was speaking to her on the phone, and as she stared at me I felt that somehow it had something to with me. She looked worried, and nervous.
I took a step forward and she immediately took one back. Then she realized what she’d done, and gave me a tight smile before excusing herself to hurry into our room. I turned to meet Beatrice’s gaze.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Did she say something?”
“No, just that you refused to kiss her because she hadn’t brushed her teeth. Is that how you plan to spend your life with her?”
“Excuse me.” I told her and headed towards our room. I thought to just go in but I decided to knock first.
“Give me a few seconds,” Nora said, so I waited. I opened it when she didn’t respond after a while and just as I had expected, she was no longer on the phone. She was just sitting on the bed, staring at nothing.
“Nora, are you alright?” I asked, and she jumped up.
“Uh, yeah, I’m–I’m good.”
> I closed the door behind me, and leaned against it so that she could take enough time to calm herself. “Did something happen?”
“No,” she said and grinned. “What about you? How’s your uh, meeting going?”
“Its fine,” I replied, but I wasn’t happy that that was all I was saying. I wanted to be able to share my heart with her but since I’d never been able to do that in the past with anyone else, it was a bit difficult. Besides, she seemed upset now so maybe cheering her up would take my mind off things for a while.
“Do you want to go out?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Just go out. I’ll show you around town.”
“Okay, but what about breakfast?”
“We’ll have it in town.”
“I think it’ll be rude. Let’s have it with your family and then leave. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, it is,” I said and I turned to leave but she stopped me.
“Nathan,” she called and came over to me. She stopped in front of me and rose on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around my neck. Mine went around her waist pulling her as close to me as I could have her. Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. She didn’t say anything and neither did I.
I needed this. I needed her.
There was too much turmoil in my head. I had just come from the storm of her illness, and I was thrust straight into this one. It all seemed too much, and I needed to breathe. Holding her in my arms like this allowed me to breathe, but I needed more.
“Let’s go,” I told her. She leaned away to stare into my eyes, saw the quiet desperation for an escape that I wanted her to see, and nodded.
“I’ll go talk to Beatrice,” she said and she left the room. I changed my shirt, put on a pair of jeans and was out in no time. When she saw me she came up to me and ran her fingers through my hair to arrange it. Even just her touching me this way calmed me down.
We said goodbye to the rest of the family, and were on our way back to the hotel so that she could change. When we reached her room, I went straight to a chair by the corner to take a seat so that I could give her some time to get ready. However, just as I sat down, she came over and knelt in front of me. She rested her elbows on my thighs and looked up at me.
