“Why is this so easy for you?” I lamented.
“You just need to work on your breathing patterns.”
“Or not do it.”
“You’ve come this far, and you’ve had a great time. You can’t quit now.”
“Well, I could, but I’m too prideful to.”
He laughed. “Knowing you, you’ll probably show up and beat us all.”
“Your faith in my running ability is highly misplaced.”
He scooted closer and leaned his arm over me.
I smiled up at him. “We probably look like two old people showing way too much PDA now.”
“Anyone that sees you wouldn’t blame me.”
“So maybe flattery will get you everywhere.”
He leaned down and kissed me briefly. “Perfect, because I have something to ask you.”
“Shoot.”
“My friends have invited us to watch the game with them on Monday night.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What friends?”
“Same as before, minus Trixie.”
I sat up hastily. “Didn’t you inherit any other friends in your divorce?”
He scooted closer and ran his strong hand across my cheek and up through my sweat drenched hair. If that didn’t say a guy liked you, I don’t know what did. “Have I mentioned how beautiful you are lately?”
“Yes, so if you’re trying to flatter me into saying yes, you better come up with something better.”
His forehead scrunched together, and he thought for a moment.
“Is it really that hard to think of something?”
He groaned and kissed me hard. “No, there’s too many good things, it’s hard to pick only one.”
“Uh, huh.”
“Come on, Charlee. Please. I need to prove to my friends that I’m not some jerk of a boyfriend to you.”
“Since when did you become my boyfriend?”
He smiled sexily, leaned in close, and kissed his way to my ear. He so knew he was getting his way. “Ever since we started making out,” he whispered in my ear.
Goosebumps erupted, and I sighed. “Ok … but I think you have to give me your class ring or something to make it official.”
He laughed softly in my ear. “Deal.”
We had a great weekend with Josh, who was super excited to start preschool the following week. He was only going two afternoons a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but for a three-year-old, that was big news.
“Cherry, will you take me to school with my mommy and daddy?” he asked while we had dinner at Ryan’s house on Sunday.
I looked over, smiled at him, and began to tell him, “Of course.” I was thrilled he asked me to, but Ryan cleared his throat loudly and gave me a meaningful look. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.
I set my fork down on my plate. “Um, sure.”
We both got up and walked to the kitchen where we could still see Josh in the breakfast nook. Ryan looked at me worriedly as we stood by his immaculately cleaned granite counter top.
“What’s wrong?” I asked quietly.
He moved a tad closer. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just, it’s probably not a good idea for you to come on Tuesday.”
“Why not?”
He looked unsure of how to proceed. He rubbed his neck and stretched it from side to side.
I waited.
“Charlee, I want you there, but …”
“I get it. His mother doesn’t.”
“I’m sorry. This is a big deal for her, and she wants it to be just us.”
“Us?”
“You know what I mean, Charlee.”
“I do know what you mean. But if you ever want ‘us’ …” I pointed between him and me. “… to ever really move forward, you’re going to have to let me be involved in your whole life, including Josh.” I walked off and joined Josh back at the table. “Hey, big guy, I’m sorry I can’t make it, but I’ll send a surprise with your daddy to give to you for your big day. Ok?”
He looked up at me with those big green eyes. “Ok,” he said disappointedly. Then his eyes lit up. “Don’t forget my surprise.”
I ruffled his hair. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Ryan joined us again, took up his seat across from me, and smiled at me sheepishly.
I smiled close lipped back and wondered.
Victoria arrived a couple hours later to pick up Josh. He ran to the door yelling, “Mommy.”
I watched from the great room as she picked him up at the door and held him to her. She eyed me and wasn’t pleased I was there. I smiled at her. What else could I do?
Ryan looked between the two of us, and I smiled at him as well. He turned back to his ex-wife, who was looking to make a quick exit.
“I’ll walk out with you,” Ryan said as he grabbed Josh’s bag.
“Bye, Cherry.” Josh waved from his mother’s arms.
“Bye, big guy,” I said to their retreating figures.
I sat on the couch and sighed. I knew it didn’t have to be this way. There were lots of people that got along with their ex’s girlfriend, boyfriend or significant other.
Ryan returned a few minutes later and dropped next to me on the couch. He pulled me onto his lap and kissed me fervently, without saying a word. I was more than ok with it. I liked non-verbal communication. By the time I pulled away, my heart rate was up and I was breathing a little harder. I settled my head against his chest. “What was that for?”
“I didn’t know I needed a reason to kiss you.”
“You don’t, but there seemed to be some underlying emotion in it.”
He rubbed his hand gently against my arm. “Charlee, I’m trying.”
“I know you are. Do you still … love her?” I had wanted to ask him that for so long.
He paused, and my heart skipped a few beats waiting for him to answer.
“No …”
“What does that mean?”
“Charlee, she’s the mother of my son and we were married for seven years. While I’m not in love with her, my feelings for her are complicated.” There was that word again. I was beginning to dislike it very much.
“Ok.”
“Hey, my feelings for you are not complicated. I’m happy we’re together. Which reminds me, I have something for you.” He extracted himself from me and walked toward his bedroom. He came back carrying a jacket. He stood in front of me with a playful grin and held up his letterman’s jacket. “I didn’t have a class ring, but I thought maybe this would suffice.”
I laughed and took the maroon and gold jacket out of his hand and admired it. I ran my fingers across the S with all of his track and field patches and pins. “Looks like you were quite the star.”
He sat next to me and relived some of his high school glory days with me. I liked to hear him talk about his meets and accomplishments and even failures that he learned from. I liked it even better when he took the jacket from my hands and placed it around my shoulders. It smelled yummy, like him.
“Now you’re mine,” he said as he kissed me softly.
Chapter Twenty-One
Monday evening arrived, and I was nervous. I dressed more conservatively, in jeans and a Bronco t-shirt this go around. The evenings were getting chilly now that we were into September. Even running in the mornings was getting a little too nippy for my taste. Ryan was sad I had to retire my pink running shorts for the season.
My dad insisted on getting the door when he arrived to pick me up. I insisted he not, but I lost. My dad was still on the overprotective kick, and since Ryan was taking me back to the same place where he kind of blew it, he felt the need to flex his dad muscles.
I let my dad talk to him alone. I figured it would be less embarrassing for Ryan that way, and honestly, I didn’t want any part of it.
After five minutes, my dad called to me and let me know Ryan was there, like I didn’t know already. I stopped myself from running upstairs. I found I just wanted to be near Ryan, but I acted mature and
sauntered up at a casual pace.
Both the men in my life turned my way. One greeted me with a look of fatherly affection, the other was anything but fatherly. It was more like a “maybe we should just be alone tonight” kind of a look. I recognized it because I felt the same way when I looked at him. He looked great in his well-fitting jeans and his own Bronco t-shirt that stretched nicely across his toned chest.
Ryan reached out his hand to me, and I gladly took it. My dad kissed my cheek as if he were letting Ryan know who the boss was.
“Goodnight, Dad.”
“You kids have a good time.”
“We will.” At least I hoped we would.
“See you later, Jeff,” Ryan said to his friend and partner.
Ryan quickly led me out the door into the crisp evening. It was starting to smell like fall, and I loved it.
Once we were both settled in the car, he kissed me quickly.
“Sorry about my dad.”
“It’s all right, I suppose I deserved it. Hopefully he’ll forgive me after tonight.”
“I’m sorry our relationship has caused discord between you.”
“It’s not your fault. It was my own doing. Your dad is just being a good dad, and I respect that.”
“I know, but you guys are partners and friends.”
“And we still will be.”
He turned to start the car, but stopped suddenly. “I forgot, I have something for you.” He reached back, grabbed a silver colored gift bag, and handed it to me. “I picked it up during lunch today.”
I took the bag. I knew what was inside of it. He insisted on having my CPA license professionally matted and framed when it had come in the mail last week. I told him a frame from Target would suffice, but he adamantly disagreed. I pulled out the black framed license that made me a legit certified public accountant and looked it over. I looked back up to a proud Ryan. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to me. “I would kiss your face off right here if the neighbors weren’t so gossipy,” I said an inch from his face.
“Let them talk,” he said before his mouth landed on mine.
I didn’t exactly kiss his face off, but close enough. I wiped my lipstick off of his lips, and he grinned.
“When you get your Master’s in Psychology, I’ll get it framed to match.”
We were never leaving this driveway if he kept talking like that. That was the biggest turn-on ever. Not only did it say he supported me in my dream, but he thought we would be together when it happened. “I lo …like you … a lot.” Oh, I got careless. I wasn’t sure if he caught that.
He smiled warmly. “I’m glad, because I like you, too … a lot.” He kissed my cheek sweetly and then started his car.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself to watch it, but it was getting more difficult. I was truly, madly, deeply in love with him.
When we pulled up to the sports bar, he turned off his car and turned toward me. He rested his hand against my cheek. “I really am sorry about last time, but tonight I plan on making up for it.”
I arched my eyebrow and smiled. “Oh, really.”
He leaned over and kissed me just once.
We walked in hand-in-hand, but this time when we met his friends, he kept a hold of me. In a somewhat comical gesture, Hayes and Rob took me from him and placed me in between them. I thought it was cute, Ryan not so much. He took me right back, led me to the other side of the table, scooted his chair as close as he could to mine, and draped his arm around me. It kind of broke the ice and awkwardness, and we all settled in for a night of football. Alec was even somewhat polite. He was a lot better with his wife not around. I was so relieved she didn’t show up again. That had been my biggest worry.
My other pleasant surprise of the evening was that Ivy was our server. This time I made introductions. I loved saying, “This is my boyfriend, Ryan.”
She eyed him appreciatively. Who wouldn’t? He was a credit to the male species.
I got crazy and ordered a virgin daiquiri, and Ryan ordered a Coke. Yeah, we were really wild. Alec gave him a hard time for not drinking, but he brushed it off. I knew it wasn’t the best thing for either of us to be drinking sugar laced beverages since we were training for a race that weekend, but oh well. I was going to die either way, and Ryan was going to be amazing.
“Congratulations,” Hayes yelled across the table to me. The game had started and everyone was yelling at the T.V. “Ryan told us you passed your CPA exam.”
I smiled over at my proud boyfriend before answering. “Thank you. Now I’m trying to get back into school.”
“MBA not enough for you?” Hayes asked.
“No.” I smiled.
“She’s going to be a psychologist,” Ryan added before kissing my head.
I loved this Ryan.
“Did we come here to watch the game or not?” Alec barked.
We all turned our attention to the game, but not before we thanked Ivy for bringing our drinks and the most ginormous platter of nachos I had ever seen. Rob had ordered them and told us all to help ourselves. No one needed a second invitation. The spicy meat and cheese concoction was oh, so good, but I’m sure super bad for you. I washed it down with some of my other unhealthy choice for the night. I took a large drink of my daiquiri and something was definitely different. At first I thought maybe the jalapenos had burned off my taste buds, so I took another sip. It was still different, but really yummy, so like an idiot I kept drinking it. I didn’t realize that perhaps the burning sensation wasn’t the spicy nachos. Besides, I was having such a great time with Ryan that everything else was secondary. And like a bigger idiot, I had more than one.
I had a great time yelling at the refs and cheering on my favorite football team. Ryan kept smiling over at me.
“Am I embarrassing you?”
“Are you kidding me? I’m not sure if you’ve ever been sexier to me.”
Suddenly I was feeling very warm and fuzzy; it was kind of an odd, freeing sensation. He had this effect on me and I loved it. I didn’t care that we were with his friends, or in a room full of people, I leaned into him and let my lips fall on his. I saw him grin right before our lips met.
He kissed me once, but pulled away and looked at me oddly. “You taste different, and my lips kind of tingled.”
I laughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever said.
“You did say virgin daiquiri, right?”
“Of course.”
He looked over at my almost completely empty glass and picked it up. He took the final sip, set it down, and laughed. “Charlee, there was nothing virgin about that drink.”
I leaned into him again, I couldn’t help myself. “What do you mean?”
He laughed again, pulled me closer, and kissed the top of my head.
Ivy walked by to ask if we wanted our drinks refilled.
“What did you bring Charlee to drink?” Ryan asked her.
“A virgin daiquiri like she asked.”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He handed Ivy the glass.
“I guess the bartender misunderstood me,” she said, or at least I think that’s what she said.
My brain was swirling, and I wasn’t sure I heard her right. All I could focus on was Ryan, and even that was becoming difficult. “Ryan, I don’t feel so hot.” I continued to lean against him.
He took a hold of me. I think his friends were asking what was going on and the verdict was I was accidentally trashed. I think Ivy was profusely apologizing and Ryan was chuckling and stroking my hair. “She doesn’t ever drink. Now I see why.”
His friends were laughing at me. I knew I should probably care, but my head was pounding.
“Ryan,” I managed to say. “I don’t feel right.”
“Can you stand up?”
I stood up, and the whole room seemed to move. Ryan wrapped his arm around me as I clung to him. “Let’s get you home.”
“I’m so sorry,” I heard Ivy say.
“Don’t worry abo
ut it,” Ryan replied for me.
Ryan began to move, but I didn’t want to. I felt like the world was spinning and if I moved, I would fall.
“I have you. Come on, Charlee.”
I trusted his voice and made my legs move. It felt like it took forever to make it outside. The place was crowded, and with each step I felt unsure.
As soon as we made it outside, Ryan picked me up as if I weighed nothing.
I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I kind of like this arrangement. Your dad may kill me, though.”
“I would laugh, but my head hurts and I feel like I’m going to toss my cookies.”
“Well, let’s see if we can’t get you home first.”
When we reached his car, he carefully set me in and buckled me in like I was Josh.
I leaned my head against the cool glass of the passenger side window and willed myself not to throw up in Ryan’s car. I was so embarrassed. Why did I keep drinking those stupid drinks?
Ryan reached over and held my hand. “Are you ok?”
“Not really.”
It felt like the longest car ride ever, but at least I didn’t throw up. I was never ever drinking again. I didn’t know how people did it. I wanted to curl up in a ball and die.
Ryan came around and, with as much care as he used placing me in the car, he picked me up.
I groaned and sank into him.
“Now the neighbors really are going to talk,” he teased.
“I’ll laugh about that later.”
Ryan kissed my head and walked us up the porch. He deftly rang the doorbell with me still in his arms. We waited, but no answer. That was weird. My dad hadn’t mentioned he was going anywhere. Ryan gently set me down, but kept a hold of me, so he could reach into his pocket. I guess he had a house key, which was good since I left my purse in his car.
We barely made it in and to the guest bathroom in the hall before I lost it. As soon as I felt better, I was going to be mortified. What was worse, or the sweetest thing ever, was he stayed in there with me and held my hair. I felt like I was going to die. The vomiting wasn’t helping me feel any better, either. After I lost everything I had eaten in the last ten years, I collapsed on the cool tile floor of the bathroom.
Trouble in Loveland Page 25
