by Lee Kilraine
Mama Cates laughed, wrapping one arm around Delaney’s waist. “I like you, Delaney Lyons. Greer’s sugar and you’re spice. I admire the way you dare people to like you as you are. No games. No pretending. It’s refreshing. Now, you have five minutes to grab some underthings or you’ll be stuck with all the thongs and push-up bras Quinlan bribed me to get for you.”
“What? Mama C! Why would you fall for bribery when pity and outright lies didn’t work?”
“Well, he offered to paint my foyer and living room, which I haven’t gotten his father to do no matter how many pairs of thongs I parade in front of the man,” Mama Cates said. “Now, don’t give me that look. The foyer is a two-story. Besides, I said I’d buy them. Nobody said you had to wear them. Go grab something quick. We have appointments at Leon’s Salon around the corner in five minutes. The works.”
Delaney didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she limped over to the ladies’ Jockey display. The works? That sounded painful.
“Delaney, hot pink or tangerine? Cheetah or leopard?” Mama Cates held the brightly colored thongs up for Delaney to see. “No, you don’t strike me as an animal-print girl. We’ll go with the bright solid colors.”
“Thongs my ass,” Delaney mumbled. She grabbed a package of white ribbed tank tops and a pack each of boy short and bikini low-rise panties. “White cotton and I’ll paint the two-story foyer myself.”
Leon’s Salon was a vibrant, busy place. The black and white zebra-striped front door opened onto a modern foyer with sleek couches and neon acrylic coffee tables. A bright, busy beehive of noise, color, and customers. It was too much of everything after this morning’s panic attack, so Delaney was relieved when an elegant woman with a precisely cut platinum bob came over and air-kissed Mama Cates’s cheeks.
“Zeena, you’re a sweetheart to fit us in. This is my friend Delaney.”
“Nice to meet you, Delaney. Mrs. C, I will always find room in my schedule for you. Come on back.” Zeena led them down a hallway aglow with fluorescent lights into an all black and white room filled with mirrors, shiny chrome furniture, and shelves of neon-colored beauty products. “I was hoping Quinn had driven you. I haven’t seen him since the few dates we had last year.”
“Zeena, I keep telling you my boys are hell on women. You don’t want them to mess up your life.”
“I could happily take one of them off your hands. Quinn, for instance. He can mess up my life any day of the week. Twice on Sunday if he’s wearing his police uniform.”
Delaney mentally rolled her eyes. Heck, she thought that TV show with the bachelor handing out flowers to drooling, desperate women was a joke. And instead it was Quinn’s life. Quinn was surrounded by beautiful, smart, talented women waiting breathlessly for him to pick them. Why was he wasting his time on her?
Seeing Zeena, a sexy and polished woman, wiggle her curvy hips over the idea of Quinn in his uniform made her realize what a mistake last night had been. With dawning reality, she watched the startling contrast of both their reflections in the mirror. Zeena’s luscious hips swayed as she moved gracefully around in four-inch heels and a skin-tight mini skirt while Delaney’s sweatsuit-covered body hobbled along behind her.
Why would he even look at her when women like Zeena were willing and waiting? Was it the thrill of the chase? Was it pity? It was a good thing they’d decided on a one-time fling. Because looking in the mirror without Quinn here whispering in her ear, she didn’t feel sexy at all.
Delaney plopped down into the chair Zeena’s scarlet-tipped fingers pointed to. With a few taps of her foot on a pedal, Zeena had Delaney elevated and leaned back. Delaney still wasn’t sure what “the works” was, but if Mama C could handle it, then she guessed she could too.
Zeena slathered Delaney’s face in green goo that smelled like avocados. While that ripened on her face, her hands were dipped in warm wax. Then her head, face, and hands were capped, masked, or plastic-wrapped until she felt like an unsexy mummy. She fell asleep during the scalp massage, puzzling over the many attractive, willing women Quinn had walked away from. If she didn’t know any better, she’d have wondered if Quinn was gay. But, hello Betty, did she ever know better.
Exhaustion or denial could be the only explanation for how Delaney slept through a deep facial, French manicure, shampoo, and haircut. Even the blow-dryer didn’t wake her up. It was the touch of a makeup brush being applied that had her eyes popping wide open.
“Heeey. Makeup was not a part of the deal.” Delaney tried to dodge the blush brush and twist around to the mirror to see the damage done.
“It’s like trying to get a feral cat into a bag. Stop your wiggling and whining. Nothing done today is permanent. It all washes off or grows out, and you look gorgeous. Zeena, you’ve performed art today.”
“It was a challenge, but thank you. I think she looks gorgeous too.” With one last flick of the blush brush, she spun Delaney around to face the mirror.
Delaney stared at the woman reflected there. Wow. So this was why women put up with pampering. She had to admit she looked better. Fresher. Younger. Sexier? Huh. Yet, nothing had changed drastically. Her hair was still long enough for a ponytail, but layered, giving it a tousled, just-got-out-of-bed look. Her skin was glowing. Her eyebrows delicately arched. A touch of smoky brown eyeliner along the lash line of her upper lid accentuated her light brown eyes. Her thick black eyelashes looked like those of the models on television ads. She leaned in for a closer look. “Did you put false eyelashes on me?” she asked with accusation tainting her voice.
“Nope. It’s called mascara. People have been wearing it for years, so I don’t think it’ll kill you.” Zeena stood behind the chair, finger fluffing Delaney’s hair. “Lord knows why someone so unappreciative was blessed with long, thick eyelashes like yours. I know many women who could happily murder you.”
“I seem to have that effect on people even when my eyelashes aren’t coated in gook.” Delaney batted her eyelashes in coy exaggeration at her reflection in the mirror.
“That ‘gook’ isn’t cheap and you’re buying some from me today along with eye shadow, eyeliner, blush, lip gloss, tweezers, and a diffusing blow-dryer. I predict you’ll have so many men drooling over you, you won’t be able to swing a dead cat without hitting one.”
“What is up with you ladies and cat abuse? If you’re not shoving them in bags, you’re swinging them by their tails,” Delaney said in a prim, affronted voice. Only she ruined it by adding on a growl, “Although, I know a few who could use a good hit with a dead cat. It might knock some sense into them. Or at least make me feel better.”
“Amen, sister.” Zeena raised her hands in the air in testimony. “I hope you have a hot date tonight to put my talents on display.”
“Hot date? Uh-oh. What time is it? I think I am actually running late for a date.” Delaney checked her watch as she quickly gathered the zebra-print bag of cosmetics Zeena had prepared for her. “Yeah, I’ve got to run. What do I owe you, Zeena? Mama C, your pampering is on me since you were sweet to put up with speed-shopping with me today.”
“Dear, you don’t need to do—” Mama Cates began.
Zeena stepped in and started ushering them to the front foyer, where the register was. “She wants to treat, Mama Cates. We’ll let her. If you feel guilty, you can leave me a tip too. How’s that sound? Then everyone’s happy, but mostly me.”
After Delaney paid, Zeena walked them to the door, giving them both air kisses. “Delaney, you are a walking advertisement for my work. Don’t be shy about sending people my way. Mrs. C, you feel free to send Quinn my way. Be sure to tell him Zeena said hello. Ciao.”
Delaney’s gaze lingered on the beautiful and perfect Zeena, who not only wasn’t losing her mind, she had all her limbs too. It was too easy to picture Quinn and Zeena together, a beautiful and perfect couple. She limped out to the parking lot beside Mama C, her stomach rolling like a cement mixer, rumbling with its thick, rocky slurry.
Chapter Twenty
“S
o, you and Quinn have a date?” Mama Cates asked.
“Oh, no. I have a date with um, this other guy.” Delaney glanced at Mama Cates as they arrived at the car. She hadn’t been planning to tell anyone about her running sessions with Marcus, but the look on Mama Cates’s face said she might need to change plans. Mama Cates unlocked the car silently. After putting all the shopping bags in the trunk, she slid in behind the steering wheel and sat gripping it—tightly. They both reached to secure their seat belts at the same time. Delaney froze in the tense silence.
“Delaney, I don’t mean to pry, but I feel like I’ve gotten to know you today. I like you. So, at the risk of insulting you, have you ever thought about the possibility that you create your own stress?” Mama Cates’s voice was calm and nonjudgmental, but with a sharp edge. “You just slept with Quinn, and I’ll admit he rushed you and is hard to say no to, but do you think seeing another guy is a wise choice?”
“No, ma’am. It is a crazy choice. I still can’t believe I made the commitment,” Delaney said with a shake of her head. “But I did. When I looked into his eyes, I just couldn’t say no.”
Mama Cates’s head turned sharply to catch Delaney’s eyes. “You can say no, Delaney.”
“Well, I don’t know. There’s lots of evidence to the contrary. I said no to thong underwear, yet there’s a bag in the trunk with neon-pink and tangerine thongs. I meant to say no to Quinn, yet, no offense, Mama C, monkey sex was had. Is it feeling hot in here to you?”
“It’s the stress, dear.” Mama Cates shot Delaney a worried look and lowered the front windows a few inches to let fresh air in. “Take a deep breath. Maybe you shouldn’t go meet bachelor number two?”
Delaney let out a big breath and glanced at her watch. “No, I made a commitment. I can’t let him down.”
Mama Cates gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white again. “Then I’d like to meet this guy and see what you’re getting yourself into. So, let’s go. Where are we going? The motel over on Sixth Street or the Holiday Inn?”
Delaney looked sideways at Mama Cates in consternation. “Nooooo. The high school.”
“The high school? Climax High School?”
“Yes, ma’am. Do you need directions?”
“All five of my boys went there. I know how to get there.” She started the car and pulled out of the parking space and headed in the direction of the school.
After twenty minutes of uncomfortable silence, Delaney said, “It’s not what you think.”
“I think your life is stressful enough.” Mama Cates sent her a pointed look. “Juggling two men will only add to the stress. And I don’t want to see either you or Quinn hurt.”
“I’m totally responsible for my own actions,” Delaney admitted. “But, in my defense, your son doesn’t give up. He’s stubborn. And he’s so darn patient, he can outwait you. He’s tricky about getting his way. Then there’s that dimple that peeks out when he does that bad-boy grin he does. When he looks at me with those light blue eyes, it’s like . . . nothing else I’ve ever felt.”
“Oh, dear, you’re in big trouble.” She cast a sidelong look at Delaney. “Unless he’s actually serious about you.”
“He can’t be! Did you see Zeena today? I mean really see how beautiful she is? That’s who he should be with. Someone who is perfect and graceful. Or nice like Yvette or sexy like the twofer blondes in the diner today. Why is he being such an idiot about this?”
“You can be sure as a mother I tried to teach him what to look for in a woman,” she said. “We’re here.”
“Mama C, if it makes you feel any better, Quinn and I had a one-day truce. It was a onetime deal.”
Mama C stopped the car and turned a raised eyebrow on Delaney. “So you’re saying you and Quinn had a one-night stand? Oh, yes, as a mother that makes me feel much better.”
“Maybe not. You can pull around the side of the school and park next to the track.” Delaney’s spirits lightened as the track came into view. She could barely run, yet out on the track she knew she’d be able to escape, even if for only a few minutes.
“Please do not tell me bachelor number two is Ben Wraithe. I heard he was hired as the new track coach, but he and Quinn are good friends.” Mama Cates parked the car and turned her worried face to Delaney. “This will not end well.”
“Probably not, but I don’t know Ben Wraithe, so we’re safe on that front.” Delaney got out of the car and waited for Mama Cates on the sidewalk to the track. “This should take about an hour and you have to promise not to tell anyone.”
“I can’t make that promise. Not yet.”
“Okay. Fair enough. There’s my guy there.” Delaney smiled as they headed toward the bleachers hugging the track. “I wasn’t sure he would show up. Good for him.”
Mama Cates raised an eyebrow. “This isn’t what I thought it was at all, is it?” Delaney heard the nervous edge in Mama Cates’s voice as they watched the large, imposing teenager swagger toward them in his baggy sweatpants and hooded sweatshirt. He looked like a defensive lineman who enjoyed the training table. He pulled the hood off his head as they approached, revealing his angry frown. “He looks kind of tough. And big.”
“You’re late, crazy lady.” Marcus stopped walking and folded his arms across his chest. “I thought—aw, it don’t matter.”
“Did this child threaten you in any way?” Mama Cates gripped her cell phone in her hands as if ready to use it.
“No. He’s just mad because he thought I stood him up.” Delaney kept walking forward until she stood two feet away, looking up into Marcus’s angry face. “I’m sorry I’m late. Things happened today—”
“Oh, I heard. Some kids go off campus for lunch, but you can announce it again if you want. You live an exciting life, crazy lady.”
“You may call me Delaney or I’ll leave your fat ass right now.” Delaney stepped forward until she was in his face, or at least as “in his face” as she could be when he had six inches on her. She poked him once in his overweight belly. “You got that?”
“Delaney!” The mother in Mama Cates stepped in and nudged Delaney in polite warning. “Be nice to the young man. He might be sensitive about his weight.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry if I hurt your feelings, Marcus.” Delaney crossed her eyes up at Marcus since Mama Cates was still looking at him and couldn’t see her. Delaney grumbled, “I told you I wasn’t nice, Mama Cates.”
Marcus laughed and patted the top of Delaney’s head. “I like you, Delaney.”
“Remember that in an hour. Mama C, I’d like you to meet Marcus, my running buddy. Marcus, this is Mrs. Cates.”
“Running buddy? But you’re . . .”
“Missing a foot.” Delaney said what Mama Cates couldn’t.
“And you’re . . .”
“Fat.” Marcus laid out his own truth.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Mama Cates said quickly, her face lightly flushed in embarrassment. “You’re just—”
“Chillax, Mrs. Cates. We’re cool. Delaney already broke the news to me.”
“You are full of sh—”
“Delaney,” Mama Cates hissed. “He’s young and impressionable. Use nice words.”
“Yeah, I’m young and impressionable.” Marcus managed to look like an innocent altar boy.
Delaney stepped around Mama Cates and elbowed the innocent look off his face. Mama Cates was about to chastise Delaney again, when Marcus’s happy grin stopped her.
“Mama C, are you sure you want to wait while we work out? You don’t have to stay, you know. I can have Greer come get me.”
“Oh, don’t mind me. I’ll watch. Enjoy the sun. Make some phone calls,” she assured them as she made herself comfortable on the bottom row of the bleachers. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“Okay. Let’s get to work, Marcus.” Delaney pushed him toward the track. “We’ll stretch. Try a few sit-ups, squats, and pushups. Then the part we’ve both been waiting for . . . we run.”<
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“You know I died last time. They held the funeral without you. It was very moving. I cried.”
“Like a baby, apparently.” Delaney led Marcus through some basic stretches. “Do not wuss out on me. What happened to the Luke Skywalker talk?”
“I woke up feeling more like C-3PO after he was taken apart in Cloud City.”
“No one promised you easy. Hell—” Delaney heard Mama Cates clear her throat. Loudly. “I mean, heck, do you think my leg isn’t feeling like someone gnawed it off? Fine. Last time you were my garbage chute. Until your soreness eases, I’ll be Chewie carrying you on my back. But we keep moving forward. Deal? Push-ups next.”
Marcus groaned as he got into position. He grunted out eight pushups before collapsing onto his stomach. “How long do you think I’ll be sore?”
“A millennium. Minus the leap years.” Delaney wrapped up her push-ups when her bad leg gave out. She got up and offered a hand down to Marcus to help him up. He looked grim. “Hey, I’m only kidding about being sore that long. Honest, the human body has an amazing capacity to recover. I mean, look at me, right?”
Marcus glanced at Delaney’s bad leg, then back up at her face. He nodded his head once, reached out for Delaney’s helping hand, and climbed back up on his feet. “Word. If you can keep going, then so can I. I might bitch and moan along the way though.”
“Absolutely. That’s the technique I use. Okay, now for the fun part. Today we do a mile.” She glanced at Marcus when he laughed. “Uh, no joke. Four times around.”
“Delaney, I barely made it around once,” he complained.
“Hey, we agreed to bitching and moaning. Not whining. You think you’re the only one this is going to hurt? We can do this. You can run for thirty seconds, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Run or do not run.... There is no maybe.”
He grinned at her Yoda impression. “Okay. I’m in. No more whining. Let’s get this over with.”
“Cool beans. We run for thirty seconds then walk for a minute. Rinse and repeat until we’ve been four times around the track. Trust me. We’ll both be bitching and moaning long before we finish. But we’ll finish.”
