by Marie Wathen
Yeah, that’s a little melodramatic, but hey, a girl can dream.
“I suppose you’re right.” She smiles sweetly, but I can see how disappointed she is with me heading back early. “Here, this is the last of it.” She hands me the large turkey serving platter and scoots over to the coffee grinder. “I’ll make some coffee and you will sit with me for a bit before you pack up and leave me again. We haven’t had a girl chat in ages.”
Besides Kris, my Gran is the closest girlfriend I have. That may sound totally pathetic, but I don’t trust easily. Plus, she’s brilliant and her advice is absolutely priceless to me, albeit sometimes it can be a little kooky. I cherish every conversation we’ve had, but I can tell from the sparkle in her eye that she has something specific that she wants to discuss.
“Fat free half and half or would you like to be a rebel tonight and join me in splurging with a dash of Italian Cream? It turns your coffee into a decadent dessert.” She grins while shaking the hell out of the bottle of liquid goodness.
Covering my hand over where my heart lies in my chest, I gasp. “What the hell, Gran? After watching me glutton myself on your fabulous meal, how can you ask me such things?” I smirk, “Make it two splashes.”
“I wish Kris would have visited with you. How is she?” Gran asks, taking our coffees out to the sun room with me following behind with a dish of pecan pie. She glances over her shoulder and chuckles when she spots my second helping of dessert.
“She’s great, although she works too much. I feel horrible that she agrees to overtime every chance she can get just to help cover her half of the utilities. I offer every month to pay more than my share, but she’s dead set on making it a fair split down the middle.” I sigh, sitting down on one end of the large sofa while Gran curls up on the other side.
Gran sips her coffee deliberating my words for a moment and then says, “Single women like to be in control. It makes them feel empowered to know they are doing it independently. Kris is a good girl, raised by a family with high standards and respectable morals. Don’t deprive her of something that she is clearly passionate about. It would kill you if someone took away your rights to provide for yourself. I seem to recall not too long ago how a certain someone was way too stubborn to let her grandparents pay for college.” Oh, she knows this topic always gets me riled up.
“Gran, I get it. But I just couldn’t let you do it after turning down your generous offer to join the company. Besides, you know that my dad would have never let me accept money either.” I stare out the window, watching the last of the sun’s rays streaking across the darkening southern sky. Talking about my dad isn’t my preferred topic during family get-togethers. Notice how neither he nor my mother is here celebrating with the family.
“Honey, let me tell you something about your father,” Gran starts, pulling my free hand into hers. “When the time came, he chose his path. Now, the reasons he did are his own, and you are entitled to the same options. You know we will love and support you no matter what you do. I couldn’t be more proud of the woman you’ve become, Samantha.” Her eyes glisten as she continues. “The first moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you would do special things, great things.” She smiles dotingly and emphasizes her feelings again, “Very important things. Did I ever tell you that I had a visit from an angel in the early morning hours the day you were born?”
“What?” I chuckle, not believing that my sweet and normally sane grandmother just confessed something so ridiculous, “An angel? Are you sure you weren’t dreaming instead?”
“Well, hell yes I was dreaming. How else do you think angels visit us?”
“Oh,” is all I can come back with while I think about how maybe she’s on to something with this theory.
“As I was saying, a beautiful woman who looked like an angel came to me in my dreams. She spoke softly and slowly, but I still couldn’t understand most of what she was trying to relay to me.” I twitch an eyebrow up curious as to where this crazy story is leading. “What I remember specifically about the vision of the angel is that she looked exactly as you do now.”
“Really?” I stifle a giggle, but she can see it. “So was she the future me visiting you in a dream the day before I was born?”
She swats my hand playfully. “Hush up girl and listen to me.” I nod, pretending to lock my lips and toss away the key. She blesses me with an enormously dramatic eye roll. “That ‘future you’ was happier than any person I’ve ever seen. She had this amazing glow about her, that’s what made me believe she was an angel. The words that she kept repeating slowly began to form into a language that I could understand, yet I had to strain to hear them. When she realized I was catching on she paused and then told me that everything that I know isn’t what is and everything that is to come will come with pain.”
Gran glances away, sighs heavily and then says, “She said that I need to tell you to keep pushing. No matter what the cost you will receive everything your heart desires, but it will come with a hefty price tag. Of course none of it made sense to me at the time, but after our little debate over your living arrangements, I realize that is exactly who you are. You don’t crumble under pressure, even with that heavy burden your father puts upon you and with that hellish job of yours, you never do anything easily. It will be the same for you when you fall in love.” She lifts her gigantic coffee cup to her lips taking a big gulp. Gran practically funnels the liquid caffeine all day long.
Briefly distracted by her daily coffee quota, I play catch-up and shudder visibly thinking about what her dream might mean. What will my hefty price tag involve? Could it all relate back to what I’m currently involved with or is it something different altogether? Damn Gran and her silly dreams.
“Honey,” Gran calls smirking roguishly, dragging me back to the land of the living. “Where did you go? You were looking directly at me, but not responding when I asked you a question.”
“Oh, I’m sorry Gran. I was just sorting through your story. What was your question?”
“I asked if you’ve fallen in love.” I stare at her now completely aware of what she’s asking and wonder why in the hell she would throw that out at me.
“Uh, Gran…” I narrow my eyes at her and wait for the punch line. She doesn’t budge. “Fallen in love? What on earth would make you ask me that?”
She shrugs one shoulder casually. “Well, that was the other part of the angel’s message.” She continues, leaning forward and placing her cup on the small table in front of us, “She said that it all begins when your heart is whole. Love is the only thing that completes the heart. I wanted to know if you’ve found your other half yet.”
“No,” I shake my head adamantly emphasizing my abhorrence to that useless emotion. “As much as I enjoy your stories Gran, I know for a fact there isn’t a man out there who could be my other half. And if there is such a creature roaming this world, I don’t know if I could stand him.” I chuckle, but she remains completely impassive with my rebelliousness when it comes to this topic.
“Dearest, of course he’s out there and you will know it the moment you lay eyes on him. There’s no loud boom of fireworks or a chorus of angels singing from the heavens, but you will feel a draw to him unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. It’s undeniable, and no one will ever make you feel it except for the one.”
My eyes grow wide remembering how drawn my body is to Blues every time I’m around him. I recover quickly by pretending an eyelash is in my eye, and drop my shocked expression just as fast. It’s not Blues. It can’t be Blues. Nothing about our relationship will convince me that he is my other half. It’s not like we are romantically involved and even if we were he is the bad guy, a good cop turned rouge after getting busted stealing from a shipment of drugs, resulting with him getting kicked off the force. I could never be with someone who supports destroying other people’s lives. Besides his vile career choices, he was recently removed from the singles market by one of the nastiest bitches I’ve ever been up against, conf
irming that I am definitely not his type. No, there’s no way in hell Blues is who Gran could be talking about. He will never be the one, ever.
“I fought the uncontrollable draw to Mac originally too,” Gran whispers through a brilliant smile, “Clearly, you see what good that did me.”
Chapter Twenty
Saturday I spend time getting pampered with Natalie in preparation for my date with Decks at his cousin’s wedding tonight. We swipe Wise’s credit card so many times, I’m afraid we will scrape off the raised numbers soon. As much as I struggle with their lifestyle choice, I’m finding it easy to really like them and their little munchkins.
Sipping on my second glass of complimentary champagne after our amazing facials and pedicures, I glance over at Natalie, her face tilted upward toward the ceiling and eyes closed, discerning her completely serene expression.
“Where are you?” I ask, giggling as she pierces me with a strange look. “What?”
“I was fantasizing about Jude in New Orleans. You’ve reminded me enough about our trip that I’m actually getting really excited about going to a damn football game.”
“Ah, well I’m sure the players aren’t going to be the only ones getting tackled that weekend. I think Wise has some of that in store for you in the bedroom.”
“Do you know that the last time Jude and I went on a trip alone was when we were living in Baltimore?” I shake my head and watch as sadness moves into her deep hazel eyes.
“You okay, Natalie?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t bring it up, but I haven’t had a girlfriend in ages and I haven’t ever talked to anyone about our life before…” She trails off, wiping away a stray tear that slowly slips down her cheek.
“Hey,” I reach out and touch her arm, “You know that you can tell me anything you want. I’ll keep it between us.” She stares at me hard for a moment before nodding her head. Glancing around the crowded spa she sighs heavily. “Let’s get out of here. How does a small snack sound?”
She sighs again, “You only have two hours before Decks picks you up. It can wait for another day.”
“No,” I demand, picking up our purses, handing hers over and slinging mine over my shoulder. “We’re going downstairs to Annabelle’s Sweets and splitting some frozen custard. No arguing, move your ass.”
Taking a seat by the window, Natalie digs into our cup of heaven while I fish around in my purse for a tissue. The moment we sat down in the empty dessert shop she started spilling everything, including incessant tears.
“So after Jude’s dad died he decided to move us away from everyone. I wasn’t sure about leaving behind my family, but he just couldn’t be around all the eyes staring at him with pity.”
“What happened to his father?” I ask, handing her a paper hankie.
She wipes her nose and mumbles around the tissue, “He worked for the secret service in D.C. Jude was really proud of him and…” She pauses, glances out the window briefly, and then looks back. I can tell that she’s struggling with revealing everything from their past. She sighs more. “He wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps. He planned to work for homeland security.” My mouth hangs open, and she smiles for the first time since leaving the spa, and it’s all because of the shocked look on my face. I thought he was in engineering. I’m so confused. “He dreamed of being a police officer when he was a kid. In college he decided on national protection. We were married right out of high school and I got pregnant with Dean almost immediately. About six months before he graduated from college his dad died in the line of duty.”
“Oh god, Natalie I’m so sorry.” I clutch her hand tenderly.
“Yeah, they were very close.” She sniffs. “Jude’s mom died when he was a kid so it was just the two of them for the longest time. About a month later he received a call from the head of the department offering him a job. Instead of accepting it he came to me with the idea of coming to Georgia. I wasn’t sure what we would do for money or a place to live, but he begged me to trust him to provide, so I did.” She grins, a wistful look moves across her face as she glances out the window again. “Angel, it was almost like fate led us here. Jude found our home online and it was perfect. I wasn’t sure how he planned on paying for it, but I never once questioned him. Within a week of moving in Jude met Decks and he started working for him almost immediately. Of course at first I wasn’t sure how happy he would be selling cars for a living, but he convinced me that we were worth the sacrifice. And now I have you, too.”
Talk about information overload, my mind is totally chaotic right now. Hearing how Wise was on a path to becoming a law enforcement officer before being blown away with his dad getting killed while on duty, I am shocked and troubled by his downfall. But then when Natalie revealed that he has her completely snowed with this car salesman job, I can no longer hide my hatred.
“Are you happy?” I snap. She jerks her head, looking at me strangely, like I’ve offended their choices, and I wince at my harsh tone. “I mean you had to leave behind all of your friends and family. Has he acknowledged how much you’ve sacrificed?”
“It may sound weird to you, but I believe that it’s all worked out for the best. I know that the kids and I are Jude’s priority, and he will do whatever it takes to prove it.” I grunt thinking that this is the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard.
She nods when she sees my unconvinced look and explains further, “Do I miss our life before? Yes. Would I rather have it over being with my husband and children here? No. We all have sacrifices that we must endure, Angel. I don’t believe mine are any more important than his.”
Suddenly, I am all keyed up and wishing that Wise was here with us so I could slap some sense into him. What kind of man leaves a life of defending and protecting, only to fall right into one that puts his family in direct line of the horrible dangers he is supposed to keep them from? Seriously, I couldn’t be more disappointed in one person than I am with her husband at this very moment.
“Angel, please don’t say a word to Jude,” she begs, standing from her seat and pulling her purse strap over her shoulder. “He despises his old life and made me promise to never speak about it to anyone here. I hate betraying him by telling you, but I needed to get it off my chest. You are the first person that I’ve gotten close to in all this time.” I sigh softly feeling like I’ve let her down already, and I haven’t even uttered a word about their secret past.
Something nudges my brain about how odd all of this sounds. But then again, I keep just as many secrets from the people in this world so I guess I can understand some of his concern. Getting close to Decks has me a little on edge just thinking about him discovering my hidden life.
Wait! Could Wise be undercover? Is that why he demands that Natalie doesn’t reveal their past to anyone? It would explain a lot if he is, and oh my god if it turns out to be true, I would feel better about his involvement with the Kennedy’s. The heaviness lifts from my chest as we get into her car, heading back to her house. I know Russ warned me not to speak to anyone about my cover, but I just feel like I need to know Wise’s truth. If he’s undercover then that could explain the tender warning he gave me after my first date with Decks. Dammit all to hell, I’m freaking confused and torn about how to handle it all.
Chapter Twenty-One
My cell phone rings just as I hear the doorbell chime. I glance down at the screen seeing an unfamiliar area code. Too busy to answer it at the moment I send it to voice-mail and then I check my reflection once more before descending the stairs.
“Hi,” I say, smiling as I slip into the kitchen where Decks is waiting with Natalie and Wise.
“Angel?” Decks asks hesitantly taking in my complete transformation. His eyes dilating, breaths swelling his chest and the dark tip of his tongue gliding across a row of white teeth all reveal how much he wants me.
Gone are all signs of the grungy drug addict that he met at the beginning of the year. That drudgery role, so unbecoming, is replaced today with the capt
ivating and dignified socialite my mother raised. My dark hair is swept up in a loose, sexy up do with several wavy strands framing my face. My decadently short dress is a cream tinted satin, draping seductively off the shoulder and dipping provocatively low in the front, accentuating my full C’s just the way I like.
Shifting my gaze from Decks, I sneak a glance at Natalie and Wise, noticing that all three of them have their mouths hanging agape in complete surprise and I can’t control the burst of laughter from escaping passed my lips.
“You all look as though you can’t believe your eyes.” I tease, knowing damn well that their minds are totally fucked at the sight of me.
“Sweetie, you look amazing,” Natalie singsongs, smiling sweetly before bumping Wise’s shoulder with her elbow, cajoling him from his lengthy stupor, “Doesn’t she look great, Jude?”
“Yeah,” he mumbles, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck, eyebrows pinching in and mouth forming a tight line. “You look very pretty, Angel.” I smile, bow playfully while crossing my eyes and sticking out my tongue at him until he finally smiles too.
“Angel?” Decks repeats as I approach him, “That’s really you?”
“Yes,” I answer back softly, peering up from under my long lashes at him, and finding a desirous look significantly different from the unadulterated lustful ones he has given before. This one seems more appreciative instead of sexual.
“God Angel, you look absolutely…perfect.” Hearing that word used to describe me sends a repulsive shiver through my entire body and goose bumps quickly surface along my flesh. I fight the urge to snarl at him demanding that he take it back immediately. Along with some divine involvement, I bite back my rage, calm down enough to place a tender kiss against his cheek and thank him for the compliment.
