Mister Diamond

by Chance Carter

  “We do things a little differently here,” Garrick said.

  Val laughed. “Isn’t it great?” She plucked the beer from my hand and passed me the sweater instead.

  I pulled off my cardigan and wiggled into the sweater, which was like a tent on me. It went down to mid-thigh and I could’ve worn it as a dress and still been presentable. Levi had probably only worn it once or twice, but his warm, smoky smell wrapped around me and I indulged in a sniff.

  Val handed me my beer and led me to an oversized wing-backed recliner that faced the couch. A robust tree glittered with ornaments in the far corner, presents piled high beneath. I sank into the cracked leather and took my first drink of beer.

  Val and Garrick cuddled up to each other on the couch opposite me, looking as cute as they always did. Val pushed back Garrick’s mop of curls and kissed his forehead, and he leaned into the touch with closed eyes and a blissful smile. They were in a world of their own, and I curled my feet up and basked in the atmosphere of love and holiday cheer.

  Garrick looked up at me a moment later. “Sorry. You must be bored out of your head.” He looked at his watch. “Levi should be back soon. He had some work to do at the office but promised Mom he would be back before dinner.”

  “Great.” I drank more of my beer. “Don’t worry about me, though. Just pretend I’m not here.”

  Garrick grinned wolfishly. “I highly doubt you would like it if we did.”

  Val smacked his arm.

  A loud bang echoed down the hall and footsteps snapped against the floorboards somewhere behind me. Garrick and Val both looked up and smiled.

  “In the nick of time, I should think,” came Levi’s baritone. “Please tell me Mom’s drunk.”

  “She’s pretending she only has one son,” Val replied. “And she’s already started giving away your things.” She winked at me.

  “I bet Dad didn’t even notice I was gone.” Levi strode into the room, finally coming into view. A smile stretched his handsome face and he playfully wedged himself between Val and Garrick. He wore his usual slim-fitting slacks, but instead of a dress shirt, he wore a sweater even more ridiculous than any of the ones I’d seen so far. Front and center was a fully decorated Christmas tree, with jingling bells, tinsel, and tiny baubles.

  Levi finally noticed there was another person in the room and his smile dropped.

  “Frankie...” His gaze fell on the sweater I was half-wearing and half using as a blanket.

  “I kidnapped her,” Val explained. “I couldn’t leave her alone on Christmas.”

  Levi’s forehead creased. “No, of course not.”

  “Gerhart insisted we clothe her suitably for the occasion,” she added.

  I didn’t know what I was expecting, but his reaction made me shift uncomfortably in my seat. He didn’t look happy to see me in the slightest, which made the butterflies wheeling around my ribcage even more unwelcome.

  “Levi! Is that you?” Molly called from the kitchen.

  “It’s jolly Saint Nick!” Garrick called back.

  “Both of you, come help us in the kitchen!” she cried.

  Garrick and Levi stood, Levi pulling his collar comically and making Val laugh.

  “Can you get me another beer?” Val asked, passing Garrick her empty bottle.

  He leaned down and kissed her. “Of course.”

  Levi held his hand out for my empty bottle, and I passed it to him, neither of us saying anything. He and Garrick left the room.

  Val immediately vaulted over to sit next to me, shoving me into the far corner of the chair.

  “What the hell did you do to Levi in the mountains?” she asked.

  My eyes bulged. “What do you-you know what I did,” I stuttered.

  “No, not that.” She shook her head. “Did you see the way he was acting? This whole week he’s been like that. He’s been, dare I say it, nice to me?”

  “He did look pretty chummy.”

  She blew air through her teeth. “You’re a miracle worker. I’m going to name a star after you.”

  I chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  Levi came back into the room, passing Val and I each a beer before disappearing again. Hers was the same as before, but mine was different. I frowned at the label, but Val didn’t notice, already yammering away about her New Year’s plans.

  I knew I shouldn’t overthink it, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Levi had brought me a Christmas brew because he remembered our first conversation when I said I looked forward to it every year.

  Surely not, I decided. And I drank.

  Chapter 21

  Levi

  “You.” Mom thrust a wooden spoon into my hand. “You’re on stir duty. If there are any lumps in that gravy, you’re going to get it.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I took up my station while Mom doled out the rest of the orders, then moved to the side as Garrick came over to fulfill his duty of basting the turkey.

  “Don’t be so upset with him, Molly,” Dad said. He was deep frying potatoes at the other side of the kitchen, a dish that he refused to go without at Christmas but Mom complained about every year. She insisted he didn’t need both mashed and fried potatoes. He insisted he did. Much as Mom could be a hard ass, she knew when to pick her battles.

  “What is my one rule?” Mom asked.

  “No brewery talk on Christmas,” Garrick and I answered in unison.

  Mom snapped her fingers, and I resumed stirring.

  “Technically I didn’t talk to anyone about the brewery,” I defended. “You and Dad were napping, and Garrick and Val were off doing...whatever it is they were doing. I didn’t think anyone would miss me if I slipped off for a while to get some work done.”

  I chanced a look behind me and saw my mom’s features had softened. “Maybe it’s time you found yourself a girl, Levi. You can’t just throw yourself into your work every time you’re lonely.”

  “Hey, being alone is not the same as being lonely.”

  Garrick snickered. I glared at him.

  “Your mother’s got a point, you know.” Dad came up behind Mom and snaked his arms around her waist. “If it weren’t for your mother, I would have worked myself into the ground just like your grandfather did. And he nearly drove Black Mountain into ruin. There needs to be balance.”

  Mom leaned her head back against Dad’s shoulder and smiled, kissing him on the cheek. Then, without even looking at me, she snapped her fingers. “Stir.”

  I resumed stirring again and turned back to the stove. Garrick finished basting the turkey and stood beside me, inhaling. “Damn I love gravy.”

  “We know. That’s why Mom cooks so much of it.” I shouldered him away from the stove. “I guess it’s useful when we’ve got unexpected guests though.”

  Garrick shrugged. “Guess so.”

  I wanted to ask why Frankie was there but couldn’t make it seem like I was too interested. Garrick suspected that something had happened between Frankie and me on Mount Hood, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction so hadn’t told him anything.

  “So does Frankie not have her own family to spend Christmas with?” I asked, stirring casually.

  Garrick leaned against the counter next to me and took a draw of his beer. “Her family’s all in New York, but she couldn’t afford to go this year.”

  “Couldn’t afford to go? She seems like she does okay for herself.”

  Garrick nodded. “She does, but her dad had surgery a couple of weeks ago, and since he and her mom were going to have to take out a loan to cover it, Frankie stepped in and paid for it.”

  I paused. Frankie never mentioned her dad’s surgery when we were on Mount Hood. She didn’t mention not going home for Christmas, either. If Val hadn’t brought her here today, would I have ever found out? Not that it was any of my business. I felt bad for her—which was likely exactly why she didn’t want me to know.

  “That Frankie girl,” said my dad. “She’s a real doll. Your mother and I were j
ust saying earlier how much Val has brightened up since she started working with Frankie. She’s got a real shine to her now.”

  “I agree.” Garrick pulled plates down from the cupboard and passed them over to my mom. “It’s amazing what a good friend can do.”

  “They’re not friends. It’s Frankie’s job, and she just happens to be good at it.”

  Dad and Garrick both frowned at me. Mom, predictably, was too absorbed in setting the table to notice the conversation.

  “You’re too harsh on her,” Garrick said. “I figured after your weekend getaway you would realize that there’s more to her than you think.”

  I had come to such a conclusion, but it didn’t seem like such a bad thing to remind people that Frankie was only going to be in our lives for so long. She seemed very fond of Valerie, but once the wedding was over, she would move on to the next. None of us would see her again.

  Mom shuffled in beside me and took the spoon from my hand. “Why don’t you go see if the girls need another drink?”

  “I just got them one.”

  “You know how fast Valerie drinks.” She pushed me away. “Go on.”

  I sighed and left the kitchen. The sound of laughter hit me like a wall the second I stepped into the living room and I stopped when Frankie and Val came into view. They had moved to the couch. Spread open on Val’s lap was one of our old photo albums and Val was pointing at a picture of Garrick wearing my dad’s shoes and vest. He couldn’t have been older than five at the time. The two of them were busting their sides over it.

  Hell, maybe they were friends. Maybe Frankie wouldn’t disappear once the wedding was over. I hoped for Val that was the case. Months ago, when Val’s parents dropped on her that they were going away for the holidays without her, she seemed excited about the opportunity to spend Christmas with our family. But when she and Garrick showed up last night, I could tell she was sad. Nothing any of us did had worked as well to cheer her up as whatever Frankie was doing now.

  The girls finally noticed my presence and Frankie’s smile fell away. The atmosphere altered, grew chillier. A pang of something like sadness hit me in the chest.

  “My mom sent me in here to check if you guys need another drink,” I explained.

  Valerie shook her bottle and then her head. “I’m good.”

  “Me too,” said Frankie.

  “Call if you need anything.” I turned away, but instead of heading back to the kitchen I turned right down the hall and made my way to the stairs.

  Something was bothering me. It was the same thing that had been bothering me for the past week, but I’d been doing a good job of ignoring it until now. Or, at least, a better job. Now that Frankie was here, in my childhood home, I knew it would be impossible for me not to think about her.

  She wanted us to forget that Mount Hood ever happened, but I didn’t see how that was possible. If I could forget it, I would—because it was damned inconvenient thinking about Frankie as much as I did.

  But what could I do? She’d left an indelible impression on me. Her plump ass, those gorgeous tits, the way she moaned in that rasping, sultry voice of hers. I was constantly horny, but the idea of fucking anybody else just didn’t appeal. I wanted her. I thought all I needed was time to get over it, but it had been a week and still no progress. Worse, now Val had shoved the temptation right in front of me.

  I mounted the stairs and followed the corridor to my bedroom, which had remained unchanged since high school. I’d had horrible taste back then. Football posters lined the back wall, and the shelves were cluttered with knickknacks and dog-eared novels. The closet door hung open from Valerie’s visit earlier. Just thinking about Frankie in that ridiculous sweater made me hard and it had nothing to do with the holiday spirit. It was my sweater, and it looked like sin on her. I couldn’t tell whether I loved or hated my dad for making her wear it.

  I fished my phone out of my pocket and collapsed onto the bed, still disheveled from my rough night’s sleep the night before. I knew I didn’t have long before Mom sent someone to look for me, particularly since dinner was nearly ready, but I had one thing I needed to do before I had a few beers and started to enjoy the evening.

  I just hoped Frankie wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

  Chapter 22

  Frankie

  My sides ached with laughter and I doubled over, desperately trying to gulp down a breath.

  “It wasn’t even his suitcase!” Garrick finished in a voice squeaky with laughter. “He nearly got in a fistfight over the damn thing, and then his comes around on the belt. You should have seen the look on his face.”

  I wiped a tear from my eye and looked over at Levi, who was smiling good-naturedly even though we were laughing at his expense.

  “He always puts a neon tag on his bags now,” Gerhart added. “The brighter, the better.”

  “Tell us another,” begged Val. “You’re the best at telling stories.”

  I had to agree. The story of Levi inadvertently trying to steal the suitcase of an old Floridian man was funny, but the way Garrick told it took it up a few levels to hilarious. I’d been laughing so much over dinner that I’d barely finished half of my food, whereas Gerhart was already on his second plate. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had this much fun.

  Actually, I could. A week ago, careening down a hill in a laundry basket with the wind whipping snow in my face.

  “We should keep the score even,” Levi said, leaning toward Val. “Tell something embarrassing about Garrick for once.”

  Garrick stuck his nose in the air. “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “I beg to differ.”

  “I challenge you to think of even one instance where I’ve ended up with egg on my face.”

  Val chuckled. “What about the time you were parading past my booth at that festival in Vancouver and fell face first in the mud?”

  Levi’s eyes lit up. “Good one, Val.”

  “It got your attention, didn’t it?” Garrick said.

  I’d been watching Levi all night to see if what Val said was true—that he was nicer to her now. He was. He was still quiet, even a little brooding at times, but something had worn down his hard edges. I just had trouble believing that something was me.

  We finished dinner and retired to the living room with snifters of brandy. Gerhart and Molly puzzled over the app for their music system on their phone, rejecting help from their kids, until soft Christmas music began to play from speakers in the walls.

  “Presents!” Gerhart announced, clapping his hands. “Everyone take a seat, and I’ll hand them out.”

  I took my seat in the armchair again, while Garrick and Val pulled the love seat forward and Molly and Levi sat on opposite ends of the couch. Gerhart began to enthusiastically hand out presents like he was Santa Claus himself, and soon the room filled with the sounds of tearing paper and cheerful exclamations.

  I didn’t have anything to open, nor did I have anything to give, but I enjoyed sitting there and watching them. I could tell how much they all loved each other and it reminded me of my own family.

  I wondered what they were up to right now. Since New York was three hours ahead, I could easily imagine my dad snoring in his recliner while my four little nieces and nephews raced around him and played with their new toys. My sister would be enjoying her first Christmas as one of the adults proper, and she and my mom had probably retreated to the kitchen to drink red wine and gossip about the neighbors. My brothers and their wives were all close with one another, and they would be out on the back deck, smoking cigars and complaining about parenthood.

  And me? Where would I fit in if I were at home? That was the beauty of my family—anywhere. I’d spent Christmas evenings snoozing on the sofa, playing pirates with my nieces and nephews, wine drunk with my mom, and out on the patio in a cloud of cigar smoke. The house was never peaceful growing up, and there was always someone yelling at someone and calling someone else an idiot, but we loved each other, and it sh
owed whenever we came back together. I missed them a lot.

  Still, Dad had his surgery, and that was more important than anything else. He’d have many more years of peaceful Christmas naps to look forward to.

  The Wheelers finished opening presents and Levi went around to gather up the wrapping paper. He stopped next to my chair and looked at me, almost like he wanted to ask if I was okay, but continued on. I knew why it was weird for him that I was here, and it wasn’t just that only a week ago he was fucking my brains out. He was different with his family. Even if I could accept credit for him being more courteous to Val, the rest of his behavior was just him. And I liked it. I liked that he pushed his mom’s buttons and was goofy with his brother. He was a different person here, and I knew from experience he didn’t like to share that person with just anybody.

  “Let’s sit and have another brandy,” Gerhart announced, retrieving the bottle from the sidebar and walking around to fill everyone’s glasses.

  He and Molly snuggled up together on one half of the sofa while Levi sat on the other, one leg folded aristocratically over his knee and his glass of brandy dangling from his fingertips. The pose would have been reminiscent of a model if it weren’t for the ridiculous Christmas sweater.

  Garrick and Val spoke together in hushed tones, giggling and flirting, but Gerhart and Molly just put their heads together and listened to the music. I stared at the tree so I wouldn’t be staring directly at the couch in front of me, but every once in a while I snuck a glance at Levi. Sometimes I caught him sneaking a glance back.

  I found myself wishing he wasn’t so far away. I imagined curling into his lap on the armchair, head tucked under his chin. I could still remember the way my body seemed to fit into his perfectly, how secure I had felt in his arms.

  I blamed it on the brandy.

  Then again, was it that crazy to want him? The sex alone was enough to keep me wanting more, but the side of his personality I’d glimpsed on the mountain and caught more of today intrigued me even further. I’d traded the heat of my hatred toward him for something else, and now I couldn’t stop thinking about his mouth on mine. Maybe it wasn’t crazy, but it was still a mistake. He said himself he wasn’t looking for a relationship, and that I wasn’t his type. If I let myself fall for him I would fall hard, and then what? I’d probably end up ruining Val’s wedding. That was why I didn’t get involved with my clients’ friends or family. Too messy. I had a job to do, and I couldn’t let myself get distracted from that.