Then There Was You (Twist of Fate)

by A. J. Daniels

  “Close your mouth, Nika. I don’t think you want any of the bugs here to get in,” he chuckles, and I instantly snap my mouth shut and glare at him.

  “Why?” I finally ask when I’ve found my voice.

  He shrugs. “It wasn’t working out.”

  “When?”

  “Few months.”

  “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to give me. You were ready to promise your life to this woman.”

  Shut up, Annika. Isn’t this what you wanted? You wanted him to leave her. She wasn’t good enough for him anyway.

  Nate jumps to his feet after wrestling the ball out of Duke’s mouth. “I don’t know what else to tell you, Nika,” he says then walks away down the beach with the German Shepherd close on his heels.

  * * *

  “You okay?” Nate asks, handing me a glass of white wine before he attends to the braai. After a day at the beach we both decided that the perfect way to end this weekend was a braai with my parents, Nate’s parents, and Xander. So while Nate wrestled Duke under a hose when we got back to my house, to rinse the sand from his fur, I call my mom and dad, as well as Xander and invite them over. Nate put a call in to his mom and dad once he and Duke were sufficiently soaked. I laugh then hand him a towel and his cell phone and tell him he can call them from out in the backyard because he isn’t tracking water in my house.

  “More than okay,” I say, taking a sip of the sweet wine while watching Duke lounge by the pool.

  “Who ordered the Snoek?” My dad calls from the front door.

  “Oh, that’s me.” I scramble out of my chair, placing the wine glass on a nearby table and wrapping my arms around my dad’s neck in a hug. “Thank you, Daddy.”

  Snoek was my favourite fish, especially to Braai but it is getting harder and harder to find in Cape Town despite living right by the ocean. Most people hate it because it is so boney and you spend more time picking out the small bones than you do eating the damn thing, but I don’t mind. Somehow, though, my dad manages to find me one today.

  “Happy birthday, Peanut,” he says with a kiss to my temple.

  “Howzit, Dave?”

  “I’m good, Bokkie. Happy birthday,” he says, pulling me into a side hug after I’ve let go of my dad. “And you?”

  “Can’t complain. Nate’s got the Braai already going out back.”

  I hear the slam of a car door and then the beep of the alarm being set after Dad and Dave turn to head out to the backyard to join Nate. My mom ambles up the driveway, her hands full of Tupperware that no doubt contain all my favourite desserts and Nate’s favourite pastries.

  “Here, let me take that,” I say, meeting her on the front step and already grabbing the top Tupperware dish before she has a chance to argue.

  “Thanks, honey. Happy birthday, baby,” Mom says pressing a kiss to my cheek.

  “Thank you.”

  She follows me into the kitchen where we try to move things around in the fridge to make room for the new additions. I crack open the lid of the dish I was carrying and sneak a chocolate éclair before Mom or Nate notice. I swear that man is like a bear coming out of hibernation when it comes to his pastries. I moan as the homemade filling touches my tongue, effectively putting an end to my stealthness. Yes, I just made up a word. Mom giggles from pulling down a bowl to put the pasta salad in.

  “You better hide the evidence. You know what happens when he catches you stealing those,” she warns with a smile, eyeing the cream on my fingers.

  I roll my eyes. “They’re as much mine as they are his. Plus, it’s my birthday.”

  She pulls me into a hug while still laughing. “They’re for everyone to share.”

  “Tell that to the man-like kid out there.” I hook a thumb over my shoulder at the door leading to the backyard.

  Quiet descends on the kitchen as the scent of wood smoke from the braai drifts in from the open windows. I have a feeling mom’s gearing up to ask me something and I think I know what she’s about to ask before the words leave her mouth. It’s the same question she asks every time we’ve had lunch or dinner together since the divorce was final.

  “How’s he doing?”

  I shrug. “He seems to be doing okay. He and Dave are planning a trip to Durban next month,” I reply, giving her a heads-up. I know my dad probably has plans to tell her himself but if I had been in her shoes I’d have wanted a heads-up to the potential conversation.

  “I know. He, uh… we met for coffee last week. He mentioned the trip then.”

  “Oh. Are you okay?”

  Mom smiles, causing little lines to appear around her eyes. Eyes that don’t look as sad as they did years or even months ago. I breathe a little easier when it doesn’t look like I’ll have to prevent a war from erupting in my own backyard.

  “More than okay,” Mom says, echoing my own words to Nate earlier while pulling me into a hug. “Are you happy?” She asks after she’s let go and moves back to transferring the salad from the Tupperware and into the glass dish. I smirk at the action. No matter how many times I tell her we can just serve it out of the Tupperware she brought it in, she never listens. It doesn’t matter that it’ll be the only dish in a glass bowl on the table.

  “I really am,” I answer after a couple of beats. “Dr. Fester has been great, and Nate has been…” I shake my head. “I couldn’t have asked for a better friend during all this.”

  I feel a slight a pang of regret at saying that, but it’s true. Londyn wasn’t able to stay very long or come back for Jack’s funeral and while she’s been just as supportive as Nate I just can’t help but think my friendship between the two is completely different. One more intense than the other. Although, it could be that I’m still in love with Nate which makes the difference.

  Mom nods, moving to rinse out the Tupperware. “If it looks like a duck, Annika,” she says with her back turned to me.

  There was never any sense in hiding anything from her. She’s a bloodhound when it comes to sensing the truth, but oddly enough never saw Dad’s realization coming. I immediately shake off that thought. Sensing things in other’s relationships is different than your own. When it comes to our own relationships, we’re flying blind because we’re too close to the situation.

  “We already tried that. It didn’t work.”

  She turns off the tap. Grabbing the dish towel and drying off her hands, she turns to face me again, leaning back against the counter. “It didn’t work because of Jack. That man out there has never stopped loving you, Annika, and I don’t think you ever stopped loving him either. I know your dad and I splitting up after so many years scared you and then what Jack did…” She trails off looking away before clearing her throat and meeting my eyes again. “Don’t let that stop you from chasing after the happy ever after. I’ve seen the way Jack looked at you and I’ve seen the way Nate looks at you. And, honey, that’s a look a man gives the woman he loves. One he’s not going to so easily give up.”

  “He hasn’t made a move or indicated he wants anything more than friendship right now.”

  “Annika, it’s the twenty-first century. You want him? You go after him. So, he hasn’t made the first move? Then you make it. You’ve been lucky enough to get second chances with both loves your of life, don’t pass this one up. It may never come around a third time.”

  She’s right. Of course, she is right. Mother’s intuition or whatever freaky shit it is. I help her gather the pasta and bean salads and follow as she leads the way into the covered part of the backyard and over to the new table Nate just finished building and glossing last weekend. After I place the glass bowl in the center, I glance up and find Nate already watching me. A smile spread across his face, beer in one hand, and Braai tongs in the other, his focus is purely on me and not the conversation my dad, Dave, and now my mom are having around him.

  It may never come around a third time.

  Maybe it is finally time that Nate and I have our shot. Maybe it is time to fan the flames that seem to s
park whenever we are close. Mom is right, though, I don’t think this thing between Nate and I has ever only been friendship. A few minutes later Nate’s parents show up with more meat and sides and a Potjiekos, and before I know it, the seven of us are sitting around the newly built table overflowing with food and drinks. The door to the backyard opens again sending Duke darting towards the incoming figure. Xander laughs, bending down to scoop the spoilt puppy up.

  “Sorry I’m late,” he says, pressing a kiss to the top of my head before greeting everyone else around the table. After the wound in his side healed, Xander ended up finding a house not far from this area. He also got hired on at one of the best construction companies in town as a contractor. Xander still comes over for Sunday dinner at my mom’s house and he and I often meet up for coffee in town or lunch if I can swing it with school.

  “Wash your hands before you sit down,” my mother reprimands and I can’t help the giggle that escapes my throat.

  Xander shoots me a dirty look but I just smile back sweetly. The way we act around each other you never would guess that we aren’t even related. We’re constantly teasing each other and giving each other shit like siblings do, and at the end of the day, I couldn’t have asked for a better adoptive brother. Most in-laws fall out of touch after the death of the family member that brought them together. Xander and I, though, we’re stuck with each other for life. Like peanut butter and jelly. I inwardly groan at my lame attempt at a metaphor.

  They say if you ever find the one love of your life you’re lucky, and if you ever find two you were never truly in love with the first. Well, I can say with absolute certainty that I truly did love Jack… once. Maybe it took his death for me to realize that while I loved him, I wasn’t exactly in love with him anymore because my heart had been given to someone else. Someone who understands me better than Jack ever could or did.

  For once in my life I’m going to take my mother’s advice without whining or complaining and go after what I want. And that starts with Nathaniel Walker.

  “Who ate one of my éclairs?” Nate’s voice booms from the kitchen while the rest of us are sitting around a fire nursing our drinks.

  I try to hide my smile behind the rim of my wine glass but when my mom shoots me an I-told-you-so look I can’t hold the laugh back anymore. Especially when Nate bounds out of the kitchen, Tupperware dish in hand, one éclair missing as evidence. His eyes scan the group and then narrow into slits when they land on me.

  “Uh oh.” Carefully, I place my wine glass on the bricked ground beside my chair and rise with my hands held up in surrender while rising to my feet. “Nate…”

  He growls, and I begin backing away and towards the grassy area. He blindly hands the dish to Xander and I briefly consider telling him what a mistake that is. Xander’s just as big a slut for my mother’s baking as Nate is. A chorus of laughter sounds around the circle when Nate charges and I squeal, turning tail and running to the far end of the yard. Duke, thinking it’s a game, gives chase after Nate and me.

  I don’t make it far before Nate gets a hold me. He bends his shoulder hitting my middle and then one second my feet are on the grass and the next I’m upside down. My hands grappling for purchase on Nate’s back.

  “Seriously, it was one éclair.”

  His palm comes down to slap my ass and I yelp. “It was my éclair.”

  I roll my eyes as Nate walks us back over to the still laughing group. A blush blooming up my face when I realize that everyone must have seen the slap he landed on my backside.

  I can feel the moment he realizes his mistake with handing Xander the dish when his entire body stiffens under me.

  I sigh. “At least put me down first if you’re planning on murdering him.”

  No sooner are the words out of my mouth, am I being flipped right side up again. Woah, head rush. Nate steadies me for a beat, with his hands clasped on my arms. When he realizes I’m okay and not going to pass out, he releases me and goes after Xander who’s still stuffing the cream filled and chocolate covered pastries into his mouth.

  “You just had to bring those,” I say glaring at my mother who has a shit eating grin on her face.

  “Worth it,” she shrugs, clinking beer bottles with Nate’s mom.

  Somewhere in the back of my brain a thought takes root and I wonder if the two moms foresaw this happening. Me and Nate. After all, it doesn’t seem like it’s coming across as a surprise to them the way he’s treating me this evening.

  It’s giving me a migraine though. Trying to figure out what Nate and I mean to each other now that we’re both single.

  * * *

  “More wine?” Nate asks holding the almost empty bottle of Two Oceans out for me.

  Both sets of parents and Xander left hours ago, leaving the two of us to clean up whatever dishes were left after the moms had washed up everything else.

  “Please,” I reply, lifting my glass so he can refill it.

  Nate places the empty bottle on the coffee table before taking a seat on the sofa beside me, immediately lifting my feet and placing them on his lap. My eyes roll back when he starts massaging my heels. I had almost forgotten how good this felt.

  “That went better than I expected.” I manage to say after a few beats of silence.

  Nate hums in agreement, his fingers still working their miracles on my tired feet.

  “I thought for sure I’d have to run interference between my mom and dad,” I add.

  Nate remains silent, his gaze laser focused on what he’s doing to my feet. I huff in frustration at not being able to take it any longer. I reach over and manage to place my glass on the table beside the empty bottle without spilling any wine (yay me!) before scrambling up and planting a knee on either side of Nate’s hips. Effectively caging him in between my body and the couch.

  I palm both sides of his face and lean down to kiss him. He freezes the second my lips touch his and when he still hasn’t made a move to kiss me back after a few more seconds, I begin to worry that maybe he doesn’t want this after all. I start to pull away when his hands that had been fisted at his sides fly to grab my hips and pull me in closer to him. His tongue snakes out and licks along the seam of my lips demanding entry. I give in, feeling my body relax against his as I surrender to whatever has been growing between us.

  I feel like the last piece of the puzzle is finally put into place. I won’t say that everything makes sense again because life rarely ever makes sense. It’s supposed to be messy and unpredictable; it’s supposed to have its fair share of ups and downs and random plot twists. I think that’s how we know we’re really living; when we’re down one minute then up the next or vice versa.

  What kind of life would it be if every day was the same from the time we wake up till the time we close our eyes at night? Not one I’d want.

  My life may have started out as close to perfect as one’s life could get, but it wasn’t without its fair share of drama and messiness. And I think I like it better this way. Nothing’s ever perfect.

  When Nate finally draws back letting us up for air, I rest my forehead against his while I try to catch my breath.

  “I love you.” The words tumble out before I can stop them, but they seem so right in this moment. “I don’t think I’ve ever stopped loving you, Nathan.”

  He grips my face between his hands and pulls me in to another kiss. “Ek is lief vir jou ook.” I love you too.

  I can’t stop the stupid ass grin from spreading across my face at hearing him say those words again.

  “Can we go to bed now?” I ask, burying my nose in the crook of his neck.

  Nate chuckles, wrapping his arms around my waist, and stands. My legs automatically wrap around him.

  “On a scale of one to ten, how tired are you right now?”

  I laugh. “Babe, if you think that’s the reason I want to go to bed then you don’t really know me at all.”

  Nate walks us into the master bedroom, kicking the door closed behind us before dro
pping me on the bed. I bounce a couple of times before settling in to the middle of the queen-sized bed.

  “I was hoping you’d say that,” he says. The bed dipping with his weight as he crawls over me. “Happy birthday, love.”

  He slowly pushes my shirt up, peppering kisses up my belly and between my breasts. As soon as the material slips past my fingers, Nate flings it somewhere behind us before curling his fingers in the waistband of my pants and underwear and sliding them over my hips. “So,” he says with a kiss to my left hip bone, “Perfect.” A kiss to my right one.

  When I’m utterly naked, Nate takes a step back from the bed and strips his clothes off in a flash. I will never forget the sight of Nate standing naked, his hard cock in his hand as he slowly strokes it while his whisky eyes blaze with heat and stare down at me spread out before him. Being completely naked and utterly at his mercy both thrills and terrifies me. My pussy drips with anticipation of what he’ll do next, and dare I say… impatience?

  The corner of his lips curl in a slow, seductive, crooked smirk, his fist still lazily stroking his length until a bead of pre-cum pearls at the head of his shaft. I moan, waiting to taste it.

  My pussy clenches. My clit throbs. God, this man is going to kill me. Can you die from being turned on? Right at this moment, it’s a real possibility and he hasn’t even touched me yet except to strip me naked.

  “Nathan.”

  My body buzzes with the need to feel his hands on me. I arch my back as best I can and slip my hand between my legs. I groan and my hips buck with the first rub of my clit. My body temperature’s rising and if Nate doesn’t touch me soon I’m going to catch fire and go up in flames.

  Then, sweet Jesus, then I feel the bed dip and his hands are on me again. His fingers lightly tracing a line in from the tops of my thighs to just before my pubic area before they retreat.

  Nate runs his nose along the curve of my jaw, he nips at my earlobe before sucking it into his hot mouth. “You’re so beautiful.” His lips brush against my ear with every word, his warm breath sending goosebumps all down my body.