Peachy Keen (21 page)

I shared the story of my grandmother’s harsh and hilarious words to my cousin and kept everything else to myself for the meantime. I thought Danielle deserved the next few days to enjoy her ever-increasing fairytale without having to worry about me and my troubled heart.

Downstairs in the kitchen, I found my grandmother pulling cinnamon rolls from the oven and I groaned in delight.

“I knew there’d be benefits of sleeping over,” I said with a smile.

“Good morning, Georgia June! Wine headache this morning?” Grams asked.

I poured myself a cup of coffee from a carafe and offered her one before smirking over my shoulder. “Please. I may as well be a sailor. Wine ain’t got nothing on me.”

She cackled and shook her head. “That’s why you’re my favorite.”

I laughed. “Grams! You’re not supposed to say stuff like that out loud.”

Snuggling deeper into her house coat, she took a seat at the kitchen table and doctored her coffee with a few lumps of sugar. “Well, you are. You’re just like me.”

Lowering myself into a chair across from her, I examined her smile. She’d never said anything like that before and it caught my attention as more than a passing comment. “I am?”

“Sure are. You’re nothing like your mother, thank the Lord.”

“Grams!”

Her hands waved in the air and she closed her eyes for a moment. “No, no, come on, I love your mama. She’s my baby. But she was never too good at listening,” she said, pointing a finger to the center of her chest. “You, my dear, listen to your heart the way your mom listened to the crowd. You march to your own drummer, you don’t give a damn what everyone else is thinking. A quality you get from me. A quality to be admired.” She smiled.

“I’ve been struggling to keep the beat lately, Grams,” I sighed around a half-hearted laugh.

“What’s going on?” she asked, shifting forward, serving a cinnamon roll onto a small plate for me.

“I want to quit my job,” I started, not daring bring up Harrison.

“So quit.”

I laughed and shook my head. “It’s not that simple. Dani’s going to be moving out sometime soon. I’ll have to find another roommate or I won’t be able to afford it without my job at Young, Henson, and Cline.”

“Danielle’s moving in with the movie star?” she asked incredulously. “I didn’t think that little mouse had it in her!”

I giggled and licked sugary icing from my lips as I nodded. “Right?!”

“Look, Georgia, you’re young and wonderful and so full of life…just do whatever the hell you want while you still can. You can live in the attic if you really want to quit your job that badly. I’ll have your uncle Ray come over and fix it up real nice. What is it you want to do anyhow?”

My mouth turned up on one side and I avoided her gaze by staring at my plate. She’d always favored me and I knew it. My grandmother had been the only one who made sure I got to be a kid while my mom and dad were acting out the Trenton Civil War. Her offer made my throat tighten abruptly. I wouldn’t take her up on it, but it was nice to know she cared that much.

“Uh…well,” I muttered.

“Oh come on, whatever it is you can’t scare me. You know, my mother was a flapper!”

“Grams!!” I bellowed a laugh. “It’s nothing like that. I want to teach aerobics. Work at a gym or something. Not be a hooker.” I had to giggle. It instantly reminded me of Harrison’s teasing back at the resort. He’d been the first one to encourage the break from my current job. I’d been trying to cure my restlessness when I went to Desire. I had no idea how my time there would amplify it.

“Flappers were not hookers,” she clipped.

My head cocked to one side and I met her eyes. “Of course not. No judgment. Especially since I want to attempt teaching striptease cardio and chair dance strength training.”

Grams’ eyes widened with glee and her wiry brows rose high. “Pole Pilates? I hear that’s one hell of a workout.”

“Who thought it was a good idea for you to have the internet?” I teased.

She muttered a few griping words at me in jest, sipping her coffee to hide a grin. Serving myself a second cinnamon roll, my phone vibrated in the pocket of my hoodie and I glanced at it, praying it was Harrison.

Harrison: I just want you to know that the offer still stands.

I gasped and pressed my lips together, my heart surging with hope. I returned to my breakfast just as I caught my grandmother spying me from over the brim of her mug yet again.

***

My mom and her boyfriend, Bryce, showed up to Grams’ in time for dinner, as did everyone else. It was family night part two and I could only imagine what line would be crossed in conversation as the evening went on and the beer bottles emptied.

“Hey,” my cousin Andrea said with a frown, pulling me aside in the living room near the Christmas tree. “In all seriousness, do I need Botox?”

“No,” I said firmly, glancing at my grandmother in her recliner chatting away with my mom and Uncle Ray. “She was just trying to get you worked up,” I laughed.

She sighed and put a hand on her swollen pregnant belly. “Well at least she didn’t call me fat. My hormones are not to be fucked with right now,” she said. “So, what’s up? We didn’t get to talk last night. Tell me about the flavor of the week. Alfredo won’t touch me right now; he’s all freaked out that it’ll hurt the baby so I need to live vicariously through you. So come on, give me the horny deets.”

My stomach rolled and I glanced around the room again. I loved my family. They were rough around the edges but knew how to have a damn good time. They had a tendency to be dramatic but in the end were fiercely loving—especially Grams. But in that instant—with Andrea waiting for me to indulge her with some scandalous story the way I had every year up until now—I wanted out of there. I wanted nothing more than to ditch the eggnog-scented parlor full of laughter and vinyl record after vinyl record of Christmas classics for somewhere better. I wanted a quiet night cuddled on the couch with my best friend. The family member I missed most.

I opened my mouth but no words came out so I forced a smile instead. “Hang on a sec,” I finally said to Andrea before dashing to the kitchen, following my grandmother.

“Grams,” I said to her back, thankful the kitchen was empty save for her.

She spun from the stovetop, tying her apron as she looked at me expectantly. My shoulders hitched up as I pulled in a deep breath and she grinned knowingly. “I’m guessing this isn’t about the mashed potatoes,” she mused.

I felt the string of words funnel through my brain swiftly just before they streamed out at her. “It’s not just my job. There’s a guy. I’m…in love.” I laughed, wondering if she’d find the notion as absurd as I did. “He asked me to be with him on Christmas but I screwed it all up. I’m a total chickenshit. He scares me. It’s too good and I can’t stop thinking about how awful Mom and Dad were together and I never want to hate him and I…” I nearly gasped for my next breath before I ran my hands over my face, unable to go on.

I was on the verge of tears, watching her mouth curve into a tender smile as she took careful steps toward me. She took my face in her cool hands and brought her nose close to mine. I breathed in the floral perfume she’d worn my whole life and my love for her radiated in my heart.

“Now, what did I tell you, girl? You’re nothing like your mother.”

21.

Light as the Breeze

Harrison

I sat staring at the white lights chasing around the small fake tree Holly had insisted I put up before she left for Mom and Dad’s. I was a little bummed I couldn’t be with my family, but bummed didn’t scratch the surface of how I felt about the way Georgia turned down my offer. Sure, she felt rushed—maybe I did too—but we had to try. I couldn’t give her up now. She was woven into every fiber of me. I didn’t care that it was Christmas; we didn’t have to be together for the holiday if it scared her so badly. It only mattered that I hadn’t seen her in two weeks and that was too long.

I told myself it was time for bed. Time to dream of her, since that was the only way I’d get a glimpse at my beautiful girl. Pulling the plug of Christmas lights from the wall, I sighed as my living room went dark. I couldn’t blame Georgia for being afraid. I was scared too. Every time we talked or saw each other, I remembered what my relationship with Meredith had been like. Georgia was completely different and some days I wasn’t sure how to wrap my head around that. How had I fallen in love with women who were polar opposites? Had I grown and changed so much in the years since I left Meredith, or was my comprehension of love the thing that changed? Loving Georgia wasn’t a choice at all. She stole my heart piece by piece; being robbed never felt so gratifying.

I flipped off the last light and headed to bed, pulling my shirt off on the way to my room. Settled under the covers, I reached for my phone and looked at the messages we’d exchanged recently. My chest burned reading her short answers. She was changing her mind about us once again, I could feel it. I began typing a text I wasn’t sure I would send, telling her the things I hadn’t been able to put into words when standing face to face. Like how I’d never felt so sure about something. Like how I envisioned everything in my life being touched by her eventually, from a house together to a life together to children together. She’d snuck into every corner of my mind and imbedded herself in me—burying deep in my heart, in the center of my chest where every beat belonged to her and her alone.

I sat up at the sound of knocking on my front door. My neighbors, a couple of young guys in a band (and their friends), had the habit of thinking my door was theirs when stumbling back from the bars. I didn’t much feel like opening my door to the smell of whisky and cigarettes just to tell them to take five steps to the left.

Another bout of raps rang out, this time louder, and I sighed, swinging my feet off the bed. Then again, louder and faster—urgent. I hustled to the door and pulled it open without looking through the peephole, praying I wasn’t about to get puked on by the skinny drummer who couldn’t hold his liquor.

“Hey,” Georgia breathed.

I gulped and blinked, clearing my eyes, making sure I wasn’t dreaming. With her coat zipped all the way up under her chin and a scarf looped around her neck, she kept her hands in her pockets and looked up at me shyly with those coffee-colored bedroom eyes of hers. I glanced down at her feet to see a bag and nearly dropped to my knees. Her lips twisted and her eyes turned glassy as she looked up at the top of the door frame, avoiding my gaze.

“We taking turns showing up unannounced from now on?” I joked.

She laughed through a huge breath and I saw her swipe her fingers under her eye.

“Don’t cry. What’s there to cry about?” I asked softly, taking a step toward her and capturing her face between my hands so she’d have to look at me.

“I’m sorry. I’m not a fearless girl. I’m just me and sometimes I’m too scared to think straight. I love you so much it hurts. I’m terrified by the way I feel about you.” She sighed. “And I’ve been stuck in stupid traffic for the last two hours and I didn’t know where to park so I had to walk here in the freezing cold... Because I missed you. Because I love you.” She threw her hands up and they flopped at her sides. I smiled at how adorable she was when she was pitiful. Georgia rolled her eyes and I kissed her lips.

“I missed you too, baby,” I said, taking her by the hand and picking up her luggage to head inside. When the door closed behind us, I smoothed my hands over her hair and tilted her face up to look at her. Though it was dark in the living room, I could make out the perfect curve of her lips and the delicate blush under her cheeks. I said it over and over again in my mind.
I love you.

“You make me crazy,” Georgia blurted.

I coughed a laugh but didn’t let her out of my grasp. “I do?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry…”

Her expression softened and she lifted one hand to the side of my face, stroking my beard sweetly. “I don’t want you to be sorry,” she started.

I narrowed my eyes on her, waiting for the rest.

“Everything you’ve ever said to me…every beautiful, kind, loving, confusing, insane, infuriating thing you’ve ever said to me has turned me into this crazy person who loves you. So please don’t apologize. And don’t regret it. Promise you’ll never stop making me crazy.”

Swallowing thickly, I moved toward her without another thought and crushed my lips fiercely against hers. Her fingers slipped into my hair and I pulled her as close to my body as I could, reveling in the moan she let go of.

“I promise,” I rasped against her lips. A few steps led us to the sofa where I sat down and pulled her into my lap. I felt frantic for her, the need to be inside her overwhelming me into a state of madness.

I pulled the zipper of her coat down after I untangled her scarf from around her neck. She giggled, shrugging out of the puffy white coat and yanking her sweater over her head just as quickly. The sight of her skin, with only a touch of tan remaining, against the white satiny bra that covered her tits made me hard. I stroked a hand from the base of her throat to that sparkly jewel in her navel that drove me fucking wild. Georgia sighed and arched her back, keeping her thighs locked tight around my waist, her knees pressed into the couch cushions.

Her hands wasted no time shoving my sweatpants down, releasing my cock from its confines. When she wrapped her hand firmly around the base, I groaned. I gripped her bare arms and lifted her just enough to put her on her back on the sofa so I could pull her pants off. Naked and smiling up at me, I’d never seen a more stunning example of perfection. Her hand reached out to her coat, returning with a condom, and I growled, yanking her back into my lap and tearing the packet open as fast as I could.

Georgia lowered herself onto my cock and we expelled a collective sigh. Of relief. Of pleasure. Of perfection. The warmth of her, the softness of her body enveloping the hardness of mine, set every fine hair on my body on edge. She rode me slowly, rocking her pussy against me as my hands roamed her body.