The Space in Between (22 page)

“Two is better than one, huh?”

“Exactly. Plus, I didn’t get what I wanted last year so I figure the universe owes me. Which gives you even better odds.”

“Then I guess we need to get our stories straight.”

“How so?”

“I don’t want my dad to come back anymore.”

“But—” he starts and cutting him off, I turn and place my finger against his lips to silence him.

“I know that was my wish before, but that was when I was little. I still want the same things, but in a different way now.”

“That makes sense. So what is it you want the most now?”

“I want to wish for my mom’s happiness.”

“Not following.”

“Remember how I said I wanted to meet my mom’s boyfriend and thank him for making her happy?” When he nods as I finish, I take a breath and continue. “Well, I want more than that now. This wish, what I want long term, it’s him. I want Nick to be my dad.”

“Well alright, wishing for Nick it is.” He says with a small chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

"It’s just a little funny that your mom’s boyfriends name is the same as my dad.”

“Eww!” I squeal, knowing where he’s going and elbowing him for the nightmarish reminder. “Not this again! What did I tell you about that?”

“To forget about it.”

“Exactly. Nick’s a pretty common name, especially around here. I mean, there’s two of them that live on this street alone. There’s just no way that her Nick and your dad are the same.”

“Fine, Fine.” He laughs. “Message received loud and clear.”

Moving away from the absurdity of our parents being together and focusing on the stars that have now made their appearance shining in the sky, I point up, focusing on the set that if looked at in just the right way, resemble a small heart.

A constellation that even though I’d learned a bunch in science class, I’d never heard of before.

This is a sign, and not just any one, but the kind that Christian likes best.

One about us.

“Do you see that?”

“You mean the jagged heart looking thing? Yeah. I wasn’t sure that was what I was seeing though.”

“What are the odds that we’re out here and the first thing we see is a group of stars in the shape of a heart?”

“Million or two to one, I figure, which means it’s a sign.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.” I agree. “So I think that on the count of three, we should close our eyes and make the wish on our heart.”

“Your wish is my command.”

“One.” I call out.

“Two.” He follows up and waiting a beat or two in between, our voices come together on the final number, both of us speaking it aloud as I close my eyes and become blanketed in the darkness.

“Three.”

Please let Nick be the one for my mom, so that even though I’m older and probably won’t need him as much, he can be the dad I always wanted.

Opening my eyes after silently wishing to the sky, I twist my body around until I can get a full view of Christian’s face as he slowly reopens his.

“Emery Carmichael, I’ve received a message from the sky.”

“Oh yeah? And what pre-tell is the message?”

“You’ll be seeing Nick very soon.”

Turning back and leaning even more into him, I let his words settle over me. The meaning of them resonating deep within the confines of my heart and what I can only imagine is my soul, with as badly as I want them to be true.

I’ll see you soon, Dad.

*****

“Emery Rose Carmichael!”

If I didn’t already recognize the angry voice of my mom, the shaking that followed and the overpowering feeling of nausea that came with it would have alerted me pretty damn quick.

Shifting and making contact with Christian’s sleeping form, the two of us somehow so caught up in talking we’d fallen asleep under the stars, I shake the cobwebs loose and lean up, finding myself staring straight into a set of very pissed off brown eyes.

“Mom? What are you doing here?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” Moving her angry gaze off of me and fixating it on Christian, she huffs out a sigh before laying her hand across her forehead. “Wake him up.”

“It’s not what you think,” I immediately try and explain while repeating the same shaking action my mom had done with me to Christian, his body shifting and moaning as he pulls away in response to the obvious violation of the same rest I was minutes ago experiencing.

“I’m sure it’s not. Get him up and meet me inside. The three of us need to sit down and have a little chat about what I just walked in on.”

As far as I can tell once she turns and starts off across the lawn and through the back door, the only thing she’d walked in on was the two of us flat on our backs on the blanket. Though with my position when I turned at the sound of her yelling my name, I may have been cuddled up in his arms and across his chest.

Could she really be losing her mind over me cuddling with a guy?

Shaking Christian again, willing him with each push to wake up so I can give him the Cliff’s Notes version of what he’s missed while completely passed out, he finally starts to stir.

“Wakey, Wakey, Mikey. Drill Sergeant’s home and she wants to see us inside.”

This seems to get his attention. Sure, I could have just said it was my mom, but this way sounded funnier and we’re going to need humor because the look on her face before she walked away was anything but.

“Where am I?”

Now I know that we were probably out for a little bit, but not long enough for him to forget everything we’ve done tonight.

“My backyard. Your birthday party. Remember?”

Leaning up on his elbows and bringing his hand up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, when he finally locks his eyes on me again, it’s pretty obvious he gets it.

“Shit! We fell asleep.”

“Give the guy a prize.”

“How long were we out?”

“Not sure, but we’ve got bigger issues. I repeat. My mom is here. She caught us sleeping together, and she’s really mad. She wants to see us inside. So do whatever you gotta do to wake up as quickly as possible because I’m not doing this alone.”

When Christian was recruited to the soccer team, I’d watched a few of his practices after school on the days where I didn’t have Jordan breathing down my neck. He’s fast. Right now though, with the threat of my very angry mom on the horizon, the way he is on the field almost seems slow.

He’s jumping off the blanket, rubbing at the knees of his pants before I’ve even gotten the chance to lift up off my knees. Extending his hand, he grips me tight as I take it and pulls me to my feet.

“On a scale of one to ten, how pissed is she?” he whispers as we begin our trek toward the back door and what we both know is lying in wait on the other side.

“An eleven, maybe a twelve.”

“She’s never seen you with a guy before?”

“No and I don’t think with as little as I’ve given her about you, she was expecting to have it happen now either.”

“Shit.”

“Double shit.”

“Do you think if I hopped your fence and took off across your neighbor’s yard, I’d be able to make a getaway before she hunts me down?”

“Nope. She’s probably expecting that to be what you do.”

“Shit.”

Grabbing onto the handle of the screen door and opening it, as Christian steps around me and twists the knob to the door making his way in, our hands immediately gravitate toward each other as we make our way through, pausing when we reach the doorway to the kitchen.

“Just in case I don’t make it out of this alive,” he turns to me with a sideways grin. “I want you to know that I really liked sleeping with you.”

“Me too.” I answer back with a reassuring smile of my own.

“Okay, Juliet, you ready to face the music?”

“Oh, Romeo. I thought you’d never ask.”

My last thought as we move out from our seclusion and into the lighted doorway of the kitchen is that with what we’re about to face now, we’re probably not all that far off the mark calling each other Romeo and Juliet.

Because once my mom gets us alone, I get the feeling that our relationship is about to take a turn for the worst.

It’s about to be forbidden.

Chapter Nineteen

Christmas 2014

Christian

How long has it been since I saw a house done up like this?

There are lights everywhere, from the roof all the way down to the door and surrounding the windows, and the world’s largest inflatable snowman taking up residence on their front lawn.

After getting the okay from my dad to spend Christmas Eve with Emery and her mom with the sole condition that I’m home no later than midnight, I’d jumped in the truck and made my way here. I’ve been sitting here for at least ten minutes fingering Emery’s present and the bouquet of freshly cut roses I picked up so I wouldn’t be empty handed for her mom, trying to work up the courage to get myself to their front door.

After falling asleep under the stars with Emery on my birthday, and being woken by what I now call Angry Mom Face, I’m a man on a mission. I’ve got to make this woman believe I have the best of intentions where her daughter is concerned. That I take what my mom and dad taught me seriously and would never do anything to go against it.

No matter how good her daughter happens to look every time I see her.

How good she looked that night when we were woken out of a sound sleep, her hair matted to one side while the other roamed free all crazy like.

Damnit.
Imagining her like that is not helping best behavior Christian make his appearance.

So an assortment of colored roses it is.

Tapping my fingers on the wheel three times for a shot of good luck, I push the door open and jump down, swiping at my jeans nervously a few times before shutting it behind me and heading around to the path that winds all the way to the front door.

Rocking back and forth on my heels and lifting my arms to do a quick pit check, I press my finger into the doorbell and shift uncomfortably as I hear it go off inside.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe I should have taken Dad up on his idea of staying in and binge watched stupid holiday flicks on TCM. At least if I’d done that, I wouldn’t have to worry about impressing anyone, least of all a parent that had caught me while I cradled her daughter while we slept.

Looking up as the door opens and a faint glow of light finds its way out and over me, I smile when I see who it is.

Emery.

As always coming to my rescue and saving the day.

“Come on, Mikey,” she announces after looking past me and scrunching up her nose at the snow now starting to blanket the truck. “Get your butt in here.”

Taking me by the hand and pulling me in, stopping just long enough to gesture to the shoe mat and waiting as I slip them off, she makes her way down the hall to where I think the most glorious smell in the world was born.

Also known as my second favorite place on Earth next to being with her.

The kitchen.

“Mom, Christian’s here. We’re gonna head up to my room and hang out for a bit while you finish dinner.”

“Door open, Emery Rose.”

Grinning at me before turning her attention back to her mom, who I now see has us in her sights, she rolls her eyes, but agrees. “Fine, but just know that if I really wanted to, I could do all the naughty things you think I do with my door open just as easily as if it was shut.”

Taking off before she can get the payoff that comes from shocking a parent, she leads me up the stairs and into her room.

Throwing herself back onto the bed once we’ve made our way across the room, she slips her hand out and once I’ve taken it, pulls me to her. My body under the force, falling to the side of her, which once I notice, I immediately rectify by sliding on top trapping her legs in between mine.

“You were serious weren’t you?”

“Hmmm,” she ponders with a tap of her chin for effect. “Serious about what?”

“Doing things with the door open.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Mikey.” she purrs and before I can respond to how hot she sounds or how badly I want her to say something else to prolong the sound, she lifts herself up onto her hands, crashing her lips to mine and after a few seconds of what feels like her devouring me, I feel her tongue pressing me for entrance.

Obliging her, I allow my body to sink into hers as our tongues begin dancing together, slowly at first, turning more passionate and deep only when our bodies completely connect and I can feel the soft skin of her back under my fingertips.

“Mmmm, Mikey, you taste like chocolate.” She moans, her voice as low as before, the sound driving me crazy, the need to have more of her intensifying when she makes contact with my neck and starts to softly suck.

“Ems, your mom.”

Jesus. What the hell is wrong with me?
I’ve got this beautiful girl underneath me, wanting this connection as much as I do and I’m ruining it by talking about her mom. If my junk south of the border wasn’t already ripping me a new one as her lips separate from mine, my mind definitely would be. Only a complete moron would put the brakes on in the middle of a moment as hot as this.

“What about her?” she murmurs as she pulls back just enough for me to see her pout.

“She’s downstairs.”

“And?”

“And despite knowing that I want more of this,” I gesture between us. “I also know that you want to do what she said.”

“Damnit.” She huffs, pushing me off before climbing out around me and making a beeline for her desk, officially ending what might have been the hottest moment we’ve ever had since we got together. “Why do you always have to be right?”

“It’s a gift, what can I say?”

Looking at me, but making no move to come back over, she grins before changing the subject. “Speaking of presents, how do you feel about getting yours right now?”

“I’d say I’m game, but there’s a condition.”

“Name it.”

“I get to give you the one I bought you at the same time.” I say, motioning to the end of the bed where I’d tossed both the flowers and her present when she pulled me into the room.