Forever: A Lobster Kind Of Love (23 page)

“I don’t know what to do. I care about you. I’m attracted to you, and I just haven’t had enough time to process all of those things together in the last hour. I thought I was crazy thinking you were attracted to me, but here we are.”

“So what do you propose? I am willing to wait, but I am not going to quit.” She continued to wring her hands in her lap and the urge to hold them was overwhelming. I stayed fast with my hands under my legs because I didn’t want to spook her as she deliberated.

“You’re killing me over here. Please, say something.”

She looked up from her lap and the proverbial light bulb was lit. “I have to remain professional. I can’t mix the two, not with clear conscience,” she said quietly.

“Lyds, please, don’t do this. You can’t tell me you don’t feel it, too.”

She held her hand up and pressed two fingers to my lips. “You didn’t let me finish. I am your nurse Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. What I do in my free time is my business. I will look for and train my replacement.”

“Okay, I can keep it business during the day, but I don’t need a replacement. No one could replace you,” I pleaded.

She let out a big sigh and scrubbed her face with her hands. “That’s the best I can do. I just can’t mix things.”

“I guess I have no say in this. I will take it…for now.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with that?” I was still sitting on my hands and I was unsure if I should move.

“Is the no touching rule lifted?” She smirked, and I slowly freed my right hand and reached for hers and yanked her to me. I grabbed her by her scrub pants and lifted her onto me, straddling my legs. She wasn’t fighting me and appeared dazed. I held her face in my hands and pulled her closer.

“Look at me Lydia.” Her eyelashes fluttered as she focused her gaze on mine. “Do you know what time it is?” I asked quietly. She shook her head slightly within my hands. “It’s after 6:00,” I said with a smile as I pressed my lips to hers. I deepened the kiss as she exhaled through her mouth in a heavy sigh, releasing the tension in her body in that one exhalation of air. Her body fell languid against mine and I swiped at her lips with my tongue to gain access. As if a spark ignited within her, her eyes flew open then sagged closed again and her tongue began to tangle with mine. She returned my kiss with fervor as she continued to explore my mouth with her tongue.

My hands fell from her cheeks to her neck, her racing pulse was palpable. I left her mouth agape, and she moaned as I trailed kisses from the corner of her mouth to her neck then behind her ear. Finding her pulsating jugular, I sucked and nipped at it enjoying feeling the pulse of her neck and she squirmed in my lap. My cock swelled beneath her; the continued squirming provided enough friction to rub me into frenzy. I grabbed her by her hip and held her against my crotch. I buried my face in her cleavage and held her tightly trying to control myself against embarrassing myself.

“Lyds,” I breathed into her chest. “I thought you wanted slow. You keep this pace, things will move so fast, you will miss the good part.”

She leaned back, bringing my face up from her chest to meet her lips, kissing me deep and full on the mouth. She rocked her hips forward, dragging her thinly covered pussy against my cock before pulling my face away. “We have plenty of time,” she whispered as she rested her forehead against mine and my heart was full. Lydia had decided to stay, and that’s all that mattered.

Every day I learned something new about Ryan. During the day, he never left my side telling me stories of his crew and his days of fishing. I shared with him the happy memories of my family and how our vacation to Eastport was the driving force for me relocating here. Who knew when I came here that my life would take this turn.

Who would have thought I would be thankful around Thanksgiving. I had a new outlook in life. I was just taking each day as it came, enjoying my time with Ryan and I breathed through the rough days. I couldn’t wait to share the holidays with my new Maine family. They would never replace my boys, but I was so thankful that this town of strangers had become my family.

It surprised me how my friends that were not blood related were closer to me than my own so-called family. Al and Ethel took me under their wings and I couldn’t be more grateful. I wanted to cook a big dinner this year, complete with all the trimmings. I was thinking of surprising Ryan at his house with a full Thanksgiving dinner party.

I spoke to Ethel, and she thought it was a great idea. Next came the task of calling everyone and inviting everyone to dinner. Ethel suggested extending an open invite since some people might have familial obligations. Ethel was looking forward to cooking and helping out, too. Sometimes, I thought she’d look for any excuse to cook.

Ryan didn’t leave the house much, so I thought that maybe he would enjoy this, too. I would bring the party to him. I also wanted to thank everyone for their support over the last few months and what better way than throwing a party and eating until we slipped into food comas.

I made my list and started at the top.

First on the list were Ryan’s parents. I dialed their phone number and waited the requisite rings before the answering machine picked up. Ryan was an only child, but he had a few aunts and uncles in addition to his parents. It was prime time in the evening, but no one picked up. I left a message for his mother; she probably didn’t recognize my Pennsylvania number. I would get around changing it to a Maine number eventually; it wasn’t really high on my priority list except for times like this when it kept me away from my goals.

I was hoping they would respond. I really wanted to make this Thanksgiving special for Ryan. I had been his nurse since June and had never met one person in his family and he never talked about them.

He talked about Dougie often and he had visited with him whenever he wasn’t fishing, so he was the next on my hit list.

I dialed his number and Dougie answered on the first ring in a frantic tone. “Lydia? Is everything all right? What’s wrong with Ryan?” He blurted out before I could even muster a hello.

“Dougie, he’s fine. Everything is great. I just called to ask you a question.” I heard him let out a loud breath before he continued.

“Good, good. You freaked me out. I’m out on the boat, but I am close enough to turn around if you needed me.”

“No, no, I was just wondering if you had any plans for Thanksgiving?”

“The wife's parents are coming in for a couple days, why?”

“I want to surprise Ryan with Thanksgiving dinner.”

Dougie laughed. “You know he is going to kick your ass, or hit you with his chair at least. He hates surprises.”

“Really? You think so? It’s just dinner.”

“Well, since there is food involved, he might wait until after dinner before he runs you over, for sure.”

“Well, you wouldn’t want to miss that show. So are you in?” I hoped he would agree. If Dougie came, the others would follow suit.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it. Plus, it will get me away from my crazy in-laws for a bit. I will stop in to hear him bitch, so I can laugh at him as he stuffs his face.”

I was so relieved, one down and a laundry list of people to go. “Thanks Dougie, it means a lot to me and I know Ryan will love having you there, grumpy and all.”

“No problem, Lydia. If you need anything, just give me a holler. I will be back at port for the weekend and I’ll tell the guys on the docks, too. Talk to you soon.” He clicked off, and I went to the next name on my list: Al.

I called Al and invited him and his wife to dinner. He told me the Rose Garden would be open, but he would take turns with the guys, stop by, and grab something to eat, if that was okay. He said he would make sure everyone came through at some point.

“We all miss seeing Ryan around. I wish he would get out more and come into town.”

“I am working on it, but this is a surprise so keep it hush-hush.”

“Well then you better not tell Cassandra or the whole town and most of the population downstate to Bangor will know by morning.” I laughed at the mention of the town librarian and recalled her mild interrogation at our first meeting. She seemed harmless enough, but I still wasn’t comfortable with my life being community news.

I thanked Al and told him I would stop by again soon. Occasionally, I stopped in the Rose Garden for a drink on my way home. I am glad my husband and I made the choice to eat there almost three years ago. My life took a whole new direction, and it all started there. I had met many great people, and I wanted to start being social.

Next, I dialed the girls back home. Jill was single, unless she was dating someone that I didn’t know about, so she should have no problem coming up. Tonya on the other hand was married so that might be a little tricky. I dialed Tonya first; as she picked up, I heard the opening theme music and tones for Law & Order from Tonya’s TV in the background.

“Hey Lyds, what’s up?”

“I am going to have Thanksgiving here in Maine and I want you and Russ to come up.”

“You’re cooking? Count me in, I will bring my crock and make some fudge. It’s a good excuse as any for a mini-vacay.”

“Really? That would be awesome. Here I thought you were going to be the hard sell. It’s going to be at my client’s house but everyone is welcome.”

“I need a vacation and Russ is always putting it off. So now, we have an invitation to go somewhere. He won’t say no. Wait, you are hosting dinner at your client’s house. Is there something I should know?”

I didn’t know what to say. There wasn’t much to tell. We were still taking things slow and besides our epic make-out sessions after work hours, I just didn’t want to disclose anything right now.

“He would be all alone otherwise; my landlady is alone besides me, so I figured it would be nice to have everyone all together and his place is more suitable.”

She was quiet on the other end of the phone as she digested what I’d said. I was thankful this was just a phone call and not FaceTime or Skype or she would be all over my ass. “Okay, let me just double check with Russ and his schedule but you can mark me down plus one. Is Jill coming?”

“She is next on my list to call.”

“Cool, when you talk to her tell her she can ride with us. I don’t think that little craptastic car of hers will make it to New Jersey, let alone Maine.” Tonya always had a way with words, but it was so true. She never failed to make me smile.

“Okay, I will let her know. See you soon! I miss you, chickie!”

“Miss you, too. Now go call Jill before she goes to bed.” I looked at the clock, worried I would be calling people too late, but it was only a little bit after 8:00.

“It’s only like 8:00, what do you mean go to bed? What about that guy she was seeing?” I replied.

“You mean Mr. October? History. He was a jerk, so I refuse to even acknowledge his name. Since she doesn’t have anyone to keep her up at night, she is probably in bed. Seriously, she needs to do something about that.” We laughed as we agreed lack of man currency sucked before I hung up and dialed Jill’s number.

“Mmmm, hello?” Jill answered groggily on the other end.

“Jill, what the hell, woman? Don’t tell me you are sleeping?” It was true; this bitch was in bed!

“What? Everything okay? Where do I bring the shovels?” she joked, still raspy with sleep in her voice.

“Chill out, woman, the world is safe. No shovels needed. You just need to bring your ass up to Maine for Thanksgiving.”

“I can’t go to Maine. My car will never make it. And I already told Tonya I was going over to her house.”

“Well, Tonya and Russ are coming here so unless you are babysitting their dust bunnies, pack your toothbrush and your crock because Thanksgiving is in Maine this year.” That seemed to perk her out of her sleepy stupor.

“What am I cooking? Did you see the hot purple Crock I got? Oh Lyds, it’s a beautiful sight to behold.”

“You bought a purple one? Ooh, I can’t wait to see it. Tonya is going to make fudge, so how about some hot artichoke dip? We can add some lobster to it.” I egged her on.

“Oh my God, now I am hungry. You are not right, Lydia; now I want fucking dip. Hello holiday pounds. Okay, I gotta go raid the pantry now, bitch. I love you, woman. See you in a few.” I heard her mumble curse words as she undoubtedly wrestled the blankets to get out of bed in search of a late night snack.

As I worked my way down the rest of my list including Sam, Pedro, and George, the excitement built within me. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to keep the secret and had a lot of work to do. I wanted everything to be fabulous.