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I was happy Mom was being cordial to Stephanie. Even though I hadn’t wanted to bring a woman I was only seeing casually here, I was finally relaxing, thanks to the passage of time and the passage of beer down my throat. I knew my mother was going to be shocked to see me show up here with someone because she knew how torn up I still was over Allison, but I think even she realized that I needed a distraction.
Allison had all but disappeared from our lives. Even Callie had finally stopped asking about her. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about her today, though, and wondering how she was spending the holiday, whether she was alone or whether she had found someone else by now. Every time I had even a little alcohol in my system, the longing got worse, my hazy thoughts immediately would shift to her, to her beautiful face and eyes and to memories of the way she tasted. Sometimes, it was downright painful to remember and I could feel my chest tighten.
My mother interrupted my daydreaming. “Looks about done. What do you think, Cedric?”
“I say about ten more minutes. But it is time for another cold one.”
Stephanie laughed and shook her head. “Will you get me one too?”
Caleb stood up from the lawn chair he was sitting in. “You guys stay. I’ll get them. I have some Octoberfest in Mom’s fridge. I wanna break into those. Looking over at a pregnant Denise, he added with a wink, “For you, an O’Doul’s.”
Caleb sauntered through the sliding glass door into the house. After a few minutes passed and he hadn’t returned, I decided to go in and help myself to the beers deciding that he was probably stuck in the john.
I walked through the empty kitchen down the hall toward the bathroom, where I was going to taunt him if he was taking a shit, when I saw him standing instead at the front door.
“Caleb, what the hell is taking so long? I’m fucking thirsty. Who’s at the door?”
Caleb moved to the side and I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.
Allison was standing at the threshold looking more beautiful than I imagined in my dreams. He dark flowing hair had grown longer, almost to her waist and it was blowing in the breeze. Her green eyes were sparkling, made brighter by the sexy bluish green tank top she was wearing that hugged her breasts tightly. It took all of my strength to stop myself from rushing toward her.
I could barely get the words out and uttered, “Allison.”
She looked nervous, but sweet. Her eyes seemed to be welcoming the sight of me. This was not at all the enraged person I saw leave my condo many months ago. This was not the distant person I left at her doorstep when I delivered the letter. Something had changed, or rather…returned.
She looked down at her shoes briefly and then straight up into my eyes. “I am sorry for just showing up here. I…um…thought…I was just dropping in on Bettina. I had wanted to surprise Callie. I didn’t mean to startle you I—.”
I shook my head. God, she was beautiful. “Don’t apologize…don’t ever apologize…God…it’s so good to see you.” I smiled and just stared at the stunning sight before me.
My body ached to touch her, to hug her, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what she wanted, so I painfully stayed put as we just stared at each other.
I needed to know what she was thinking.
What the fuck was I going to do when she saw Stephanie back there?
Before I could come up with a solution, a few seconds later, Stephanie entered the house and broke the silence.
“Cedric, hon…where did you go?”
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
/> I looked back at Stephanie and then over at Allison frantically trying to telepathically tell her with my eyes that Stephanie was not my girlfriend, was not important to me, like she was.
Allison looked sad, but then suddenly put on a fake smile and stuck out her hand in Stephanie’s direction as she stepped through the threshold. “Hi, I’m Allison, Callie’s therapist.”
My heart nearly stopped when I saw the ring I had given her gleaming on her right hand.
Holy shit, she was wearing the ring.
Stephanie shook Allison’s hand and looked over at me, probably curious about whether there was any relation to the Allison I called out in my dream last night. If she did suspect it, she let it go at that point.
“I’m Stephanie, nice to meet you.”
The four of us continued to awkwardly stand in silence until we heard the words “PIG IS READY!”
