Part 29 (2/2)
”So you're going to follow me all the way home and then turn around and drive back up to New Haven? Why?”
”I just want to make sure you get back safe.”
Carolyn's teasing smile turned into a frown. ”You can't do this.”
”What?”
”You can't follow me, protect me, make...make me feel like I can't do things without help.”
I took in her words and her disappointed expression. ”That's not what I meant.”
”Maybe it is.” Carolyn gripped the steering wheel, avoiding my eyes. ”I don't want this if you're in it to take care of me, or fix me, or to make me better.”
I walked around the car and crammed myself into the pa.s.senger seat of her new, ridiculously small Mini Cooper. ”I'm not looking to be your babysitter. I get it. But I want to take care of you, to protect you. I'd want to do that even if the past had never happened.”
”But I need to feel like I'm capable, Jeremy. Do you understand that? Even if I fall, it's better that I fall and pick myself back up. If you treat me like I'm incompetent or vulnerable then I'll lose faith in myself.”
”I get it.”
”Good,” she said, cracking a smile. ”Now get out of my car and go to work.”
”I am following you until New Haven, though. You car's been buried for the past two days. Just call me when you get home, all right?”
”I will.”
”And we're still on for dinner tomorrow night.”
She leaned over to kiss me, a hot, smoking kiss that lasted so long and got me so worked up that I wanted to recline the seats and stay in this cramped little car forever. She broke the kiss. ”We're on for dinner tomorrow night. I just got you back so you're not getting rid of me anytime soon.”
And so it went. Carolyn and I slipped into a routine. We saw each other most nights. But when work was crazy or when Carolyn was bogged down with schoolwork, we spoke to one other on the phone at least a couple of times each day. She still waitressed on Sat.u.r.day nights but would occasionally come up to ski when she could switch a s.h.i.+ft with someone else. I got in the habit of leaving the mountain after taking a few runs early on Sunday mornings because I officially had my seat back at the Harris family table on Sunday nights. I'm not going to say that was my highpoint of my week-no, the times when I was able to hold Carolyn naked in my arms and sink inside of her topped anything-but Sunday dinners were a close second.
I was happy, truly happy for the first time in a really long time. And I was comfortable. I wasn't expecting the axe to fall anymore, I wasn't waiting for it all to come cras.h.i.+ng down.
I wasn't expecting it to end.
”Hey, I just sat three guys at table twelve. The big, burly one wants your cannoli, sweetness...Insisted on sitting in your section,” Sal said, waggling his eyebrows.
”Why is everything you say laced with innuendo?”
Sal was promoted to host- runner-busboy on Sat.u.r.day nights. At least that's what he told everyone when the hostess up and quit last weekend.
”Go get that big sausage, Carolyn. You know you want it.”
”Nick, I don't know how much longer I can take him.” I could barely stifle my giggle, though. Sal was gross and immature but he made laugh and he made the night fly by.
”See, you're laughing. Don't encourage him!”
My smile got even bigger when I came out of the kitchen to see my man sitting with his father and an older gentleman whom I a.s.sumed was his grandfather. ”Hi! This is a nice surprise.”
When Jeremy caught sight of me, he stood up and his smile stretched across his face to match my own. He just...the way he looked at me made me feel like I was someone amazing and extraordinary and...loved. He made me feel loved.
All three of the Rivers men were standing now. ”It's nice to see you, Mr. Rivers.”
”You've gotta start calling me Mike, please.”
”All right, Mike,” I answered, but I could feel the blush creeping across my face as I said it. Jeremy's dad was also a big, imposing guy. I felt like Mr. Rivers fit him better.
”And Carolyn, this is my grandfather, James Walker.”
”h.e.l.lo, dear. You can call me Jimmy.”
Jimmy was tall but slight. You could tell he'd once had the same lumberjack build that Jeremy and his dad shared, but time had thinned his frame and stooped his posture some. He had clear, blue, friendly eyes that stood out from the wrinkles that framed them. The creases that framed his eyes and mouth looked like the result of many years spent smiling. I liked him instantly; the man just radiated happiness.
”I have a feeling this is going to be the best dinner I've had all month,” Jimmy announced as he took in a deep whiff. ”Nothing better than the smell of garlic and olive oil, am I right?”
”Spoken like a true Englishman,” Mike commented dryly.
”You're English?”
Jeremy shrugged. ”I think we're mutts, a little bit of everything, right?” he asked, looking towards his father.
Jimmy interjected, ”Speak for yourself. I'm one hundred percent Englishman. Your grandmother was part French, part Dutch, and your dad's family was-”
”Spanish and Irish,” Mike said wistfully.
I think I was a little bit loco in love, because any little thing I learned about Jeremy made me fall head over heels that much more. ”That explains the tan and the skilled French accent.”
”Oh, he's been pulling out the mon cherie on you, has he?” his grandfather teased.
”Oui, oui.”
”Ok, ok, can we hear the specials?” Jeremy begged me, cheeks flaming red.
After I told them about the specials, with emphasis on the excellent pork braciole I'd had the pleasure of sampling earlier, I turned to Jeremy. ”What are you doing here, anyway? Wasn't this the big guys-only ski weekend?”
He looked uncomfortable when he answered, ”Yeah, it didn't turn out as planned. I bailed.” He held his menu up in front of him before whispering, ”Can you stay with me tonight?”
”Yeah.” I was probably nodding like a goof but I didn't care. Jeremy wants me. I didn't know if the excitement over being with him would ever fade. ”I'll work it out.”
My parents, thank goodness, were not sticklers like that. I still lived at home, although Ava and I had been talking more seriously about splitting a place off campus for next year. My parents were fine with me staying overnight at Jeremy's occasionally, as long as I let them know ahead of time.
They were fine with it because it was Jeremy.
”Well, she's a keeper,” my grandfather announced as Carolyn took our menus and went to her next table. I saw Carolyn's mouth turn up in a smile as she wrote down her other table's order. My grandfather was slightly hard of hearing and tended to speak at megaphone decibel level. The entire restaurant now knew that Grandpa approved of Carolyn.
I was glad I'd made the decision to bail today and come see her. I spent a lot of time with her family so it made me feel good to have her spend some time with mine. And it was clear to see that my father and grandfather were enamored with her, just like I was.
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