CHAPTER 32
Embry POV:
"So, you going to see him? Again?" Mom had just come into the living room. She was wearing new jeans, a nice shirt and new boots. With heels? She had been out every night this week.
"Uh, yea. I'm driving to Port Angeles, and Josh is taking me out to dinner," she answered as she was putting things in her purse. She looked up at me and asked, "Does that bother you?" She had gotten her hair cut, too, a couple of days ago. It was still past her shoulders, but she had some bangs now. It made her look even younger. I wasn't sure I liked that.
Yea, kind of. But how could I tell her that? "No, it's OK." I was lounging on the couch, supposedly studying for a trig test. I hated studying. I had the book open, but that was about it. I guess I would have to get Leah to kick my ass and make me do it. "Will you be home late again?"
She walked over and perched on the arm of the chair. "Embry, this does bother you, doesn't it? Talk to me, son."
I sighed. "Well, yea. I mean, I've never seen you date anyone before. I don't even know if this counts as dating, I mean, you're seeing my father! God, this is so weird."
She gave a soft laugh and said, "Yea, you're telling me! I know I promised not to push, but I think it would be easier for you if you would just meet him and talk to him. Are you any closer to that yet?"
"I don't know. I'm ready, I know that. I can't stand this anymore! You and Leah and Jake know everything about the guy, and you won't tell me anything! It's driving me crazy! But, I haven't wanted to bug Sam. I wanted him to make up his own mind."
"Well, I know you wanted Sam to be with you when you meet him, but if he doesn't want to, you may have to rethink that."
"Yea, I know."
"OK, well, I better get going. I don't want to be late." She stood up and put a kiss on my head. "I love you. See you later." Is that perfume? When did she start wearing that?
"OK. Be careful."
She smiled and called, "I will," as she walked out the door. This is just too weird.
I threw my book down onto the floor. It's not like I'm really getting any studying done. Maybe I should go and talk to Sam. See if he is any closer to a decision. I was to the point where I needed to do this. And now! I had a feeling my mom might marry the guy before I even meet him!
I hauled my ass off of the couch and decided to run to Sam's. I needed to run off some aggravation. I tied my shoes and went out the door. I decided to run through the woods. It seemed strange to me now to run in human form. I was so used to running as a wolf. But, now I could run as a human just as fast, and not get tired and breathless. It was pretty awesome, really.
I came out of the woods and could see Sam's house. I jogged up to the front porch and went in through the open door. "Hey! Anyone here?" I hollered.
"Yea, bro, back here, in the baby's room!" Sam called back.
I made my way down the hall to the room they had chosen for the nursery. "Hey, I thought you were going to call me to help you paint," I said as I stepped into the room.
"Oh, I am. You can count on that!" Sam smiled. "I'm still doing the prep work." He was taping off around the windows with blue tape.
"It's so quiet. Where's Emily?" I asked.
"She went to her mom's for the afternoon. What's up with you? Where's Leah? I thought you two were attached at the hip or something," he said with a grin.
I was leaning against the door frame and crossed my arms in front of my chest. "Ha, look who's talking! She went shopping with her mom. She'll be back later this afternoon. You need some help with anything?"
"Yea, sure," he said as threw me a roll of blue tape. "Help me finish this window then maybe we can get to the painting."
We worked for awhile then I finally got up the courage to ask him, "Um, Sam? Have you thought anymore about seeing him? Our dad?"
He stopped working and didn't say anything right away. I sat there and held my breath, waiting for him to scream at me. He looked over at me and said, "Yea, I have. I talked to Emily about it just last night." He sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. I sat down and did the same on the wall behind me.
He went on, "Em thinks I should do it. She told me that I will never get past this unless I face him. I know she's right. But . . ." he stopped and looked at me. "I'm scared, bro. And if you tell any of the guys I said that, I'll kick your ass!" I smiled held my hands up. "I mean, I don't know if I can really do it. Face him. I loved my dad when I was little, Embry. He was good to me. That's why it hurt so bad when he left. And my mom loved him so much. And to watch her . . ." He put his head down.
"I know, Sam. But Emily is right. You have to face him. Find out why he left. I think whatever the reason is, it's got to be better knowing than not knowing. It's killing me, Sam. My mom goes to see him almost every day! Today she left and she was wearing new jeans and boots, with heels! And perfume! And she got her hair cut and now she looks like 10 years younger. I can't take it anymore. It's just . . . too fucking weird!"
I had my hand in my hair, my elbow propped on my knee. Sam looked over at me and laughed. "What? She's dating . . . my dad! Don't you think that's weird?"
"Hell yea!" he said with a laugh. I had to join in and laugh. "But, come on, Embry. I've seen your mom, dude. She is pretty hot."
I picked up the roll of tape and flung it at his head. His hand shot out and caught it. He pounced at me and had me in a headlock before I knew what hit me! We were throwing each other around wrestling when we heard, "What is going on in here?" We looked up to see Emily standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.
"I know this is the baby's room, but that doesn't mean you need to act like children," she scolded us. We looked at each other and burst out laughing. She rolled her eyes and laughed then walked away.
I shoved Sam off of me and sat up. "Now you got us in trouble," I said with a smile.
He smiled back. Then he surprised me by saying, "Let's do it, Embry. Let's get it over with and talk to him."
"Thanks, bro. This means a lot to me." I stood up and held out my hand. He took it and hauled himself up off of the floor. He put his arm around my neck and said, "Come on. Let's go make nice to the wife. Maybe she'll feed us!"
After Emily fed us some pie, we actually got around to painting the baby's room. Emily had picked out a nice soft green color. It was a small room, so it didn't take too long to cover all of the walls. Sam wanted to let this coat dry then we would do a second coat another day.
I helped him clean up then I left to go see Leah. She had called and told me she was home from her shopping trip. I ran home to clean up a little and change clothes. Then I picked up my truck keys and headed over to her house.
I knocked on the door and heard her call out, "Come in!" I walked in and she got up from the chair she was sitting in to put her arms around me and kiss me. "Hey, handsome. I missed you today," she said with a smile.
"Mmmm, I missed you, too," I said on her lips. I kissed her some more until I heard, "Hello? Brother in the room!" I laughed and let Leah go. I went to plop down next to Seth on the couch and put my arm around his shoulders. "You know, bro, we need to get you a girl."
He rolled his eyes and shrugged my arm off of him. I laughed at him and he said, "I can get my own girl, thank you. I got prospects."
"Really? You asked anyone out yet?" I asked.
"No," he said shyly.
"What's the problem? Come on, it isn't that hard. I'll teach you all I know, and before long, you'll have any girl you want."
"Embry!" Leah yelled.
"Oh, come on, Leah. I'm off the market, baby. The girls at school are going to get lonely! Seth here is perfect man to take my place."
Seth looked at me and said, "Yea, right. I'm such a spaz when it comes to girls. Like, I have this girl in my math class. She's really pretty, and kind of popular. I sit right beside her and she caught me looking at her yesterday. I just froze! I wanted to talk to her, but I just couldn't think of anything to say!"
"Oh, man. We've all been there. But listen, if she catches you looking at her again, just give a smile. Nothing too big, just a nice smile and a slight nod. Then look away. Let her look at you. When you get a chance to say something, just smile and say, 'Hey, What's up?' Something simple. You can't let them see your fear, dude. You need to look confident. Women love a confident guy."
"And this really used to work for you?" Leah asked.
"Oh yea, but this 101 stuff. I mean, you gotta work your way up, you know? It takes awhile to work up to the point where you can walk up to a babe and lean in and look her in the eye and say, 'You're really beautiful, you know? Want to go to a movie sometime?' That takes skill."
Leah rolled her eyes – again! – and said to Seth, "Little brother, don't listen to him. Just be yourself. You're cute. Some nice girl will notice that and want to spend time with you."
I looked at Seth and said, "Yea, but do you really want to wait around for a 'nice' girl, or do you want to have some fun first?"
Seth grinned and said, "I think I wanna have a little fun."
"That's my man!" I held up my hand for a high five and Seth slapped it. "Monday, at school? You and me, bro. You show me the girl, and I'll help you get her."
Seth nodded and Leah looked at me and said, "Whatever." Seth and I just laughed at her.
Seth stood up and said, "I'm running patrol tonight with Jared. See you guys later. Thanks, Embry."
"No problem, bro. See ya." Seth took off out the back door.
Leah just stared at me. "What? Come on, Leah. He's 14. It's time he kissed a few girls."
She shook her head and laughed. She stood up and came over to join me on the couch. "Well," she said, "kissing is fun." I put my arm around her and drew her to me. "Yes, it is," I said as I leaned forward to put my lips on hers. Leah sighed and leaned into me and I pulled her close. Our lips were moving in unison and our tongues were teasing each other. It was so amazing kissing Leah. I gave in to the fire as it spread through me. I longed for that feeling, every minute we spent apart. I put my hand into her hair. It was always so silky. I loved to feel it wrapped around my hand. My lips left hers and made a trail from her ear down her throat and onto her shoulder. She tipped her head back a little and whispered, "I love that." I smiled and nipped her shoulder with my teeth and she gasped. I had my hand under her shirt and was working it up to the hooks on her bra. I found them and it opened and I rubbed up and down her back then let my hand creep toward the front. Just then, I felt Leah's hand as it slid down my chest to rest on my zipper. Oh man. "Leah," I whispered. Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket. "Ignore it," I told her as I put my lips back on hers. She undid the button on my shorts and was getting to the zipper when my phone went off again.
She pulled away and said, "Just answer it. I'll wait." And then she smiled. This better be pretty damn important!
"Hello!" I shouted into the phone.
"Embry? You OK? You sound upset." It was Mom.
"Uh, yea, Mom. I'm fine. What's up?" Leah laughed and put her lips on my neck and started kissing me.
"You called and left me a message a little while ago. I left my phone in my purse while we were at the restaurant, so I didn't hear it ring."
Leah was nipping at my earlobe and it was making me crazy! Quick, think! What did you call Mom about? Oh man, I like that.
"Embry? Can you hear me?"
"Um, yea. Oh, I wanted to tell you that I talked to Sam today and he said that he'll do it. He's ready to see our dad."
Leah stopped what she was doing and sat up and looked at me.
"That's great! Oh, Embry, I am so glad. Let me talk to Josh and see what we can arrange. I'll let you know tonight when I come home, OK?"
"Yea, that's good," I replied.
"I'll let you go. Bye, honey."
"Bye, Mom." I hung up and threw the phone onto the floor. "Where were we," I said as I made a grab for Leah. She pushed me back and said, "Sam agreed to see him? Your dad? Really?"
I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "Really, Leah? You want to talk about this right now? You had your hand on my fucking zipper, Leah. I can't even THINK right now! Come on!"
She laughed and said, "Oh, yea, sorry. Well, come with me and I'll see what I can do about that." She stood up and held out her hand. I took it and she led me up to her room where she definitely finished what she started.
Much later, I was at home laying on the couch watching the end of some Adam Sandler movie when Mom came in. "Hey, Mom." I sat up and turned the TV off.
"Hi, honey. How was your day?" she asked as she put her purse and keys on the table then walked into the living room to sit down in the chair.
"OK, I guess. I went to talk to Sam and ended up helping him paint the baby's room. Then I went and hung out with Leah for awhile then came home."
"Oh," she said with a yawn. "Sorry about that. I'm not used to these late nights!" she said with a smile.
"So, did you ask him? When he can . . . you know, meet?"
"Yes, and he is very excited, Embry. I've told him so much about you, but he really wants to talk with you and get to know you. He would like to come here tomorrow, if that's OK. Around one?"
That soon? "Tomorrow, wow. Um, OK, I'll call Sam. I'm ready to just get this over with. I'm so tired of worrying about it!" I pulled my phone out of my pocket then noticed what time it was. It was after midnight. "I didn't realize it was so late. I guess I'll call him first thing in the morning." I put my phone back into my pocket.
"Are you nervous about meeting him?" Mom asked me.
"Yea. I mean, shouldn't I be? This is weird, Mom. Meeting your dad when you're 18. I have no idea what I'm going to say to the guy." I looked at her and she smiled and took my hand.
"Embry, I know you've heard a lot of bad about him, but let me tell you this. I'm getting to know him so much better, and he is a good man. He really is. He is very caring, and thoughtful and even though he is a quiet man, he can be very funny. I guess what I'm saying is to keep an open mind, OK? I want you to get to know him as the man he is, not what he was perceived to be. Does that make sense?"
I nodded. "I'll try."
"Good. Well, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning, kiddo!"
"Night, Mom." She smiled and got up and walked down the hall to her bedroom. I just sat there and stared at the carpet. I'm finally going to meet my dad tomorrow. My father! I can't believe after all of these years wondering who he is and what he's like, I'll finally know. Now if I can just keep Sam from killing him, we'll be good.