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“Tell him to relax, Amelia, it’s fine. We were just talking about you two, actually.” I picked at my nail, ignoring the heavy gazes from my nosy family around the table. It was quiet for a minute.
“Okay, my brother wants to know if you will come over tonight.” Ewan probably thought I was beyond pissed, but I was actually beginning to find all of it amusing. We obviously both wanted to try for the long haul, so why not get the hard part out of the way like he had suggested?
“Uh, no. I am hanging out with Nick and Rae. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” We exchanged goodbyes, and I was forced to focus back on the audience at the table. My cousin Winnie and her baby had joined us. Lydia and Reese were shaking with laughter at my expense. Their day would come, and I would embarrass the shit out of both of them.
“Well, let me see him!” My grandmother held her hand out for Chelle’s phone, but I handed her mine and pushed the button so she could study the picture. Grams squinted slightly and handed me my phone back. “Your man is awfully pretty. Where did you find him? He’s not your type.” She winked at me as Reese snatched the phone from her. My sister nodded her approval and passed the phone to Kristin who nodded and passed it to Winnie who let out a low “Damn”. Damn was right, they should see the man naked. I was a little too smug after their reactions
“His dog got away from him, and I found him.” I shrugged. “I offered Ewan my card, and he asked me to dinner. His sister is a big reader and likes my book.” Amelia was obsessed with my book, but no need to embarrass her in front of Tia.
“Why is he supervising her party?” My mother was not going to make it easy.
Tia answered, “Their mom died and their dad is gone, so Ewan has Amelia. They have a huge house and he drives a really nice car.” I nodded in agreement when mom eyed me again. I couldn’t read her. Although, she looked anything but happy.
“So Ewan asked you to do the party?” What was her obsession with the damn party?
“No, his sister did. Some moms were uncomfortable with Ewan being the chaperone, which is ridiculous, but anyway, she asked me to, and I agreed. He is going to make himself scarce, and the girls are going to do what teen girls do while I play hostess.” I prayed to whomever that my mom changed the subject, but of course, I was disappointed. It reminded me as to why I gave up Divine intervention years before. The look on her face told me everything so I started spouting off answers as they came to mind, “He’s an accountant, teaches women’s self-defense on weekends, he’s thirty-four, and is chivalrous to a fault.” I paused to read her expression. “Anything else?”
“You forgot to mention his accent and muscles.” Tia looked completely love-struck. “They’re from England.” I rolled my eyes, and the conversation went on and on about how hot Ewan was. I agreed whole-heartedly, but the way Tia went on made me realize why Chelle refused to let her go. The girl was beyond raging hormones and innocent crushes. Not to mention the boys always hanging around her.
The conversation finally moved off of Ewan and on to other less interesting topics, but Mom kept glaring at me. I had hurt her feelings, and I would have some serious ass kissing to do to make up for it. Amelia sent me text after text about her party, things we could do, decorations, food ideas, and everything else. The crowd cleared out, and I started on the mound of dishes. Reese joined me later, drying the dishes after I washed them and putting them away. We talked about her gentleman caller having a stomach bug and how he had to bail on Easter. Lucky guy.
My sister looked over her shoulder suspiciously before climbing on the counter. “On a scale from one to ten, how thick is the accent?” I felt my face go red and dialed his number, putting it on speaker phone. There was no way to describe it other than to let them hear. Kristin came in with Lydia and we made a small cluster near the stove.
“’Ello, darling.” Ewan’s voice came through and my sisters stared at the phone.
“Hey, I was wondering if Amelia had all the stuff on her party list or if I have also been roped into shopping with her later in the week?” My mom squeezed in-between us. The man would kill me if he knew I was letting them all listen to him talk.
“I’m not sure what she is doing. If you two need to shop, I’ll give her my card and treat the two of you to dinner as well. Girl’s night or whatever. Is that all right? You don’t mind, do you?”
“Sounds great.”
“Thank you again, and tell everyone listening I said ‘ello.” A chorus of school girl giggles erupted from us, and he laughed. “Bye, Jovie.” I hung up and gave Reese a smug look. She gave the accent a solid nine point five. Yup, madly in love sums it up nicely. I tried to leave after the dishes were done, but Mom dragged me to her room and pointed for me to sit on the bed.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Reese knew and Lydia knew.” She looked over my face. She was trying to sound mad, but Mom was hurt. “When do I get to meet him?”
I sighed. “I didn’t mean to hide it. We’ve only gone out a couple of times, so I wasn’t ready for everyone to get all excited. Let me talk with him tomorrow and we can set up a meet and greet. I really like him.” She nodded slowly, pursing her lips and formulating a follow-up question. Mom ended up with a few more probing questions before I pried myself away from her to get to my next engagement.
FOURTEEN
Ewan
I watched her green car pull off, wondering why it felt like a piece of myself was leaving with it. How had she managed to affect me so much in such a short time? I still hadn’t completely recovered from our shower that morning and simply thinking about it made me hard again. I wanted to feel bad for the mark on her arm, but I didn’t. It was like I had left my mark on her. Like I claimed her in some primal way. Since when was I so animalistic? Just as I turned to go back and get ready for Scott’s, a man strolled by walking his dog. He was short, maybe shorter than Jovie, with a cute little black dog. The dog yapped and lunged as they passed. I waved, smiling at him, but the man glared. His head jerked back in the direction he had come from like he was looking for something and went back to scowling at me. I waited until the man was out of sight to go back in. Something about him made me bristle. Something was off. Or maybe the guy was having a bad day. I had walked Clark more than once with a similar look on my face.
Amelia was halfway through making breakfast when I came back in. “So, you guys are having sex?” I froze just inside the kitchen. Way to go, Ewan.
“Uh, yeah.” I couldn’t lie to her.
“So it’s serious? Like exclusive and stuff?” My sister still hadn’t faced me. I figured it was as uncomfortable for her as it was for me.
“I guess so.” I got the juice from the fridge and poured a couple of glasses, trying to predict where the conversation may be going next. But she changed the subject to her party. I tried to listen, but I was wondering if I had missed a teaching opportunity. I should have made sure she knew we were being safe and such, but I let her ramble on about her party and a budget.
After breakfast, we walked out, Clark in tow, to try to wear the stupid dog out. Amelia locked the front door while I watched the man with the little black dog walk by again. It had been nearly two hours since the first time he walked by, but his dog was still going strong. I waved again, but the man glared at me, picking up his pace and tugging the dog along behind him. Amelia gave me a questioning look, but I shrugged and we went on.
We played our version of I-Spy as we walked. She would say a letter and I would have to guess what she saw starting with it. When Ams was little, we played with colors, but once she started reading well, we moved to letters. Sometimes we got really creative and did rhymes too. We walked all the way to Jovie’s condo. My girl wasn’t there, but we did a loop through her complex. On our way back out, I got that feeling of being watched. It was the feeling that makes a chill run through you. I panned the parking lot in time to see the man with the black dog going into a condo a few doors down from Jovie. I shook it off. Maybe he was a client my company had pissed off, or maybe I was being mistaken for someone else.
I was laid back on the couch, watching a movie when Amelia crept down the stairs looking terrified. “I think I screwed up.” I sat up, patting the couch next to me. “Tia is Jovie’s cousin and she saw the pictures from last night and now her family knows.” My little sister peeked up to see my reaction but kept her head down.
“Damn it, Amelia.” I huffed, “Call her and fix it, now!” She nodded once at my demand and dialed Jovie. I started pacing. I wasn’t thrilled about Jovie keeping our relationship quiet. Hell, I wanted to shout it to everyone in town that Jovie and I were together, that she was mine, but I had to be respectful. “I can’t believe you did this. I told you those pictures were going to get you in trouble.” Amelia scowled at me, nodding and apologizing to Jovie on the phone. “I mean really, you have to ask before you post fucking pictures, Ams.” I rubbed the back of my neck, hoping Jovie didn’t blame me. She swore her family was terrible, but after what the poor woman went through with her ex, they were just concerned. By the time they made peace, Amelia was in tears, apologizing, and sobbing.
