When he walked in the door I nearly fell on the floor in fits of laughter. He was sporting a pale blue leisure suit with a tight white turtleneck, a white belt and white patent leather shoes to complete his ensemble. To top it off, he’d slicked back his hair with some kind of goo.
“Clark, if I were you, I wouldn’t be wearing any short pants around Snots. He’s got him some of that Mississippi leg hound in him, if you know what I mean,” Justin said, in his best imitation of Cousin Eddie.
I couldn’t look at him without losing it. “I cannot take you seriously.”
“What’d ya mean babe? I am serious.”
We walked outside and honest to God, there was a rundown RV in the driveway.
“Oh no. Uh huh. You’re kidding me, right?”
“Now honey, this here is our vacation home on wheels. Come on, or we’re gonna be late.” And then he grabbed me on the ass. “By the way, you’re lookin’ mighty special tonight. You gonna save some of that for your ole man here?”
Oh dear God help me. A monster has been born! I just shook my head at him.
He was the life of the party. I thought I was funny in my sweater with furry snowmen and Santas everywhere and my cutesy little hat with the fur around the trim and the furry ball on the end. But no. Justin won the prize, and he deserved it. The only dark spot in the night was crazy Destiny.
She confronted me again in the bathroom. Why that psycho bitch couldn’t leave me alone, I didn’t know. I’m sure it was because by now, she’d been notified that Justin had filed that harassment case against. her. I was plenty surprised to see her at the party too. Shocked really.
“So, you’re still with the player, I see.”
I gave her my most withering look, if it could be called one anyway. “Not that it’s any of your damn business, but yes we are.”
“Well, count the days. It’s only a matter of time before his infidelity will catch up with him. Just wait and see,” she smirked. She tried to make me think she was hiding some kind of nasty secret.
I just shook my head. “You’re pitiful. You know that, don’t you?”
She jerked her head toward me. Clearly she had not expected me to say that. “What do you mean by that?”
“Desperate words from a desperate woman.”
“I’m not desperate!”
“Well, I disagree. Have a merry Christmas.” I turned and walked away.
I hid my trembling...or at least I thought I did. I rejoined Justin and he was laughing at something someone said. He put his arm around me and his demeanor quickly changed. Excusing us from the little group, he steered me into a private area and asked, “What’s wrong Terri?”
Not wanted to spoil his fun, I smiled and said, “Nothing. I’m enjoying my Cousin Eddie.”
“I can handle a lot of things but please don’t evade my question honey.”
“Okay. Batshit crazy woman is here.”
“Destiny? Why the hell is she here?”
“Now there’s a question I can’t answer. All I know is she confronted me again.”
“What did she say?”
I told him and I watched my relaxed, fun loving guy morph into a tense angry one.
“Do you want to leave?” he asked.
“And have her spoil our fun? Hell no!”
He kissed me then. A huge sexy wet steamy kiss. I secretly hoped she was watching.
I felt the tension flow right out of him and he slid his lower lip between his teeth. Then he smiled. “Let’s go have some fun.”
“Um Justin?”
“Yeah honey?”
“Don’t you mean, let’s go let Cousin Eddie hold court again?”
He roared with laughter again. So did I. It was contagious.
********
Christmas Eve was spent at Justin’s. Christmas Day we would be apart with our respective families, as they were doing Christmas at the same time.
He told me he had something special planned. I didn’t know what, but he told me to bring very comfy clothes and that we would be dining in.
I arrived at his house at five. Christmas music chimed in the background and his house was perfectly decorated. The piazzas were strung with tons of tiny lights and it looked beautiful. He’d set up the porch on the second level for dining. There was a fire pit and a heat lamp out there, although the night wasn’t very cold. We sat outside listening to music and then a waiter walked outside, to my surprise, with the first course of our meal. Justin smiled.
“I’ve had this specially prepared just for you.”
It was a seared sashimi with wasabi. And it was superb. We made it through three more courses and the finale was grilled lobster served with clarified butter. Justin had great taste in food selection. When we finished, I didn’t even dare try for dessert. We both decided we’d save it for later.
Justin had this sneaky look of crazy excitement on his face. He was rubbing his hands together, like he was getting ready to play with a new toy or something.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked him.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You’re acting very strange.”
“I am?”
“Yeah!”
“Well, maybe it’s because I can’t wait for my girl to open her Christmas presents!”
He hopped out of his chair like someone put a firecracker up his butt and darted off the piazza. When he finally returned, his arms were full of wrapped packages.
“You want to open them out here?”
His face fell. “You don’t?”
“Oh I do. I just need to get yours too.”
“No, you don’t. We can do mine later.”
Oh dear God. I had definitely under bought.
“Justin...” I began, but that’s all I was able to say before he interrupted me.
“Honey,” he said as he crouched in front of me. He gently kissed my lips and said against them, “Please indulge me here.” Whenever he spoke against my lips, all my resistance to him flew right out the window.
“Okay,” I agreed.
He handed me a rather large box and I unwrapped it. Inside was a beautiful Louis Vuitton handbag. It was lovely and quite expensive I was sure of.
“Oh my,” I exclaimed, as I pulled it out of the box. “Justin, this is too much.”
“Terri, you said you would indulge me. Now you’re backtracking.”
I swallowed. I looked down and then back up at him and then back down. The truth was, my family had means. We weren’t poor. My dad had been in real estate and had benefited from the boom market in Charleston over the last twenty years. I had never lacked for anything. But I’d always been fairly frugal with my money and a Louis Vuitton was not part of my budget.
“Wow.” I blew out my breath. “I’ve never been gifted with something so lovely Justin. Thank you.” I took his face in my hands and kissed him.
“I’m glad you like it.” His smile made it worth the gift. “Okay, now here’s something I think you’ll really love.”
He handed me another box that was beautifully wrapped and tied with a satin bow. I carefully took the paper off and opened the box, but there was a ton of tissue paper in it. I glanced up at him and he was laughing. Something was up here. I dug around in the box and my hand landed on something long and...I pulled out a brand new vibrator. Justin fell backwards on the floor and kicked his legs in the air and laughed...and laughed...and laughed.
“I’m impressed,” I finally said, when I was able to speak again. My man had a great sense of humor. “So, what are we going to call this one?”
“Oh, he’ll be JJ too.”
“What about my other JJ?”
“Babe, that thing was on his last leg. Now you don’t have to worry about the neighbors reporting you for a noise violation!”
I smacked him with the box. “I must say, I’m glad it’s another rabbit honey.” I smiled sweetly at him.
“Oh, we’re going to give it a trial run tonight.”
I gasped. We�
�d used it together over the phone, but never physically together. “Justin, no! I don’t think...”
“Terri, I’m not asking you to think at all,” he said in his oh so seductive voice. I started to puddle into a mass of aroused Terri.
“Before this goes too far, I have some other things for you, babe.”
He grabbed another box and handed it over. It was another beautifully wrapped concoction of lovely paper and satin tied bow.
“Did you wrap these by yourself?”
“But of course!” he winked.
I opened the box and found a silk and soft terry robe. It was so amazing. I wanted to strip and put in on right then.
“Go ahead,” he said.
“What?”
“I can see it in your eyes. No one can see you. The shades are drawn out here. Strip and put in on babe.”
I just looked at him. Then I leaped up and was naked and wrapped in that heavenly thing in seconds. I was humming and he just stared at me.
“I think I hit a winner on that,” he observed. “I’m gonna have to buy you presents more often. I love the way your eyes are glowing.”
“Mmm. I love the way this robe feels. It’s so soft and cozy.”
“Now that I have you completely comfortable and cozy in your new outfit, I have one last thing for you.”
I hadn’t been paying attention to him, but his hands were behind his back. He brought them to the front and held out a box. I could tell by the size that it was jewelry.
I squinted my eyes together, knowing that he’d spent way too much money.
“Justin,” I whispered.
He whispered back to me. “Terri, you promised you would indulge me honey. I’ve never wanted to do this before for anyone in my life. Let me have this moment. Please.”
His voice...the tone made me delve into his eyes. They were uncertain. Questioning me and maybe himself. I couldn’t be sure. I was back to that Justin who wasn't sure of himself. The one who doubted that he deserved me.
“Oh honey, of course you can have this moment. I want you to have lots of these moments. But I also want you to know that the robe alone would’ve been enough for me. You would’ve been enough for me.”
He kissed me then, slowly, softly, sweetly.
“Thank you. Now open your gift.”
I did as he asked and caught my breath when I saw what the box held. Nestled on velvet was a chunk of diamond that hung from a silver chain. I couldn't breathe. My hand moved to my throat. There seemed to be something stuck there. I swallowed, or tried to anyway, in a futile attempt to dislodge it. I blinked once, twice. My hand started to rub my throat and I felt him taking the box out of my hand. I was lifted in his arms and then he was beneath me.
“I take it it’s not to your liking. It’s okay honey. We can exchange it. Or just take it back.”
I was finally able to breathe again. And swallow. And speak. I placed my fingers on his lips to get him to stop talking. I only wanted one thing and that was his lips on mine.
I put my mouth on his and told him, “It’s the most perfect piece of jewelry I’ve ever seen and I feel honored that you’ve chosen me as the one to give it to. Now I’m going to kiss you Justin.”
And I did just that. And the kiss turned into lots of other things for quite a long time. Sometime during that lovemaking session, he slipped that necklace on me and told me he wanted me to wear it always, so that it would be close to my heart. I’m pretty sure I cried.
Later that night, Justin got to open his humble gifts from me. He assured me he loved them and he certainly acted like he did. I hoped he did. They paled in comparison, although he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face so I knew he was happy. So was I.
********
The new year arrived and I’d been walking around in a state of joyful bliss. Christmas was amazing...Justin was amazing...New Year’s was amazing. I had never been this ecstatically happy before. Justin and I have almost hit the three month mark and I was sure he was the one. I think I had known for a while that I had fallen in love with him. I tried not to admit it. I hadn't told him because I’d be damned if I’d be the first to say it. But the way he looked at me sometimes. I'm surprised I hadn't freakin’ melted already. There isn’t anything I would want to change about him.
In the middle of the month, my dad called me into his office for a chat. I wasn’t expecting the news he was about to share.
“I think I’m going to have to file Chapter Thirteen, Terri.”
“What! Why haven’t you said anything before now? I’m a senior partner here Dad!”
“Honey, I know. I was trying to shield you.”
“Dad, you don’t shield partners. You’re honest and open with them. I knew the market was down, but you led me to believe everything was steady with Mitchell Properties.”
“I’m sorry honey. It was wrong of me.”
“I’ll say.” My heart had slammed to the floor. “Does Mom know?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Something wasn’t right here. “What? What’s going on here?”
“Your mother and I are having problems Terri.”
“What?” This was turning into a tropical shit storm of epic proportions.
“I’m sorry. We didn’t want you to know.”
“What am I...twelve? I can’t believe you two. And you with this business thing.” I got up and headed out the door.
“Terri, wait.”
“No Dad, I’ve waited long enough. I have some thinking to do. My reputation as an agent and broker is on the line and I do believe you have royally fucked me. I also have some damage control to do.”
I stormed out of his office and headed straight to mine. I picked up all my files that I needed and grabbed my computer. I looked around the office to see if there was anything else I would need for the next couple of days. This was going to be bad.
Alana was sitting at her desk and I stopped to speak with her.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
I looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone around. “Look, I just had a little chat with my dad. He’s getting ready to file Chapter Thirteen.”
Her face crashed straight to her desk. “I didn’t know.”
“I’m going to try to keep my listings and open up my own place if I can set my own business up before he files. Will you come with me? Just the two of us? We might have to work out of my house for a while?”
“Hell yes. I’ll go with you.”
“You wanna be an agent?”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
“Sign up for school then. I don’t have time to waggle around here while this business crumbles and he takes everyone down with him.”
I zoomed out of the parking lot and went to work at home. By the end of the day, I had set up my own business, Terri Mitchell Real Estate, and notified everyone that had a listing with me of the change. I also sent out notifications to all the other real estate firms in the Tri-County area of my change. John Remington, the Middleton family attorney, had been most helpful. Terri Mitchell was no longer a part of Mitchell Properties.
That night I went to my parents’ house. My mom was at home alone. My anger shot through every argument she tried to put against telling me, and when I left, I’d made it plenty clear they had messed up. I had one more thing to do and that was to hand over my letters of resignation and legal separation from Mitchell Properties to my father. I headed over to the office with the intention of leaving them on his desk.
When I pulled into the parking lot, his car was there. Good, I was fully prepared for my final showdown. Unlocking the door, I marched straight back to his office and noticed the door was shut. Not thinking anything about it, I swung it open and was greeted with the most unpleasant scene imaginable. There was my dad, sitting on his desk and there was Angela, the office whore, with her head in his lap doing the dirty to him.
I gagged. Out loud. Then I yelled, “What the fuck? Is this why you and Mom aren’t getting
along? At least you could’ve had the sense to have better taste and chosen someone who’s damn ‘thingy’ hasn’t been fucked by everyone in Charleston. You disgust me. Here’s my letter of resignation and letter of separation from the organization. Have a great life Daddy.” I flung the documents at him and left.
Furious couldn’t even come close to describing how I felt. I got to my car as fast as my bionic leg would carry me. Believe me, it wasn’t fast enough either. My phone started to ring and I answered it, my voice quivering.
“Honey, what happened?”
It was Justin and I told him everything.
“I’m on my way over. Don’t drive.”
“I can’t stay in this parking lot. I’m going home.”
“Please Terri, stay there. I’ll come and get you. I don’t want you to drive with you being this upset.”
“I can’t stay here,” I screamed.
“Okay honey, then stay on the phone with me. Put it on speaker, okay?”
“Okay.” I did as he asked and started driving. I listened to his sweet voice and pretty soon I was pulling into my driveway. I just sat in my car and waited for him. Ten minutes later, he was there, unbuckling my seat belt and helping me out. Then I threw up everywhere. I couldn’t stop. I just kept throwing up. I couldn’t even make it in the house. I kept gagging and throwing up and apologizing.
He held my hair and his arm was around my waist from behind, holding me up. “Honey, don’t apologize. You’re in shock and upset. I would be doing the same damn thing.” He’d talk to me in that soothing voice of his, until finally there wasn’t anything left to throw up.
“I think I can make it inside now.”
Instead of letting me walk, he picked me up and carried me.
“Thanks for being here Justin.” He undressed me and put me in my PJ’s and brought me some ice water. Then he tucked me into bed without saying anything. He sat next to me and just held me and rubbed my back.
“What a shit show. I can’t believe he’s done this.”
“He was too proud to tell you Terri.”
I looked at him. I didn’t want Justin to defend him in any way. He knew I was angry by the way I stiffened against him.
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