The Beginning of Us (166 page)

My mom and dad picked us up from the Burbank airport when we arrived. My parents pulled up to the curb and Brandon put our luggage in the trunk as my mom got out of the passenger side and hugged me for dear life. It had been almost a year since I had seen them. When we got into the car, I introduced Brandon to my mom, Julie, and then to my dad, Kevin, who was driving.

During the hour-long car ride in Los Angeles traffic, we caught up on the last few months since Brandon and I had been together. We didn't tell them about the baby. I didn't want to give them a reason to not like him and this was not Brandon's fault. I would tell my parents when the time was right, but the first meeting was not it.

We finally arrived, parking on the street in front of my childhood home.  I had always loved the one story house that was currently painted a light blue with white trim. Brandon and I put our luggage in my room where we would both sleep in the same bed. My parents were not naïve. They knew I wasn't a virgin and had to assume Brandon and I were sleeping together, even though they would never discuss it with me. My room was still decorated as I had left it when I went to college, just like Ryan's parents left hers.

The summer after college, when I came home, I took down all my teen heartthrob posters and put up a few framed black and white photographs of Europe that I had bought at Target. There was one of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, one of Big Ben in London, and one of a vineyard in Tuscany.  

That night, I helped my mom brine the turkey and make pumpkin and pecan pies while Brandon and my dad got to know each other. I had no doubt they would get along. In a lot of ways, they were alike. My dad was always our protector and I knew deep down that Brandon would not let anything hurt me.

“So, Brandon seems really nice,” my mom said as she rolled out the pie dough.

“You have no idea.”

“He is the first guy you’ve brought home you know.”

“I know and it was his idea, too.”

“Really? Sounds like the opposite of Travis.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Spencer. You were with him for a long time. What was it...two years? I know you didn't come alone all those times because you didn't want us to meet him.”

“You did?”

“Well, look at your sister. She’s only been with Chris for a year, but we’ve already seen him a few times.” 

“They live in Thousand Oaks, which is much closer than San Francisco,” I laughed.

“I know, but still, I was just hoping I would meet him prior to your wedding and not at the wedding,” she said sarcastically.

“Ha! Wedding. I don't think Trav
Ass
 will ever marry anyone but himself.”

“Trav
Ass
?” 

“Oh,” I giggled. “Ryan came up with that nickname and I kind of adopted it.”

“I like it,” my mom said as she winked at me.

*~*~*

My sister and her boyfriend, Chris, came over for Thanksgiving dinner around noon. At one o'clock Brandon, my dad and Chris were getting ready to watch the 
Dallas Cowboys
 game while we girls remained in the kitchen getting the food ready. Well this was another cliché. 

“Brandon is 
hot
, sis!” my older sister, Stephanie, said.

“I know and he is all mine, so back off,” I said as I pretended to threaten her with the knife I was holding.

Stephanie and I were very close growing up. Since we were only two years apart, we tended to crush on the same boys and fought like crazy. Since she had gone to UCLA after high school and I had moved to Santa Cruz two years later, we had drifted apart. Of course, we kept in touch, but thankfully, we had each found our own guys.

Chris came into the kitchen looking for snacks and beer while we continued to prepare our feast. I walked towards the living room and overheard my dad and Brandon talking.

“Yes, sir, I do love your daughter.”

“I worry about her being up there in San Francisco.”

“Sir, you don't need to worry. I won't let anything happen to her.”

“Please, call me Kevin, and I think I trust you. I never met that Travis guy, but from what I heard, he could give two shits about Spencer.”

“I’ve met him and I will never treat Spencer the way he treated her. You have my word.”

“You seem like a really nice guy, but if something happens to my baby girl...let's just say I have friends.”

I heard them both laugh.

“Kevin, I love your daughter very much and hopefully one day we will all be family.”

“You want to marry my daughter? It's my understanding you have only been dating a few months.”

“I do want to marry her, but I know it is too soon. I don't see my future without her in it. She is my rock. She is smart, funny, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, a good dancer...”

“Brandon, you don't need to get all girly on me. I get it. You have been warned. Now let's go see why it's taking Chris so long with those beers.”

I hurried down the hall I was standing near and into the bathroom so they wouldn't see me. I was fighting back tears after hearing what Brandon told my dad. I couldn't believe it. After all these years a guy...a great guy wanted a future with me.

The rest of the evening went well. Everyone was in a food coma after all the food we ate. Brandon’s Cowboys ended up losing by seven points and he was crushed. We played poker and just like all the other times, Brandon won my money. He also won everyone else’s money and I made a mental note to practice on my lunch breaks or something.

We stayed until Sunday afternoon. My parents really seemed to like Brandon. I think at one point I overheard my dad calling him “son”, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

*~*~*

The next few days flew by. On Tuesday, Brandon mentioned that he and Jason had to fly to Seattle again on Thursday and wouldn’t be back until the evening on Friday. They were going to sign the papers to buy the new gym, so we made plans with Jason and Becca to go out Friday night for a celebratory dinner.

Wednesday after Brandon’s poker night, he came over and we stayed at my place so I could do laundry. I had a ton of it. Brandon had cleared a space in his closet for me, but he didn’t understand that I had a hard enough time deciding what to wear with all my clothes being in the same place.

We had our first fight because of it. It wasn’t a heated fight, just a disagreement. We ended up compromising with me going shopping this coming weekend for more clothes since apparently I needed to fill two closets now. I stopped arguing. I was a girl after all and loved shopping. Now my boyfriend was demanding I have more clothes. I didn’t even know that scenario existed. 

Brandon had already moved some of his clothes into my closet and a drawer in my dresser. He was lucky, he had a much simpler wardrobe. For work, he just dressed in jeans and his Club 24 polo shirts, and on the weekends he would wear jeans and a t-shirt. He only dressed up if we were going out somewhere that required it. 

Thursday morning, Brandon drove me to work and then headed off to meet up with Jason before they left for Seattle. It wasn’t even lunch time and I was already missing him. Just knowing that I would not see him was killing me. I couldn’t even imagine if it was for more than one night. I started to scare myself at how attached I had become to him in such a short amount of time.

Thursdays were usually our days to get massages at the gym. Brandon made me keep my appointment. After work, I headed to the gym to get my massage. Everyone at the gym greeted me by name and was very genuine. I hoped it wasn’t only because I was the boss’ girlfriend.

After my massage, I changed in the locker room and headed out the front doors to catch the bus home. Without looking, I ran right into someone. As I stepped back to apologize, I realized it was Trevor from Vegas again. 

“Oh, excuse me,” I said as I looked up to his face.

“It’s always a pleasure running into you, Courtney.”

“Oh, um…hi Trevor.” 
Fuck.

“Back in San Francisco?”

There is only a certain amount of times that you can lie before it catches up to you. I was just about done with this particular game. I wasn’t going to tell him my real name or that I had lived in San Francisco the whole time, but I figured I should at least confirm that I did live here now.

“Actually, I just moved to San Francisco,” I replied, answering his question. 

“Did you get transferred for your job or something?”

“Yep, sure did.”

“That’s ironic. I just moved to San Francisco.” 
Shit.

“Oh really? Why?”

“Let’s just say there is nothing left for me in Washington.”

“Oh okay, well, it was nice seeing you again but I really need to catch the bus.”

“Why don’t I give you a ride home? Maybe we can grab dinner and a drink first?” 

Now what was I going to do? My luck he would follow the bus until he saw me get off just so he knew where I lived.

“You know, actually tonight is not a good night. I really need to head home; I have a lot of unpacking to do still from my move.”

“I can still give you a ride home.”

“You know, Trevor, I need to be honest with you. I have a boyfriend, so I don’t think that will be a good idea. I really need to go. Take care,” I said while I ran off to catch the bus that was pulling up to the corner.

I sat in the back of the bus and watched out the right side window as Trevor got into his car. He didn’t go into the gym, which made me wonder why he was even there. The bus started down the street, I looked out the back window and noticed Trevor didn’t follow. Relief washed over me.

I finally made it home and told Ryan what had happened. She called Max and repeated everything to him and he came over to stay the night with us instead of Ryan going over to Max’s. I didn’t mean for Ryan to change her plans, but I didn’t want to take the chance if Trevor had indeed followed me home. 

I decided to call Brandon to tell him the whole story. I told him about how Ryan and I met Trevor in Vegas, how he had bumped into me at MoMo’s once and then how I ran into him at our gym today. Brandon was concerned and told me that if anything like that ever happened again, to turn back around and go into the gym and talk to whomever is at the front desk or go up to his office and call him. 

We talked a bit more and he told me how his day went in Seattle—how he and Jason met with the bank and started the procedure to buy the gym. Ben, Brandon's contractor, had met up with them in Seattle to discuss remodeling the gym and how soon it could open. They were shooting for the first day of the New Year. It should be a huge success with everyone and their New Year’s Resolutions.

Friday morning, Brandon and Jason were going to finalize everything and then head home. I couldn’t wait to see him. Brandon made me feel safe and all I wanted was to be in his arms.

After we hung up, Ryan, Max and I watched TV and planned more of their wedding. Ryan 
told
 Max which tuxedos he and his groomsmen needed to rent and we talked about having the bachelor and bachelorette parties in Vegas in April.

That night, I tossed and turned in bed. I was definitely not used to sleeping alone anymore. I woke Friday morning exhausted. I grabbed my cell phone as I was heading out the door to catch the bus for work. I noticed that Christy had sent me a text during the middle of the night. O
f course she did.

Christy: 
Are you ready?

What the fuck did that mean? I stuck to my guns and I didn’t reply to her messages. I didn’t want to stoop to her level and be petty. Honestly, if she kept this up, I was going to change my number.

At lunch, my boss took me out for a special treat to celebrate our December newsletter that featured her article about Brandon’s gym:

December 1, 2012

By Skye McAdams

Club 24 is an up and coming chain of gyms that recently opened their latest location in the San Francisco area on September 1st of this year. It is owned and operated by Mr. Brandon Montgomery and Mr. Jason Taylor, both native Texans. Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Taylor opened their first location in Austin in 2005. After the success of their Austin location, these savvy businessmen opened a Houston location in 2007. 

Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Taylor continued their success by making their way to the West Coast, first opening a branch in Denver in 2009 and then, more recently, in San Francisco a year ago. It is my understanding that on January 1, 2013, they will open their newest branch in Seattle.

What makes Club 24 unique is the atmosphere. Not only do they have state of the art exercise equipment, but each treadmill, elliptical, stair climber and exercise bike provides its own 12” personal TV for your viewing pleasure.

Club 24 offers several free classes:  Kickboxing, Yoga, Kenpo, Zumba, Cycling and Aerobics. You can also find weekly beach volleyball games being played in the custom outdoor beach volleyball court.