by S. J. West
Brand looked at me. “Are you all right? You don’t look as happy as you did when I left.”
“Honestly, Rose Marie makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong by being here. I get this feeling she doesn’t like me, and I’m not sure what I did that would make her hate me so much.”
“It’s not you,” Brand sighed. “She’s just over protective of us. She worries about Abby and me too much. Don’t let her bother you.”
I tried to take Brand’s words to heart but still couldn’t get over my feeling of unease concerning Rose Marie.
Brand’s favorite dessert turned out to be tiramisu. Of course, it was delicious. What had he ever cooked that wasn’t?
As we were taking our bowls back into the kitchen, I asked, “Ok, so I know your favorite hobby and your favorite lunch and dessert to prepare. What’s next?”
“Favorite sports.”
“Which is?”
“Football. There’s a home game today. I thought we would go to it.”
“Ok, but be warned, I might embarrass you.”
He looked at me curiously. “Why is that?”
“I tend to get a little vocal at games. I have no idea why but there’s just something about a live game that gets me excited.”
“Well, this I have to see.”
As usual there were a lot of people at the game. A lot of tailgating was taking place and the smell of barbequed ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers and sausage lingered in the air around the parking lot. We were able to get our tickets fairly quickly and find seats close to the 50 yard line. A few rows below us, I noticed Michelle, Nora and some guy I had never met sitting between them.
When the game started Brand soon understood what I meant about being vocal at live games. I couldn’t help but yell my commentary on the plays. Though, I wasn’t any worse than a lot of the people around us. Who doesn’t yell “run” to the guy with the ball if he’s about to make a touchdown for your team? Who doesn’t call the coach chicken when he opts to try for a field goal when your team is 4th and down with only a couple of yards to go for a 1st down? Luckily, Brand just seemed extremely amused by my behavior and didn’t attempt to hide his head in shame.
It was in the fourth quarter that our fun came to an end. Our team had just made another touchdown when I saw the guy sitting between Michelle and Nora accidentally throw his cup of soda in the air and have it land smack dab on the front of Michelle’s shirt. The look of mortification was hard to miss on her face. I almost went down and slapped the boy and Nora silly for laughing at Michelle’s unexpected predicament. The next thing I knew she was holding the wet blouse away from her chest and running up the stairs with tears streaming from her eyes.
“Come on,” I told Brand taking his hand and following Michelle to see if we could help her.
I saw her run into the ladies bathroom and asked Brand to wait outside for me.
When I found Michelle, she was pulling out handfuls of paper towels and desperately trying to dry her shirt in between sobs.
“Michelle?” I said approaching her. “Can I do anything to help?”
“No,” she cried. “It’s ruined.”
“Hold on a sec,” I ran to the entrance of the bathroom.
“Would you go down to the concession stand and buy her one of the t-shirts they’re selling? Her shirt is pretty much toast.”
Before I knew what he was doing, Brand peeled off his black polo shirt and handed it to me. “Here give her this to wear for now. I’ll go get her a t-shirt in case she would rather wear that instead of this.”
I couldn’t protest. Seeing Brand standing half naked was enough to make any woman speechless. He was walking away before I knew it.
When I went back to Michelle she had stopped crying and was standing in front of the mirror with the most pitiful, dejected expression I’ve ever seen.
“Would you like to wear this shirt? It’s Brands.”
“Why would he give me his shirt?” She sniffed.
“He’s like that,” I shrugged. “But you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. He’s bringing you a new t-shirt from the vendor.”
“No, I think I’d rather get my shirt off as soon as I can.”
Michelle took the shirt out of my hands and did one of the oddest things. She held the shirt up to her face and inhaled as deeply as she could. When I could see her face again, she had the strangest look of ecstasy in her eyes. It was almost like she was on drugs or something. She quickly went into one of the stalls to change.
“So who was the guy who spilled his drink on you?” I leaned against the counter facing the stall she was in.
“Nora’s date, Ricky Norris.”
“Honestly Michelle, I don’t know why you hang around with Nora.”
“I know she can be mean sometimes,” Michelle came out of the stall with her wet shirt in her hands and Brand’s shirt on. “But we’ve been friends for as long as I can remember. She can be nice when she wants.”
“Well, you know you’re always welcomed to do stuff with me and Tara anytime you want.”
“I appreciate the offer. Actually I’m pretty sure I’ll have someone new to hang out with soon.”
“That guy you like?”
“Yeah. I think he’ll be free to tell me how he really feels this week.”
“Free?”
“Lilly!” I heard Brand call to me from the entrance to the bathroom. When I went to where he stood, I saw he had bought himself a t-shirt and was wearing it. I have to say I was a little disappointed by that. He held a smaller t-shirt in his hands.
“Here,” he said handing me the shirt. “I just guessed at her size.”
“Thanks.” I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. He really was the most thoughtful person I had ever met.
Before I even had a chance to turn around and head back into the bathroom, Michelle came out and stood beside us.
“Thanks for lending me your shirt,” she said to Brand looking up to him like he was her own personal savior. I think it was the first time I’d ever heard her say a full sentence to him.
“You’re more than welcomed. We bought you a t-shirt if you’d rather wear that.”
“No, I like your shirt. Do you mind if I keep it on?”
“It’s yours,” Brand told her. “In fact, you can just throw it away when you’re done with it.”
“Thanks. Well, I should be getting back to Nora. See you guys later.” She waved goodbye and headed back out to the bleachers.
“Do you want to see the rest of the game?” Brand asked taking my hand.
“No, I think I’ve had enough. I’d rather see another one of your favorites.”
By the time we got back to Brand’s house, it was almost six.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starving.”
“Come on then, we can’t have you withering away on my watch.”
We walked out to the back of his house and down by the lake shore. About 100 yards away I could see a boat dock with a sail boat moored to it. The dock and the boat were lit up with strands of twinkling white lights like it was Christmas.
“I didn’t even know this was out here,” I confessed.
“Yeah, you can’t see it from the house. But this is one of my favorite things to do, go sailing.”
“We’re not going to go out on the lake are we?”
“No, I wasn’t planning on it. Why?”
“I don’t like being on the water.”
“What’s wrong with the water?”
“Nothing really. It’s just ever since that time I almost drowned in the lake back home I’ve never liked water much.”
“That’s understandable. No we’re just going to have supper on the boat. We won’t be taking her out.”
Brand helped me climb into his boat and sat me down on a bench made for two by the wheel. He went below deck and came back up with a large pizza box and two sodas.
“I thought this was supposed to be a day of your favorites.
Isn’t that one of mine?”
“Well, I thought I would share my favorite pizza with you. You can only find it in upper state New York.”
“New York? But how…”
“I had it flown in today.”
“You had a pizza flown in from New York?” I shook my head in exasperation. “Just how rich are you?”
“Filthy, remember. I disclosed that at our first lunch together.” He smiled.
The pizza was the best I’d ever had. It had just the right amount of everything, perfectly balanced with meats, vegetables, sauce and cheeses. The crust was chewy and crunchy at the same time.
After we ate our fill, we sat back on the bench and finished our sodas.
“Did you put the lights up?” I asked watching the lights bob and weave with the movement of the boat.
“No, Abby did. She thought it would add a touch of romance.”
“She was right,” I agreed putting my soda can down and deciding to try my hand at seducing Brand into kissing me. I took his can out of his hand and placed it beside mine. I stood up and straddled his lap putting my hands behind his neck and gently massaging it with my thumbs. He placed his hands on top of my thighs, having no other place to lay them.
“I’ve had a wonderful day,” I whispered in his ear kissing the little area between his ear and cheek.
I saw Brand’s eyes close obviously finding my attention pleasurable.
“It’s not over yet,” he sighed. “I still have a couple of things to share with you.”
“They can wait a little while,” I said finding the tender flesh at the base of his neck with my lips.
“Yeah, they can wait,” he agreed, slowly rubbing his hands up and down my thighs.
I continued my assault and finally kissed my way back up to his face playing around the edges of his lips.
“Lilly,” he said in a voice that warned he knew what I was trying to do. Before I knew it, he gently pushed me to an upright position. “That’s not going to work.”
I could see in his eyes that he was slightly amused by my attempt at seducing him but that he was resolute in not kissing me on the lips first.
I let out a disappointed sigh. “Well, I had to try.”
“It was an excellent attempt,” he kissed me on the cheek. “But don’t tempt me anymore, please. You know how much our first kiss means to me.”
I stood up from his lap feeling a bit embarrassed at my failed attempt at playing Mata Hari. My discomfort must have been written all over my face. Before I knew it, he pulled me back down to sit on his lap again.
“Don’t look like that,” he whispered. “You know under any other circumstances I wouldn’t be able to resist you. But a kiss isn’t just a kiss for us. It’s so much more.”
“I know. I was just hoping I could make you forget all that for just a few minutes.”
Brand chuckled. “It does make me feel good to know you want it so badly. Was that your first time trying to seduce a man?”
I couldn’t meet his eyes. I stared at his chest and nodded.
“Would it make you feel any better to know I almost gave in?”
I looked into his eyes then and saw that he was telling the truth.
“How close was I?” I asked, pleased I had actually done it right.
“Too close,” he admitted. “In fact, I think it’s time we went back up to the house for the next of my favorites.”
Reluctantly, I let Brand lead me back across the lakeshore to his house. When we got there I saw the fire pit had been lit and an inflatable screen was up in front of one of the couches. The other couch had been removed to make room for it.
“Are we watching your favorite movie?” I asked.
“Yes. Sit down while I put it on.”
I didn’t have to wait long to see what Brand’s favorite movie was: Casablanca.
It had been a long time since I saw it and wasn’t surprised that it was his favorite. When he sat down with me on the sofa, I snuggled up to him and watched Humphrey Bogart’s tortured character pretend he didn’t care about Ingrid Bergman anymore. About half way through the movie, I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I knew Brand was carrying me in his arms into a room I’d never been in before and laid me on a bed.
“Is the movie over?” I asked trying to force my eyes open. I didn’t want the day to be over so soon. I had intended to stay awake the whole 24 hours but knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“Yes, my love. It’s over.”
I snuggled up to the pillow my head was laying on. “Is this your bed?”
“It’s my favorite mattress. In fact, the Queen of England sleeps on a mattress just like this one.”
“Umm,” I moaned feeling completely at ease resting on Brand’s bed. I finally opened my eyes enough to see him looking down at me and taking his shoes off. After he lay down beside me, I cuddled up next to him cherishing his warmth.
The last words I heard him say before I drifted off to sleep were, “I love you.”
I don’t know why but I had the best dream of my life that night. Maybe it was the bed or maybe it was spending the night in Brand’s arms. But the dream felt more real than any I’d ever had before.
It started out with Brand and I finally kissing. The feel of his lips against mine was even more excruciatingly pleasurable than I could have possibly imagined. It was odd but it was like I was looking out of Brand’s eyes and feeling his emotions. The way he saw me was the way I looked in his paintings: soft, beautiful, almost ethereal. His love for me was endless and I knew the true depths of his emotions concerning our first kiss. It was incredibly important to him that I give myself to him freely with no strings attached, no doubts that he was the one I loved. The happiness he felt as my lips moved against his was unlike anything I’d ever experienced in my short life. If true ecstasy existed, he would experience it when I kissed him for the first time and unreservedly gave him my heart.
The next image was of me in a wedding dress walking down an aisle strewn with red rose petals. I could feel how proud Brand was standing at the alter waiting for me to declare my love for him in front of God and all our friends. Before I knew it we were making love on the bed I slept in now. Would making love with Brand really be like this? He was gentle and attentive to every reaction my body made against him. It was important to him to make it a beautiful experience for me that I would remember for the rest of our lives.
The dream continued and I saw myself cradling a baby girl in my arms. The pride Brand felt was indescribable. I saw Brand playing with our child making her laugh as he played a game of chase with her. He loved her as much as he did me and marveled at how happy she was. In what in reality were probably just a few minutes, I watched Brand and I raise our little girl to adulthood and saw her walking down the aisle to marry the man of her dreams, leaving us to start a life of her own.
By the end of the dream, Brand and I had spent a lifetime together loving one another and enjoying the joys and heartaches of being parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. We were old, wrinkled and grey of hair lying side by side in a bed. After spending a lifetime together, we knew we had lived. Death was just a new beginning for us as we died cradled in each others arms. The next thing I knew we were ascending through the clouds in bodiless forms toward a misty swirl of colors like in the painting of Brand’s father.
When I woke up, I was crying. Brand woke up shortly after me and tried to soothe away my tears.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Did you have a bad dream?”
“No,” I sobbed. “I had the most beautiful dream I’ve ever had.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to jinx anything. If I talk about it, it might not come true.”
I glanced at the clock on the bedside table and noticed it was already seven in the morning.
“Our day’s almost over,” I whispered hugging him tightly, not wanting our perfect day to be over just yet.
&n
bsp; “We’ll have other days like this, Lilly. All you have to do is ask.”
I smiled and laid my head on his chest, completely content for the first time in my life. The images of my dream kept playing through my mind. What was I waiting for? How could I find anyone more perfect for me than Brand? Even if we had half the happiness I saw in my dream, it would be enough for me. Maybe my subconscious was telling my conscience mind what it should know. In that moment, I knew my decision was made. But should I kiss him now? It just didn’t seem like the right time. If I could wait this long, I could wait a little longer. I would kiss him after the Black and White ball. It would be the perfect setting. A moment we would remember for the rest of our lives.
Chapter 11
We got out of bed soon after. Brand went to the kitchen to make us some breakfast while I hopped in his shower and took a quick bath. After I fixed my hair, put some make-up on and dressed in the spare set of clothes I had brought remembering to put my phone in my back pocket in case Tara needed to contact me, I went down to the kitchen and found Brand preparing plates with freshly made blueberry waffles and bacon.
While we were eating, Brand got a call. I’m not sure what was wrong but it sounded urgent. I was pretty sure it was Rose Marie on the other end.
“Listen, I need to go to Abby’s for a few minutes. Would you mind staying here? I’ll be right back.”
“Sure go ahead. I’ll be fine.”
He raced out the door like the house was on fire. I heard the wheels of his Porsche squeal against the pavement of his driveway as he left.
To be honest, I was glad to be alone for a while. Ever since the last attempt on my life, I hadn’t really had time to myself. Walking out to the back of Brand’s house, I went to stand by the lake shore. The morning air was nice and cool. It was September and the first traces of fall were showing themselves with cool mornings and changing leaves. I leaned down to pick up a rock and tried to skip it across the calm surface of the water. Of course it didn’t work. It just sank to the bottom. But, I didn’t give up trying. I think it was on my fourth attempt that it happened. Something hit me hard on the back of my head. The only thing I remember is falling to the ground in a pool of darkness with a loud ringing noise reverberating inside my head.
