Perseverance (Disenchanted Book 2)

by L. D. Davis

  He nodded again. “I can understand that. What about now? You didn’t fail. In fact, you’ve made decent progress.”

  I glanced away and my words grew quiet. “Well, it’s not like we talk that much. He’s so caught up with his family over there.”

  What I didn’t say was that he was so caught up with Celia.

  “So, you’re not going to tell him at all? I’m sure he’ll notice that your gait is better. I noticed right away.”

  “Then I guess I’ll surprise him, whenever he decides to return. If he decides to return.”

  Adam stared at me with a straight face for so long that it began to make me uncomfortable.

  “What?” I muttered as I shifted in my seat and pushed my hair behind my ear.

  “You’re so Degrassi High sullen.”

  “Will you stop referring to me as a high school drama?”

  “I can’t help it. You’re so depressing. He’s not there on vacation, Lydia. His brother has a very serious and deadly disease. He will be back, and he’ll probably be back in time for your sister’s wedding. You’ll be able to impress him with your stellar dance moves without falling on your silly, pretty face.”

  “It’s not the time he’s spending with his brother that concerns me. It’s the time he is spending with his brother’s wife that concerns me, and I don’t have stellar dance moves. Not the kind of dance moves Celeste and Marco displayed at Aiko’s vapid egotist party.”

  “Then I will have to teach you. Then you can surprise him with your improved limb and your dancing.”

  I had my doubts, but I didn’t want to drag down the afternoon with my unhappy thoughts about Marco. Maybe Adam was right. Maybe Marco would come back, and everything would be fine, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

  Chapter Nine

  The kids were excited when they found out we would have a guest after all. It was clear early on that Adam wasn’t often around children. He was very kind and friendly toward them, but he seemed petrified when Cora hung on his arm or Mandy put her hands up to be picked up.

  “What does it want me to do?” he whispered to me with fear on his face.

  “It wants you to pick it up so it can tear your throat out and feast on your blood,” I whispered back. I handed him a paring knife and gestured to a bowl of potatoes. “Since you are a surgeon, I think I can trust you to peel potatoes, can’t I?”

  “I didn’t know I’d have to work for my meal,” he muttered but got started on the task.

  Dinner with the kids and Adam was fun. There was plenty of chatter and laughter, and he regaled Gavi with some of his grossest surgical experiences. Maybe that wasn’t exactly the best conversation under the circumstances, but I didn’t mind. The kids were happy and even though he’d been awkward with them in the beginning, Adam fit right in. I felt better than I had in days, but there was still that underlying sadness and gloom.

  The rest of the evening was low-key and relaxing. It was especially relaxing thanks to the bottles of wine Adam supplied. Instead of watching a movie as a family like I’d originally planned, we played some aggressive rounds of Uno, and Adam taught Cora and Gavi how to play poker. He made all of us laugh with his ridiculous examples of a poker face. Mandy was first to crash on the living room floor where she’d been watching Tangled for the bazillionth time. I sent Cora up to bed when she started to drift off on the couch. Gav stayed up for a little while longer but announced that he was “Turkey Tired” and went up after a weird handshake thing with Adam.

  “Your kids are mad cool,” Adam said as he lifted a picture frame of the kids from a shelf.

  I covered Mandy up with a blanket and shrugged. “Yeah, they’re not bad. Sometimes I consider turning them in for newer models, but I think the worst has happened, and they’ve grown on me.”

  He put the frame down and cringed. “I hate when that happens. You still want to learn some dancing? I have some time on my hands before I turn into a squash.”

  “Do you have somewhere to be by midnight, Cinderella?”

  “Nah. I just don’t want to overstay my welcome.”

  I waved a hand dismissively. “That happened the moment you walked in the door, but yes, teach me how to Dougie.”

  He shook his head as he reached into the satchel he’d brought with him. “I don’t know why I like you. You’re so corny. Here, catch.”

  I put my hands out just in time to catch the small jar he tossed to me. I turned it in my hands, reading the label.

  “It’s the cream I promised you.”

  I looked at him. “But you said you wouldn’t give it to me until after I made every appointment leading up to the wedding.”

  “That was before I saw how well you’ve done on your own. What I gave you is just a sample size, though. If it works for you, and if you like it, I can have Doctor Snyder write you a script.”

  I swallowed hard. “Thank you, Adam.”

  He scowled. “No need to get emotional. It’s not a big deal.”

  “It’s not just this. You’ve been a good friend from the beginning. I haven’t had a friend in a long time, and I…” I took a deep breath to keep myself from turning into a weepy wuss. “I really appreciate all you’ve done. It’s hard for me to trust people and…well…anyway, thank you.”

  His smile was soft and genuine. “You’re welcome. Now go put some of that on so I can twirl you around this magnificent dance floor.” He gestured toward the small space we had to work with between the living room and dining room, making me laugh.

  I took Mandy upstairs and put her to bed before I changed into a pair of shorts. I didn’t know how well the cream would absorb in my skin and I didn’t want to risk staining my jeans.

  “How does it feel?” Adam asked when I returned.

  I glanced down at my leg. “A little weird, but I think it’s working.”

  He nodded once as he scrolled through his phone.

  “If you break out into a rash or feel any severe burning sensations, let me know. Otherwise, you should feel even better in a few minutes.”

  “Okay.”

  Music began to play from his phone, a song I didn’t recognize with a Latin beat. As he approached, he rolled up his sleeves as if he were about to do some dirty work. “The best dance to learn for a beginner is the Rumba.”

  I gave him a skeptical look. “Isn’t that a robotic vacuum cleaner?”

  Adam placed one of my hands on his shoulder, placed a hand on my back, and took my other hand in his. “Zip it, woman, and put that sass in those hips.”

  For the next thirty minutes, he taught me the basic steps to the dance. There was a lot of jokes and laughter from both of us, but Adam was a patient and good teacher. I had some discomfort in my leg and hip, especially from all the hip action required for the dance, but I was enjoying myself, and the pain was manageable, which was what I told the good doctor when he asked how I was doing.

  As John Legend’s “Save Room” played, we continued to dance, our bodies close and moving almost in sync. I was still learning. For a moment, I let myself study my friend, his light-beige skin, head of dark, shiny hair, and his brown eyes with their slight almond shape. His body was fit and athletic, despite his love of beef. He had full lips and a charming smile, and strong, capable hands. Not for the first time, I recognized how attractive Adam was.

  “Have you told her yet?”

  He didn’t play dumb. There was only one “her” I could’ve been talking about. With a sad smile, he shook his head. “No. I haven’t.”

  “Why not? What are you waiting for? Another nine years to go by?”

  “Celeste barely knows I’m alive.”

  “Oh, wow. Listen to you being all She’s All That with the teen angst,” I teased.

  Adam threw his head back and laughed. “Okay. That was fair.”

  “She knows your alive. I’ve seen her sneaking peeks at you.”

  He shook his head. “You’re mistaken. Anytime we’re in the same space together, she goes out of
her way to avoid me, like I’m a disease, or like I have an ugly and contagious rash, or like I’m Nickelback.”

  “It’s a classic chick move to pretend indifference to the guy you’re really head over heels for. I know, because I did it to Marco.”

  He raised an eyebrow thoughtfully but shook his head again. “I think you’re wrong. There’s no way she cares anything about me. You’re a special case, so I can’t go by your experience.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, but I think you need to trust me here.”

  “You don’t even like her. You think she wants your man.”

  I paused and gave a half a shrug. “I admit that I am uncomfortable with her and Marco being so close. If she does want him, it’s…it’s different. Maybe not romantic. I think with them, it’s more that she thinks she has the right to him, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want you. How do you feel when you’re around her?”

  He sighed as he searched for the words. “Anxious. My heart beats fast, my skin gets clammy, and I feel like I’m going to jump out of my skin. I also feel unable to properly articulate my thoughts. At the same time…” He sighed again and actually looked dreamy. “I feel warm and happy, and giddy. I can barely hold my composure around her. When she’s near, I feel like dropping to my knees at her feet and begging for her love and affection.”

  My smile was sympathetic. “Well, maybe she feels the same way, but she’s Celeste. She is composed, self-possessed, and level-headed and elegant and sophisticated. Maybe she avoids you, because if she didn’t, she would lose her composure. She would be clammy and jumping out of her skin. Maybe she would be on her knees for you, and maybe it’s not pride that stops her from doing any of that, but the fear of rejection. Just because she is who she is doesn’t mean she isn’t afraid of being rejected like the rest of us.”

  This time, Adam’s feet did falter. We halted our movements and he just stared at me, his mouth open and his eyes wide. His hand was still on my back and mine was still folded in his other one.

  “Wow,” he breathed after a moment. “I…I never considered…” He shook his head as if to clear it. “I guess you are good for something.”

  “Who would have thought?”

  He leaned in and kissed my cheek. It was long and lingering, but I knew it was just a friendly kiss. There was no romance or heat in it. Just appreciation and happiness and kindness, but it was during that innocent kiss that I felt a gust of wind sweep into the room, as if someone had opened the front door. Adam and I both turned our heads at the same time toward the front of the house, our bodies still close, hands still clasped.

  “Well, this is unexpected,” Marco said.

  Chapter Ten

  Marco

  I just spent most of the past twenty-four hours in airports or on planes. I knew what kind of travel hell I was getting myself into when I decided at the last minute to fly back to the States for the holiday. Americans traveled more for a turkey dinner than they did at any other time of the year, so delays and frustrations were expected, but I hadn’t anticipated two canceled flights before I could even leave Italy, and another long delay at LaGuardia.

  Weary and irascible did not even begin to describe my mood by the time I picked up my car from the long-term parking lot near the airport. As I drove toward Lydia’s, I tried to calm myself. After being apart for almost four weeks, I didn’t want our surprise reunion to be spoiled by my grouchiness.

  I did not tell her of my plans. I wanted to surprise her and the children, but also because I had only decided at the last possible moment to make the trip. Not only did I miss all of them, I was worried about Lydia. She had cracked wide open the day she told me about her past with Gavin, and we had not even begun to piece her back together before Celia and Massimo called with their bad news.

  The past few weeks were like an out of body experience as I watched my brother’s health decline with each day. I took it hard, so did our parents, siblings, and his children, but the person who was taking it the hardest was Celia. She was a warrior in the light of every day, caring for her ailing husband and taking care of the children. She seemed so strong, unfazed by something as pesky as cancer, but at night…at night, when she was not needed by the children, during those hours, Massimo managed to find sleep, and when no one but me was watching, she broke. Like the most delicate glass. Every. Damn. Night.

  I always let her break. Sometimes she just needed to ramble, to have her voice heard. Other times she needed my advice and the wisdom she was foolish enough to believe I had. Other nights, we sat in silence, doing our own things and simply taking strength from one another’s presence. Then there were the nights of tears, so many tears. Those were the nights I went to bed with a damp shoulder from where her head rested. I could not imagine how she felt, how it must feel to watch the love of her life slowly—but not slow enough—die. She could not imagine how I felt, either, to see the same of my own brother, my own blood.

  It was difficult to leave. Although Massimo was now part of a clinical trial that has shown some very positive results for other participants, I still feared he would die in my absence. I also didn’t want to leave Celia on her own, but I made her promise to call me if she needed to, at any time, day or night.

  When I finally reached Lydia’s house, I was surprised to see another vehicle parked in the driveway behind the minivan she only used if someone else was driving it. I didn’t recognize it as Rose’s or Wes’s. I pulled up alongside the van and looked at the other car as I took my bags from the backseat. I could tell by the stickers on the windows that it was a rental. Maybe something happened to Rose’s car. It was late, so I doubted Lydia had any company. Besides, she didn’t really have friends and acquaintances like that. In all the time I’d been coming to Ohio, not once did she have anyone over besides the normal people like Shawna and Cliff and Wes and his family.

  Curious about the driver of the mystery car, and anxious to see my Tesoro after too much time, I went to the door. I thought I heard music and voices and paused to listen more carefully, and yes, there was music, the end of a John Legend song. I heard Lydia’s crisp, light voice, and it sent happy shivers down my spine. As I began to push open the door, I heard another voice, that of a male. I froze and tried to catch some of the words between them.

  “Marco…not romantic…want you,” was what I caught from Lydia.

  I frowned but continued to listen as the man said something. “My heart…skin…warm…happy…love.”

  My frown deepened as I tried to piece together all their words to make sense. Were they talking about me? Were they talking about themselves?

  Lydia’s voice came again, sounding a little clearer. “Feel the same but…knees for you…afraid.”

  My blood was beginning to boil. My woman was locked inside her house late at night, alone with another man, speaking of love and feelings. I knew I’d been gone for some time, but I never thought she would hook up with someone new that quickly. She wouldn’t. She trusted no one. She barely even trusted me at this point in our relationship. Unless…unless it was someone she already knew, like that man she almost cheated on Gavin with. Gabe.

  I didn’t want to listen and take guesses any longer. I wanted to find out who was in there with Lydia. The door swung open easily, and without any noise. I had greased the hinges several weeks ago, because it used to creak every time it opened and drove Lydia mad. The scene a few yards ahead of me instantly turned my blood to lava. There was Lydia, in another man’s arms, her pretty legs bare, with his mouth on her skin. When the pair turned their heads to look at me, I had to work hard to control my shocked reaction, to rein in my fury at seeing Adam, my own damn friend. Adam. Adam had his hands on my woman, and Adam’s mouth had been on her face. On. Her. Face.

  “Well, this is unexpected,” I said coolly.

  Adam knew the deal and immediately stepped away from Lydia, his face flushed. Lydia stood in place for a moment though, her eyes and mouth open wide. She seemed just as shocked as I’d
been to find her and Adam in the midst of…whatever they’d been doing.

  “What are you doing here?” she managed to ask.

  I kept my voice level, my face clear of emotion. “Am I not welcome any longer?”

  The shock cleared from her face and was replaced by an exasperated smile. She moved toward me, and I reluctantly put my bags down and met her halfway. Her thin arms went around my waist. It was automatic, an ingrained reaction to put my arms around her as well, to hold her close, inhale the scent of her.

  I watched Adam through narrowed eyes over Lydia’s shoulder as he picked up his phone from the table. When the music stopped, Lydia seemed to remember him and pulled away to face him.

  “I have an early flight tomorrow,” the doctor said, looking uncomfortable. “I should go.”

  “Probably,” I muttered under my breath.

  Lydia threw me a sharp glance before turning back to Adam with a smile. A smile, like a big, genuine smile that showed true affection. I had not seen her smile like that since long before I left for Italy. It rankled me that it was for Adam. It reminded me of the night at Brodie’s and Aiko’s dinner party, when I found her alone with Adam then, too, laughing loud and free in a way I rarely heard.

  Lydia started for the kitchen. “Let me cut you a slice of pie. You can eat it for breakfast with some crappy hotel coffee.”

  I stared at the entrance to the kitchen when she began to softly sing the song that had been playing when I entered. Though her voice was pleasant, the fact that she was happy enough to sing after spending time with another man only further aggravated me. I shifted my glare to my so-called friend.

  Adam took a coat from the back of a dining room chair and began to slip it on. “I know how this must appear, but…” He trailed off.

  I kept my voice low so Lydia couldn’t hear me over the sound of her singing. “How does it appear, Adam?”

  “I’m your friend, Marco. I would never—”

  “You would never what, exactly, Adam?”

  He didn’t get a chance to answer. Lydia exited the kitchen with a foil covered plate, all smiles. “Here you are.”