At Peace

by Kristen Ashley

Then I bunched his tee in my fist, pulled him closer, got up on tiptoe to get close to his face and whispered, “Anything you want.”

  His head jerked slightly and he asked, “What?”

  “Tonight, payback for the yard, payback for makin’ Keira smile like that, anything you want. You name it, I’ll do it.”

  A slow smile spread on his face as his hands went to span my hips.

  “That’s quite an offer, buddy.”

  I got closer, both my body and my face to his and I kept whispering. “Be creative, baby, don’t know when I’ll be feelin’ this generous again.”

  “Oh, I’ll be creative,” he whispered back and I felt my nipples get hard.

  My hands slid up his chest and around his neck and I laid one on him, my brand of a hard and demanding kiss and Joe liked it. I knew this because his arms wrapped around me and he growled in my mouth.

  “Love you, baby,” I whispered against his lips when I was done kissing him.

  “Yeah, me too,” he touched his mouth to mine then said, “You get a break, make a list for the grocery store. I’ll pick it up when Keira and I come ‘round to get the sod.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll grill some brats tonight.”

  “Okay.”

  “We’ll get store bought shit to go with the brats. Don’t want you cookin’, you’ll need to conserve your energy.”

  I shivered at what his words meant then repeated, “Okay.”

  He grinned and it hit me he was grinning a lot lately. Smiling too. I liked this so I smiled back but I suspected my smile was a lot like Keira’s beam. I suspected this because Joe’s eyes dropped to my mouth, his face got intense and then he kissed me, hard and demanding.

  He did it better.

  * * * * *

  When I got home that evening, the yard looked like a yard. No yellow-brown “bitch” in the middle of it. Joe and Keira did such a good job you could barely see the sod lines. And the rest of the yard had been mowed.

  I walked into the house, seeing it clean and tidy. Even the kitchen was sparkling, including the floor.

  I knew why when Keira came running from her bedroom, a boy band playing loud so she shouted over it, “I cleaned the kitchen!”

  I smiled at her. “I can see, baby.”

  “And the bathroom,” she went on as I put my purse on the counter.

  “Thanks, honey.”

  “Kate vacuumed and dusted and I put the pictures back in the frames,” Keira continued, pointing to the pictures which were in the frames and back on our shelves.

  I looked but I didn’t look closely. I wanted them back where they were but I wasn’t ready to see pictures of Sam just yet.

  Keira finished with, “Joe wanted you to put your feet up when you got home.”

  I bet he did.

  At this, my smile widened and the back sliding glass door opened, Joe coming through it followed by a prancing Mooch. He looked sweaty and hot seeing as he was sweating while wearing nothing but a pair of cutoff jeans and running shoes. He didn’t even have on socks.

  My mouth went dry.

  “Joe mowed the yard,” Keira kept the information flowing.

  “Mm-hmm,” was all I could get out seeing as my eyes were still glued to a sweaty, hot-looking, cutoff jeans wearing, bare-chested Joe.

  Joe came to me, curled his hand around my head and pulled me up, giving my mouth a touch with his.

  “Gotta shower,” he muttered then he turned away, nabbed Keira the same way as he walked by her but he kissed the side of her head.

  Keira beamed up at him. Joe grinned down at her. Then he went to our room.

  Keira looked back at me. “Joe says I’m the best assistant he’s ever had. He’s gonna teach me security!”

  I was trying to listen to my daughter but mostly I was thinking of Joe in the shower.

  “That’s great, honey,” I muttered as I walked to the fridge and opened it in order to open a bottle of wine, thinking I should put my feet up and relax starting now. Joe probably intended to be energetic but even if he didn’t, I did.

  Then I stopped and stared in my fridge which was so packed full of food, it was a wonder it didn’t explode.

  “What the…”

  “Oh, yeah, forgot to say, Joe and me, we went a little crazy at the grocery store,” Keira told me and I turned stiltedly to her to see she was walking back toward her room. “He said to put anything I wanted in the cart and anything you or Kate liked. So I did.”

  “Keira, honey, it’ll take us a year to get through this much food,” I called after her, she stopped at the entry to the hall and turned back to me.

  “Yeah. So?”

  Oh Lord, she was sounding like Joe and I had no idea if this was good or bad.

  I also had no reply.

  Fifteen minutes later, Joe was out of the shower, dressed in tee and jeans and in the kitchen getting a beer. I was sipping my wine, waiting for him to get a beer so I could sit out on the deck while he grilled. The boy band music was gone and Keira was on her back on the couch, marathon texting some boy (or, considering the number of beeps from her phone, half a dozen of them). And Mooch was gnawing a dog toy to shit when Dane’s yellow pickup hit the drive.

  Dane always took Kate to and picked her up from work. She’d been off work for over an hour and a half but this wasn’t unusual, they’d often dink around, doing their thing (what that was I did not want to know) or meeting with friends before he’d bring her home.

  Therefore I wasn’t paying much attention when I heard the pickup in the drive. I was watching Joe twist the top off a beer and then toss it in the bin.

  Then the front door opened and it slammed, hard and loud.

  Joe’s head shot around to the door and I turned on my stool to see Kate stomp in, stop, take us all in then shout, “Never! I’m never speaking to him again! If he calls or comes to the door, I do not want to talk to him and I do not want to see him. Ever again!”

  Then she burst into tears and ran to her room, slamming the door.

  “Oh shit,” I muttered, my eyes going to Joe who was looking at the hall then his head swung around to the window and he watched the pickup speeding away.

  I put my wineglass down, slid off the stool and announced, “I’ll go talk to her.”

  I went to Kate’s room, knocked once then opened the door.

  She whirled on me, face red, wet and heartbroken and screeched, “Get out!”

  I walked in, murmuring, “Honey –”

  “Out! Get out! Out, out, out!” Kate shrieked.

  Deciding my daughter needed some alone time, I started to back out but hit solid Joe.

  “Come here, girl,” Joe ordered, his voice quiet.

  Oh shit.

  Kate didn’t tell Joe to get out. She just glared at him which was both smart and brave.

  “Katy, come here,” Joe called gently.

  She took a shaky breath then walked woodenly to Joe.

  He moved around me and put a hand to her neck then bent to get his face close to hers and I held my breath.

  “First, don’t talk to your Mom that way. Ever. You’re pissed at Dane, we’ll talk about that in awhile. But you’re pissed, you be pissed at who you’re pissed at. You don’t take it out on your Mom or Keira or me, yeah?”

  I was still holding my breath. Joe was continuing to talk in that gentle voice but I wasn’t sure he’d been around long enough to tell the girls what to do. Not that I minded, it would come to this eventually might as well be sooner rather than later. However, now he had his hand on the neck of a teenage girl in the throes of her first big fight with her first real boyfriend (or, though I hoped not, her first breakup). I was thinking now wasn’t the time to go all Dad on her.

  Nevertheless, at this juncture I had to keep my peace. Tim and I had a pact, even if we disagreed with what the other was saying, we never contradicted each other in front of the girls. That talk would come later.

  Joe hadn’t said anything I disagreed with s
o that talk wouldn’t come later but I still needed to keep my peace. He’d waded in. I just had to hope he could handle it.

  Kate took a big breath, it hitched half a dozen times while she took it then she surprised me when she collapsed into Joe’s body and cried, “He’s a jerk. A total asshole! I hate him!”

  I pressed my lips together and bit them as Joe’s arms went around a now sobbing Kate and his eyes came to me.

  “Let’s go, honey,” he said to Kate, his eyes not leaving me.

  She jerked her head back and swiped at her face. “Go? Where?”

  Joe tipped his head down to look at her. “Time for you to ride in the ’68.”

  “I don’t… Joe…” she took another stuttering breath and she said, “I don’t wanna take a ride, Joe.”

  “Let’s go,” Joe repeated.

  “Joe –” Kate began.

  “Honey, let’s… go.” He was still talking gentle but this was mingled with his “I’m not going to repeat myself” tone.

  Kate looked at me then at Joe then, wisely, she nodded.

  He slid an arm around her shoulders and led her to the door.

  “We’ll be back for me to cook the brats. Do not cook them yourself,” Joe ordered as he walked by me.

  I didn’t know if he ordered this for me to conserve my energy or because he didn’t want me to ruin them. It didn’t matter either way since my mind was on the fact that I was obviously not invited on this ride in Joe’s Bullitt car and even though he seemed to be doing okay, I wasn’t sure Joe had the skills to handle this volatile situation without me being mediator.

  “Joe,” I called as I followed them.

  “We’ll be back in awhile,” Joe said but he didn’t look back at me as he guided Kate down the hall.

  “Joe, I think –”

  He looked back then and he did it to say, “In awhile, buddy.”

  I bit my lips again. Then I nodded.

  I stopped in the living room, my eyes following them through the windows as they walked to Joe’s house and Keira got close to me.

  “Where they goin’?” she asked

  “No idea,” I answered.

  “Is Katy okay?” she asked.

  “Nope,” I answered.

  “I hope she doesn’t break up with Dane. He’s the hottest guy in school and he’s nice. That means you both have the hottest, nicest guys in school and in town. This means good things for my future because I’m up next.”

  I stopped worrying because I started laughing.

  Then I looked at my last born and kissed her cheek.

  Then I said, “They may be hot and they may be nice but they’re also men. And men can be idiots. So it isn’t smooth sailing, honey, and it never will be.”

  “I can handle it,” Keira blithely assured me, so ready for her first boyfriend it wasn’t funny.

  I, on the other hand, was not ready for Keira’s first boyfriend. If my sweet, quiet, mellow Kate could throw a scene like that, Keira’s first drama would probably blow the roof off the house.

  “I hope so,” I muttered then said, “let’s sit on the deck. Summer’ll be over soon, we need to get our deck time in.”

  “Yeah, let me get a pop,” Keira replied.

  She got her pop and her phone and I grabbed my wine. We sat on the deck and she told me about the possible boyfriends she had lined up for freshman year. She did this while she texted, lining up those possible boyfriends, multitasking.

  While she did this I sipped my wine and fretted about Joe and Kate.

  Thirty minutes later, the sliding glass door opened, I twisted in my seat and saw Joe with Kate tucked close to his side walking through. Her face was still red but it was dry.

  Kate disengaged from Joe and came to me, bending down to give me a hug, she whispered, “Sorry, Mawdy. I was ticked.”

  “That’s okay, baby,” I told her, hugging her back.

  Then she let me go, threw herself in a chair and I looked at Joe.

  “It’s cool,” he said calmly and walked to the grill, ordering, “Keirry, babe, help me out, yeah? Go get the brats.”

  “Sure, Joe,” Keira replied, jumping up, eyeing Kate but doing as Joe asked.

  “Joe’s car is the bomb,” Kate told me when the door slid closed behind Keira.

  I ignored the comment and asked, “Are you okay?”

  She looked away then back at me then she said, “Yeah.”

  “Sure?”

  She shrugged, looked at Joe who was standing by the grill, eyes on Kate, hands on hips. Then she looked at the yard.

  “He messes things up with me, his loss,” Kate told the yard then sighed and looked at me. “And he loses, he loses huge.”

  My eyes went to Joe, he shrugged and said, “They may be in high school, buddy, but not a lotta girls like Kate in this world. Dane doesn’t get that, he’s fucked. He’ll spend the rest of his life thinkin’ ‘bout the one who got away.”

  For longer than was necessary, I stared at Joe after he finished speaking.

  And I did it thinking, Fuck, but I love this man.

  I sighed through that thought then looked back at my daughter.

  “What’d he do?” I asked, Kate’s breathing hitched again, my eyes slid to Joe and Joe shook his head. “Forget it, I don’t wanna know,” I finished quickly.

  Kate nodded and looked at the yard.

  Keira returned with the brats. Joe cooked them while Keira brought out plates, cutlery, buns, condiments and bowls of store bought macaroni salad and chips.

  We ate on the deck.

  Tina didn’t attempt to spy which I thought was an added bonus to having a man who could be threatening and in your face (could and would).

  Kate stayed silent and thoughtful throughout dinner. Keira filled the silence with chatter and I helped her. Kate did the dishes on her own, the rest of us giving her space and then she disappeared in her room.

  Keira put in a movie and she and Mooch camped out in the living room.

  Joe and I sat on the deck with beer and wine.

  “Tell me,” I demanded.

  Joe looked at me then back at the yard then he took a pull on his beer.

  Finally, he spoke. “Stupid shit, Dane’s bein’ an ass. He’s about to fuck up royally, he goes ahead with this gig.”

  “What gig?”

  “Met a girl from Plainfield. She asked him out. Kate says she’s pretty well-known, seein’ as she puts out.”

  “Oh shit,” I murmured.

  Joe kept talking. “He wants a break from exclusive to test the waters but he also wants to keep Kate on a string. Kate doesn’t wanna be on a string.”

  “I don’t like him anymore,” I declared and Joe looked at me.

  “Won’t be anyone to like, he does this to Kate. She won’t take him back and he’ll come back, buddy, believe me.”

  “She’s hung up on him, you sure she won’t take him back?”

  “Yep.”

  “How’re you sure?”

  Joe took another pull of beer, looked at the yard and he spoke.

  “Told her I been around, met my share of women, never met any like you, her or Keira. Not in thirty-nine years. Bein’ like she is, she doesn’t need to take shit. Her man doesn’t hand her the world, she throws him back and finds one who will. No dickin’ around. Told her she needs to look at her Mom and learn. You had three men in your life, all of ‘em willin’ to hand you the world. She should accept nothin’ less.” He took another pull of beer then finished. “She got my point.”

  “Joe,” I called.

  “Yeah?” he answered, his eyes not leaving the yard.

  “Baby, look at me,” I whispered.

  Joe looked at me.

  I leaned into him and put a hand to his face.

  “Sucks for you, you had to wait thirty-nine years,” I told him.

  “Yeah,” he replied.

  “But works for me,” I went on and he grinned.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll do what I can t
o be worth the wait,” I whispered and his eyes got intense.

  “You do that, buddy,” he whispered back, “startin’ tonight.”

  I smiled, leaned further in and touched my mouth to his.

  Then I pulled back and whispered, “This is workin’ great.”

  Joe smiled then promised, “Best is yet to come.”

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  He leaned in this time and touched his mouth to mine.

  “Always,” he murmured.

  That was good to know.

  * * * * *

  When the girls came out to the deck to say goodnight this time, they kissed me on the mouth like usual.

  Then they kissed Joe on his scarred cheek.

  Both of them.

  The best came for Joe faster than it did for me.

  * * * * *

  We waited for the girls to be asleep before Joe showed me what being creative meant.

  I thought he was already pretty creative.

  I was wrong.

  I decided if he ever earned payback like that again, we’d go to a hotel so I could make as much noise as I wanted.

  Luckily, one time I came, my moan was muffled due to his cock being in my mouth.

  The other three times, I had to get creative.

  * * * * *

  Therefore now, with my in-laws at the door about to meet my new man, you would think I’d be pretty relaxed, having had four orgasms before sleeping like a log.

  And having had a good week, a topsy-turvy one but, if this was an indication of my girls and my future with Joe, I’d not only keep it, I’d take down anyone who tried to take it away from me.

  Because of all that, you’d definitely think I was relaxed.

  But I wasn’t relaxed.

  I wasn’t relaxed at all.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Pie

  I exited the bedroom to see Joe coming toward me, his manner was urgent and there was a strange light to his eyes and set to his mouth. I wasn’t sure but I could swear he looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or shout.

  He opened his mouth to speak but before he made a noise, Keira shrieked, her voice chock full of pure glee, “Mom! You won’t believe this! Uncle Vinnie and Aunt Theresa are here too!”

  I stopped walking and Joe stopped in front of me so close we were toe-to-toe. I tipped my head back to look at him and I could actually feel my eyeballs bugging out of their sockets.