Housekeeping

by Summer Cooper

  It was as if nothing could get her down and I had no intention of making her sad. I felt that I had something else to work towards and aspire to and that was being a good boyfriend. It was so much better than trying to be the perfect son. I knew I’d finally grown up in a short space of time and things could only get better.

  I knew Laura had to work but she didn’t avoid me. She stopped by my room earlier, just as I was about to leave, and I cut five minutes out of her time for a long make-out session before we both had to get to work.

  Days went by, and things only got better, even more amazing. I’d take Laura home in the evenings, and at times she’d invite me in. Or I’d have her come to my hotel room after work hours, and she’d spend the time with me. Sex happened, but it was so much more than that. We talked, and it was a nice surprise to learn we had some things in common. She was shocked when I told her about my past rugby career, though she’d teased me for being the typical high school jock.

  I was fucking kidding myself if I thought that I just liked her. It was more than that. I was falling in love, hook, line, and sinker. I was fairly confident I wasn’t the only one, as Laura got less and less shy about us being together, and smiled every time she saw me, before worrying about what others would see or think.

  We weren't secretive, and I didn’t care if the whole world knew about us. More to the point, I wanted everyone to know about us. I was so proud to go out with her and have her on my arm and let everyone know she was my girl. No one else’s, just mine.

  Things with Dad got a little easier too, even though it was technically still me following his orders and ultimatums. Still, it was probably the one time I was happy to follow his orders, and he wasn’t avoiding talking to me anymore. He sought me out more often than I wanted actually because most of my attention was centered around Laura now, but we’d more or less made up.

  I hadn’t told him about Laura yet, but I had a feeling he’d guessed something must have changed with me. Even Trent remarked once that I looked happier, which meant he must have seen through me before because the only difference was that my satisfied and still somewhat carefree attitude was genuine.

  Within that time, I cleaned up my act, or at least I tried. I hadn’t had a party in a while because I was so busy, and I didn’t feel like having any anyway. The people on my friends list kept calling me up, and I’d give some excuse or outright ignore their calls, knowing that eventually, they’d stop trying to contact me and find some other idiot willing to foot their bill.

  With everything else outside of my work, it still felt like I failed sometimes. Particularly with Laura.

  We weren’t just sneaking around to each other’s places. She was the first person I’d ever dated, and I was insistent on taking her out. She didn’t seem to mind, but sometimes… it wasn’t that she looked at me with disappointment or anything, but with my latent talent of reading people, I could tell when she wasn’t exactly happy, even though she went along with whatever I wanted.

  On her days off, I took her to other parts of North Carolina to explore and spend some time outside. It had been a surprise to me to learn she hadn't explored much of the state after moving, though the fact she’d moved late to the state didn’t surprise me at all, with her slight accent. But then there was this way she stared at the hiking trails we passed on our way to our destinations, that told me she’d rather do that than go wherever I was taking her.

  Then when I’d propose we eat out, she’d recommend cheap food places. Also, she hadn't cooked for me. Every time I brought it up, she’d keep saying next time, and I let it go. And even after all those days passed and we grew closer, she still didn’t like to accept presents from me.

  I didn’t understand why.

  Before, I’d taken the initiative, and it was the wrong one. My intentions at the time weren’t above reproach, I’d pretty much seen her as she’d accused me—as a trinket—but I’d changed my thinking, hadn't I? So why did she still insist on fighting me when all I was trying to do was take care of her?

  It left me puzzled, and there was nowhere I could go to look for answers. I was a little afraid of talking to her about it because while she’d said she wouldn’t run, I feared to give her reasons to want to. I would rather try to rectify the mistake on my own and go to her only after it had failed. But I had to try at least!

  The next time Trent let me have the day off, I went back to the mansion, texting my sister to meet me in the lounge on the first floor closest to the foyer. She could be anywhere around the house or the grounds, and if I didn’t contact her beforehand, finding her would be a pain.

  By the time I arrived, she was there waiting for me, with a tea set on the coffee table, with two cups and two side plates of assorted pastries and cookies. I arched my eyebrows at it and couldn’t help but take a dig at her.

  “Is it tea time already? No dolls this time, Emily?” I teased, reminding her of all those times as a kid when she wanted to have a ‘tea party,’ and she’d get Mom to make me and Kevin join her because she didn’t have that many friends in her private school.

  She looked at me with a frown. “No, Mason, my dolls will not be joining us today. They abhor your manners.”

  I rolled my eyes and took a seat across from her. I poured myself some of the tea, picked up a pastry and sat back to eat. It was past lunch already and I’d eaten, but I didn’t mind a little snack.

  “Now,” Emily said, pouring herself some tea. “Why don’t you tell me what this trip is about, big brother? You wouldn’t just come here to see me.”

  “Why not?” I retorted, feeling crap that she’d spoiled my good mood.

  She arched an eyebrow. “Don’t forget I know you. If this were just another visit, you’d have arrived then looked for me, not called me out to wait for you.”

  I hummed, slowly nodding my head like I understood what she said. My attention had already wavered, as I thought of how to bring up my current issues.

  “I did have a question for you,” I said after long minutes of silence. I would have held out longer, but I was feeling impatient, and she noticed, perking up.

  “Oh? What could you possibly want to know from me? It couldn’t be woman trouble, right? The ladies love you.”

  I sighed, and her eyes widened as she concluded rightfully that this was the problem.

  “So, there’s this woman I’m seeing, and she’s not like any of the women I’ve been with before, so get that out of your head. You could say… she’s a woman that’s used to being around ordinary people. Well, people not raised in our world.”

  “Ah,” she said, nodding in understanding. “It’s not someone at the mansion, right? Maybe at the hotel?”

  I hesitated a little on whether or not I should give this detail, but in the end, I decided there was nothing particularly wrong with it.

  “At the hotel. Her name… is Laura.”

  I didn’t get the time to add more because Emily spurted out the sip of tea she was taking. I could only watch with my mouth open. She set the cup down with a loud clink and leveled a glare at me.

  “Tell me you did not just say ‘Laura’? Are there two of them working at the hotel, or what? Because you better not mean who I’m thinking of.”

  I arched an eyebrow, taken aback by the passionate response. Did she somehow know Laura? It was a surprise, only because Laura worked at the hotel, and Emily rarely ever went there. Laura had never been to the mansion, so how could the two have ever met?

  “It could be the same person,” I said slowly. “Because as far as I know, there’s only one Laura working at the hotel…”

  “Are you playing with her?” she immediately demanded. “She’s my friend too, Mason, so you better not be using her for one of your games. I mean, I don’t speak to her as often as I speak to Jessi, but you definitely will get into trouble with me if I hear from either of them that you made her cry.”

  I frowned. “Who the hell is Jessi, anyway? And why the hell do you think I’d make her c
ry? I just told you I’m dating her, have I ever said that to you about a woman before?”

  That was enough to give her pause, and she relaxed a little, though she was still frowning.

  “You’re dating. Huh,” she repeated to herself. “What exactly have you done together?”

  I arched an eyebrow but guessed she didn’t mean in the bedroom. My little sister might be twenty-one but she was still way too young to know about that side of relationships. At least in my opinion. As far as I knew, she’d never had a crush on someone in real life, maybe some of the boy bands and actors she watched on TV. So I told her everything I’d done with Laura so far. There was plenty more I wanted the two of us to experience together, but I didn’t mention those just yet because it was a pretty long list.

  “You’re doing it all wrong,” she declared, once I was finished.

  “What do you mean, all wrong?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

  “This is why, big brother, I always say you’re smart but a little stupid. Just think about it. At least you stopped it with the gifts but what you’re doing right now isn’t any better. As far as I know, Laura’s always led a pretty simple, but sometimes hard life. It’s never gonna be about your money or the gifts with her. If you want your relationship with her to go well, then what you bring into it, besides the riches, will matter more. Try doing things for her, simple things, instead of throwing the world at her feet, because it’s only going to make her uncomfortable.”

  I understood what Emily was saying. I knew this much, like when I made her dinner and bought her groceries instead of taking expensive candy and flowers to her apartment that night. I still did that, and she was happy every time, but…

  “I want to do more for her,” I admitted. “She’s the first woman I’ve cared this much about, Emily. I want to do… everything I’ve ever wanted to do with her. But that’s wrong?”

  She sighed, rolling her eyes at me like I was the biggest idiot in the universe. A look that hadn't changed much since she was five and trying to get me to do things for her.

  “That’s fine and all, but why don’t you start slow? Like, you know, doing what she wants to do first, then moving on to what you want to do later, but explain it to her. You could take her to her favorite places, for example, not just where you want to go. It would go over better, at least in the beginning. Because basically, what you’ve been doing is showing her that she’s missing something from life. From our perspective maybe it is but to her, it’s like telling her that her life wasn’t good enough, that she should be aiming higher. She might not want to do that.”

  I sighed and leaned back in my seat, running a hand down my face. Emily was right; I’d been acting the idiot about this whole thing, like taking one step forward and two steps back.

  “If you want to treat her right,” Emily continued, “then talk to her about things, don’t just assume. Laura would want the simple things, like going to diners and Mexican restaurants instead of luxury lunch in the family yacht or taking her somewhere expensive. She’ll want to go to the library, or to the hiking trails. It’s all she needs; you just have to focus on it.”

  I nodded slowly. I would never have thought I’d be listening to my little sister talk to me about how to do right by a woman, but that was where I found myself. I had to compromise what I wanted to do if it would make Laura comfortable, make her happy.

  So Emily spent the afternoon, and well most of the evening, giving me a long talk about the difference in lifestyle between me and a woman like Laura.

  26

  Mason

  After Emily set me straight, I left the mansion to go back to the hotel. I wanted to find Laura so we could talk right then and there. I didn’t know how much damage I’d done with my behavior, and I felt like I needed to fix it as quickly as possible.

  But when I got to my room and picked up the phone to call for the cleaning department, I paused, knowing this would only make her even more annoyed with me. So I put the hotel phone back down, then wandered around my apartment.

  “Why am I still living in a fucking hotel room?” I muttered to myself.

  Initially, I’d moved into the hotel instead of the mansion for a couple of reasons. One, it would be more convenient to be closer to work. The second, and the biggest, reason was that I didn’t think I could behave, and I didn’t want to expose my mom and my sister to that side of my life. Not to mention I didn’t want to be too close to Dad’s scrutiny.

  It was always meant to be temporary though. After all, even though I had to move around for the sake of my work, I still had someplace to go home to. Not the mansion, no. I visited, but I’d stopped thinking of it as home a while back. I couldn’t live with my parents forever, no matter how big their place was.

  I’d bought my little space ages ago, where I lived on my own and no one, not even a member of my family, had ever stepped a foot in it. It was out of the state though.

  Maybe I needed some place closer?

  With that thought in mind, I went to take my laptop out of my things in the bedroom. The hotel had Wi-Fi set up for all the rooms, and I moved with the laptop to the couch, turning it on.

  I made a quick search of possible houses for sale. I narrowed down a few locations in my price range. I ignored the pricier, larger places. I had funds in my own account that I’d use to pay for the house, and while I could afford something bigger, it was the last thing I wanted.

  Then, I found it. I was just browsing around on this realtor’s website when I saw the picture, and it made me freeze. I clicked on it and fell in love instantly. I checked the information and decided I wanted to see it in real life. I was done with work for the day, so there wouldn’t be anything to hold me back. Just in case, I sent a message to Laura to tell her I wouldn’t be taking her home later. I didn’t do it every day, and she insisted it was safe enough that I’d stopped nagging her about it.

  On my way out, I made a call.

  “Hello? I’m calling to get some more information about a house…”

  I was done speaking by the time I got into my car to head out. I’d transferred the information from the website to my phone already, and I input the address in my car’s GPS, though I already knew the general direction I was supposed to head toward.

  The drive wasn’t too long, just under an hour at average speed. If I went faster, skirting the speed limit, it could be faster. As I got near, I looked at the surroundings and decided it was just as perfect. There wouldn’t be any neighbors too close…

  The house was on the outskirts of Charlotte, away from the bustle and much closer to the foothills, in the area where the flatlands met the mountains and it got a bit hilly. I’d already got permission to look through it without someone present because I’d only be checking out the outside. If I didn’t like it inside, it could be remodeled.

  “Perfect,” I murmured.

  It was simple. A one-story house, clapboard and painted white with blue shutters. The house was private, it even had a picket fence, and there was a tire swinging in a tree in the front yard. There was an area for a garden, a garage to the side of the house. Pretty much everything one would need for a simple life.

  “I’d need to check out the backyard,” I said to myself. “Add some improvements, check the inside and see if I need to remodel anything…”

  Different plans whirled around in my head. This was different from the last time. Before, I’d had a professional realtor take me around, and I picked a place with just enough space for me and was private enough while staying secure. I’d paid for it, and that was that.

  This time, it wouldn’t just be me staying here because I knew it was just the perfect place to build the life I wanted, one with Laura in it. The house looked big enough from the outside to house more than two people. There might be children in the future, there might not. I didn’t know if I even wanted to be a father, if Laura could even have kids. Or maybe we could adopt if Laura wanted to, a kid that already had potty training, if we were going
to go that route.

  All of this, though, was exactly what I’d been missing in my life. I had an okay family. I loved my mom and sister especially, and I was closer to Kevin and still somewhat distant with Dad and Trent. The fact that neither I nor my brothers wanted to live too close to home spoke volumes, and I’d always thought when I was growing up, if we didn’t have so many riches, I could have been happier. As long as we were comfortable. To have an understanding father instead of a demanding one would have been nice too.

  We were a family, but not as close as other families I’d seen, and not just on TV. Normal families where everybody sat together to eat, not because it was mandatory, but because it was tradition, and they wanted to. This normalcy, with a loving home, and a woman that loved me…

  I could practically picture it, and it was beautiful.

  Once I felt satisfied with what I’d seen, I got back in my car to drive back to the hotel.

  I wanted to marry her.

  I’d had the thought for a while now, but it had never been quite so strong before. I was a decisive kind of guy though, and I didn’t hesitate with what I wanted, so if I was going to buy a house for the two of us to move into, I wanted us to be married or at least engaged when I asked her to move in with me.

  How would I break this news to her? I had no idea. It would take some serious planning because I wanted the proposal to go off without a hitch. Maybe have a key at the ready, instead of a ring, or both, when I asked? I thought up and dismissed, considered, and readjusted several ideas.

  More than anything, I wanted to be what Laura deserved. I wanted her to be happy when she was with me because she’d made me the happiest I’d been in years.

  27

  Laura

  The way things were going with Mason, I’d never be alone again. I wanted to be with him all the time. I felt as if I was on drugs, the same ones I took when I was on chemotherapy and without them I couldn’t function at times, even though they did make me feel sick. But with Mason, it wasn’t like that. It was a good feeling. I felt on top of the world when I was with him. He’d go out of his way to make me feel special all the time.