Chapter and Verse (32 page)

“
The actor?”

“
Uh-huh.  He’s a friend of mine.  I think I’ll see if he can come to the wedding.  You’d like him Deke.  You can discuss taupe versus tan.”

“
Are you making fun of me Dor’?”

“
Not at all.  Are you ready to call my dad?”

“
I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“
His private cell is in my contact list.  May I borrow your phone?.”

“
Sure, who you gonna call?”

“
Anton.”

“
Dorothy, please don’t kill my brother.  I only have two and Pierce is neutral.  If you kill Anton, I’ll have no one on my side.”

“
I’m not going to kill your brother, I need to ask him something.”

“
Oh.  Okay then.  Here.”

He handed me his phone like the trusting neophyte that he is.

I moved to the bathroom to give Deacon some privacy and to steal some for myself.  I started scrolling through Deke’s contacts, even though Anton was first on the list.  I was surprised that there were only four women on there, all listed by their first names alone.  One was Sylvia, who I accidentally deleted, and one was Miranda.  Oh crap.  Slipped again and there she went.

I scrolled back to Anton and hit “dial”.  He answered on the first ring.

“
Yo bro’.  What up?”

“
It’s not your bro’ Anton.  It’s me.  Dorothy.”

*pause*

“
Oh hey Dor’, what’s goin’ on?”

“
What’s goin’ on?  Well let’s see Anton.  Your mother is giving me advice on prenatal care and Lamaze.  Care to explain?”

“
I’m excited.  What can I say?  I’m going to be an uncle!”

“
You might be an aunt.  What if we have a girl?”

“
You think it’s a girl?”

I face palmed and continued.

“
Anton, stop telling people we’re pregnant.  We don’t even know if it’s true yet.  You’re gonna get everyone’s hopes up and if it turns out we’re not, they’ll think I have the gestation period of an elephant.  If there’s news to tell, please let us tell it, alright?”

“
Yeah, alright.  Sorry if I caused trouble.”

“
You always cause trouble.  We’re getting married next Saturday at the farm.  Show up in a suit and bring Pierce.”

“
The farm?  Awesome choice Sis’.  What color suit?”

“
Black.  Oh and Anton?  My sister is curious about your voodoo penis.  I thought you should know.”

*pause*

“
My what now?”

“
I gotta go, Deacon’s calling me.”

“
Dorothy wait.  Dorothy?  Dor’?”

I hung up while he was still talking.  I might get some fun out of this after all.

I walked out of the bathroom grinning to see Deacon grinning as well.  He was still talking, but by the tone of the conversation, he had my mother on the line.

“
Cathy invite whoever you want, but we’re trying to keep it below a hundred.  Big weddings are so gauche.  Don’t you agree?”

I put my face in my hands.  He used taupe and gauche in the same day.  Who WAS this person?

“
...oh I agree.  She’ll make a stunning bride.  I’m wearing black, it seems safest for her color choices.  You need to call Melody about her dress and flowers, between the two of you I think it’ll be amazing!  Use the number I gave Brian to get hold of my mother.  She can give you the directions for the invites and you can check out the farm if you like for chair and musician placement. ... of course they won’t mind!  You’re going to love each other! .... okay, if you say so, ‘Mom’.  I’ll give her your love and I can’t wait to see you both.  Bye for now.”

There were so many things wrong with that conversation, I didn’t know where to begin.  He was grinning like he’d discovered time travel.

I sat down next to him and sighed.  One thing at a time.

“
Babe, did you just call her, mom?”

He sighed and leaned back on his hands.  Then he swung his feet.  Where was my CEO?  Where was my Power Ranger?  Where the hell was my control freak?

“
She told me to.”

“
Uh-huh.  How did my dad react?”

“
I asked for your hand and he told me I could have it as long as I took the rest of you with it.”

He laughed.

“
I can see where you get your wicked sense of humor Dor’.  Brian’s a pistol.  They’re both thrilled about this.”

“
Good, good.”

I remained calm and he remained happy.  I tossed the next one out there to see how he would react.

“
So ‘Mom’ is going to be helping Mel’ and talking to your mother then?”

“
Absolutely.  I think she was a little let down that we’re not having a big to-do, but as long as she’s in on the planning, I think she’ll be fine.  I told her we needed to keep the guest list to under a hundred.  That sounds right, don’t you think?”

“
I’m still not sure where we’ll put a hundred people, but that’s fine.  They’ll figure it out.  There is something that worries me a little.”

He sat up straight and put his arm around me.

“
Worries you?  Babe just tell me what it is and I’ll take care of it.”

“
I don’t see how you can.  One more question.  Did you tell my folks that we were having a baby?”

“
Nope.  You told me not to so I didn’t.  I keep my promises.”

“
So now we only have to worry about Mel’ and your parents not telling them...right?”

His body went rigid next to mine.  His eyes grew huge as he realized the enormity of the problem.

“
Dorothy, I’m sorry.  I wasn’t thinking past getting them on board for the wedding.  I’ll call my folks and tell them to keep quiet.  Will Mel’ cooperate?”

I was at my wits end.  The last twenty-four hours had started with identification of problem areas, and it was ending with actual problems.  Non-existent problems to boot.  The source of the problems was watching me pace back and forth across the bedroom floor.  When did I start pacing?  I didn’t even remember standing up.

I felt like I was suffocating under the weight of it all and I needed to get some air.  Air that Deacon wasn’t breathing.

I picked up my cell phone off the bed and practically ran out the door, Deacon hot on my heels.  I grabbed my purse from the end table and started for the elevator.

“
Dor’?  Where are you going?”

“
I need some time alone Deke.  I need to to breathe and think.  I can’t do those things here.”

I saw panic in his eyes, but I couldn’t think about that.  Things were moving at a speed I couldn’t keep up with and damage control was out of my realm of expertise.

The elevator dinged and I stepped inside.  He stood in front of the open door, his fists clenched at his side.  Here we were, back to square one.  He was angry, I could see it and instead of confronting it, I was getting away from it.

“
Are you coming back tonight?”

“
I don’t know Deacon, I’ll call you later.”

The door closed and I hit the button for the lobby.

I knew when I saw the lobby doors where I was going.  I went to my car to change into a spare set of trainers I kept there for emergency weather conditions.  If my car broke down, I’d get nowhere fast in heels.  Once my shoes were in place, I draped my purse across my body and walked the three blocks to the park.

I stretched as best I could, and then I started running.  I took it easy at first, reacquainting myself to the feel of the burn; getting my breathing under control for the long haul.  My muscles were sore from taking a few days off and they punished me for ignoring them.  Once we reached an agreement, I started to fly.

I knew what he was thinking and I think I might have known how he felt.  I kept telling myself that it didn’t change a thing.  We were an “us” now.  We’d both been alone for almost our entire lives.  It was natural to need time to ourselves.  Time to think, work, to have something to talk about when we got back together.  No two people should be together twenty-four-seven.  Right?

Except his parents were doing it, and for the most part, so were mine.  They seemed to enjoy it.  To revel in it even.  I remember believing I’d wanted that at one time.  Did I still?  I didn’t know.

As I circled around and started back, I wondered if Deacon would punish me for leaving.  I don’t mean punish as in do something physical, I mean punish me by exiling me from his presence like every other time I did something that he didn’t like.  It felt like punishment anyway because of the way he did it.  It amazed me that he could stay away from contact with me for weeks at a time.  Of course when we finally got back together he always told me how much he’d missed me; how he couldn’t be without me.  Then we’d be the happy couple until something else came up and then Wham.  There I was again in Siberia wondering what in the hell happened.  Even with my limited relationship experience, I knew that it wasn’t healthy.  We were starting out in trouble hoping to build a lifetime of happiness around it.

I’d never felt more stupid in my life.

I ended up where I started, panting for breath and sweating like a pig stuck under a fence.  I stretched to avoid cramps and looked around for a vendor.  I bought two bottles of water and drank one too fast.  While I struggled to keep it in my overheated body, I collapsed on a bench and unscrewed the lid on the second one.  My clothes were drenched in sweat and my ears were ringing from dehydration.  I knew better than this, where was my head at?

I could hear my phone ringing in my purse and I reached inside to find it.  When I pulled it out, it was Deacon.  I hit “ignore” and sent him to voice mail.  Not now.  Not yet.

Then he sent a text.

“
I’m worried about u.  U left angry.  Plz come home.”

That was a nice twist, so I answered.

“
Not angry, confused.  2 much to deal with.”

“
We’ll deal together.  Come home.”

I left that one alone and turned my phone off.  I slipped it back in my purse and started the trek back home.  On the way, I saw a Starbucks and slipped inside.  The aroma made my mouth water and my head ache.  It was my old buddy, caffeine withdrawal.  Like I needed this on top of everything else.

I was in line and almost to the counter, ready to order my standard Venti vanilla latte, when I hesitated.  What if I was pregnant?  Of course I probably wasn’t, but what if I was?  Damn his ass for putting doubts in my head.  All I wanted was a cup of my favorite beverage.  Instead I ordered a large decaf iced tea and left sulking.

It was good to be in my own home.  For all of about five minutes.  The sound of my door slamming should have concerned me.  It didn’t.  I sat on my sofa, sipping my iced tea, pretty sure that whoever had slammed the door would find me.  She did.

Melody came stalking in, hands on her hips and stopped in front of me.  She threw her hip out in such an amusing way, I almost spewed tea out of my nose.  Her attempts at anger were often hilarious and just off the mark.

I tipped my head in her direction and took another sip.

“
Why the hell aren’t you answering your phone?  Deacon is frantic, mom’s trying to get hold of you, and why did you tell Anton I was fixated on his penis?”

“
I believe the term I used was, ‘voodoo penis’.”

“
What?  What is the matter with you?  You’re not acting right and you smell awful.”

She dragged out the word, “awful” and took a step back.  Fine by me, I kept sucking down my iced tea.  My body felt loose and my mind was quiet.  I was in no hurry to correct either of those anytime soon.

“
Mel’, leave a list of your demands by the door and I’ll consider them as time permits.  Bye now.”

I don’t know why I thought that might work, it’s never worked before.  Instead, she plopped down on the sofa as far from me as she could get and crossed her arms.

“
Why aren’t you talking to Deacon?  Are you two fighting again?”

Interesting turn of a phrase.

“
Not that I’m aware of, did he say we were?”

“
No, he said that you left in a strange mood and he was worried about you.  He asked if I’d heard from you.”

She turned to face me and I raised my eyebrows.