Loving Graham

by Kenna Knight

  “I’m good at doing hair and wearing clothes well, Gloria is good at running the business.” I stop and reach up to brush my hand over his buzz cut. “You should grow this out a little and let me work my magic.” As soon as I do it, I wish I hadn’t. We’re alone in the yard, the band is inside taking a break, and everyone else is dealing with kids and changing out of their swimsuits.

  We are standing close to each other, it’s twilight, and I’ve had a few drinks. I want more than anything to kiss him, but even buzzed, I know I shouldn’t. I lean toward him so close I can feel his warm breath on my face. Kylie pokes her head out to ask for an extra blanket for her son, and I quickly step away and clear my throat. “Yeah, I have an extra one in my room.” I look back to Levi who is looking down at the garbage bag. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay, I’ll finish up here.”

  “You don’t have to clean. Relax, have another beer.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  I feel guilty, but I can’t very well snatch the bag out of his hands if he wants to help. “You sure?”

  “Yeah, please, go ahead. I’m a touch OCD, so this feels good.” Oh great, he’s a neat freak, and he was in my bedroom. I bet he thinks I’m a massive slob.

  The house is buzzing with bedtime activities, and I love it. I have four brothers and two sisters, so having all of these people here feels familiar, it’s comforting. I always dreamt of having a big family to fill this house. I still hope for it, but as the years tick by, I wonder if it will ever happen.

  I find a blanket and give it to Kylie in one of the spare bedrooms down the hall from mine. She’s busy tucking her cherub-cheeked three-year-old into bed while her husband, Wes, is rocking their baby in the corner. “You two gonna join us for the movie, or do you think this is going to take a while?” I ask.

  “Oh, we’ll be out. These two will be asleep in a flash. They’re worn out from the sun and no naps this afternoon,” Wes says.

  “Cool, see ya in a bit.” I dim the lights and back out of the room quietly. On my way down the hall, I poke my head into the next three bedrooms. Evie and Crystal have their kids tucked in telling them a story. Melina and Ian are changing the diapers of their twin boys in the next room, and in the last room, Gloria is saying prayers with her kids.

  Everyone else is on the other side of the house doing the same. We have around seventeen kids here this year. Some of my employees used to balk about staying all night, but after a few years of fighting me on it, they’ve all given in. It’s part of the experience.

  When I make it back out into the yard, Levi is talking to the lead singer in the band with a beer in his hand. He fits in well with my friends, and I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if a conservative officer of the law was going to or not. We can be a crazy, eccentric, creative bunch, but so far, they’ve all accepted him with open arms.

  I start moving the projector and the screen into place, and he joins me. “I wasn’t sure where you wanted everything, or I would have done that.”

  “That’s all right, we just set up here, and everybody throws down a towel or a blanket to lay on while we watch.”

  “What movie is it?”

  “The new Wonder Woman movie, have you seen it?”

  “No, isn’t that still in the theaters?”

  “Yeah, but I know a guy who knows a guy, so we got it a little early.”

  “Impressive,” he says moving out of my way when I pull an extension cord across the yard to the projector.

  “You want to sit with me? I see Nicky has made a friend.” I nod at Nicky and Kevin flirting with each other at a table by the pool.

  “Sure, who is that guy anyway?”

  “That’s Kevin. He used to work at Tease a few years ago, but he got an acting job and left to do that full-time. He’s a good guy, you don’t have to worry about Nicky.”

  His gaze swings from them to the patio doors where smiling parents are entering the yard childless and ready for some downtime.

  “Looks like we can get started. Can I get you another drink or something to eat before I start the movie?”

  “Hell no, I’ve got a good buzz going, and I haven’t eaten that much in one afternoon for years.” He sounds relaxed, and I chuckle. This is exactly how I want my guests to feel right now, especially Levi.

  “All right then. Hey everybody, listen up, grab a drink and some popcorn or whatever you want to eat, and I’ll start the movie in five minutes,” I call out. I grab a blanket from a stack on a chair by the back door and point at a spot on the grass off to the side from where everyone else will be sitting.

  “This okay?” I ask Levi.

  “Yeah.”

  I spread the blanket out, and we both drop to the ground and get comfortable. “So tell me about yourself, Graham, you said you’re from New York?” he asks, and I freeze. Did I say that? I don’t remember mentioning that I’m from New York. Has he been looking into my past? My record? Does he know more about me than he’s letting on?

  “I don’t remember mentioning that, but yeah, I lived in New York.”

  “Gloria mentioned she met you there. Sorry, detective over here,” he says pointing his thumb at himself. “I didn’t mean to pry. If you’re not comfortable talking about it, that’s fine.”

  Great, I must have sounded defensive. I better relax and turn this around so he doesn’t get suspicious and look into my past. “No, it’s cool, I don’t mind. I was born here in San Francisco. I moved to New York when I was twenty-one to go to cosmetology school and do hair, and that’s when I met Gloria. I opened my first salon there when I was twenty-three, but two years later, I missed home and family, so I decided to open another Tease here in San Francisco.”

  “That’s right, you said you have a big family.”

  “Yeah, four brothers, two sisters, and all of their spouses and kids along with five aunts and uncles make for quite a crowd.”

  “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said big. I didn’t know anyone had families that big anymore.”

  “Well, we do, and I’m one of the last to bring home a husband and give my mama a grandbaby, but they still love me, I think.”

  I’ve been picking at the little fuzz balls on the blanket, and when Levi doesn’t respond, I look up and find him staring at me. He blinks and looks away over my shoulder. “I’m sure they love you very much,” he says quietly.

  His response hangs in the air between us full of hidden meaning. He looks sad, and I’m about to ask him about it when Jorge, who has only been here an hour, yells, “The gang’s all here, man, start the movie!”

  “I’ll be right back,” I tell Levi. When I return, Levi is sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them.

  “You cold? I can grab you a sweatshirt if you want.” He’s still only wearing my swim trunks, and the sun has gone down lowering the temperature quite a bit.

  “If it’s no trouble.”

  “Course not, hang on.” I run inside and grab a black Nike hoodie. Back outside, I hand it to him and almost regret offering it when he covers up his washboard abs and sculpted back muscles. I was enjoying the sight of him half naked, but his comfort is more important.

  “Thanks,” he smiles, and we both lay down, me with my hands behind my head and him with his hands crossed over his stomach. I glance at him once in a while out of the corner of my eye.

  I didn’t think it was possible for him to be more handsome but relaxed on his back with a touch of sun across his cheeks and a smile playing on his lips, he is. Why? Why do I have to like this man so much? It’s true what my mom used to say forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. Dammit, Mom.

  Halfway through the movie, my eyes are once again wandering to Levi. I drag my gaze down his fit silhouette imagining what it would be like to touch him when he rolls onto his side to face me. I jerk my attention back to the screen, but he knows I’ve been checking him out.

  “Not into Wonder Woman?” he asks with a smile in his voice. />
  I close my eyes for a moment wishing I had been more discreet. When I open them, I turn on my side to face him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. And I was looking forward to seeing this movie, but you’re making it impossible for me to concentrate.”

  “I’m not sure what’s going on either, maybe you should have shown Superman instead?”

  “Nope, I still would have been distracted.”

  His eyebrows go up. “Wow, so am I to believe you find me more interesting than Superman?”

  “That’s safe to say, yes.”

  “That’s quite a compliment.”

  “You’re quite a man.” What am I doing? I need to discourage not encourage this kind of exchange, but I can’t help myself.

  “That’s kind of you to say, but I’m just an average guy living an average life. I got nothing on Superman or Wonder Woman for that matter.”

  “I beg to differ. Have dinner with me this week.” Shit. Did I just ask him to dinner? His eyes meet mine, and he looks at me for so long I’m sure he’s going to turn me down, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.

  “I thought we were already having lunch on Tuesday. Are you asking me on two dates in one week?”

  I am, shit I am, how did that happen? “Yeah, I guess I am. Told you I’m unorganized. I can’t keep our dates straight, and we haven’t even been on one yet.”

  He smiles and bites his lip. I’m elated and panicked at the same time. I like him, a lot, and I think he likes me, too, but all of that could come crashing down around us with a few keystrokes on his computer. It’s too late now. I asked, twice, he accepted, and so it begins.

  “It’s okay, so which is it, lunch or dinner?”

  “Dinner, Saturday night.”

  “Where?”

  “I’ll figure that out. Can I pick you up or do you want to meet me at the salon?”

  “I have to work, I’ll just meet you at Tease.”

  “Great, 6:00 p.m., be ready to eat. A lot.”

  “I’ll skip lunch, will that do it?” he asks.

  “You might want to skip breakfast, too.” I wink, and we go back to watching the movie, actually paying attention to it this time now that the tension between us has eased. The rest of the party goes off without a hitch, and my guests are all in bed by 3:00 a.m. stuffed and a little drunk. Levi and Nicky sleep in the bedroom next to mine while I curl up with Klondike and Sherman. Sleep isn’t on the agenda for me tonight—all I can think about is how close Levi is.

  A wall is all that separates us tonight. That would be easy to remedy, but my past is not. I complicated things when I asked him out tonight, and now I get to live with the consequences. After spending the day with him today, I’m pretty sure it’s worth the risk.

  Chapter Nine

  Levi

  The investigation into who has been robbing Graham’s salon isn’t going well so far. It’s the Friday after his employee barbeque, and I have had a face-to-face interview with all twenty-three of his employees, and I’ve done a background check on all of them. They are the cleanest group of people I’ve ever interviewed, except for Jorge. He’s hiding something, but I can’t pinpoint what it is yet. It’s more of a feeling than anything.

  At this point in a case, if we have hit a wall, so to speak, the next step is to look at the victim. I’ve been sitting at my desk for an hour this morning staring at my computer screen trying to decide if I can do a background check on a man I’m personally interested in.

  This is why I shouldn’t have gone to Graham’s party last week. Never mix business with pleasure, that’s the first rule of any job in law enforcement. Now I have to decide if I should hand the case over to someone who can be more objective or hang onto it and invade the privacy of someone I care about.

  I’m relieved when my phone rings allowing me to put the issue on hold a while longer.

  “Detective Yale here.”

  “Hey, Levi, it’s Graham.” My stomach does a little dip when I hear his low, raspy voice on the line.

  “Hi, Graham, how are you?” I haven’t heard from him since last weekend. I’ve been trying not to take it personally, but it’s not easy. I couldn’t help wondering if he regretted asking me out, twice. Maybe he was more buzzed than I thought or maybe someone better than me walked into Tease this week and changed his mind for him?

  “I’m great, nobody has robbed me this week, so I can’t complain.”

  “Wow, your good-mood standards are pretty low, aren’t they?”

  “Yeah well, you gotta stay positive, right?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “I was just calling to make sure we were still on for tomorrow night.”

  “Of course, wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Awesome. Hey, I also wanted to ask if you had any leads on the case. I think you’ve interviewed everybody in the salon now, haven’t you?”

  “Yes, I have, and I’m sorry to say I haven’t found anything other than…”

  “Other than what?”

  “Well, I know you don’t want to hear this, but Jorge is still my number one suspect.”

  “For what reason?”

  “He’s the only one without a solid background, he has no ties here, and he can’t give me alibies for the nights of any of the robberies. He thinks he was home watching TV, but he was alone. And I have this gut feeling there’s something going on with him, but I don’t know what it is yet.”

  “Do you want me to talk to him? I mean I don’t expect him to come out and tell me he’s been stealing, but maybe there’s something going on he doesn’t want to talk to a cop about.”

  “You can try. I doubt you’ll find anything, though. He’s pretty tight-lipped.”

  “I’ll see what I can find out. My next client just walked in. I have to get going, but I’ll see you here tomorrow around six?”

  “Yes, you didn’t mention where we’re going, though, and Nicky is worried that I’ll be underdressed.”

  He chuckles. “You tell big sister that casual is fine, jeans, shorts, whatever you want.”

  “Will do, see you soon.”

  “Bye.”

  I drop my phone on my desk, and go back to my computer to exit out of the background check screen. It’s wrong, but I like this guy too much to check into his past. My intuitions have never let me down, and I haven’t had one bad feeling about Graham since we met. I’m going with that unless something leads me to believe differently. Then, and only then, will I check into his past.

  Saturday is officially the longest day of my life—it drags on and on forever like a hike through the desert without water. By 5:00 p.m., I’m practically running out of my office to get home and change.

  I keep wondering why he never mentioned where we are going tonight. In keeping with his casual dress suggestion, Nicky chooses a pair of dark jeans and a navy blue and white pinstripped t-shirt and black Converse tennis shoes. I shower and dress. Nicky sprays me with some new cologne she bought for the occasion and tries to mess up my too-short-to-mess-up hair.

  “You need to grow this out a little. You have beautiful hair, and you’re dating a hairstylist now, it’s just not right.”

  “We aren’t dating, it’s one date. Funny you say that, though, he said the same thing.”

  “It will be more than one date unless you faff it up with your low self-esteem. I’m hiding your clippers when you leave.”

  “I don’t have low self-esteem, and you know they sell clippers at Target, right? I can always buy another pair.” I’m messing with her. I don’t have any objections to growing out my hair a little bit, especially since Graham wants me to. As far as my low self-esteem, she’s right on that one. I’m great at hijacking relationships ever since Neil, but I’m going to try very hard not to do that this time.

  “I’ll find those and hide them, too.”

  “Okay, okay, I give. Keep the clippers, I’ll grow it out, but don’t expect a lion’s mane or anything. I am a police detective, and I have an imag
e to uphold.”

  She rolls her eyes and shoves me toward the door. “Go snag yourself a sexy tattooed god while I sit here and sulk about being single, you twat.”

  I kiss her on the cheek and whisper in her ear. “I love you, ya twat.” She smacks me away, and I leave laughing.

  The salon is buzzing with activity even at six o’clock on a Saturday evening when I enter the waiting area. Gloria spots me, and her face lights up. “Graham!” she yells. I cringe when every head in the salon turns to see what she’s yelling about. A chain reaction happens when he exits his office and walks down the long center aisle to the front of the salon where I’m waiting for him. He looks like a model walking the runway.

  Clients and stylists alike slowly turn their heads one by one as he passes. Every one of them smiles when they see how happy he is, and my heart is in my throat. He is beyond delicious in a simple pair of black jeans, a white button-up shirt with the top three buttons open, and black boots.

  I snap my mouth, that is hanging open along with everyone else’s in the salon, shut when he reaches out his hand to me. I’m expecting a simple handshake, but what I get is a full-on embrace that doesn’t last nearly long enough.

  Being hugged has never felt so right. If hugging Graham Blackwell is that fabulous, I can’t imagine what kissing him would be like, and I don’t dare let my mind wander any further than that.

  “It’s good to see you,” he says stepping back but not letting go of my hands. It feels like he’s looking at me after being apart for years instead of mere days. The sparkle in his dark blue eyes makes me weak in the knees. How am I going to survive an evening alone with him?

  “It’s good to see you, too.” No words have ever been truer.

  “We should get going, I don’t want to be late,” he says turning to Gloria. “You got this?” he asks her.

  She waves her hand dismissively, “Go, eat, have fun, fall in love. Don’t worry about a thing.”

  Holy shit. Love. That’s quite a leap from a first date, but oddly enough, I can see it happening. I shouldn’t. I should be more guarded and protective of my heart, but Graham makes me want to open up and try again. Damn him.