Crystal Ball

by Laney Kay

  He laughed. “You’re only a wimp because you’re just stepping back out into the dating world and it’s kind of scary, even if it’s with someone you’re comfortable with. Let’s just take it slow and we’ll hang out as much, or as little, as you want.” He squeezed my hand. “Look, even though Glenda and I hadn’t really had a relationship for years before she left, it was still weird for me asking someone out and actually dating again, too.”

  “I appreciate that.” I wanted him to understand why this was all so strange to me. “Luke, the worst part of this is that I don’t feel like myself. I feel like I’ve become one of those crazy women that guys always bitch about, and that’s not who or what I am. And yes, I’m sure that’s what all crazy people say, but the reality is that I’m really not.”

  That made him laugh. “Daisy, I know you’re not one of those crazy women.”

  “No. Seriously. I’m never moody, I’m not irrational, I’m not overly emotional, and I rarely get mad, but lately I feel like I’m all over the place.”

  He took his other hand and placed it over both of ours. “Daisy. Seriously. I know that. If it makes you feel better, I think everyone goes through this same process. It’s a big deal adjusting to being single and actually dating again after you’ve been with the same person your entire adult life. The good news is that I’m positive, or at least ninety percent sure, maybe, that you’re through the worst of it.”

  I stuck out my tongue at him. “Ha. Ha. Ninety percent, huh?” He winked at me, squeezed my hand again and then let it go. We drank the rest of our coffee and he ate the rest of the biscotti. Once he was done, he stood up, put both of our plates in the sink, and leaned against the counter. “You feel better?”

  “I do.” I felt much better and I smiled at him.

  He must have liked what he saw because he winked at me and grinned. “So I’ll come by tomorrow evening about six so we can walk the mutts?”

  I nodded. “Sure. Sounds great.” I was so relieved that the tension between us was gone.

  I stood up and we walked to the front door then he turned to face me. He looked at me and smiled. “Is it going to freak you out if I kiss you goodnight?” He stuck out his hand. “I’m perfectly fine with one of your hearty handshakes, if not.”

  That made me laugh. “No, I think a kiss would be fine.” He carefully put his hands on my waist and pulled me closer and his head lowered to mine.

  His lips were soft, but firm, and at first, he just gave me a little peck on the lips. Then, as I relaxed, he moved back in and kissed me a little harder. My hands crept up from my sides to his shoulders and I kind of moaned a little at the way his arms and shoulders felt under my hands. Damn, that man has muscles on his muscles. When my lips parted slightly, I felt his tongue touch mine, first gently and then more strongly as his tongue swept into my mouth.

  Lawd have mercy, I’ve forgotten how hot a kiss can be. Bobby was never much of a kisser and foreplay kind of guy. Don’t get me wrong, sex was always fun and I enjoyed it with Bobby, but Luke was a whole different story. I could tell that he was a man who really enjoyed the process.

  His hands moved from my waist to my hips as he pulled me closer. My heart was pounding and I could hear his harsh breathing in my ear. I could feel his hard body against the front of my body and I felt like my knees were going to give out. His kisses were overwhelming, and I was just starting to think that maybe sex here against the front door wasn’t such a bad idea, when suddenly he pulled back.

  We looked at each other, both of us breathless and wide-eyed, and he said, “Holy shit.”

  We both started laughing and he hugged me tightly. He lowered his head and started kissing my neck, gentle little sucking kisses that just about made me pass out. When my head fell back and I moaned again, he stopped and took a small step back, like he felt like he needed to stop, but I could tell he didn’t really want to.

  I nodded, mainly because I didn’t trust my voice to come out as anything other than a little squeak or a moan, neither of which would be anything but embarrassing. He smiled and kissed me on the forehead, then grabbed my hands from his shoulders and pulled them against his chest. He kissed me one more time, a quick little playful smack on the lips, and then he pulled away. Probably before he changed his mind and started kissing me again. Let face it, both of us knew that if he started again, there was a good chance he wasn’t going to be leaving. He opened the door, told me he’d see me tomorrow evening, and left.

  I leaned against the door to catch my breath. I haven’t felt like that in years. In fact, I can honestly say that I’d forgotten what sweaty, heart pounding, knee-weakening, good, old-fashioned lust feels like. My mouth felt swollen and my heart was still pounding, and I knew if he came back right now, I would probably drag him down onto the nearest horizontal surface. Or vertical.

  After a few pleasant moments imagining how great that would be, I shook myself enough to call the dogs to take them outside. I grabbed my phone and called Lola on the way to the backyard.

  She didn’t even bother to say hello, she just started bitching at me. “For the love of God, why in the hell are you calling me so early?” She barked. “I didn’t want to hear from you until tomorrow morning when you called to tell me that you just kicked him out after a big breakfast following a night of drunken, screaming sex.”

  I rolled my eyes, just as she said, “Don’t roll your eyes at me. A girl can dream, can’t she?” I laughed and explained to her that he had just left, there had been no drunken, screaming sex, but we had a pretty great time in general, with one small freakout in the middle.

  She sounded impatient. “What did you do, you damn chicken? What, did he try to hold your hand and you punched him in the face, what?!”

  The mental picture of that made me laugh. “No, there was no punching, and he’s been holding my hand, smarty-ass, so that’s not an issue.” I took a deep breath, because I knew Lola was going to give me hell when I told her my actual issue. “Actually, he made a joke about us both needing a shower after eating Low country boil, and the next thing I know, I’m thinking that, at some point, I’d have to get naked if I wanted to have sex with him, which I do eventually, because, let’s face it, he’s hot. At that point, my chubby little round self is going to be naked with his big, perfect, beautiful self, and that contrast between us just seems like a terrible idea.”

  I finally took a breath and waited for Lola to let me have it with a big self-esteem lecture. I was shocked when she actually sounded sympathetic instead. “You know, I bet that is scary. You’ve only been with two guys in your whole life, and the first was when you were eighteen and then Bobby, and let’s face it, everyone looks great at eighteen.” She paused, “But Daisy, I gotta tell you, some things never change. The good news is that guys are all simple creatures. They’re so excited about having a naked woman in their bed, trust me, all they see is naked. They don’t see skinny, they don’t see fat, they don’t see stretch marks. They see naked boobs, butts, and a hoo-hah, and they are all kinds of thrilled.”

  I laughed. I know that’s true. I’ve had guy friends all my life, plus, I know when things were good with us, Bobby was just as excited with big boobs at 40 as he was at 20. I could hear Lola smiling through the phone. “Look, if the totally naked thing freaks you out, get you some little short, stretchy, see-through nightie and some candles. Make sure you can pull it down so those huge boobs of yours can pop out over the top, wear a thong that makes that big round butt of yours look fabulous, and he won’t even notice you’re not naked.”

  Lola was right, as usual. She knows me well enough to appreciate that I’m a planner by nature, so now that I know how to handle it, if sex ever does come up, I’ll be fine. I’ll go lingerie shopping, buy some nice candles, and if and when it becomes an issue, I’ll be ready. Problem solved. I’m not so good when things come out of left field. Please refer back to the mutilated-testicle-when-told-about-pregnant-teenage-girlfriend if you want to see some proof of that.

>   I stayed up and read for a while and was about to turn out the light when the phone rang. I rolled over to look and it was Sara. When I picked up the phone, Mo and Sara were both on the line and they said they’d all been out to dinner together and were back at Sara’s house and they wanted to know how the date went. I told them it went fine and that we were going to walk the dogs tomorrow night. And I asked them how many bottles of wine they had shared.

  There was a dead silence. “Two, maybe three at the most. Well?” Sara asked impatiently.

  I played dumb. “Well, what?”

  I could hear both of them whispering and finally, Mo said, “So is he still there?”

  I started laughing. “Would I have answered the phone if he was still here? No, he’s not still here.”

  They both sounded disappointed, and I laughed. “Look, it went great. We had a great dinner, we’re getting together tomorrow night…”

  I could almost hear Sara’s eyes rolling in her head as she interrupted. “So y’all can walk the dogs. Oh yeah, that’s totally hot.”

  I tried to defend myself. “That could be hot. You don’t know. Something could happen after we walk the dogs. Or instead of walking the dogs.”

  I knew they’d never buy that. “Whatever,” Sara said dismissively. “I’m sure that’ll happen. Did you kiss him, at least?”

  I smiled in memory. “Oh yeah. And I have to admit, that was pretty wonderful.”

  Amazing. That actually shut them up. I heard Mo say, “Hmmm…” at the same time Sara let out a huge “Well, hot damn! Thank you, Jesus! It’s like you’re finally rejoining the living.”

  “Look, you dumbasses, y’all act like I’ve been hibernating like a nun for the past twenty years. It’s only been a year or so since ‘the vehicular testicular smackdown,’ and during that time I’ve gotten divorced…”

  “From a sleazy douchebag who knocked up his skanky ‘ho adolescent girlfriend,” interrupted Sara.

  “Bought a house, moved, started a new job while keeping my old job, and have actually gone on a date.” Holy shit, that sounded like a lot when you spelled it out like that. “I think I’ve done pretty well in about a year.”

  Mo was supportive, as usual. “That is a lot, when you put it like that.”

  Sara was not as impressed. “Okay, I guess that is a lot, but damn, now it’s time to jump back on the sex horse. Especially when that horse is my fine-looking cousin. We’ve all seen the way he looks at you and I’m telling you that one tiny yes, and he’s all over you.”

  I asked her to please drop the horse metaphor, because that just sounded nasty, and told them I was hanging up because I was tired. We agreed to meet Wednesday for lunch since Mo had the day off, and Sara said she’d shoot Lola a text to see if she wanted to join us. I wished them good night and hung up, shaking my head and laughing. I whistled for the dogs, they came in, and we all went to bed.

  10

  The next evening Luke came over and we walked the dogs, and pretty soon, we were walking the dogs every evening. After several weeks, we had a nice little routine going. Luke and I would do our own thing during the weekdays, and we would see each other most nights to walk the dogs. Some nights we’d hang out for a while after we walked the dogs, some nights he’d go right home. Occasionally, we’d meet for a meal if we were both free. On the weekends, we’d hang out with friends, go kayaking or bike riding, and go to dinner.

  We did a lot of kissing and touching and just making out like teenagers while we were together, but both of us agreed to take our time before we actually became intimate. I will say that now, I’m about ready to jump all over him.

  It’s been wonderful to take the time to really get to know each other. He’s enjoyed getting reacquainted with our old group, and I know that everyone is happy that we are seeing each other and getting along so well. He has told everyone about his issues in New Orleans and about his plans to start doing construction on a much smaller scale, and Mo has already gotten him a job doing a couple of projects for her sister, Laura. It has been a really a nice, comfortable time.

  I went with him to his sister’s birthday party and his family was lovely. Luke looked and acted just like his dad, his mom was warm and charming, and his sister still teased him unmercifully. I’d warned him that my family wouldn’t be as easy as his, but surprisingly, when he met my folks a couple of times and then my entire family at my dad’s birthday party, it was relatively painless. I tried to tell them all we were just friends so my mom wouldn’t torment him, but none of them bought it. I could tell my brothers and dad really liked him, although I later told Luke that I was pretty sure that my father would probably run a background check on him. Luke turned a little pasty at that, worried that Dad would freak out about the whole Katrina thing, but I promised him that I would explain it all if Dad asked me about it. Actually, I stopped by my dad’s office the day after the party to head off any problems, but I was too late. By the time I got there, he’d already run a check, gotten concerned, and called an FBI buddy in New Orleans who had given him the whole story and assured him that Luke was a great guy. My mom was just thrilled that I was dating a straight man who dressed better than me, as if that was some high bar to surpass, so her goal now was to get me married to him ASAP. Bless her heart, I love her, but that woman drives me crazy.

  I like where Luke and I are in our relationship, but I’m not saying it’s perfect. He’s a great guy, but he’s not a wimp and we’ve had a few incidents where we’ve butted heads. He can be bossy and overbearing, and I really like to be left alone to do what I want, so when he tries to tell me what to do or we disagree, there can be sparks. The good news is that neither of us holds grudges, so we get past any disagreements pretty quickly.

  Our first big blow up was when Luke and I took the pups for a walk and ran into Greg, the guy who owned the landscaping company that took care of my old house. I introduced them, and then Greg turned to me and, in front of Luke, asked if I’d like to grab dinner sometime. Before I could say no, Luke got in his face and told Greg I was with him and for him to butt out. Next thing you know, he and Greg were in some ridiculous pissing contest. I just rolled my eyes and kept walking, ignoring them both.

  I had cooled down by the time the pups and I reached my street, but I was still aggravated. I was starting up my front sidewalk when Luke caught up. I kept ignoring him. When I opened the door and started inside, Luke caught my wrist and asked if we could talk. I motioned him inside and then followed him in, stopping to unharness the boys and get them some water. I sat at the table and waved at the chair across from me. “Sit down if you want.”

  He sat down and it was obvious he was still annoyed. “Daisy, sorry about that.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “That didn’t sound very sincere. What was that all about? You were acting like a total jackass. For future reference, I am perfectly capable of turning down a date without your help.”

  He was looking down, shredding a paper napkin, and muttered. “Yeah, well, I didn’t see you turning it down.”

  “You didn’t give me a chance.”

  He wadded up the paper remnants and sighed as he looked me in the eye. “That’s true. Bottom line, Daisy, I didn’t like the fact he asked you out right in front of me and you didn’t say no.”

  “I couldn’t say yes, no, maybe, or never before you jumped in and started acting like a dick. Look, Luke, we don’t have any exclusive arrangement that I’m aware of, so technically, I can go out with whomever I want.” I had no desire to date anyone else, but I was mad and wanted to poke him a little.

  It worked. I saw his cheeks flush and he narrowed his eyes at me. “That’s interesting. I was under the impression that we were dating each other exclusively.”

  I raised my eyebrows at his comment. “Really? Because I don’t remember that conversation. But for the record, as far as I’m concerned, it won’t be a problem in the future, because I’m not sure I want to date anyone, especially you.” I got up to get myself a drink and
didn’t offer one to him.

  He sat there fuming, drumming his fingers on the table. I poured a glass of tea and sat back down and we stared at each other. Finally, he broke the silence. “Well. For the record, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t want to date anyone but you and I don’t want you dating anyone but me. So what do you think we should do about that?”

  I was fine by that point, but I wasn’t ready to cave yet. Any Southern woman can tell you not to give in too quickly during an argument. It sets a bad precedent. I crossed my arms and looked at him. “What do I think we should do? I don’t think I should do anything, because that doesn’t sound like my problem.”

  He glared at me and then stood up and headed over to the cabinet. “Mind if I get some tea?”

  I shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”

  He grabbed a glass, got some ice, poured some tea, and returned to his seat. When I still didn’t say anything, he took a gulp of tea and then put the glass down. He studied my face, like he was trying to get some idea of what I was thinking. Finally he decided to take another tack. “How about this?” He reached over and cupped my cheek gently. “Daisy, I’m sorry I acted like a jealous jackass. I know you can handle yourself.”

  I smiled at him. “That was better.”

  He ran his hands through his hair and then started fiddling with his glass as he chose his words carefully. “I want to discuss something with you. I really enjoy your company, and other than right now, we usually have a great time together. What would you think about us dating each other exclusively?”

  I looked at him with big eyes and the most innocent look I could muster. “Really? I pretty much assumed that we were only dating each other, but I guess it’s not a bad idea to make it official.”

  I started laughing at the look on his face. He groaned, stood up, pulled me out of my chair and kissed me. He then turned, grabbed my arms, and swung me up onto his back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist and I kissed his ear while he galloped me piggy back out to the porch so we could watch the dogs and hang out for a while. That night, he brought me a bag of my favorite coffee and he gave me a foot massage and then he kissed me and we fooled around until I forgot all about being mad. I’m pretty easy that way.