Trouble in Loveland

by Jennifer Peel

  I turned my attention back to his son.

  “Will you play with me, Cherry?”

  “Of course.” I snuggled him close and then shut the door on his daddy. I walked Josh downstairs to the family room to the sound of the knocking door. I nudged my dad awake and he startled a little. “Sorry, Dad, but someone’s at the door.”

  He was still a little groggy as he sat up. “Josh?”

  “Josh is here to play.”

  My dad rubbed his face. “Then who’s knocking on the door?”

  I grinned wickedly and walked off with my playdate.

  “Bye-bye,” Joshed waved at my dad.

  I heard the doorbell ring a few more times as I walked Josh down to the basement. “I’ve missed you this week.” I rubbed his nose with mine, and he giggled. I loved this kid. His dad, not so much. I looked over the basement, not sure what we would do. It wasn’t exactly a kiddie haven. I eyed the pool table and thought that could be fun. I set Josh down. “Ok, big guy, you’re going to have your first lesson on how to shoot pool. Believe me, you’ll thank me someday, the chicks dig a man that can shoot pool.”

  “Is that so?”

  I looked up to find a smug looking Ryan walking down my stairs to my sanctuary.

  I turned from him and tried to find the shortest cue stick we had for Josh.

  “I’m going to play pool, Daddy,” Josh informed his dad excitedly.

  Ryan picked up his son and tickled him. “Why don’t you let Charlee and I play and you can watch.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said.

  Ryan smiled over at me as I worked on properly racking the balls, not that Josh would know the difference. “Come on, Charlee.” He walked over to me with Josh in his arms and stopped inches away from me.

  I really hated that he smelled and looked so good. It really wasn’t fair. “Why are you even here? I would hate to ruin your reputation.”

  His dazzling smile faded. “Ok … so I’m an idiot and I’m sorry.”

  “Now that we’ve settled that, I guess you can go home.”

  He caught me off guard and pulled me to him and Josh. Thankfully, Josh giggled about it because Ryan’s look was my undoing; it was a mix of serious and impassioned, and whoa, did it work for him. It almost made me feel lightheaded. Why did he have such an effect on me? I tried to play it cool, but I’m pretty sure I failed miserably as I cracked a small smile. I tried to quickly cover it up with indifference, but he noticed and smiled wide.

  “Please forgive me and let Josh and me take you out to dinner.”

  “Where? Denver?” That was at least a good hour away.

  He smiled wryly.

  “Fine, I forgive you, but I still don’t think we should date.”

  He thought for a moment as he still held me and Josh to him. I thought I should probably back away, but I was conflicted and the butterflies were vetoing my mind.

  “How’s this? We play one game of pool and if I win, you agree to go out to dinner with us.”

  “What if I win?”

  “That’s your choice.”

  “Fine, you’re on.” I was great at pool, so I liked my odds.

  He set Josh on the couch. “Watch and learn, buddy.”

  “I want to play,” Josh whined.

  “You can help me,” his daddy offered as an alternative. He let Josh chalk the end of his cue stick. It sort of appeased him.

  Ryan met me back at the table where the balls were racked tight and perfectly.

  “I’ll let you break,” I said cockily.

  “Oh, no. We’re going to flip for it, so when I beat you, it will be fair and square.” He pulled a quarter out of his pocket. “I’ll flip, you call.”

  I had to admit I was kind of turned on by this in-control Ryan, but I shrugged my shoulders. “Have it your way.”

  “Believe me, I plan to.” He flipped the coin high in the air.

  “Heads,” I called.

  He caught the coin and laid it flat against his left hand with his right hand hiding it from view. He grinned at me before he lifted his hand to reveal the coin tail side up. His eyes lit up, and he wasted no time positioning his cue on the table. He used the open bridge method and his stance was perfect. He lined the cue ball up and broke the balls with commanding force. So, maybe this wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought.

  Three balls went into the corner pockets, two striped and one solid. Of course he called stripes. He stood up, proud of himself.

  “I’m impressed, but don’t count me out.”

  “Never.”

  I let Josh chalk my cue stick too, and I had him kiss it for good luck. He thought that was funny. Ryan and I took turns entertaining him between turns. I elicited Josh’s help in making lots of noise while it was his daddy’s turn, but that wasn’t working. Ryan was good, even better than my dad, who had some mad skills that he had passed on to me.

  “Where did you learn how to play?” I asked him after his fifth ball went in flawlessly on the right side pocket.

  “Here in this basement.”

  “Really?”

  “It was cheaper than therapy.”

  I looked between him and Josh, who sat on my lap, and I suddenly felt very sorry for them both. I knew how it felt to have your world uprooted. “I’m sorry,” I said almost involuntarily.

  Ryan stood up from his stance over the table and looked at me. “I really am sorry, Charlee. I’m not embarrassed to be with you. I know I have some things to get over, but I really enjoy spending time with you. There’s just something about you.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “For starters, you have this way of making everything and everybody come to life around you.” He smiled warmly. “Please come out with Josh and me?”

  “Well, since it looks like I’m going to lose anyway … Apparently, my dad has been holding out on me.”

  “I don’t know about that.” He smiled again. “I just needed a good friend at the time.”

  “I can relate to that,” I said as I squeezed Josh.

  “So, I’m starving. Do you want go?” he asked again.

  I raised Josh’s arms up. “Daddy wins,” I announced.

  “Yay!” Josh shouted.

  We let Josh sit on the table and push all the balls into the pockets. I’m not sure if my dad would appreciate it, but it kept Josh occupied for a moment while his dad kissed me gently. “I found I missed you this weekend,” he whispered against my lips as he held me close.

  “You sound surprised.”

  “As always, with you.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Charlee and Ryan take two. So this was where we stood. It was interesting ground. My dad was right, dating a divorced dad was a little tricky. Ryan and Victoria had agreed that if ever they dated someone that they would be introducing Josh to, they would get approval from each other. I guess I was lucky woman number one, and from the sounds of it, Victoria wasn’t thrilled with the idea, which was odd since I had spent a lot of time with Josh before I started dating Ryan. In a way, I could understand and I didn’t mind that Ryan made her aware of me, she was the mom and I respected that. I didn’t appreciate when she called me and lectured me about how to treat her son, that he would never call me mom, and my favorite part, “I just assumed you were his babysitter from the way Josh and Ryan talked about you. I’m surprised that Ryan would even consider dating someone so young.”

  I bit my tongue. I figured having words with her wasn’t going to help my cause any; besides, it wasn’t like we were planning on anything serious. We were just dating. She didn’t need to worry about Josh calling me mom, I was quite fond of Cherry.

  I didn’t mention the call to Ryan. I assumed he knew it took place as he gave her my number, which I didn’t love him for, but I got it. I would be protective of my kid too, but I hoped that I would be a heck of a lot nicer than she was. I would hope I would try and be friends with the other woman. Hopefully, I would never be in that situation. I hated divorce, and I pray
ed I would never have one of my own, especially if there were children involved.

  Ryan and I weren’t running around announcing that we were seeing each other, but in light of our first little blow-up, he carefully avoided acting like he was embarrassed to be seen with me. Even at the office, if we would go out to lunch, he would come to my office and get me, and he would touch the small of my back as we walked out together. I knew we turned some heads, but it didn’t bother me at all.

  I found a confidant in Felicity, who happened to be taking a lot of interest in me. Of course, I had Krissy and she would be forever my go to girl, but it was nice to have a, let’s say, more mature woman’s perspective. Felicity and I started having standing lunch dates on Tuesdays. It was perfect timing since Victoria had called the night before, and I was still trying to process the whole conversation, which was basically one sided. All I could think of to say at the end was that I loved Josh and I would never do anything to intentionally hurt him and that I would do whatever I could to protect him. She pretty much scoffed at it and hung up.

  “So what do you think?” I asked Felicity after I went through the whole conversation with her.

  Her ice blue eyes peered at me in a maternal sort of way as she contemplated what to say. “I’m trying to leave my bias for both you and Ryan out of this,” she began. “She didn’t win a lot of points with me in her behavior and attitude toward Ryan over the years when she would come in, but I will give her this, she loves that little boy of hers.”

  “I know, and I respect her for that, but I don’t want her to feel like she can walk all over me.”

  “She most certainly doesn’t have the right to do that. What does Ryan think?”

  “I didn’t tell him about it. He’s still trying to come to terms with me, and I didn’t want to add any more doubts.”

  “What you mean, come to terms with you? He looks pretty smitten from where I stand.”

  “I wouldn’t call him smitten, more like he has moments of Charlee appreciation.”

  She laughed at me. “I like that, Charlee appreciation.”

  “I would prefer Charlee infatuation, but maybe we’ll work our way up to it.”

  She patted my hand on the table. “I’m pretty sure you’re already there. If you could see the way he looks at you when you walk by or come to talk to your dad, it’s like he gets lost in you.”

  I liked the sound of that, but his actions didn’t quite translate. I mean, sometimes I felt like that. Like that morning after we were done with our run and I was walking to my gate, he reached for my hand and pulled me to him and kissed me ever so sweetly, just enough to get the blood flowing again, but as always, he cut it short. Just as I felt like we were getting to the good part, you know, the part where I sink into him and for a moment we only exist for each other. Every time I would get to that place, he would abruptly part from my lips and release me from his hold. It was a little frustrating.

  “So what about you, Felicity? Do you mind me asking if you date?”

  She sat up a little straighter and smiled nervously.

  “I’m sorry. Did I overstep my bounds?”

  “Not at all. It’s just, there is somebody and it’s complicated.”

  I held up my Diet Coke. “Well, here’s to figuring it all out.”

  She held up her lemonade and clinked glasses with me. “Amen.”

  Ryan and I spent a rare evening alone at his house that night curled up on his couch watching the Rockies. And unfortunately, we were actually watching the game. I could think of better ways to employ our time alone, but I tried my best to just enjoy being in his arms and yelling at the umps to get glasses or perhaps a new job.

  “Wow, you’re feisty,” Ryan commented.

  “Sorry, bad refs of any kind are a huge pet peeve of mine, but I come by it honestly. My dad has been kicked out of a couple of my games before.”

  He kissed the side of my head. “Just remind me not to get on your bad side.”

  “I don’t have a bad side,” I teased.

  “True. All of your sides look good to me.”

  I turned and smiled at him. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

  “Really? Is that all it takes with you?”

  “No, not really.”

  He laughed low. “That’s what I thought.” He leaned in and barely brushed my lips. Did he know how frustrating that was for me? It was like he was teasing me, but it reminded me of my conversation with Felicity earlier.

  “Hey, do you know who Felicity dates?”

  He looked at me inquisitively.

  “Yeah, I know, odd change of subject, but she mentioned she was seeing someone today, but that it was a complicated situation.”

  “I don’t know. I try to stay out of the employee’s personal lives.”

  I arched my eyebrows. “Is that so?”

  “With the exception of a couple of people.”

  “Really? Are you seeing someone else there I should know about?”

  He rolled his gorgeous green eyes at me. “I meant your dad.”

  “He’s alright, I guess.” I winked.

  “I’m kind of partial to his daughter.”

  “Well, what a coincidence, she’s kind of partial to you.” This time I took matters into my own hands and leaned in and kissed him. He hesitated, as if he had to think about it for a moment as I pressed my lips against his. I had never had a guy behave like him. I was about to ask him if he had an aversion to kissing me, but it was like something finally clicked. He reached up and placed his hands behind my head and pressed against my lips firmly. I sank into him and my lips parted. He responded nicely by working his strong hands up and through my hair, in turn drawing me a little closer to him. Finally, I thought, but just as I thought it, his lips released my own and his hands found their way to my arms where he held me in place. He stared at me as though he was troubled.

  “Is everything ok?” I asked in confusion. Maybe he thought I was a horrible kisser or maybe I had bad breath. I was pretty sure the latter wasn’t the case, I brushed, flossed, and OD’d on breath mints, but I couldn’t judge on whether I was a good kisser or not. I hadn’t had any complaints, but who knew.

  “Everything’s great.” He smiled weakly.

  “Ok …” I turned from him, and he resumed putting his arm back around me. I settled against him uneasily.

  That phrase pretty much described our relationship, uneasy. I wasn’t sure why it was. We got along great. When we were together, our time was full of great conversations and lots of fun, but there was always this unseen barrier. I felt like he didn’t want to let me in all the way, and I felt like I couldn’t let him in because he was so unsure with me. That was how we rounded out July and the first half of August.

  In the midst of my uncertain relationship with Ryan, I was contemplating my future plans. I decided to apply to both CU and CSU’s Master of Psychology programs for a winter term start. I wrote the most amazing essays explaining why I would be a fabulous candidate. Ok, it was a little bit of a sob story, but I really, really wanted to get in. I also took the third part of the CPA exam and, not to be modest, I passed with flying colors. I was also looking at apartments online and during my lunch hours. I was saving up as much money as I could living at home, in hopes of being able to move closer to whichever school chose me, if either did. I still hadn’t broached the subject with my dad. He seemed happy with the way things were. In fact, he was very happy, as of late. I kept asking him why, and he would always point to me, but I always got the feeling it wasn’t just me.

  My relationship with Ryan, though, consumed a lot of my thoughts, and as much as I liked him and wanted to be with him, I was beginning to feel like it would be best if we took a step back. Again, we had a great time together, but I always felt like he was uneasy with me. I had just about decided that’s what I was going to do, but then he threw me for a loop.

  We had just finished a 10k before work because we were still training for the race in September.
It had been a rough one for me. Ryan was definitely a better runner, and he pushed me, which was good, but some mornings I wanted to give up. It had been one of those mornings.

  We stopped when we came to his house. I was out of breath, but he was practically back to normal breathing patterns. How he did it, I didn’t know. I was stretching out my muscles and trying to regulate my breathing when he approached me. He took my reddened face in his hands. “Have I mentioned lately how beautiful I think you are?”

  “No, and I’m not sure now when I’m a hot mess is the right moment.”

  He smiled warmly. “I know I should say it more. You really are beautiful and … hot.” He rubbed his thumbs across my cheeks and his eyes looked inviting, but I had been fooled before, so I just stuck to gazing into them.

  “Thanks, Ryan.”

  He narrowed his eyes at my lack of enthusiasm. “Charlee,” he whispered as he leaned his face toward mine and rested his sweaty forehead against my own. “I hope you haven’t made any plans for this weekend because I want to monopolize all of your time.”

  “I guess I’ll have to cancel all my other dates then.”

  He groaned before his lips melded briefly with mine. “I would say that’s funny, but I don’t find it comical at all.”

  “I thought it was quite hilarious.”

  His kissed me once more. “So, I’ll pick you up after I get Josh.”

  “Uh huh,” I whispered.

  “I can’t wait,” he said as he opened his gate.

  I walked off, shaking my head. I wasn’t sure what to make of him. Did he know I was thinking about taking a step back to reevaluate? Or did he really want to be with me? Sometimes it was hard to tell with him.

  At work I was even more surprised when a bouquet of white roses was delivered to me. The card read simply, “See you tonight, beautiful.” I sighed and held the card to my chest. Then I looked up the meaning of white roses; apparently they are meant to express hope in the future. I liked that … a lot.

  I instant messaged Ryan through our office’s messaging system. “I got the flowers, they’re beautiful, and so are you. Thank you.”