by Sam Crescent
“Hello,” Scarlet said after several rings. “I told you to put that in the suitcase. Blake, stop encouraging Harry. Hello.”
Wayne chuckled.
“Well, you’re not Lily, and I bet you’re not John.”
He heard the humour in her voice. “I take it the date with John was your and Opal’s idea?”
“You needed to have your reality check, Wayne. I guess it worked. The incoming number is from your own home. How is Lily?” she asked.
“Thank you. You were right. I needed a reality check.”
“You’re welcome. Don’t worry about it, Wayne. We’re all here for you. You have your friends you can count on.”
He smiled. “Is Richard there? I want to apologise to him, and also, I think it’s time you made your way over here. Don’t you guys have somewhere to be?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re getting ready. The nanny should be following us up. Richard doesn’t want me to spend the whole time on my feet. I’m sure that man would be shocked by how much work parenting is. Anyway, here he is.”
The phone passed hands. He heard muttered words and then the sound of kissing. Richard came on the phone several seconds later.
“I take it I was right?”
“Yes, I was wrong.” Wayne chuckled.
“Put it down to having the lawyer instinct. It messes with everything. Are you happy?” Richard asked, getting down to business.
“We’ll get there. This has put a dent in everything. I shouldn’t have left and should have just talked to her. I’m learning from my mistakes.” Wayne ran his fingers through his hair as he looked out of his study window.
“As long as you’re going to fix it. I love you like a brother. I don’t want you to be in any kind of pain. You or Tony. We’re all a family with our wives.”
“I can’t wait until that smug bastard has kids,” Wayne said, remembering the gloating look Tony had had when Wayne went a little insane after learning about Lily’s pregnancy. At the time she’d been terrified, and he didn’t want to scare her. He’d kept all the fear tightened down. Maybe that was what they needed to do. Spend some time opening up about their fears. He filed the thought away for thinking about later.
“Even though I know it will be with my sister, I’d love to see the panic within him. He’ll be older than us when his first is born.”
Wayne spent another few minutes talking with his friend catching up on other facts. Once they were done, he hung up and went into the kitchen. He knew how to cook the bare essentials, bacon, eggs and toast, but with a lot of stuff Lily did it better. Anyway, he’d make the effort to do something special for her.
He put a couple of pans on the oven top then went to get the ingredients he needed to make her an omelette. Not a very romantic breakfast, but at least it was the one thing he knew how to cook.
After he heated the pans he grabbed the eggs and began making the omelettes. When they went under the grill he grabbed a couple of plates. He leaned under a counter and pulled out a booklet.
Frowning, he turned it over. It looked like a scrapbook, something similar to what a child would make. He flipped it over and saw a family photo of their family. Wayne smiled. There were a few decorations on the front page. All of them were personal and to make it look pretty.
He opened the page and took a seat at the counter. It was a book of memories. Every point within her culinary life, Lily had documented. He chuckled when he saw one of the curries she’d made. Beside the picture of the curry was a warning about the horrid taste. There were several pictures of them and then a section on morning sickness.
It was part of their life in a large book. He saw where she’d glued another book underneath.
“Wow, please don’t feed me this,” Lily said, pulling the frying pans out of the grill. The omelettes on top were black. He’d been oblivious to the passing of time.
“Sorry,” he said.
“I found this.”
She stood next to him.
“I didn’t know you were doing something like this.” He closed the book running a hand over the cover.
“I’m a big believer in documenting every new part of our life.”
He reached for her pulling her close. Wayne inhaled her scent and knew their life was going to be okay.
Chapter Nine
Over the next week Wayne kept to his word. He refused to take any business calls. Anything that could be handled by someone else was passed along. Lily loved having him all to herself. When they were together the twelve years that had passed melted away. He took her to lunch to take time out of shopping. When they weren’t shopping or wrapping presents Lily was baking in the kitchen. Wayne spent a great deal of time on decorations. He purchased more lights, and at night she saw how awful he was at working on a straight line. She made mince pies and cookies. Several nights carol singers came ‘round to the house. They’d left the gate open to allow the freedom of festivities. Wayne warned about the dangers.
He took her to the jewellers to have her ring size tested. Lily refused. She didn’t need another ring. He’d promised to owe her a favour if she agreed to do this for him.
“A favour?” she asked.
“Yes, I’ll give you anything you want.”
She smiled recalling all the dirty thoughts that had rushed through her mind at the time. Lily topped the last of the mince tarts when she heard a curse come from the dining room table. Wiping her hands on the towel she moved into the dining room.
He glanced up when she chuckled. Wayne glared at her. He had cello tape wrapped around his whole hand. The doll he’d been trying to wrap looked nothing like a doll.
“You could help me,” he said.
“I will. I’ll get you a cup of tea.” She left him fighting with a toy to go and get the beverages. When the kettle finished boiling she poured them both a cup of tea. She glanced down at her finger and felt the loss of his rings. Lily wondered when he’d find the time to give them to her.
Their problems seemed so petty now. She would do anything to get the rings back on her finger. Over the last few days she’d hinted as much.
Shrugging her shoulders, she pulled out the tray of mince pies to let them sit on a cooling rack.
Lily took two then walked back into the dining room. When she’d put the cups and plate down, she helped Wayne with the toy. He really didn’t have a knack for wrapping.
“You used to do this?” he asked.
She nodded, smiling.
“I thought you got it gift wrapped.” He mumbled something else, which she didn’t quite catch.
“I may have come from money, but as you know my dad lost it. Spending money on gift-wrapping was a waste of time. I was told to make it look like it had been gift-wrapped.” She took the present from him, and in a few quick movements she wrapped the doll. Lily wrote on a label then added it to the other Santa bags she’d made over the years.
He grumbled some more. She tested the heat of the mince pie then pressed it to his mouth.
“Eat and stop moaning. At least you have me to wrap for you.” She moved all the paper and presents out of the way.
“How can I help? I thought wrapping presents would be easier. I can’t bake, and I certainly can’t wrap. What the hell do I have to offer?” he asked.
Lily chuckled. “Stop moaning. You’ve never spent Christmas by actually doing anything,” she said. “It’s not about all this. You care, and I know that. This will come in time.”
“You’re only being nice to me,” he said.
“No, I’m not. Wayne, I love you. You went to work, and I did all the homely stuff. I love doing this, and to be honest it makes me happy knowing you can’t do it.”
“Why?”
“Because it means I’m good at something.” She admitted the hard truth. No matter how long she’d been away from her sister and stepmother, the damage they caused still made her feel worthless at times.
He reached out to cup her cheek. “You’re good at everything you do, ba
by. Don’t let them keep hurting you.” He stroked her cheek making her smile. Her eyes watered at his sweet words.
“Thank you.”
“I mean it. I never knew how much went into this stuff. It makes me proud to know you handled this all by yourself.” Lily felt the blush rising up in her cheeks. “Anyway, there is something I wanted us to do.” He leaned down and pulled something off the chair.
She saw the book of memories she’d been storing away over their twelve years of marriage.
“You want to talk about my scrapbook?” she asked.
“Not exactly. I want to talk about us. This is our time to put it all on the table and for us to discuss our lives and our marriage.”
Lily took a sip of her tea thinking about what he was asking.
“You want us to sit and talk about certain memories of the past?” Lily asked.
“Yes, I think it will be good for us to get it all out in the open.”
She took another sip of her tea wondering where to start. Over the years there had been many instances where she’d wanted to say something to him but kept it all inside. Wayne could be very closed off when he wanted to be.
“Okay, you look worried. Let’s just talk and see where it goes. Our wedding day, what did you think?” he asked.
“It was so long ago, Wayne. These memories seem pointless now. We both know we didn’t have the most conventional day. Why delve into them?” Lily ran her fingers through her hair. Her finger felt empty without the engagement ring and wedding band.
Discussing the past didn’t feel important when there were so many other facts to take into account.
“I don’t want it to be a factor for us. I love you, Lily.” He reached out taking her hand.
“Then don’t talk about it,” she said.
“We need to.”
“No, you were an ass, Wayne. Yes, you saw what you wanted, and you did everything you could until you took what you wanted. Are you waiting for me to blame you for the life I lead?” she asked.
“Yes, that’s what I want you to do. I feel like I need you to rant and rave at me.”
“I don’t know if you’re joking.” Lily didn’t understand. Their relationship had been fine. More than fine up until he decided to leave.
“How can I convince you that I’m happy?” she asked.
He shook his head dropping his head in his hands. “I don’t know. I don’t want you to wake up in the morning worried if I’m not there when you wake up.”
Lily knew she’d freaked out the first morning she’d woken up when she hadn’t seen him lying beside her. Was it her fault that he was the person to leave like that first thing in the morning without saying a word about his intention?
Instead of arguing with him, she got up out of her seat and went to him. She lifted his head out of his hands and stared into his eyes.
“I love you, Wayne. I don’t need to dwell on the past no matter how much you think I do. Our seduction was supposed to be about you finally courting me.” She kissed his lips. “Talking about the past won’t change it. All we can do is learn from our mistakes.” Lily stroked his stubbled cheek. The Christmas shopping was making him lazy in the shaving department. She chuckled at how tired he looked.
He’d come home from thirteen hour work days and not looked as tired as he did right now. Being a homemaker was taking it out of him. She stroked his hair and decided getting out of the house would be the best idea. It was only lunch time, so they had plenty of time to drive to the ice rink.
“Come on,” she said, pulling on his hand.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“You’ll see. Consider this the start of our date.” Lily grabbed her jacket along with a pair of gloves, a hat, and a scarf. “Wrap up warm.”
Five minutes later they were out of the house. She gave Wayne directions to where she wanted to go.
He parked the car ten minutes later. She saw the rink had several people on it already.
“An ice rink?”
“It’s an open ice rink. Come on. It’ll be fun.” Lily got out of the car and led him over to the person handing out the ice skates. She paid the guy for two pairs. Wayne grumbled but put them on in without much enthusiasm. Once she’d tied her laces she began the weird walk onto the ice. The moment the blades hit the ice she grabbed for the wall. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Her gloves didn’t provide much grip. The snow and the cold didn’t change the fact she’d never ice skated before in all of her life. In the movies they made it look so easy.
“You have a death grip on that thing,” Wayne said, looking perfect and graceful on his feet.
“Okay, well, I don’t actually skate. In fact I’ve never skated before.” She felt her cheeks heating.
“You mean to tell me you’ve brought me on a date, and you can’t even skate?” he asked. There was a smile on his face and an ease that she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“I thought it was a good idea. You have to admit this is a beautiful spot for a date,” she said.
He gazed around at the scenery. Lily smiled at him seeing the ease slowly seep into his facial expression. “You’re right. This is a beautiful place.”
“I know I’m right. I’m a woman. Now, help me like all those kind men do in the movies.” She reached out to him only to slip on the ice. Lily knew she was about to land on her butt. Wayne caught her right in time.
“I’ve got you, baby.” He lifted her up then circled round holding her hands out in front of her.
Lily kept her gaze on her feet.
“Don’t look at your feet. Look at me,” he said.
“Are you going to help me?” she asked.
“Yes. I won’t let you fall. Now, trust me.”
She held onto his hands as he began to move backwards. Several times she tried to look down, but Wayne stopped her with his firm grip.
“I should have known you’d be good at this,” she said.
“And why is that?”
“You’re good at everything else, so why not be good at ice skating?”
“I can’t bake, cook, or wrap a present without it looking like some alien contraption. I can run a multi-million dollar business and make love to my wife. Skating is a piece of cake, and you’ll get there. I never knew how much fun this could be.” Wayne smiled twirling her in his arms making her squeal.
He stopped, and she was still on her feet. She took in a few gulps of air to try to get everything working once again.
“When did you learn how to skate?” she asked to try to distract herself from her possible death.
“Tony, Richard, and I used to spend most of our free time growing up going skating on a frozen lake or going to an open ice rink. That feels like a lifetime ago.” Wayne smiled looking past her shoulder.
She saw the pleasure on his face and was happy her idea had worked. “You’re an old man now, Wayne. It is pretty much a lifetime ago.” Lily couldn’t help but tease.
“Be warned, baby, I’m the one holding you up.”
Lily smiled sweetly at him loving the way they moved around the rink slowly.
“You look so adorable in your hat,” he said.
“What are you trying to say?”
He chuckled. “We need to do this more often.”
“Go ice skating?”
“No, going out on a date. I know we have the kids to consider, and if they were at home we’d be taking them with us. I think we need to make some time for just us.” He pulled her in close so her body was flush with his. Their thick jackets masked any sensation. Lily went light-headed from the closeness. His presence still had the power to stir her.
“I’d like that. No work, no stresses, just you and me.” She leaned in for a kiss. He let her go for a split second, and in that time, her foot skidded out. Before she had chance to warn him a squeal escaped her as she grabbed onto his jacket for help.
Nothing helped. Wayne wasn’t prepared, and they both went backwards onto the ice. Lily gasped as he cau
ght his weight in time. Her butt ached, but she couldn’t help but laugh. Wayne stared down at her with a smile on his lips.
“Oops,” she said.
“I don’t find anything to oops about it.” He pressed his pelvis against hers making her aware of his aroused state. Her laugh turned to a moan within a matter of seconds. “I’m very happy.” Wayne leaned down and claimed her lips.
Lily wrapped her arms around his neck. Her pussy pulsed while her nipples hardened at his contact.
His tongue plunged inside her mouth. She wanted his cock plunging in her pussy. Lily thrust up against him wishing for more. Everything around her disappeared. They were the only two who existed in the world.
“Hey, no hanky-panky on the ice. Not even at Christmas,” a guy shouted. Wayne broke off the kiss, and Lily saw one of the security guards waving his hands at them.
“Sorry,” Wayne said, moving off her body and helping her up. “It won’t happen again.”
Lily felt a blush spreading up to her cheeks. Several couples were smiling at them. “I can’t believe that happened.” She buried her face against his jacket. His arms were around her like a vise holding her steady.
“We were going at it like a couple of teenagers who’d never done it before.” He chuckled.
She hit his chest then let him lead her around the rink.
Chapter Ten
Wayne led her around the rink several times. Every time he tried to let her go on her own, she almost ended up on her ass. He knew it would be several more visits and plenty of practice before she’d be able to skate on her own.
He looked forward to teaching her. The time they were sharing was developing a closeness he felt had been missing between them for some time. When they had an hour left before they needed to get their kids, Wayne helped her out of the rink. He knelt before her to remove her skates and then placed her own shoes on her feet.
