by S. K. Lessly
I snorted a laugh and smiled at him, inwardly thanking him for the subject change.
The next hour, we talked mostly about how it used to be with my mom and dad, all the fun we had playing board games or watching movies and going to the beach. He told me he couldn’t believe my parents were separated. Hell, neither did I.
From the explanations of both parents, my dad had expressed to my mom he was tired of living here. He wanted to move to Florida and live out the rest of their days in sunshine, warm weather, and blue skies. My mom wasn’t so keen on leaving Dover. She was set in her ways, telling my dad they were too old for adventure and providing excuse after excuse why they shouldn’t move away.
To be honest, my mom was just being stubborn. She was afraid of change, always had been, which I explained to Ethan. My mom never wanted to go anywhere or travel outside the state. I wasn’t sure of events that led up to my dad moving out. I guessed he’d had enough, packed his clothes and left. My parents weren’t divorced, but my dad had been gone for two years now.
When my mom was diagnosed, I asked her if she was going to tell my father. She said he already knew and decided not to come home. I believed her and was pissed at my dad, but I never confronted him about it. Now, I wish I had called him to express my displeasure. I later found out that my mom never told him she was sick. He had no clue until I called to tell him she had taken a turn for the worse and that he should come up here if he felt anything for his wife. The man was stunned and flabbergasted, which threw me off.
I had to explain everything that happened since she was diagnosed. To say my dad was livid was an understatement. However, when I told him she had run out of time, it was crushing to hear him break. I had never seen or heard my father cry, but he did that day and it was gut wrenching to hear.
Ethan and I hung out a little bit longer before he announced he needed to be going. He told me he had an early day tomorrow and needed to get some work done before his meetings tomorrow.
I walked him back inside to say goodbye to my mom, but she was fast asleep. He kissed the top of her head anyway, caressing her cheek and saying his goodbye. When he signaled that he was ready, I led him to the front door, opened it and smiled up at him as he stepped past me.
“Say, what are you doing tomorrow night?” he asked, turning around to face me.
“Probably the same thing I’m doing now, packing up this house. Cleaning. Why?”
“Why don’t I take you out to a real restaurant for dinner? We could really catch up.”
I chuckled lightly. “What? You didn’t like Samson’s Diner?”
He smiled and shook his head. “I think I can do better than that.” He rolled his eyes and added, “Well, as good as Dover will allow anyway.”
I laughed. “I know, right! This town doesn’t have much by way of fancy restaurants, unless you count the casino.”
It was his turn to chuckle. “I couldn’t agree more. But I’m sure we can find a place to get a proper meal. What do you say? Can you get away for a few? I promise we won’t be out too late.”
I tossed a glance behind me then back at Ethan. “Umm…sure. I guess that will be okay. What time?”
“How about 6:30?”
I nodded. “Sounds good.”
We said our goodbyes and I watched him drive away. I stood outside staring out in the distance for a few more minutes, taking in the warm summer night air. I couldn’t believe, after all these years, Ethan had stepped back into my life. There were so many things I wanted to talk to him about, to ask him. I just hoped I’d get the chance to say all the things I’d dreamed about saying. Who knew, maybe this was a start of having him back in my life permanently.
My lips curled into a huge smile as I thought about how great having Ethan back would be and I headed back inside. Butterflies were soaring in my belly and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling big. I had my best friend back in my life.
Chapter Four
Alexis
The next day, I worked my tail off to keep busy so I wouldn’t think about seeing Ethan again. To say I was excited would be an understatement of epic proportions. I couldn’t wait.
By the end of the day, I had completed packing the upstairs bedrooms, bathrooms, and closets. There were two bedrooms upstairs, including my mom's room. She didn’t have much except clothes and some toiletries, perfumes, make-up, etc. I packed those things away, along with clothes and shoes and had the boxes and crates lined up in the living room.
I made plans for most of my mom’s things. Some of the boxes and crates of clothes, shoes, knickknacks and furniture were going to be donated to local charities. The rest of her things would be sold at the neighborhood garage sale at the end of this week.
As I was cleaning out one of the spare bedrooms, I stumbled on a crate full of stuff—family pictures, science fair awards, and other awards that I’d won throughout my school years.
I brought the crate downstairs and dumped the contents all over the living room floor so I could see everything better. I gathered my ribbons and certificates to the side and concentrated on the ton of pictures lying in front of me. One of them caught my eye immediately and I smiled. It was a cute baby picture of yours truly. I grinned at the photo, made myself comfortable on the floor and dove into the history that was my life.
My father was obsessed with taking pictures, claiming he had to document our memories so we could look back on all the great times we’d had as a family.
Back then I called him eccentric, crazy, a pain in my behind. Now, as I noticed all of the pictures of my mom and me, I was glad he was obsessed.
He took lots of pictures of my mom and me cooking together, me hanging out with her while she worked on her garden out back, or just sitting around talking about nothing, everything. My mom was my everything and you could tell in these pictures how much I thought so. And even though my chest ached something fierce, my dad's obsession gave me the chance to hold on to my mom the best way I could.
Much to my surprise, there were numerous amounts of pictures of me and Ethan too. Some I remembered but others I had no clue we had. I shouldn’t have been surprised. There were some with us working on our science projects, of us studying, playing outside or just horsing around inside the house. The pictures made me smile and long for the days when things were simple, easy. I had the people that I loved surrounding me. Now, I could barely hold on to them.
As I grew older, I had become the subject of my father’s obsession. I picked up one picture of me that brought back fond yet painful memories. It was my first year in college and I came home and surprised my parents with a new look.
My hair had been straightened and over the side of my shoulder. I had on a long maxi dress that slightly hugged my curves, light makeup and most importantly, no glasses.
My dad took so many pictures of me that day I started to shy away.
I remembered saying, “Dad, you’re acting like you’ll never see me again.”
He just grinned at me and repeated something he always said when I griped about pictures. “Trust me, you’ll be thanking me for taking all these pictures.”
Well, he was right about that. I was very thankful.
“That’s not what I think it is?”
I jumped slightly at the sound of a voice coming from my doorway. I looked up and saw Ethan standing inside my house. Apparently, I hadn’t locked the screen door, nor did I hear him open it and step inside. I couldn’t move much less talk as I took him in.
He was dressed casually, a pair of dark blue pants and sky-blue polo shirt. He wore black, expensive looking shoes and a nice silver watch on his wrist. His hair was cut shorter than I’d seen him last and his angular jaw was free of stubble. He looked mouth-watering good, sexy, hot. I had to fight to moisten my dry mouth in order to speak.
“You’re early.” I looked up at the clock on the wall to make sure I was right. I was. He had said six and it was almost five o’clock.
I stood, snapping out of my trance an
d greeted him by giving him a quick hug.
“I know. I got done with my meeting early and decided to come over and spend time with your mom.”
He made his way over to the mess I made, squatted, and picked up a picture of me and him and the huge solar system we’d built. He and I were so serious about our science fair projects back in the day. When we constructed the solar system, we decided we would make it animated by making the moons orbit each planet. We painted and designed each planet based off the pictures we found, trying to bring the system to life. Needless to say, we placed first in that science fair and many others. No one was more creative than we were, that was for damn sure.
“I remember this picture,” he said, grinning up at me.
I stepped closer, dropped back down to the floor, and leaned in closer to see the picture he had in his hand. “Yeah, that was the first of many science fairs we won. Did you win any science fairs in Detroit?”
He shook his head. “Nah, my love for science died when I left.”
I watched him pick up more pictures and stare silently at them. After some time passed, and seeing him settled on the floor having his own trip down memory lane, I stood. “Uh, I’m gonna go get cleaned up. Emma should be here soon. Do you mind letting her in?”
“No problem,” he replied without removing his eyes from the picture he had in his hand. It was one of the pictures my dad took of me when I came home with my new look. It had been later in the day, after dinner, and I was sitting on the front porch banister looking out into the street.
I’d had no idea my dad was there until I heard the click of his camera. Just then, I remembered asking, “Dad, why did you take my picture? I look a wreck.”
He had answered softly, which made me blush then and now, “No, you look so beautiful, baby. Like an angel.”
What he didn’t know was how sad I’d been that day. I had been thinking about Ethan, staring at his old house across the street, wishing I could see and talk to him again.
“Hey,” Ethan called out, snapping me out of my flashback.
I met his eyes. “Huh?”
“Weren’t you about to go and get ready?”
“Oh right, thanks.” I started to leave but turned back to see him staring at that picture again. I smiled and headed to my room at the back of the house to take a shower and get ready.
I emerged a bit later wearing a simple pink, white, and black button up sleeveless top and jeans. I put on a pair of pink wedges and fixed my face a little to hide the puffy eyes and bags I knew I carried under my eyes. I kept my hair down, running the flat iron over it quickly so it would lay along my shoulders.
Ethan watched me when I approached him. He was sitting next to my mom and she was looking right at his face, her eyes yet again clear and full of life.
I smiled at the sight, again fighting back tears, cleared my throat and spoke. “You ready to go?”
I passed Emma in the kitchen on my way from my room and told her I would only be ten minutes away if anything went wrong.
He rose and nodded then looked down at my mom. “Mama Millie, I’ll come back to see you again, okay?”
My mom nodded her head. “Okay, sweetheart.”
He kissed her cheek and I came up and kissed her as well. Before I could step away, she gripped my forearm, stopping me from moving away. “Oh my, look at you two!” she exclaimed, looking at both of us.
Ethan and I looked at each other, a bit too long if you asked me, before we brought our eyes back to my mom. She then floored me with her next statement. “It’s about time he got his head out of his ass and asked you to marry him.”
I blanched and brought my stunned eyes to Ethan. He, on the other hand, just stared blankly at me.
I moved my attention back to my mom and said quickly, “Mama, Ethan and I aren’t getting married.”
“Sure, you are,” she said sternly, giving me an exasperated look.
I shook my head. “No Mama, Ethan and I are just friends, remember? Like brother and sister?”
I looked at him for confirmation, but he gave me a frown that told me he didn’t agree with our title. Stunned, I raised my own eyebrows in question. What was that look for?
My mother harrumphed, bringing the attention back to her. “You two are getting married. I know it. I’m just waiting for you two to get a clue and realize you two belong together.” She ended with such finality, it hurt.
I shook my head again and squeezed her hand. “Mama, remember I’m getting married to Lionel. You remember him?”
She frowned and huffed. “He’s no good for you, Lexis. You listen to mama. Let that man go!”
I started to protest, completely embarrassed, but just like that, my mom turned her head and tuned us out. She started watching television as if we no longer existed.
***
Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at an Olive Garden off route 1. We were sitting at a corner table in a somewhat empty restaurant. Ethan wanted to order a bottle of wine, but I stopped him, telling him I get migraines when I drink wine.
“Wine gives you headaches?” he asked.
“Oh no, not just a headache. It feels like someone is jack hammering the side of my head then pounding it with a sledgehammer. I get sick to my stomach, throw up all over the place. It isn’t pretty.”
Ethan nodded, frowning. “Okay, then it’s settled. No bottle for you, just for me.” He smiled and holy crap my heart skipped a few beats. I took a few gulps of water to try and stamp down the excitement raging through me. I was at dinner, with Ethan!
Someone pinch me!
Our waitress came back, thank goodness, with the bottle of wine for Ethan and a sweet tea for me. We also took that time to place our food orders, ordering a Tour of Italy for him and a lasagna for me.
Once the waitress left, promising to be back with salad and warm breadsticks, I decided to take a journey down memory lane. I figured that would be a safe topic to start off with. It was better than sitting here, staring into an amazing set of green eyes, wondering if the boy I had crushed on for years missed me at all.
“Hey, so I’ve been wondering something for a long time.”
“Uh huh?” he retorted encouragingly, sipping on his glass of wine, his green eyes studying me intently.
I gulped and cleared my throat. “Erm, do you remember that day you had a fight with Jerry?” I asked him while taking a sip of my sweet tea.
He put down his glass of wine, tilted his head and regarded me. “Uh, which one? I had many.”
I chuckled at that because he was right. Still, there was one in particular I was asking about.
“That’s true, you did have many. But I’m talking about the one that you started.”
“Again, which one would that be? I did start quite a few.”
I chuckled again and shook my head at the truth he revealed. “Yeah, you did, didn’t you?”
Ethan sent a smile my way then paused and nodded, snapping his fingers and pointing at me. “I think I know which one you’re talking about. It was the time I got expelled from school. I walked into your classroom and punched him in the face. Is that the time you’re speaking about?”
I nodded. “Yes, that’s the one. You just walked right in Mr. Skumis’s class and belted him.”
Ethan smiled at the memory, his face filled with mirth and a hint of enjoyment. “Okay, yeah I remember. What about it?”
“Well, I always wanted to know why you walked in and punched him like that.” I put my hair nervously behind my ears as Ethan watched me. “Do you remember?”
“Yeah, I remember quite well, actually. I’m surprised you don’t. It was your dad’s fault.”
“My dad?” I asked, my eyes wide with shock.
“Yup, your dad. You see, one day your dad saw me coming home all beat up. My nose was bleeding, my face dirty and clothes ripped. He guided me to his garage so he could clean me up, not wanting your mom to see me and go crazy. He thought my mom had done something to me, and you know how
fond your mom was of mine.”
It was my turn to scoff. My mom hated Ethan’s mom. If she’d thought for a second that she hurt Ethan, my mom would have gone over to his house and beat her ass for sure.
“Anyway,” he went on, “once he got me situated, your father said to me…” Ethan narrowed his eyes and took on a stern look, imitating my father. I giggled, remembering how much my dad loved to give out stern looks before he lectured you on whatever. “… ‘Son, what’s going on with you? This isn’t like you, using violence to solve your problems. You’re smarter than this.’”
I laughed at the voice he was using, and I could imagine my dad saying that very thing.
Grinning, he asked, “Do you remember how often me and your father would spend time in the garage hanging out after dinner?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I used to wonder all the time what you guys were doing.”
“I bet you were. To put you out of your misery, he and I would spend time in there working on his car, talking about bullshit and bonding. Well that day, as he cleaned up my face, I told him about what was happening to you at school and that the bruising on my face was because I was protecting you.”
I stopped smiling. “You told him about that?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I did. I told you, me and your dad were tight. I could talk to him about anything and he’d listen without judgment. Anyway, I noticed your father stand a little straighter as I told him some of the things Clint and his friends were doing. I told him, ‘I can’t just stand by and not protect her.’ He just looked at me up and down, then finished cleaning me up. When he was done, he gave me his determine, stern eyes and said to me, ‘Well, if you’re hell bent on protecting her, you need to know how to do it properly’. So, he taught me how to box.”
“You’re kidding?” I was shocked as hell but not surprised. My dad used to do some amateur boxing in his day, and he told me he had a couple of wins under his belt but he never did it professionally. I was shocked mostly because my dad changed when I was born, his words not mine. He became all about peace and non-violence. Suffice it to say, I didn’t think he would ever be okay with Ethan fighting for my honor.
