"I'm so happy you noticed. You're naked too, you know."
"But you were talking to Mitch! You went to the door naked!"
"My goodness but you're observant today," she said sweetly. "Get dressed. We have to go downtown."
"Lulu!"
"Oh get a grip. He can't have me. And if you don't get up and get dressed so we can get this over with, you're not going to be able to have me either. Then I'll be horny and frustrated, and I'll have to buy another rabbit, and I'll be all cranky about that. Is that what you want?"
It wasn't until they were in the car that he had recovered mentally enough to ask: "So why do we have to go downtown?"
"The stupid governor of New York's stupid wife flew into town to say thank you to you for saving her stupid life."
"Oh no," he moaned.
"Just walk up to her and smile and say she's welcome. Nothing to it."
"I don't want to," he groaned.
"If you do I'll let you have an orgasm in me," she said.
There was half a minute of silence.
"Okay."
"Men!" she snorted. "All they think of is one thing."
"Have you looked in the mirror lately when you were naked?" He managed a grin.
She stopped in the middle of the road and turned to face him.
"I love you," she said.
"I know that," he replied. "I love you, too."
"No, you don't understand," she said, still stopped and still looking at him. "I
love
you, Kris. I was miserable when you went away. The thought that you didn't love me ... that you'd just leave like that ... that I'd never see you again ... "
She moved forward again.
"I don't ever want to feel like that again, Kris."
"I'm back for good," he said. "I'm going to find a place to live and stay here in Pembroke."
"That's good," she said firmly.
"Is it?" he asked. "Because so far, you've kind of been beating me up a lot."
She glanced over at him. "Oh, it's good," she assured him. "It's good that you're here to stay, 'cause if you ever leave like that again, I'm going to have to find out what a man's balls taste like deep fried ... and I just hate deep fried foods."
There was a short detour, to pick up Ambrose. Then she drove him to town ... and into chaos.
There were people everywhere. All three news crews had arrived at the square, and word had spread that something crazy was going on. People who had survived cabin fever during the long, cold winter, embraced any diversion from the norm. It was like a holiday, where people flipped over the "Open" sign to "Please visit again," and shrugged on a jacket to go see the sights. The music teacher, upon learning why a helicopter had landed on the football field, quickly threw together the pep band, which was tuning up, standing in a cluster of shiny instruments and playing snatches of a John Phillip Sousa march.
Chantal, used to such madness, just stood, coolly beautiful in her furs, waiting for someone to bring some semblance of organization to the events. The chief of police, who blushed and tittered whenever Chantal said anything to him, assured her that her savior was on his way there. A gaggle of young girls with moon eyes was standing twenty feet away, giggling as each of them tried to prod another into being the first to approach Chantal and actually say something to her. She'd seen it all before and, down deep, she loved it when people made a fuss over her.
At the same time, she was fully aware of why she was actually there and she intended to follow through with that. When a buzz arose from one direction, and she heard people saying, "It's him!" she turned to wait. She saw him and recognized him immediately from his picture. She almost laughed as she saw the woman who was escorting him through the crowd, one arm through his, the other arm trying to keep a little boy from running ahead of them.
She'd wondered what he'd be like ... what kind of people he was close to ... but she hadn't given any thought to the possibility that he'd be an oddball, or married, with a child. She reassessed the woman with the bizarre hairdo as they got closer. The woman walked with that confident, in-control stride that models have to learn how to use, even though she was controlling two men, for all intents and purposes. Her face was calm, even though people were shouting at her and the man she was with from all sides. She heard "Hey Lulu!" being called from several places.
The woman wasn't blushing or fawning, which told Chantal that all this attention didn't impress her much. She might look odd, but it was obvious to an interested observer that this was a strong, capable woman, whose head wasn't turned by being suddenly catapulted into the limelight.
And then they were there, and she was finally facing the man who had so impacted her life. While the woman looked as cool as a cucumber, the man was quite the opposite. His eyes rolled as he darted looks everywhere. He was decidedly uncomfortable. She felt real relief that he wasn't a strutting braggart, because she had hoped he wouldn't be one of those.
His face was craggy and there were a number of places where there were bits of lighter flesh, that suggested newly healed injuries. She saw the streak on his left temple and knew, instinctively that this was where he'd been shot. Shot while stopping those men from ruining her life ... from
taking
her life.
She stepped forward and hugged him. The woman with him didn't let go of his arm.
She leaned back and brought one finger up to trace along the scar on his temple. The band suddenly roared to life and people yelled. Microphones were thrust near her face, on long booms, as people crowded around. She hadn't planned for any of this, and the urge she felt next wasn't planned for either.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to that bullet wound.
"You wanna back up offa my man, lady?" growled the young woman who was still holding his arm.
Chantal looked over at the woman, using the cool, superior look she'd practiced in the mirror for hours-raising only one eyebrow slightly and looking down her nose ... just a little ... at the woman.
"You can keep him," she said softly. "I just want to thank him."
"I can get behind that," said Lulu, smiling brightly. "Could we hurry just a little? You interrupted a really nice orgasm and I'd kind of like to get back to it."
Chantal's eyes went round for just a second and then she laughed.
She held up her hands then, in the universal sign asking for silence, and the crowd slowly obeyed her. The microphones hovered above her head, weaving in the air as the people holding them were jostled by the crowd. The band finally honked to an abrupt end.
She made her little speech and the crowd went wild. The band started up again, and this time, when Chantal hugged him, she included the woman in the hug too.
"One more thing," she said, half yelling as the hug ended. She reached into her purse and brought out a piece of paper. It was a check. "We offered a reward. This is for you."
"No," blurted Kris. "I couldn't!"
"Don't listen to him ... he's a man," said Lulu. She plucked the check from Chantal's fingers. "I'll just take care of this for him."
Chantal looked at Lulu. "You're a lucky woman."
"I know," said Lulu, stuffing the check into her jeans pocket. "Thank you."
"You must come to the mansion for dinner some time," said Chantal, looking at Lulu.
"Can I bring him?" Lulu grinned.
Chantal laughed. "At least once," she said. "And your little boy, too, of course."
"Of course," said Lulu, beaming.
Chapter Thirty-four
No one was in a hurry to let the famous woman leave, which translated into people standing too close to the helicopter to allow the pilot to spin up the rotors. Chief Whittaker finally began to exert influence, and his men, all of whom were present, began pushing the crowd back. Once the pilot started the engine, people were much quicker in retreating, but still braved the rotor wash to stand and watch as the big bird lifted off the ground.
Mitch looked around for Kris and Lulu, and saw Jessica standing alone, watching the helicopter get smaller and smaller. He walked over to her.
"You look envious," he said. "Do you wish you were on it?"
She looked at him and blinked.
"I don't want to leave you," she said, her voice holding complaint.
"I'm glad to hear you say that," he said. "Where's Lulu?"
"They left," she said.
"They did?" he asked, incredulous.
"You know Lulu," said Jessica, shrugging. She suddenly smiled. "You have any plans?"
"Nope. The excitement is all over."
"It doesn't have to be," she said. "Your place or mine?"
Ambrose's questions had been answered and he was watching a video on TV. Kris had calmed down and was breathing almost normally. Lulu remembered the check and got the crumpled paper from her pocket. She stared at it as she smoothed the wrinkles out of it.
"Kris," she said weakly. "This is for two hundred thousand dollars!"
He just stared at her.
"Wow," she said softly. "Know what?"
"What?"
"Looking at this check makes me horny."
"Then I'm glad she gave it to me."
They had chosen her place, because it was closer.
Jessica pulled her lips away from Mitch's and sighed.
"I never thought I'd love kissing you so much."
"I never thought I'd ever get to kiss you at all," he said, smiling.
"But you wanted to ... right?" she asked.
"It's kind of strange," he said uncomfortably.
"Strange how?"
"I'm afraid you'll get mad at me if I tell you," he said.
"Oh," she said. "Well then, never mind. I already know anyway."
"You do?" Mitch looked confused.
"I've been black all my life, Mitch," she said softly.
"That's not it," he said immediately. Even
he
knew it sounded false and hollow.
"If we're going to build something here," she said, "and since I gave you my virginity we'd
better
be building something here ... we have to be honest with each other."
"I know," he said softly. "It's just that I feel so stupid."
"Well you're not. You're normal. I never thought I'd take up with a white boy either, you know."
"You didn't?" He sounded surprised.
"Why would you assume I'd go for a white boy, when you weren't willing to entertain the idea of you having a relationship with a black woman, Mitch?" Her voice sounded unhappy, but she was still pressed against him.
"I don't know," he moaned. "I just didn't picture me with that kind of woman I guess."
"And you figured that I'd settle for second best because there were no black men in Pembroke for me to fall in love with?"
"I guess I did," he said.
"So you think that as soon as some studly brother comes along, I'll jump ship and chase after dark meat?"
"No!" he said quickly. "I might have before, but I've gotten to know you better ... or deeper ... or something. I think about you differently now than I used to."
"Well that's good, Mitch Connel, because you're stuck with me, buster. I still don't understand what happened between us, but I'm not going to question it. I know how I feel, and as untrained and ignorant as you are, I can't stand the thought of being away from you for more than a few hours. I know that's crazy, but that's the way it is."
"I feel the same way!" he insisted.
"And, if you think you're going to get away with treating me like you treated Carla, you're in for a very rude awakening," she said.
"That's the whole thing," he moaned. "When I think about how I feel about you, it's
nothing
like how I felt about Carla. Carla was like puppy love, compared to this. That's what scares me!"
"You're scared of me?" Her voice was high.
"I guess I am. Or maybe I'm scared of what I'd be willing to do for you."
"Would you rob a bank for me?"
"No." He glared at her.
"That's okay," she said. "A bank doesn't have what I want from you anyway."
"What
do
you want from me?" he asked.
"If you didn't have all those clothes on, you'd know," she said, rubbing her loins against his.