L—
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I wake at five and untangle Jennie's body from mine. I'm pretty sure her boot permanently indented my shin. When I'm showered and dressed, I peek into her bedroom, but she's still asleep—not a flinch. I'm not sure how that happened last night; it just did. Everything with her seems to happen without much thought. When I'm with her, I want to touch her, kiss her, consume her. It's been that way since the day we met, and three years didn't do anything to change that. I'd like to stare at her until she opens her eyes, but I have to check on my dad.
He's an early riser but not an actual morning person. And I fear he could be in a bad way this morning after a night without his pajamas. However, he's nowhere to be found when I open the hotel room door.
"Dad?" I call his name as if he's hiding behind the curtains or in the shower with the light off. He's not. "Where the hell are you?" I mumble, glancing at the locator on my phone. It shows him in the hotel.
Breakfast.
I bet he's in the lobby seeing if he can get a mimosa minus the orange juice. I call him after searching the lobby and the restaurant serving a breakfast buffet. The chances of him answering are nearly zero. He's great at calling me at all hours but refuses to answer when I, or anyone, calls him.
"This is Bill; I'm not answering right now. Leave a message or call Alice, Keeper of All Things." I cringe hearing his voicemail. I've asked him repeatedly to change it. My mom is no longer his "Keeper of All Things." By default, that's my job, and I'm doing a shitty job of it today.
One more time, I check the hotel room in case we missed each other on the elevators.
No luck.
Plopping onto his bed, my butt hits something. I pull back the bedding and discover his phone—silenced and alight with a missing call from me. Great. He's wandering around without his phone. I write him a note and leave it on the desk beside his phone.
Call me ASAP!
Before I reach the door, I get a text.
"Fuck …"
Jennie: At least I get to wake up to one of the Manobans
Jennie: Just not the one I expected
Lisa: I'm so sorry
Lisa: Please don't engage with him
Lisa: Don't give him any alcohol
Lisa: He'll fall asleep soon. On my way!
Jennie: LOL He's lovely. Take ur time
Jennie: Make sure u bring us breakfast
Lovely? No. My dad is not lovely. He's slippery and draining. He's a walking advertisement for depression and a host of other mental issues. Lovely … he is not.
Against my better judgment, I stop for bagels before going to Jennie's. I waste no time getting inside the house and kicking off my shoes.
"Morning, girl." Dad greets me with a sly grin before sipping something from a coffee mug.
Please let it be actual coffee.
Jennie sips something from a mug as well. When my gaze slides to hers, she smiles, and her cheeks turn pink. Making a quick glance at her leg, I feel a little bad for my impatience last night. I feel … ten percent guilty. Who am I kidding? It's closer to five percent.
"What, uh…" I return my attention to my dad "…are you doing here? And how did you get here?" I ask through gritted teeth.
"Cab. And I was afraid you were having all the fun without me."
Perfect. Why do I get the impression that his idea of "fun" is something he saw on a porn site?
Clearing my throat, I set the bagels on the counter and retrieve plates and a knife for the cream cheese. "How did you get here without an address?" I do my best to control my frustration, but it's hard. It had to be creepy as fuck for Jennie when my father, whom she had never met before today, just showed up unannounced.
"I paid attention to your location last night and managed to find the right house on the third try."
Handing Jennie and my dad their bagels, I offer a smile as stiff as my tightly wound nerves. "How Sherlock Holmes of you."
"I thought so," he says with pride.
Jennie giggles while I pour myself a cup of coffee and sit beside my dad. "Will asked me about my thoughts on helping him get your mom back."
I cough on my coffee, banging my fist on my chest while eyeing him through narrowed eyes. "W-Will?" I cough some more. Does she know my dad's name is William? He's gone by Bill forever. Will is a young kid, a moderately put-together architect living in the burbs, not a sixty-year-old man who hasn't had his toenails clipped in so long he could climb a tree with them.
"Jennie came up with it," he winks at her.
What the fuck? He's winking at my girl? Okay, she's not mine. Not yet, but I'm working on it, and I don't need a sidekick.
"Is that so?" I scratch the back of my head, eyeing Jennie.
She shrugs, dusting the cinnamon and sugar from her fingers. "He introduced himself as William, and it felt too formal. I asked if anyone called him 'Will,' and he said only the pretty girls."
Unbelievable.
"Well, Will, seeing you in such a good mood is nice. And showered. That's a bonus."
"Jennie loaned me her loofah." Again, he winks at her.
I no longer care about his winks. He showered here?!
Jennie curls her lips between her teeth and gives me another shrug—enough with the shrugs and winks. I don't find any of this funny, flirty, or worthy of shrugging off.
"Why, exactly, would you shower here instead of at the hotel?"
"No loofah." Dad takes a big bite of his bagel, cream cheese oozing past the corners of his mouth onto his closely shaven face. Did he use her razor too?
It doesn't matter.
The more significant issue is the loofah. When he was forced to move out of his house, he stole my mom's favorite loofah. She got it in India. Dad uses it to exfoliate his crack on the rare occasions he showers.
"I'm so sorry," I murmur to Jennie.
"What? No. Don't be sorry. I'm glad he's here. I just hope you weren't too worried about him. He said he accidentally left his phone in the hotel room."
I'm not sure there's much my father does by accident. He was the most intelligent, put-together man I knew … until he wasn't. My mom is a witch. That's the only explanation that makes sense. She put a curse on him that drained every ounce of his dignity. Maybe it's not just my mom. Maybe that's the curse of all women. Eyeing Jennie for a second, I give that more thought.
Admittedly, I'm impulsive around her. When we're together, I willingly do anything to touch her, see her growing smile, and hear her addictive laughter. It's fucking witchcraft.
"Worried …" I twist my lips, staring at my coffee. "I'm not sure that's the right word."
"Controlling," Dad says. "Lisa likes to tell me what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. I don't know who she thinks raised her."
"Mom raised me." I mock him with the same ridiculous kind of wink he gave Jennie.
"That's because you suckled at the teat until you went to school. What do they call that…" he snaps his fingers several times. "Cockblocking. You were a little cockblocker."
Jennie snorts.
Dad reaches over and squeezes my shoulder. "But I forgive you."
"I didn't 'suckle at the teat' until I went to school. Your memory sucks." I can't say the words and keep a straight face. After the initial embarrassment wears off, I find great pleasure in seeing my dad like this.
Smiling.
Laughing.
Joking.
Showered.
Eating.
Drinking something besides alcohol.
Alive. My dad's taken an enormous step away from the drain.
I'm too damn happy about that to care about the circumstances that brought it to fruition—namely, Jennie. She makes everything better. Don't get me wrong; I will have to burn the loofah and thoroughly clean her bathroom. Ten bucks says his streaked underwear is sitting on her vanity next to the sink.
"Nah …" Dad sits back, resting his arm along the back of the sofa. "Lisa was a good baby. Never cried. Slept through the night. Walked at nine months. Lisa first word was bye-bye because She …" He clears his throat and gives Jennie a half smile. "Alice used to say, 'Tell your daddy bye-bye.' And she took Lisa's chubby little wrist and made her wave to me before I headed to work. And reading … Lisa was reading chapter books by four—such a smart little peanut. And, of course, her mother and I loved it since our family owned a publishing company. Did she mention that, Jennie?"
I'd rather go back to talking about me suckling at my mom's teat than discuss books and publishing. And … my dad's lying about all of it. Is this his idea of being a wingman? I was the opposite of everything he just said.
Jennie doesn't skip a beat. "She did mention that." She sips her coffee, not giving me a single glance.
"Are you an avid reader?" he asks.
I try to sink into the sofa, hoping the oversized cushions swallow me whole.
"I love books. We had a book club when I lived in Des Moines in the same complex as Lisa. Lisa joined us shortly after she moved into the building. Did she mention that to you?"
Fuck. Make it stop. I didn't tell my family about Jennie. But I was honest about her book. I said it wasn't the right fit for our publishing house, and coffee got spilled on my copy of it, so I had nothing to send back to them with notes.
"You were in a book club?" Dad's head tips back on a hearty laugh. "That must have been interesting."
"I was—" I start to defend myself, but Jennie cuts me off.
"Why do you say that, Will?"
Will. Can she stop calling him that?
"Lisa has a very selective taste in books. Don't get me wrong; her taste is impeccable, but not many books make it onto her short list of recommendations. I imagine her being a Scrooge in a book club."
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I grumble nothing in particular, just displeasure and pain. "Dad, we should let Jennie rest. She's still recovering from her injury."
"Lisa didn't like the book our club read," Jennie says, taking a roller truck to my heart and squeezing every last bit of regret from it.
I keep my head bowed in shame. What can I say?
"Did everyone else like it?" Dad asks.
"Yes. But there was no requirement to like the book. However, there was this one girl who loved the book. I mean … you would have thought she wrote the book. And she was not a fan of Lisa's critique."
Dad chuckles.
"I was a dick." My gaze stretches from the mug of coffee to Jennie's innocent eyes.
What's her crime? Being passionate about telling a story?
"I think she was caught up in the story and missed the finer details, like how the story could have been told better. It could have been more concise, better edited, and less indulgent in areas," Jennie says.
"Sounds like you know your stuff," Dad says to Jennie. "No wonder Lisa's so smitten with you."
Jennie blushes, and maybe I do too. But I don't look away, even when she averts her gaze. I'm smitten as fuck with her. And I'm owning it. Maybe I have no idea where we're going. Maybe we have nowhere to go. It's pretty much the theme of my life. Why should my love life be any different?
Love.
Do I love Jennie?
"What do you think? Should we head back to the hotel and let her rest?" Dad stands, taking his mug and plate to the kitchen.
"Stay," Jennie says to him while returning her gaze to me. "I need to shower, but I'd love for you both to stay if you don't have other plans."
"Thanks for the offer, Jennie. But I nap at one, and I have a feeling Lisa wants you to herself for a while."
I lift a shoulder. He's not wrong.
Jennie bites her lip to hide her grin.
"Mind getting me a cab?" Dad asks.
I hold out the key fob to the rental car. "Think you can find your way back to the hotel?"
He snatches the key. "Who do you think taught you everything you know about navigation?"
"Mom," I say.
"No respect." He shakes his head while squeezing Jennie's arm. "It's been a pleasure, young lady."
"When are you going home? We should have dinner tonight."
Dad releases her arm. "When you get back on both feet, come visit, and I'll take you to my favorite place in Kansas City. A friend of mine owns a bistro. They're booked out for months, but he'll squeeze us in. How does that sound?"
"I'm not sure when I'll be mobile enough to travel, but I'll put that trip on my wish list."
"Fair enough."
"Bye, Dad." I'm stunned. Never did I imagine the events that happened this morning. "Do you have your key to the room?"
"Of course," he says on the way to the front door as if he'd never forget it, even though he forgot his phone. "Call me when you need me to get you."
"I will. Did you forget your bag upstairs? Do you have your underwear on Jennie's vanity?"
Dad says nothing, but he pivots and heads up the stairs.
Jennie laughs while I take her plate and mug to the kitchen with mine.
A few minutes later, Dad gives us a silent wave before the door clicks shut behind him.
"I don't know what to say." I stand next to her chair and slide my hands into my pockets. "I never thought he'd show up unannounced."
"I never thought you'd leave me without a note or something to confirm that last night happened."
"Oh," I take the weight of her injured leg in one hand while my other hand lowers the recliner, "last night happened. But if you don't remember, I could remind you." Kneeling in front of her, I lean forward, resting my hands on her thighs, stopping just before our lips meet. "Thank you for being so kind and gracious with my dad," I whisper.
Jennie presses her palms to my face for a breath before running her fingers through my hair. I nearly shiver. "Your dad asked me if I thought he should go after your mom to get her back."
"Oh?"
Jennie's gaze slides along my face, and I feel it as much as her physical touch. "I told him to let her go. If they're meant to be together, it will happen. He has to trust the universe."
"Do you trust the universe?"
Her smile fades. I feel that too. "Lisa, I'm …"
"You're what?"
"I love my job here. And there's a chance I could get transferred to their firm in Barcelona."
"Spain?" I put a few more inches of space between us.
Her hands leave my hair, flopping onto the chair's arms. "Yes. There's a chance. A small one, but I'm hopeful, or at least I was hopeful until the accident … until—"
"No." I sit back on my heels. "Not until anything. You should go for it. If you get this chance and don't take it, you'll always regret it."
Indecision takes up residency on her face.
I stand on my knees again and take her beautiful face in my hands. "It's okay that last night happened, and it's okay for you to go to Spain." My lips press to hers for a long kiss before my mouth makes its way along her jaw to her ear. "It's also okay to do it again right now. We don't have to be more than this moment."
"Lisa …"
"I love all our little moments." I kiss her neck and lift the hem of her T-shirt.
"I … I need to shower." She teases the nape of my neck with her fingers.
I pull her shirt over her head and grin, removing my shirt in the next breath. Those lines of indecision still mar her face, but they don't stop her hands from working the button and zipper of my jeans.
Grabbing her ass, I pull her to the edge of the recliner so that her nipples brush my chest. I feel her lips pull into a grin along my shoulder. "Know what I love?" she whispers.
"What's that, baby?" My hands slide into the back of her panties.
"I love the feeling of you inside of me."
I smile, quite possibly more prominent than I've ever smiled before. "Yeah?"
She nods, sucking the skin along my neck while releasing me from my briefs. My breath catches in my throat. I have no direction in my life because this woman is the sunrise for which I wait in the dark to chase after every long night. The past three years have been the longest fucking night of my life. And I don't want to live without her, but I won't ever stand in the way of her dreams again.
"I also love…" her breaths fall heavily on my skin as I slide the crotch of her panties aside "…when you call me baby." Her head falls back, eyes closed, when I push inside her.
I love her.
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