by S. J. West
After they left I went to drain the water out of the pasta and found my first mistake. I had dumped the pasta in without ever stirring it which had caused the pasta to cook into one solid mass. I tried to break it up as best I could but it just seemed hopeless. I finally just put the cheese in and tried to at least coat each chunk.
I looked at the clock and saw I only had 20 minutes to tidy myself up before he was due to arrive. I touched up my makeup and ran a brush through my hair. I changed into a pair of khaki slacks and white tunic shirt with embroidery on the sleeves and neckline.
At exactly six, Brand showed up on my doorstep.
He gave me a kiss on the cheek and said he was looking forward to the meal.
I went to the oven and pulled out the pork chops and cornbread. It was then I noticed my second mistake. Tara had said to keep everything in the oven so it would be warm when Brand got there. But, I think she meant for me to actually turn the oven off and let things sit in a cooling oven. The cornbread was rock hard and the pork chops were so tough I wasn’t sure a knife was going to be enough to cut through them.
“It’ll be all right,” Brand reassured me.
I made our plates and brought them to the table with glasses of sweet tea. I’ll say this for Brand: he truly made an attempt to eat what I had cooked. Not only was the cornbread like a stone cookie but the pork chops weren’t just burnt they tasted like pure salt. Apparently you don’t have to use a lot of Lawry’s seasoning to get flavor. When I saw him cut into the mac and cheese with a knife, I completely lost it and started to laugh hysterically. I laughed so hard I cried. Brand couldn’t help but join me.
Once I calmed down, I told him, “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Well,” he looked down at his plate. “I guess I should have taken you at your word about your cooking skills. I just didn’t expect….”
“A complete disaster?” I finished for him seeing he was having a hard time finding a word which wouldn’t insult me.
“How about we go out for dinner?” he suggested.
“Sounds like a plan.”
After we dumped our unfinished meals into the trash, I grabbed my purse and we jumped into Brand’s car.
We ended up at a local deli and both ordered their grilled chicken salad.
Over dinner Brand told me Carl was finished with the repairs to my car.
“Have you had car work done recently?” He asked me with a curious look on his face.
“No,” I said. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, Carl said it almost looked like the alternator had been tampered with. I know some disreputable mechanics will sabotage parts to make you come back to them when they fail. We just wanted to know if that was the case here.”
“Well, I did just buy it from a guy I didn’t really know. I haven’t had it that long. It could have happened before I bought it from him.”
“That’s probably it.” Brand said, but I could tell he was still uneasy about the car being tinkered with.
After dinner Brand took me to his house so I could retrieve my car. It was almost eight by the time we got there and Brand asked me in for a piece of a chocolate bourbon pecan pie he made that afternoon.
When we stepped into his house, I saw Abby at the curved green marble topped kitchen counter eating what looked like a piece of his pie.
“Hey, Lilly!” she chirped.
I knew it was Abby, but she looked completely different. Her hair was hot pink and in a bob style with bangs. When I looked at her eyes, they weren’t the vibrant green they had been the night before, now they were pale lavender. She was wearing a white tank top and a hot pink spandex miniskirt with white calf high boots.
“Abby likes to change her appearance almost daily,” Brand explained, seeing my confusion.
“Yeah, you should see all the wigs and colored contacts I have,” Abby said stabbing the last bite of her pie with her fork. “I like to dress for the mood I’m in.”
“I see you’re feeling a bit rebellious today,” Brand said with an almost disapproving tone.
Abby shrugged. “Just felt like being different.”
“Hey,” Abby said looking over at me as I sat on the stool next to her. “Sorry about Rose Marie last night. You just caught her off guard is all, love.”
“Don’t worry about it. I should have waited outside until someone answered the door. Where were you at when I came by?”
I saw Abby give Brand the briefest of glances. “I was down by the lake taking a swim. You know the neighbors don’t complain as much if you skinny dip when they can’t see you.”
Once again, I was pretty sure I was being lied to but didn’t push the matter. It wasn’t important enough. Besides, if they both felt the need to conceal what Abby had really been doing, then she must have been doing something extremely private.
“Well, I need to get back to my house.” Abby picked up her plate and downed the rest of the milk in her glass before depositing them both into the sink.
“Have a good night,” Brand said and kissed Abby on the forehead.
Abby smiled up at him with a look of adoration on her face and said bye to me as she left out the front door.
Ok, have I said what a good cook Brand is? Not only were his pecans caramelized to perfection but it was the best pie I had ever eaten in my life! And that’s saying something from a person who was raised on Utha Mae’s cooking.
Utha Mae! I had almost forgotten.
“Are you free for dinner tomorrow night? Tara’s grandmother wants to meet you and she invited us all to her house for dinner.”
“Will I get a chance to meet your mother while I’m there?”
“Yeah, she’ll be there,” my lack of enthusiasm about Brand meeting my mother must have been a little too evident.
“Don’t you want her to meet me?”
“It’s not that. It’s just that she’s a lot different from me. You might find her to be a bit out there.”
“I see.” He said, but I could tell he really didn’t see.
“Utha Mae practically raised me. She’s more like my mom than my real mom is. Cora had me when she was eighteen. Most people think we’re sisters and not mother and daughter, which is just fine with my mom. I don’t think she’s ever thought of herself as being old enough to be someone’s mother.”
“Well, I’m sure we’ll get along.”
“Oh no, she’ll love you. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Brand looked at me completely at a loss.
With a sigh, I explained, “My mom’s all about free love. Well, more like loving freely. I just hope she doesn’t make a pass at you.”
Brand laughed. “I doubt that would happen. She’ll probably just be happy you found someone who makes you happy.”
I sincerely hoped he was right.
After I finished my piece of pie, I told Brand I should go home. It was almost nine by then and I wanted to make sure Tara got back from her date at a decent time.
Brand called for Carl to bring my car around to the house.
Before I got into my car, Brand kissed me on the cheek and told me to be careful on the road.
“Call me when you get home so I know you got there safely,” he requested.
I told him I would try to remember and if I didn’t to just call me at the apartment or on the phone he had given me.
On the drive back home, I wondered why Brand kept kissing me on the cheek and forehead. Why hadn’t he even attempted to kiss me on the lips yet? I knew he was attracted to me. What was the problem?
Before I had time to dwell on that question, a set of headlights with their bright beams on came up behind me, nearly blinding me. I flipped my rearview mirror away from my face to get the light out of my eyes.
I really hated it when people were rude like that. It just wasn’t very nice.
The next thing I knew I felt a slight tap on my rear bumper. Looking at the rearview mirror on the side of my door, I could see the car behind me was right u
p against my car now. I felt another tap.
What was going on? What was this person trying to do?
Scared now, I sped up some.
The person behind me sped up too and rammed into the back of my car with such force my chest hit the stirring wheel. My heart hammered so hard inside my chest I thought I was going to pass out from the rush of blood. I pushed the gas pedal to the floorboard and went as fast as my little Corolla would go to get as far away from the maniac behind me as I could.
I watched in my side view mirror as the car behind me slammed into the back of my car so hard I immediately lost control. The next thing I knew my car was skidding into the four foot concrete ditch on the side of the road. I completely blacked out as my airbags deployed.
The next moment there were unbearably bright lights shining in my eyes. Was I still in my car? Was that maniac still trying to force me off the road? Fearing for my life, my body involuntarily jumped as my eyes flew completely open. It was then I saw the florescent lights hanging over my head.
“Lilly!” I heard Brand and Will yell at me at the same time.
I closed my eyes and put my hands to my head to stop the ringing. “Please,” I pleaded weakly. “Don’t yell.”
I could hear two apologetic murmurs.
When I opened my eyes again I realized I was in a hospital bed. It was a private room with a TV mounted on the wall right in front of the bed. Brand stood on one side of me and Will on the other.
“How are you feeling?” Will asked, concern evident in his voice.
I did a quick mental inventory of my body, nothing appeared to be missing. “I’m a little sore and my head hurts but other than that I seem to be ok. What happened?”
Will looked to Brand to let him explain.
“We were hoping you could tell us that, Lilly,” Brand sat down close to me on the side of the bed carefully taking one of my hands into his.
“When I got onto the highway, a car came up behind me,” I began, trying to remember all I could of the accident through the haze of pain in my head. “It had its high beams on. Then it started ramming me from behind and forced me off the road. I remember the airbags going off in the car and then nothing. How did I get here?”
“When you didn’t call me, I called your apartment. Tara said you hadn’t made it home yet so I went to look for you.” Brand’s voice and face showed noticeable strain from the ordeal. “When I found you, you were unconscious. I got you out and brought you to the hospital.”
“Thank you,” I said squeezing his hand.
“Lilly,” Will sat down on the other side of me. “Did you recognize the car? Did you happen to see the person behind the wheel?”
“No, like I said they had their high beams on. All I could see were their lights.”
Will and Brand exchanged a brief glance at each other but said nothing.
“Lilly!”
Tara came running into the room and practically threw Brand off the bed to get to me. She hugged me so tight I thought my lungs would bust through my chest.
Tara didn’t say anything else, just hugged the life out of me. I could feel her shake in my arms and knew she was crying. I let her cry and tried to be as reassuring as I could that I was ok.
“You just don’t know what went through my mind, girl,” she said wiping tears from her red rimmed eyes when she finally let me go. “Don’t ever do that to me again, you hear?”
“Ok.” I didn’t add I didn’t exactly ask for some maniac to drive me off the road and nearly kill me. She was upset enough.
I was informed I was going to have to spend the night in the hospital because my doctor wanted to make sure I didn’t have a concussion or develop any complications they weren’t able to see.
Tara also informed me Cora and Utha Mae were on their way.
“Do you feel up to talking to the police?” Will asked me. “They wanted to take your statement as soon as you woke up.”
“Sure.” I tried to sit up a bit straighter and felt four hands underneath my back at one time. I tried to smile my appreciation to both Brand and Will.
The officer’s name was Lewis. He asked everyone to leave the room before he took my statement, but Tara informed him he’d have to make an exception for her.
“I ain’t leavin’,” she informed him standing by my bed as if she were rooted there. “You’re just gonna have to talk to her with me in here.”
Not wanting to cause a scene, Officer Lewis said that would be fine, but asked Will and Brand to leave. They didn’t object. In fact, I got the distinct feeling they wanted to be alone to talk over what I had told them.
About fifteen minutes later, the officer finally left. I don’t know how many ways I could have told him the same story. He kept trying to prod something from my memory which I might have missed; but honestly, I couldn’t remember more than what I did. Finally, he said it was probably just some drunk driver. They’d put out a bulletin to watch for a car with front end damage but couldn’t do much more with the sketchy information I gave him.
Tara sat on my bed holding my hand the whole time the officer took my statement. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so protective.
“What’s that fool think?” she said when Officer Lewis finally left. “That you’re not tellin’ him somethin’?”
“He’s just doing his job, Tara.” I leaned my head back onto the pillow of my bed. I was sore all over and getting more tired by the minute.
“I hope I don’t have to put those boys in their place again. If they can’t behave any better, I’ll just tell them to go home.”
“Who are you talking about?” I asked at a complete loss with the sudden change of subject.
“Will and Brand,” she said as if it should be obvious. “When I got here I thought they were gettin’ ready to tear each other’s throats out.”
“Why?” I was so sleepy I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stay awake to hear her answer.
“Well, one was blamin’ the other for what happened to you.”
“That’s stupid. They couldn’t have done anything.” I closed my eyes and felt myself drifting off to sleep.
“I know that, but I swear if I hadn’t come when I did, one or both of them would probably be right beside you in a bed himself.”
I’m not sure how long I slept, but the next time I woke up, Utha Mae was sitting in a chair beside my bed reading her bible.
“Hey child,” she said marking her page with the slim red silk ribbon that comes in most bibles. She stood up and walked over to me.
I was never quiet sure how old Utha Mae was, but I assumed she had to be pushing eighty by now. She was a slim black woman with grey bouffant hair. I often thought Utha Mae had been a beauty when she was younger. Even through the wrinkles she wore now you could see the delicate bone structure underneath.
“You had us all worried about you.” She put her fingers to my hair as if straightening a wayward strand.
“I’m sorry.”
“Child, you don’t have a thing to be sorry about. I just hope the police catch whoever did this to you.”
Just then my mother walked through the door carrying what looked like two cups of coffee. She was dressed in a sleeveless wild psychedelic print dress that only stretched down to mid thigh with white thigh high leather boots. Brand held the door open for her.
“Oh sweetie,” she said putting the cups on my bedside table to give me a hug. “We were so worried about you.”
“Hey, Mom.”
“Are you feeling ok? Does anything hurt?”
I tried to reassure both my mother and Utha Mae that I was fine. They hovered over me like two mother hens.
Brand stood at the foot of my bed with a solemn look on his face. I couldn’t quite tell what he was thinking.
I asked where Tara had gone.
“She and Will went back to your apartment to get you some clothes to travel home in when they let you out,” Utha Mae said.
I could tell by the way she said Wi
ll that she was happy she got a chance to see him again. She hadn’t seen him but a few times in passing the last couple of years. If anyone had missed Will more than me, it was Utha Mae.
A little while later, Brand convinced my mother and Utha Mae to go down to the cafeteria for breakfast. He promised he would call for them if they were needed. I could tell my mother was taken with Brand. What female with a pulse wasn’t? Even Utha Mae blushed a little around him which was something I had never seen in my whole entire life.
Once we were alone, Brand walked toward my bed. I thought he was just going to sit on the side of it like he did before but this time he lowered one of the guard rails and carefully laid down beside me, taking me in his arms so I could rest my head on his shoulder. The warmth of his body against mine was comforting and electrifying all at the same time.
He kissed my forehead a few times and cradled me as close to him as he could.
My pulse raced.
“Why do you do that?” I asked, looking up at him, unable to keep my frustration hidden.
“Don’t you like my kisses?” He asked a bit taken aback.
“Of course, I do, but why don’t you ever kiss me on the lips?”
A tender, almost melancholy smile touched the corners of his mouth.
“When we kiss for the first time, you’re going to have to be the one who starts it.”
“Why?” I was at a complete loss.
“When you and Will kissed, he was the one who initiated it correct?”
“Yeah, but….”
Brand cut me off before I could finish. “I don’t ever want to be second to him in your eyes, Lilly. As far as I’m concerned, he was the first boy who kissed you, but I want to be the first man you kiss.”
“That’s just semantics, Brand,” I protested.
“That may be true, but it means a lot to me. I don’t want to be second in your heart, Lilly. That won’t do for me,” the earnest way he said this made my heart skip a beat inside my chest. He was so serious.
“When and if you decide I’m the one you want to be with is when I want us to share our first kiss. I want it to mean something, Lilly. I want it to mean you no longer harbor any romantic feelings for him. I still feel like you two have unfinished business with one another. He still cares about you a great deal though I get the feeling you don’t realize that. I don’t think I could bear it if you decided you wanted him later on. I would have a hard enough time letting you go as things stand now.”
