Scavenge (Smoldering #1.5)

by Tiffany Aleman

  “Merry Christmas, babe,” Riley says.

  I laugh at him because of what he’s wearing. A red and white Santa hat sits atop his head, the white cotton ball hanging to the side. He’s in his uniform, but other than that, he’s trying to be in the spirit. “You look adorable, and Merry Christmas.”

  “Were you still sleeping?” he asks.

  “Mmm-hmm, but you can always wake me up.”

  “Oh, I can think of a few ways to wake you up.” He laughs as he wiggles his eyebrows up and down.

  “Yeah, I know you could, but your parents are here.”

  “Didn’t stop us at Thanksgiving.”

  “That was different,” I defend. “Our house isn’t as big as theirs.” I scoot up the bed and lean back against the headboard.

  “Ours… I like hearing you say that.”

  I wink at him and he laughs. “Okay, so I have something for you,” he says. “But you’ll have to get up.”

  “What? No note this time?” I ask throwing the covers back and getting out of the bed.

  “Nope.” He shakes his head. “I haven’t had the privilege of watching you open anything yet, and this one I’ll need to see.”

  “Okay. Where are you taking me this time?” I ask with a smile on my face.

  “Walk into our closet. On the top rack above my clothes is a medium sized moving box.”

  I do as I’m told, and when I see the box he’s talking about, I look at him incredulously. It looks bigger than what he led me to believe. “You do realize I’m not that tall?” I ask.

  “I know, but I promise you it’s not that heavy.”

  “All right,” I sigh. “I’m going to put the phone down real quick.”

  Pushing up to the tips of my toes, I stretch to maneuver the box with the ends of my fingers as I push and slide it this way and that way. When the box finally hits the edge of the rack, I give it one good shove, and it comes falling down, the corner hitting me on the forehead. “Ow! Shit!” I yell as I let the box fall to the ground.

  “Are you all right?” Riley chuckles.

  “I hope there wasn’t anything breakable in there, cause I dropped your damn box,” I shout back, hoping he hears me.

  I plop down on the floor Indian style next to the box, before picking the phone back up. I rub the sore spot on my head. “Look what you did to me,” I whine as I point to my newly attained battle scar.

  “Poor baby. I’d kiss it and make it better if I was there,” Riley replies in jest.

  I squint my eyes and purse my lips at him. “Are you making fun of me, Riley Matthew Jackson?”

  He holds his hands out in front of him and smiles. “Oh, I must really be in some shit if you just used my middle name.”

  “Shut up. You’re not as perfect as you’d like everyone else to believe.” As hard as I try to keep a stern look on my face, it just won’t work because I can feel my lips tugging up into a grin.

  Riley raises an eyebrow at me. “You think I’m perfect, huh?”

  “Most of the time.” I shrug.

  “I think you’re pretty perfect, too,” Riley says, his face serious. “Now, open the box, please.”

  My eyes light up in surprise as I peel back the flaps and see a bunch of childhood memories that Riley’s held on to.

  “At the bottom of the box, there is an old Captain Planet tin lunch box. That’s what you’re looking for,” he says.

  Moving trophies, old posters, regalia cords, and Riley’s graduation caps out of the way, I reach deeper into the box, finally finding his old lunch box.

  I hold it up in front of the camera for him to see. “Is this it?” I ask with a huge grin on my face.

  “Now, are you the one making fun of me?” he asks, giving me a pointed look.

  I gasp. “Never. Me?” I point at myself. “I would never do such a thing,” I tease.

  “Laugh it up,” he says, trying to keep a grin from appearing on his face. “Captain Planet was the shit.”

  “Aww… babe, I think it’s cute.” I laugh.

  He rolls his eyes at me. “Are you done yet?”

  I have to take a couple of deep breaths before I nod.

  “Good. Go ahead and open it.”

  Pokémon cards, a Vanilla Ice cassette tape, a Discman, a Cracker Jack box, a Gameboy, some baseball cards, and a ring box.

  “Oh my God. I remember these.” I laugh as I look at him, my eyes wide and filled with excitement.

  “Each of those things holds some special meaning to me,” he says. “You see, the Pokémon cards, I used to own every single one. I would sit and play with them for hours, whether it was by myself or at school with my friends.” He smiles, and it looks like he’s remembering a simpler time.

  “What about this one?” I ask, holding up the cassette tape.

  “Ahh… that one. Vanilla Ice. He was my favorite. I listened to the tape so much I knew every word to Ice Ice Baby. Vanilla Ice made me believe I could be a rapper just like him. When I went to prove it to my parents, they told me that in order for me to be just like him, I had to move like him, too. Let’s just say that’s the day I learned not everyone’s body was made to move like that.”

  I burst into laughter at the thought of Riley trying to dance like Vanilla Ice.

  “Oh, come on. You can’t tell me that you never tried to dance like him,” he says in disbelief.

  I shake my head. “Nope. I was an MC Hammer girl.”

  He smirks at me and shakes his head as he mumbles figures under his breath. “Anyway, the Discman is from a Christmas a long time ago.” He looks up the ceiling before looking back down at me. “I was nine or ten I think. I don’t know. All I do know is I felt like the coolest kid in the world when I received that present. But that feeling was short lived when my mom told me I had to start doing chores in order to buy CDs for the thing. Needless to say, it didn’t get used much.” He laughs.

  “You don’t need to explain the Gameboy. I’m sure I can figure that one out,” I say, holding it up for him to see.

  “And what is it that you can figure out?” he asks.

  “All boys loved video games. Some still do. It’s in pretty self-explanatory. It’s in your DNA.”

  “You think you have us all figured out, don’t you?” He chuckles.

  “Nope. Just you.”

  Riley reaches up and rubs at his chin as he nods. “Okay then, you tell me why I’ve kept the Cracker Jack box.”

  I shake the box and there’s a little rattle as I do. “Because you loved caramel covered popcorn. I bet you there’s still a piece in here,” I say with a smirk as I tip the box.

  And out falls a stunning ring. A ring that definitely does not belong in a Cracker Jack box.

  My breath catches in my throat as I look between Riley and the ring. A beautifully cut, emerald shaped diamond with baguettes on either side shines back at me from its platinum band. It’s absolutely breathtaking.

  “See, my mom used to buy these Cracker Jack boxes all time. Every day, she put one in my lunch box for a snack. You know I hardly ever ate the popcorn. I was in it for the prizes in the box. One day, I was emptying out all the popcorn, so excited to see what the prize was going to be, when this ring fell out. It’s an exact replica of the ring you’re holding in your hand now. Although the ring that fell out of the box back then was fake, I swore that whenever I proposed, that would be the ring I’d do it with. As I got older, I became aware that women don’t want fake jewelry.” His statement causes us both to laugh. “I love you, Kelsey. I know this is not how I’m supposed to do this. I should be there with you, a nervous wreck, knowing that you may decline my asking you to marry me. I should be on one knee in front of you at the most romantic spot I can think of, but that’s not us, babe. We’re anything but normal.”

  I watch as Riley scoots his chair back and stands. My heart pounds like a drummer, banging out a quick percussion beat in my chest. He drops to one knee and looks into my eyes in the camera. My hands begin to sweat and my br
eaths accelerate. Is he really about to do this?

  “You hold my heart, Kelsey. It only beats for you. My happiness is yours for the taking if you want it. When I see my future, you’re the one by my side. My dreams, you can have them all. We’ve been through our fair share of pain, but we found our way back to each other. And I know I’m doing this all wrong, and I promise to make it up to you when I get home, but I want to marry you more than anything in this world. Will you marry me?” he asks.

  Tears fall down my face, and I can’t help but laugh and nod. “Yes! Yes! Of course. I want to marry you more than anything in this world.”

  I watch as Riley visibly relaxes. He stands and sits back down in front of the computer, wearing a smile that reaches from ear to ear. “I hate to ask this, babe, because I know we just got engaged, but would you mind wearing the ring on the opposite hand, please?”

  “What? Why?” I ask, confused and a little hurt. “Do you not want anyone to know that you just proposed to me?”

  “That’s not it at all. It’s that I’ve had to do everything from here. The only thing I want to make sure I do is put that ring on your finger.”

  My eyes flicker between him and the ring before I sigh. “I’ll do this for you because I know you really want to propose to me the right way.” Slipping the ring on my right hand, I add, “You’re crazy, you know that?”

  “I know, but you love me anyway.” He smirks.

  “You have no idea,” I whisper. My eyes well with tears as I stare at his handsome face, a face I wish so badly I could touch. “I love you.

  “I know, baby.” He nods. “I love you, too. I call you back in a little bit. I want to say hi to my parents before it’s too late.”

  “Okay. Talk to you soon.”

  “Yep, and you better make sure my ring is on your finger when I call back.” He laughs and I mock salute him before he hangs up.

  Whatever Lana is cooking smells divine. As soon as I open the door to my room, the aroma assaults me and it only grows stronger as I walk down the stairs and make my way into the kitchen.

  Her light brown hair is pulled back in a bun that rests at the nape of her neck. She’s in a pair of black slacks and a silver, three-quarter sleeve shirt.

  “Good morning,” I greet her as I walk further into the kitchen.

  She looks back at me over her shoulder and smiles. “Morning.” She nods over to the Keurig on the counter. “I was hoping that you’d have one of the newer models so I could fill a carafe, but you’ll just have to settle for making your own coffee. Ron went out this morning and bought some donuts.”

  I follow her eyes to the Krispy Kreme box on the counter. “Thanks.”

  “Oh, don’t thank me just yet.” She laughs. “I have an apron with your name on it on the bar. You’re going to help me cook this dinner.”

  “Umm. Okay.” As my coffee begins brewing, I grab a donut out of the box and take a bite. “I feel like I should let you know that I’m not much of a cook.”

  “Oh, that‘s all right. It doesn’t take a chef to peel potatoes or things of that nature. I have faith in you, Kelsey.” Lana hands me a bowl of sweet potatoes, and I look at her expectantly. “They’ve already been washed.” She hands me a peeler. “All you need to do is peel the skin off like this,” she says, showing me how to glide the peeler across the skin. “That’s all there is to it. Plus, I’ve done most everything else. The ham’s in the oven. Everything else can be cooked on the stove top.”

  I sidle up to next to her, sipping my coffee and taking bites of my donut, between peeling the bowl of sweet potatoes. “I talked to Riley this morning,” I say, breaking the silence.

  “Oh, what did that son of mine have to say?” she asks as I watch her peel her own potatoes.

  The ring on my right hand weighs heavily on my hand, and I wonder what his parents will have to say. “Not much really. He said he was going to call back in a little bit because he wanted to talk to you and Ron.”

  “Is that all?” she asks as she looks at me with a raised eyebrow, and deep down, I feel like she already knows what he was going to ask me.

  I shake my head. “He might have asked me to marry him,” I whisper quietly as I gauge her reaction.

  She gasps, and her hands cover her mouth for a second before she pulls me into a hug. “He mentioned that he was thinking of asking you, but he wasn’t certain. He said he wanted to be here to slip the ring onto your finger.” Lana pulls back, tears in her eyes as she reaches for my hands. When she sees my engagement ring on the wrong hand, she laughs and shakes her head. “That boy of mine. He’s making sure the whole world knows that you’re his, but he’s still making you wait.”

  I laugh with her. “He asked me to put it on my right hand because he wants to put the ring on my finger himself. Riley said he felt bad for asking me from Afghanistan, but you want to know something? It was perfect. It’s fitting for us.”

  Her eyes roam over the ring, and she smirks. “My son has good taste, doesn’t he?”

  “Very.”

  “We need to show Ron,” she says, dragging me into the living room, and I can’t help but laugh at her exuberance.

  “He did it, honey! He finally asked her,” Lana says cheerfully, scaring Ron out of his football game.

  “He did what?” he asks, confused as he looks at us from over on the couch. When Lana narrows her eyes at him, it seems to dawn him. “Oh!” he says, his eyes wide with understanding. Ron stands and walks over to me, holding his arms open. I gladly walk into them. His arms close around me, and right then, I realize this is what a father’s hug feels like. “Welcome to the family, baby girl,” he mumbles against my hair. The gesture and his loving words bring tears to my eyes, and I laugh lightly.

  He lets go of me and I wipe away my tears. “Thank you so much.” I look between him and Lana. “Both of you. Your acceptance means the world to me.” I smile.

  “Since the food’s almost done, should we open presents,” Lana asks.

  “Oh! I forgot to ask, what time do you think we’ll be eating? I need to text Dante and Candace to let them know, and I also need to see when Jen is going to stop by.”

  Lana looks at her watch. “In about an hour,” she says, looking back at me. “I got up pretty early this morning.” She shrugs.

  “That should work,” I say as I reach into my back pocket and pull out my phone. I type a quick text to Jen, Candace, and Dante to let them know dinner will be done in an hour. All three reply with some form of okay.

  “Kelsey, if you don’t mind,” Lana says, looking at Ron and then to me. He walks over and stands by his wife's side, wrapping an arm around her waist. “There is one gift we’d like to give you now before everyone else shows up.”

  “Okay,” I answer.

  Lana smiles up at her husband, and he nods before walking over to the Christmas tree. He bends down and pulls out an envelope before rejoining his wife and handing it off to her. She sticks out the white paper, and I take it from her hands.

  My fingers glide underneath the glue, separating the flap. I look up to them, and the nervousness displayed on both of their faces catches me off guard for a second. Cautiously, I reach into the envelope, and in my hands are two airline tickets to Virginia. My head snaps up. My eyes flicker between them before I look back down at the tickets. “What is this?” I ask.

  “We love you. We really do. And it’s not just because our son is in love with you or because you make him happy. We are so happy that you are joining our family, but…” she trails off.

  “But?” I ask. In a way, I want her to finish her thought, but in the same sense, I’m terrified of what she’s about to say.

  “But… Riley’s told us a little bit about the relationship between you and your parents.”

  Immediately, I’m shaking my head. I don’t want to hear what she has to say. My parents are in the past. A past I have absolutely no intention of ever revisiting. Regardless of how I’m acting, she continues.

  “We do
n’t know them personally. But we think you should at least try and reach out to them. You’re not that same person you were almost three years ago. Who knows? Maybe they’re not the same either. Anyhow, these are open-ended tickets for you and Riley. If you do decide to do this, we know he wouldn’t want you to go alone.”

  “I am so confused,” I whisper.

  Lana reaches out and grasps both of my arms. “You need to see if you can make amends with them, honey. Ron and I are glad to step in and be the parents to you that you’ve never had, but at the end of the day, we can’t fill their shoes. They’re your mom and dad. And if all else fails, then at least you can say you tried, and then you can move on with your life in peace.”