I wake up with the light shining right in my eyes. I try to pull the cover back over me. I’m so not ready to wake up yet.
“Wake up, sleepyhead. It’s noon,” Donovan says, a little too cheery, and kisses my cheek. “I let you sleep long enough. Come on, your mom has breakfast...uh, lunch ready.”
I groan, then I remember I’m supposed to be at the airport in a couple of hours. “Oh, crap! I need to cancel my flight. I completely forgot about it.” I scramble to get up and find my phone, and apparently it’s too much for my boyfriend to handle, because he starts laughing at me. “And what is so funny, Dr. Callahan?”
“You, babe. You.” He’s still laughing.
“And just why do you think I’m comical?” I put my hands on my hips and look as stern as I can, but it doesn’t work.
“Because the way you jumped out of bed. You were dead asleep, then you jump up like your bed was on fire. You should have seen the look on your face. It was kinda cute.”
“Well, instead of making fun of me, could you help me find my phone?” I start digging through my pockets in my shorts and searching the bed.
“It’s right here.” He holds it up for me. “Don’t worry, I already canceled your flight.”
“And why exactly did you do that? I didn’t ask you to do that.” I cross my arms across my chest, and stick my bottom lip out, putting on my best pouty face.
“Don’t do that, Allie. Unless you want to spend the next hour back in bed,” he regards me with hooded eyes. “You pouting makes me want to suck on that lip.”
I poke it out even further, just daring him to get me in the sack with my mom in the next room. He stands up from his seat on the edge of the bed, slowly walks towards me, and cups my face.
“I said, don’t do that.” Then he places his lips on mine, and does exactly what he said; sucks on my bottom lip. And dammit, it’s hot. I feel the desire already starting to build up and I have to push him away. As much as I want this man, I am not having sex with him while my mother is awake. Something about that just seems so wrong.
“Okay, okay. Then come on. I’m hungry and your mom said to get your ass out of bed anyways.” He plants a chaste kiss on my mouth. “I’ll see you in a minute. You should probably change.” He winks at me and I look down. I have nothing on except my underwear. I blush at the fact I had forgotten clothing. I totally would have walked out of there and not even noticed. I shake my head; that man has got me all dazed and confused. I find a pair of jean shorts and an Aeropostale pink t-shirt. I look in the mirror and try to make myself look presentable, and not look like I just got my brains screwed out just a couple of hours ago.
Before I walk out, I look at the hourglass on the dresser. Before I knew what it was, it scared me to death. Now, not so much. In fact, it doesn’t bother me anymore. Donna may have her own twisted reasons for not wanting us together. Claire may have her mind set on getting Donovan back, if and when she gets out of jail. But in all honesty, I’d loved to see them try.
When I walk out the bedroom, I see that Jackson is in the living room with Donovan and Mom. She must have gone to get him for me. I stay in the hallway, just far enough out of sight. I hear them talking and I don’t want to interrupt their conversation they have going on.
“Do you like my momma?” Jackson asks, his green eyes locked onto his blue ones.
“Yes, I do. Is that alright?” He’s asking permission from my son? My heart clenches inside my chest. That’s so considerate, thinking of what Jackson thinks. I patiently wait for his sweet voice to answer. I can see the wheels turning in his head as he thinks about what to say next.
“Are you going to marry her?” I cover my mouth as I left out a giggle, and both of them turn my way. Jackson looks happy to see me while Donovan looks relieved not to have to answer that question.
“Hi, Momma! You sure did sleep a long time.” He grips my legs, hugging tightly.
“Yeah, I know. I just had a long night, that’s all.” I ruffle his hair. “You need a haircut, boy.” He looks up at me and he grins.
“Dr. Donovan needs one, too,” he turns his attention to him. “See?”
He laughs and he ruffles his own hair. “Yeah, I think you’re right. What do you think, Allie? Do we both need haircuts?”
“You both look pretty scruffy to me,” I give my son a kiss on the top of his head, then walk over to Donovan and do the same thing.
“Lunch is ready, kids!” Mom hollers from the kitchen. Both Donovan and Jackson’s eyes light up. Then my son says, “I bet I’ll beat you!” and he takes off.
“Hey, no fair! You had a head start,” he says as he follows behind. The interaction between them seems so natural and I can only imagine what kind of father Donovan will make someday. Even though we are not even thinking that far ahead, it still makes me stop and wonder. I really can’t see my life with anyone else but him. He worked his way into my heart that first day, when we knocked each other over. I didn’t even think we would ever go out, let alone fall for each other. But I guess things have a way of working themselves out. I know I have some insecurities to work on, but I believe, with each passing day, Donovan will be the one to chip away at those problems.
I make my way into the kitchen, obviously being the slowest one around. Donovan and Jackson are already sitting at the table, right next to each other. Mom is setting out plates of homemade chicken burritos and Spanish rice. My stomach growls, and everyone turns to look at me. “What? I’m starving!” I laugh, patting my belly.
I grab everyone’s drinks as Mom finishes passing out lunch. When we both sit, Jackson already has his hands folded, ready to pray, so we follow in suite.
“Dear Jesus, thank you for all this good food. Thank you letting Momma have so much time to spend with me. Thank you for Grandma Julie for always making really good food. And thank you for Dr. Donovan. He likes my mom, so I like him, too. Amen.”
As we rise our heads, I give Donovan a quick look, and he’s grinning ear to ear. It’s absolutely breathtaking. He nudges Jackson and whispers, “Thanks for putting in a good word for me.”
“No problem,” Jackson smiles right back. Then he whispers, “Just promise me you’ll marry her. People in love get married. That’s what my mommy says.” From across the table, I see Donovan’s face turn bright red and I turn my head away so neither of them sees my expression, which it somewhere between embarrassed and mortified.
“Maybe later, buddy. Right now, let’s eat.” He pats him on the back and Jackson nods his head.
“Good idea, because I’m hungry!”
Throughout lunch, not another word is said about marriage, thank goodness. Mom keeps her eyes shifting between Donovan and me. She cocks her eyebrows up to me, silently saying, “Ha. Told ya so.”
Why are moms always right?
We finish up and I insist that I do the dishes, since I was too much of a bum to help cook it. Mom says, “Well, it’s about time you offered.” She gives me a wink, then turns to Donovan. “Why don’t you give her a hand? I’m gonna take Jackson outside and teach him out to pull weeds.” She takes him by the hand. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
“No, not really. I want to stay with Momma and Dr. Donovan.” He sticks his bottom lips out and crosses his arms across his chest.
“Looks like someone I know.” I give my man a nudge in the side. Then he bends down to Jackson’s level. “I’m sure that Grandma Julie will make it fun for you. Besides, it won’t take us long to finish this up. Okay?” He puts a hand on his little shoulder and Jackson immediately stops pouting.
“Okay, fine. If you say so. Can you make it fun, Grandma Julie?”
“You got it, sport.” She reaches out for his hand again and he takes it. “You can act like you’re playing tug of war with the weeds. It’s what I do, and I always win. We can have a contest. So, come on, little man.” He smiles and waves bye to us as they head out the front door.
“You wash, I dry?” I ask. He nods, so we get to work.
As he starts washing, I laugh. “You look so domestic. It’s kinda hot.”
“Really? Maybe I should do the dishes more often if it’s going to turn you on like that.”
“Maybe you should.” I bump him with my hip. “Might get you laid more.”
“Oh, please. Like I don’t enough swagger already?”
“You keep it up, then you might get cut off.” I cut my eyes at him, trying to look pissed. He sees right through it.
“Yeah, okay. You can’t keep your hands off of me. Just like I can’t keep my hands to myself when you’re around me.” He takes a soapy hand and traces my collarbone. “Told ya.”
“Why do you have to make everyday normal things so sexy?” I wipe my chest off. He is already killing me, so why must he taunt me when I can’t do anything about it? Maybe I should change the subject.
“So, do you know why Donna wants me out of the picture and wants Claire back in?”
He sighs. “No, I have no idea. I don’t know what the connection is between them and it’s driving me crazy. I don’t recall ever seeing them really interact with each other. Like I said, Donna didn’t start bringing her name up until you came home with me. So it’s really weird. I wish I could tell you, babe.”
I start drying off the dishes he hands me. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“What was your relationship like with Claire?” I figure I may as well ask. “Your sister told me a little bit about it, but I didn’t delve into it. I wanted to hear it from you.”
He stops washing for a second, like he’s trying to carefully form the words that are going to come out of his mouth next. Then he starts washing again, only this time he’s scrubbing the hell out of a plate that’s already clean. I wait for his answer as patiently as I can.
“Our relationship was insane from the start. She came onto me when I was just a teenager. Just like Frankie told you. All of it was true. She tried to impress me with her beauty and money. Of course, being a horny teenager, I fell for it.” He doesn’t look at me as he speaks. “It started off fun and exciting, trying to hide it from her husband. But then, it started taking a turn for the worst. When I graduated high school and started college, she was scared to death that other girls would hit on me.”
“She bought me a cell phone, but not to keep me in touch with family or friends. It was all about her. If I made a call or text to someone other than her, she knew about it and flipped out on me. It became really annoying, like I couldn’t have a life of my own. She had people watching me at school; she would pay students off to keep tabs on me. She knew every single time a girl would talk to me. I would come home to my dorm and I would have at least twenty messages on my voicemail. It was kinda scary.” We’ve both stopped doing dishes and I just stare at him, listening intently as he continues his story.
“She started stalking me herself, when she could no longer count on people to tell her everything. She thought they were lying if they said they didn’t see me with anyone that day. I didn’t know it at the time, of course. But she watched me, all the fucking time. I finally caught on and told her to cut the shit out. Well, she didn’t like that too much, so that’s when she started beating on me.
I gasp, my lungs constricting because I can’t breathe. My heart feels like it rips in half. He doesn’t stop, even though he’s still not looking me in the eyes.
“It would be different if it was just that one time, but it became pretty frequent. Like every time I pissed her off, she would start punching me in the face or start beating me in the head. She even attacked my sister one time, thinking it was some girl coming to see me. That was so low, and I should have left her then, but I was terrified of what she was capable of doing. I was just too scared to leave her. Megan begged me to, but I had to make up excuses for her. I had to make excuses to why my eye would be black or I had bruises on my face. And you know I would never hit a woman, I’m not like that.”
“You should have beat the shit out of her.” My voice is weak, strained with the unshed tears that threaten to start falling any second. “Or at least, you should have gotten help.”
“Believe me, I wanted to. But then she tried to make up for it. She paid for my medical school. She bought me the house and give me five million dollars after Frank was murdered, but before the authorities found out she did it. But do you have any idea what I did with that money?”
I shake my head, unable to speak any words for fear I’ll start bawling. I’m completely heartbroken for him.
“I donated every bit of it to the Atlanta Children’s Hospital, and they bought a CT scanner with it. And the house? I took her name off the mortgage and I paid it in full with my grandfather’s inheritance. Plus, I still had a lot of money left over. So, never think that I took you out or bought your gifts with Claire’s money, because I didn’t. The only thing I owe her for is the medical school. But since she’s not getting out anytime soon, I don’t think I have anything to worry about.”
A huge weight feels like it’s been lifted off my chest. My knees feel like they might collapse at any second, so I hold myself up by grabbing the sink. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
“I wanted to, but you left too quickly. You didn’t even give me a chance to speak at all. But, Allie, I can’t blame you for that. I know it was a hard pill to swallow, and I still wish it was me that told you. But I can’t change the things that happened in the past.” He stares straight into my eyes. “I can, however, change the future. And I don’t want that future to begin without you in it. I just have to know one thing first.”