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Chapter Three

I was standing in front of the Goth's manor holding a bottle of wine next to Darren and Dirk. Darren had rung the doorbell and now we're waiting for someone to answer us.

Cassandra Goth opened the door with a big smile on her face. She was wearing jeans and a black sweater with a red strip across her chest. She greeted us, Darren introduced me and I handed her the wine.

There were a lot of people there already: Daniel, Mary-Sue and the twins; Don Lothario, who already seemed a little bit drunk; Cassandra's father; and a woman with a little boy I've never seen before and another boy, around Lilith and Angela's age. I didn't know them, but later Daniel told me they were Brandi Brook and her children, Dustin and little Alex.

The turkey wasn't ready yet, everybody was just sitting around and talking. The house was big, and it seemed that every room was full with people. I was sitting in the room with the fireplace where Darren and Brandi were discussing parenting in front of me. Then Cassandra entered the room carrying a tray with little treats and left it on the coffee-table in the middle of the room. Next, she sat next to me on another chair and started to talk.

"So, you just moved in?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm from Dallas."

"Dallas?" she raised her eyebrows. "Wow."

I gave her a shy smile.

"What do you do for living?"

"I'm a writer."

"Do you have any book published?"

"Yes."

I started telling her about my work, and then asked her about hers. We were there talking for more than thirty minutes, and when she stood up to go check on the turkey I think I had a pretty good idea of what was so attractive to Darren. She was, indeed, a very intelligent woman and, very charismatic too. I was very interested in what she was saying, even though I didn't understand it all. I just knew I wanted to talk more.

"Turkey's ready!"

I stood up and went to the kitchen. Everybody was there, and we all sat down to eat. There wasn't enough seats at the main table, so a few people sat at smaller tables around it. In the end, we were all gathered in the kitchen eating a delicious turkey and talking out loud. Don was on his sixth glass of wine for the night and the signs of drunkenness were starting to show; he was constantly swearing and telling jokes, even when nobody wanted to hear them and I noticed that after the meal Cassandra pushed him to a corner and told him to slow down on the wine and the swearing. Don laughed at her and said he was just having fun, it was cool for one night, right? Then he pushed her to the side and disappeared through the doorway. When she turned around, I saw the sad look on her face, but it disappeared within a second.

Now most of the people were at the room with the TV, watching the Christmas special, or just talking. I noticed Lilith standing in the corner with a glass of soda in one hand, her head bending to the side, leaning on the wall. Her gaze was lost somewhere in front of her.

I walked towards her and stopped a foot away.

"Hey" I called.

She raised her eyes to me.

"Hi" she muttered.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

"Yes."

No, it wasn't. She just didn't want to tell me.

"I can't find Dirk" she said when I was ready to leave her alone.

"Isn't he in the bathroom?"

"I don't know."

I stared at her for awhile. Her gaze was again lost.

"Angela is not here either."

Oh, I get what she was saying.

"If you think they're together, why don't you go and find out?" I suggested.

She looked up at me again.

"You're right" she said, and then walked past me and left the room. I didn't see her for the rest of the night.

When the special was over, Daniel suggested a poker game. Besides the guys I played poker with, Dustin and Cassandra's father joined us.

"Where's Lilith? She likes to play it!" Daniel said while we were sitting down and Don was looking for the cards.

"I have no idea" Dustin answered with that low voice he had.

"Why doesn't she play with us every Sunday?" I asked Daniel.

"Come on, David" he started. "A teenager and four old men?"

We had a good laugh. He was right.

After the game, the night went on normally. I got the chance to talk with Brandi Brook, who said one of her girlfriends was a fan of my books; I told her to thank her friend for me and we laughed. I asked her how old was Alex and she started talking about all her children. Dustin had been her first, and his dad died when he was eight, the time was she pregnant with Alex. It had been hard through the first years but she's learned how to deal with it, how to build a life after that. I admired her strength to continue after such a horrible event. Raising two children without a husband was the hardest thing a woman could do. She had to sell the big house they lived because her job wasn't enough to pay the taxes, and what he left for her wouldn't last long either. In the end, she bought a small house in Pleasantview, found a job as a maid and moved on with life. Now Dustin was close to the time to go to college and she was worried because he was getting involved with "the crime" and it was doubtful he was gonna make it into college.

When it was almost two a.m. I decided to go back home. I said goodbye to everyone, thanked Cassandra for the meal and left. I was on foot, the night was pleasant, the snow was covering the ground and I didn't feel at all tired. I made a detour to make the walk longer, and decided to stop in front of Nina's house for awhile. The place was entirely dark, they were asleep by now, and I didn't know if they'd celebrated Christmas at all. That moment, while I was standing in front of that dark living room, trying to see anything through the window, I started to feel really sad. God, how I wished she had been there with me at the party. How I wished she was with me right now, perhaps sitting with me in front of the fireplace, drinking wine and laughing, that cute laugh she had. The night was incredible, and I couldn't believe I was gonna end it alone.

I turned around and left. It wasn't gonna make a difference how long I'd stand in front of her house, so I went back to mine, tucked myself in bed and tried to sleep. After visiting Nina's house I felt tired, and the few glasses of wine I had had were making effect, so I fell asleep very quickly. Lucky for me, because I didn't want to stay awake and rolling in bed for so long.

I woke up around midday with the snow falling out my window. I prepared a breakfast-lunch and ate it in my living room. Outside there were lots of kids running around in the park while the moms sat and watched, talking amongst themselves. When I finished eating, I was walking to the bathroom when I saw the small light on my phone blinking. Nina had called me.

I picked the phone and called her, forgetting I had to go to the bathroom.

"Hello?"

"Nina? It's David."

"Hi, David!"

"You called me?"

"Yeah. Are you busy today?"

"No."

"Would you like to go down to the beach with me?"

"To the beach? It's snowing, Nina!" I laughed.

"No, no. We can drive around town, grab something to eat, buy stuff. We're not going to the beach!"

"Okay, then. I'll pick you up at two, alright?"

"Alright. Bye, David."

"Bye."

At two o'clock, exactly, I parked in front of her house and she got on the bike with me and we went down to the small city right next to Pleasantview where the beach was. We just drove around for an hour or so and then she suggested we stopped at a mall. We walked around, she bought herself some blouses and pants, we ate pretzels and before we knew it, night was falling down and the place was getting crowded.

"Do you wanna go home?" she asked me while we were leaving the mall and walking to my bike.

"Sure."

I took her back, but she told me she didn't want to go to her place. I nodded and took her to my house. The minute I closed the door behind me she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me passionately. I put my hands around her waist and kissed back. She began to take off my shirt and I unbuttoned her jeans while I led her to my bedroom. The next moment we were rolling naked on my bed, kissing and making love to each other. The snow kept falling outside.

"Do you have plans for New Year?" I asked her while we laid in my bed, my arms around her body, the blanket covering us and keeping us warm.

"Not really."

"Do you think you can come over? We can pop a bottle of champagne, light the fireplace..."

"You don't have a fireplace."

"We can pretend I do."

We both giggled.

"I'll be here."

"Awesome."

We stayed there for a long time, just talking. Finally, Nina started to feel sleepy and stopped talking. I whispered her goodnight, kissed her head and rolled over and slept too.

The next morning I woke up alone. At least I thought I was until I heard water running in the shower. Nina was taking a shower. Thank God.

I stayed in bed, just lying there until I heard her close the shower and open the door. She was fully naked, only one of my towels wrapped around her head. When she saw that I was awake, she smiled.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, Nina."

I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Take a picture" she told me when she realized I was staring at her. "It will last longer."

"I might as well just do that."

We giggled. Now she was fully dressed and combing her hair in front of the mirror in the bathroom. I got off the bed and stood behind her, just watching her comb her hair.

"Do you dye your hair?" I asked occasionally.

"Yes."

"Hum. It's nice."

"Thank you."

When she was finished, she turned around and gave me a kiss on the lips. I pressed her against the counter and made that kiss last longer than it was meant.

"I'm gonna make you some breakfast" she whispered to me.

"'kay."

When I went to the kitchen after taking a shower, Nina had made delicious pancakes and juice.

"Where did you get the pancake?" I asked, sitting down in front of her to eat.

"Inside your cabinet" she looked at me, confused.

"Of course" I said, although I didn't remember buying pancakes.

After breakfast, Nina and I decided to spend the day together. We watched a movie with popcorn in my house, took a walk around the block, stopped at the park where we had a small snowball fight. I was watching the small pond when I was hit by one in the back of my head. Immediately I grabbed as much snow as I could and threw it back at her. She hid behind a tree and I followed her, hitting her while she tried to run. Giggling, we went back home covered in snow and cold because of the weather. Inside, we both took off our clothes and went into the bedroom, where we spent another night together. The next morning she told me she had a photo shoot and she would be gone for a day. I pretended to be brokenhearted for her leaving, but she just kissed me passionately and said she would be back by night. We said goodbye and she left.

I stayed a feel moments in my bedroom, listening to her footsteps in the living room, the sound of the door opening and closing and then just the common sounds outside the window: birds, the wind on the trees, the people coming and going. And that moment the thought I've trying to repel these days I've been with Nina started to ring in my mind: was I falling in love with Nina? It was possible, I said to myself. I could see myself kneeling down and asking her to marry me; then me, standing in the altar while she walked down the aisle, so beautiful I could start crying there; and then, we sitting in front of a big fireplace, the dinner table all set, the Christmas decorations surrounding us. She shows up at the kitchen doorway with a big tray and we sit down to eat. But it isn't just us. Our children are there; we're a family now.

I opened a big smile and started to laugh, rolling on my back. One night with the girl I was already planning how many kids we should have. I wonder when the hell I got this way.