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“We don’t allow professional dancers,” someone yelled.
“We’re just pretending,” Jason had replied. “We just met.”
Her cell phone ringing interrupted her reverie. It was Jason, who began to croon the words to “Unchained Melody” instead of saying hello. When he came to the words hunger and touch, he enunciated them, and it sent chills through her body, the desire for him renewed.
“Hey,” she said when he finished.
“Hey, yourself. I miss you.”
Heart palpitations fluttered in her chest. “You do?” she whispered.
“I do. Can I pick you up after work?”
“I would love it, but just so you know, my parents are coming home a week early, and you might get the third degree.”
“The third degree I can handle, but why are they cutting their trip short?”
“Evidently, the Free Press posted the dance contest online, and Herbert caught it. They’re rushing home to save my virtue.”
“Ew, that’s not such a great way to meet the parents,” he said, frowning.
“Jason, I have to level with you. My father is narrow-minded in the extreme. And intolerant. I’ve heard people refer to him as a racist, and although that hurts, there might be some truth to it.”
“Ugh. So I guess that includes Greeks.”
She blanched at that, glad he couldn’t see her. “Well, sort of.”
“Or is it just Greeks who work at garages?” Jason said, getting it finally. “Well, that’s something I can’t change.”
“And I don’t want you to,” Lily said. “I’ve never stood up to my parents before, but I’m ready. I’ll have to grow up and move out of the house.”
“Come and live with me,” Jason said, meaning it. “And if you must, you can have your own room.”
“My parents would love that,” she said, but she laughed.
“Lily, I don’t want to cause an issue for you between you and your parents, but I have to be honest. I really like you. I keep beating myself up over not approaching you in high school.”
The comment eased the tension.
“There’s nothing we can do about that now. We’ll make up for lost time,” Lily said.
“Well, I guess it’s time to meet the parents. I’ll be there around six.”
“I’ll be ready.” Almost slipping and saying I love you, she quickly said, “Be careful out there,” instead.
After they hung up, she luxuriated in bed a while longer. She only had five more months until graduation. It would go by like a flash. This period of time was pivotal, preparing to sit for the bar and finding a job. Instead of making that the priority, as it had been for the past seven years, she’d invited love in. And along with love came dissention and possible chaos if Herbert made a fuss.
Throughout the years, that was how she and her mother designated Herbert’s frequent tirades. He was making a fuss. Don’t do that, Daddy will make a fuss. Your father will make a fuss if you wear that outfit. I can’t do that because my father will make a fuss.
That she could go slow building a relationship with Jason occurred to her, not allowing anything intense to develop by staying out of tempting situations. Don’t tempt fate, another favorite saying of her mother’s. Wanting the relationship to develop naturally, without constraints, the conflict began.
Throwing the covers aside, she would get up and begin the day by readying the house for her parents’ return. They’d decorated for Christmas right after Thanksgiving, so that was out of the way. Two things would please them—a meal waiting and a fire in the fireplace, easy enough to accomplish. Running the vacuum cleaner and emptying the dishwasher were all she needed to do to erase that she’d even lived there during her parents’ absence. Theirs was a quiet household, and that would not change with their return. Her father’s booming voice was the only thing heard by the neighbors, the mother and daughter long reduced to silent decoration.
Chapter 4
Saturday afternoon, Jason came back to the station after changing a tire for a customer, to find his mother waiting with lunch.
“I could smell the oregano when I pulled up to the building,” Jason said, kissing her cheek.
