by K. Z. Riman
How much are these clothes that she has a lot of them?
I narrowed my eyes as she went out to the deck. She was way too distracting, wearing clothes that barely hid anything.
She ignored me and sat at the breakfast table to watch Mother, Father and Sean play with Max.
“Any man could rip those dresses right off you,” I murmured. The fact that it annoyed me, bothered me.
Because I would.
“Yes, because all men are just like you, aren’t they?” Kelsey snapped at me, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
“Ha!” I moved to sit beside her, but she moved to a different chair, leaving two empty seats between us. “You will find, Kelsey, that no man is like me.”
“Yes, because you are the worst of your kind.” She shot me a sharp glance.
She made me laugh. She always had. There was something in her that boiled every drop of blood in my veins. If it was because of her spice, or because it seemed she would do anything to spite me, I really didn’t know. Teasing her always thrilled me. I felt so alive whenever I was around her.
She wasn’t like any other woman I knew, who would offer themselves willingly to me. She would fight me to the ends of the earth just to prove that I wasn’t a man she would consider worthy of her time. Yet, her fights with me were valuable times in themselves. She was fighting my flames with that of her own, exhilarating me and exciting every bone in my body.
“I’m the best of my kind, and you can’t even see it.”
“Lucky me.”
I moved swiftly to sit beside her, grabbing her wrist as she tried to move again. Leo looked away when she panicked. “Want to push your luck?”
“What the…?” Her struggle to pull her hand back made me grip it harder. “Leave me alone!”
The more she used that line on me, the more I didn’t want to leave her side. “It’s the same old line. Use another one,” I teased her.
“Getting acquainted, I see.” Father was only a few feet away from us. He was looking at me intensely, but he was smiling. I knew what he was saying. He was telling me to knock it off or Kelsey would go away.
“Father.” She flushed knowing Father saw our hands together.
He reached for a glass of juice. “Are you talking about something important?”
I didn’t answer. I wanted to know if Kelsey was still that kid who would run to someone for cover whenever she fought with me. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She looked away with flushed cheeks.
“Scott was…just looking at my ring, Father. I didn’t want to show it to him,” she said slowly, without looking at any of us. She had grown up.
“I see.” Father was doubtful. “Just tell me if Scott’s getting on your nerves.”
I chuckled. “You’ll throw me out of the house, I suppose?” That would have been a fitting punishment.
“No. You’re staying here,” he said, before turning on his heel.
When he had gone, Kelsey shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m staying here,” she muttered under her breath.
“The house is big for just four people, if you leave.”
“Four?”
“Well, Sean’s home now and he isn’t going to leave. It goes without saying, you are home, too,” I told her. She might as well hear something good from me. She earned it for not being a cry baby.
“That is not what I’m worried about.” She stood up and went inside.
I followed her until she ran upstairs. She kept looking at me, worried perhaps that I would follow her into her room. “What are you worried about?” She didn’t speak. I held her hand. “Ah. Me.”
“Yes. You and your childish acts around me!” she snapped. “I know you, Scott. I know how you do not torture anyone but me.”
“Why would I torture you?” I chuckled. Funny how she would use that word.
“I don’t know. You tell me.” She waved her hand in the air. “You’ve been doing it since the day we met. You know, I really thought you’d get over it once I dated your brother, but it only got worse.”
Because I needed you away from me then. Now, I need you close.
“Is it that bad that you want it to stop?” She didn’t answer. Seriously. “I mean, we are having fun, aren’t we?”
“Yes, because apparently, we are still kids,” she said sarcastically.
Oh, no. You don’t look anything like a kid.
“Sir.” Leo was at the end of the hallway, hesitant to bother us. “Your parents are asking for you and Ms. Fontez.”
She went ahead of me, passing me by and pushing me so hard with her shoulder that I had to take a step back to regain my balance.
Oh, I had her all right. Shaking my head, I chuckled. Leo pressed his lips together to hide his smile.
He had always known of my fondness of Kelsey. Even when Leo was still young, he would see past how I acted around her. In fact, he was the first one to ask if I desired her. I did. I really, really desired Kelsey.
“Kelsey, dear.” Mother was with Sean in the living room, waiting for us. “Sean said he wanted to hear you sing.”
“Me?” Kelsey panicked as she shot me a glance. Oh, me again. One more glance and I’d say she wanted me so bad.
“Yes. He said when he’s tired you always sing to him.” Mother smiled at the thought. “I would love to hear you sing. I didn’t know you could.”
I did. I had heard her sing for Seth. Even as I was inside my own room and she was in Seth’s, I heard how she sounded, like a nymph, or a mermaid perhaps, calling on to sailors to ruin.
“I’ll accompany you.” I made it worse. I chortled my way to the grand piano, but she shook her head, stretching her hands out so her boy could run to her.
“I made something up.”
When she began singing, everyone fell silent. Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving. Her lips were dancing with the words she had made up to show her son she cared. I remembered her doing the same for Seth. She was making up songs for him so he could fall asleep or relax from his work. I would relax in my own room, or fall asleep while listening to the sound of her voice.
“And I will always hear
When you had no one to call”
She ended the song almost as soon as it had begun. Perhaps it was just as short as that. Mother was crying on the couch, with her hands covering her mouth. The boy ran to her and held her hand, asking her if she didn’t like his mommy’s singing. I believe no one in the house would not like his mommy’s singing. She sounded delightful.
* * * *
We had dinner on the deck again. With the six-seat round table, Kelsey sat one empty seat from me.
Sean was having fun watching the waters of the pool glisten under the moon. Mother and Father were happy to do as he pleased because they hadn’t had any kid in the house for more than twenty years. They wouldn’t have one with me soon.
“Sit, Max! Sit!” The boy was getting frustrated with his puppy.
“You have to train him first, honey. Tell him what to do and how to do it every day, until he learns,” Kelsey said.
“Kelsey.” Father cleared his throat before continuing. I would bet all my money he was going to ask Kelsey to do something for him. He always did it to me. “I was wondering if you wish to finish your studies. I mean Liberal Arts is something this family needs with all of our…shall we say, businesses…going on.”
“Father, I thought you want me to work for the company?”
“Yes. I want you to work. You can work during the day with Scott and then take a few courses at night.” Father was looking straight at her, expecting her to agree. I’d say if I didn’t drive Kelsey away, he definitely would.
“You should be a junior in college now. It should not take that long for you to graduate.”
&
nbsp; When she didn’t answer, he continued with a softer voice. “You are part of the family now. We expect you to help in every way you can.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I would be able to fit studying between working and taking care of Sean,” she replied.
“Yes, but you see,” Father shifted uncomfortably on his seat and glanced quickly at Mother. “You don’t have to tire yourself taking care of Sean now. I mean, we have the maids. You have Leo. All you have to do is see that they give Sean everything he needs.”
Just accept it, Kelsey, and get it over with.
After a long pause, she said, “I will have to think about it.”
“I’m sorry, dear, if we put too much pressure on you. It’s just that Scott is leaving in a year and since you have agreed to stay, we were hoping you would help us with the company. We are getting old, you know.” Mother intervened.
“Why are you leaving?” Kelsey asked, eyes and expression blank. I could not even tell if she was glad or upset about it.
“He doesn’t care much about the company.” Father kept his eyes on his food. “He would rather…”
“I would rather have companies that interest me,” I said calmly. I had discussed this with Mother and Father many times. There was nothing they could say that would shock me or pin me down.
“Like…casinos?”
I gave her a devious smile. She was being smart again. She had the gift of asking questions that seemed to be off-track, but were exactly on target. “As a matter of fact, yes. I would love to run a casino or a nightclub. I just want…”
“A valid reason to gamble and womanize?” She interrupted me.
My, my. Aren’t you the smart mouth? One of these days I would show her how she should use her mouth. Right on top of mine!
Father snorted. “She knows you well.”
Not this man.
Chapter Four
Kelsey’s Return to Her First Kiss
Sean was really tired when I tucked him into bed. He had spent the whole day playing with his grandparents and his new pet. He was so happy.
What I couldn’t figure out was why he kept looking at Scott, making different expressions. He smiled when he wanted to gauge Scott’s affection for him and frowned when Scott didn’t notice him ask a question. Yet no matter how many of these expressions he made, I knew one so well I was beginning to get nervous. He was always sighing, trying hard to contain himself, when all he wanted was to give and receive a hug. Perhaps he was wondering how a man could look exactly like his father and not even notice him. Perhaps he wanted to have a father.
“Kelsey?” It was Mother, knocking gently on my door. What could she want at this hour?
“Hi, Mother. Come in.”
She had a different smile tonight as she walked in, sat on my bed, and watched me dry my hair with a towel. “I’m not intruding, am I?”
“No, no. Of course not. Is something wrong?”
“No.” She looked around quietly. I waited. There must be something she wanted from me, which she could not say straight away. “I need to ask something of you, Kelsey. I know it already has been too much. You and Sean staying, you going back to school should you decide on it, and working for the company…we’ve already asked so much of you.”
When I didn’t answer, she gave me a weak smile. “Actually, this is about Scott.”
“What about him?”
“I need you to help us convince him to stay.” She was straight about what she wanted to ask of me. It scared me.
How was I supposed to do that when he and I couldn’t even last an hour without arguing? “Mother…”
“Please.” Mother crossed the room to take my hands, pulling me to stand facing her. Her eyes were pleading for me to agree to this. “Please help Father and me. We’ve already lost Seth. We don’t want to lose Scott, especially now that with your coming, this family seems to be reuniting again.”
How was she expecting me to do this? Hadn’t she noticed how Scott and I most definitely spite each other? “Mother, Scott is a grown man and he is the type to not bend to anyone.”
“You know him so well.” She let out a quiet laugh and it sounded to me to be of disappointment. “Perhaps you could use that to your advantage and lure him into staying.”
Lure. That was a nice choice of word for someone wanting to have a man beside her now. Was she expecting me to be nice and to be sweet to him all of a sudden? Scott’s a jerk and he would remain to be one! If there was one thing that could make him stay, it would be a blonde, working in their kitchen, with a room accessed by Scott twenty-four-seven.
Nonetheless, since they asked this of me, I believed I could pretend to care. I could pretend to do things their way and try to make him stay. I knew Scott and he would never stay here. “Of course.”
“Oh, thank you.” She hugged me again as she cried a little. I began wondering what had happened to this family during the past six years that made Mother seem so tortured. “I really miss my sons,” she finally said.
* * * *
I sat on the train and argued with myself about how right my judgment had been, taking Sean to his grandparents and half-hoping they would take me in, too. I had been acting so brave and strong the past six years, to live for me and for my son, to raise him to be like his father, even when I didn’t have much.
A woman could only take so much. Sean was getting older and he needed to be in school. My salaries from my half-day job at Fiona’s Diner and at The Frost bar at night were no longer enough to pay the bills when I took out a loan to cover the expenses for when Sean caught this respiratory virus.
The plan was to stay for a month or so with the Grimaldi’s, but as they grew so fond of Sean, and Sean of them from the first day, I didn’t have the heart to pull him back. I would seem to be a bad mother if I denied Sean the luxury of being a Grimaldi. Forget about myself. I had been living pay check after pay check all my life. I couldn’t do that to my son.
Then, there was Mother. She had been saying how she missed Seth…and Scott…so much that she was glad Sean and I came into their lives. It was like she was rebuilding her family. She even had to beg me to convince Scott to stay. I kept asking myself how I was supposed to do that. Should I just forget about how much of a jerk he was to me in college, and still was? Should I just be nice to him and hope he would be nice back?
No. Scott wasn’t the type to bend. He wasn’t the type to take any bullshit, either. He would not be nice to me just because I suddenly decided to be nice to him. I would bet he’d even be meaner to me, if I did that.
As I got off the train and into a cab, I decided I wanted to see my best friend, Grace, to say goodbye. She had been family to Sean and I, and I would never be able to repay those days when she went out of her way to care for us.
“You did the right thing, Kels.” Grace nodded as we sat in her kitchen, drinking tea. “Bringing Sean to a much better place does not mean you failed as a mother. It only means you have become a better one. I mean, you’ve been taking care of him since he was born without any help from Seth’s family or from any of us, your friends. You have worked so hard to feed you both, and to make sure you had a house and some clothes to keep you warm. I think it’s about time that you relaxed a little. Let Seth’s family take care of you two. Besides, Sean deserves to meet his father’s family and to be given what is rightfully his. You both deserve a home.”
“I’m afraid I’m going to lose him,” I admitted. Once Sean saw that there were a lot of things his grandparents could provide for him that I could not, I was afraid he would turn his back on me, questioning my abilities to raise him or to provide him the world. I already lost his father. I wasn’t going to lose him.
“You are not going to lose him.” Grace smiled. “You said it yourself; they gave you better choices in life—a good school for
Sean, a better job for you, a roof over your head. A family?”
Yes. A family. I had long wanted to have one. If Sean and I returned to our old life, we would be returning to our old half-broken apartment and to our time together that seemed to never be enough because of chores and work. As it turned out, Sean was spending more time with Grace than with me and I couldn’t accept that. “Yes. I want a family.”
Grace smiled at me and moved to sit next to me to give me a hug. “I have always been your family, Kels, but you need these people to take care of you and to love you.”
“I owe you a lot,” I said, letting her know that I wouldn’t forget all those times she had been there for me.
She’d graduated with Seth and Scott, giving her a chance for a great job while she stayed single.
“Oh, how’s Scott?”
“You even have to ask! He’s staying at the mansion with us.” I rolled my eyes, exhausted at the thought. “I would be working for him at the company.”
“Really? That should be…interesting. Is he teasing you still?”
“Do I even have to answer that, Grace?” I cupped my face with both my hands and let out a quiet groan. Yet, no matter how much I convinced myself I was tired of him, I wasn’t. I felt…different around him now. It was like something had been brought back into my life because of him.
“We’ve been clashing since we first saw each other. I don’t know what his problem with me is. That man will drive me crazy. Oh, wait. Boy. That boy will drive me crazy.”
“Well, I hope it’s not a different kind of crazy.” She stood, took my empty cup and placed it on the kitchen sink, smirking.
“Grace!” I was scandalized. Scott would never be the type to go love crazy over me. “He’s practically my brother-in-law.”
“Whatever you say.” She raised both palms in defeat, her golden hair glistening, as the sun from the open window caught it. “Just don’t come running to me when you see I’m right about this.”
