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“You are welcome, Big Guy.” Autumn winked at me and then went back to the start of the line.
I looked at him, at my own plate and said, “I, uh—”
“No problem, Babe. I know you have a lot on your life plate right now. We are all focused on you and you need to stay focused on yourself tonight, too. Your father understands it’s over, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try something else.” Stormy shrugged and then added some vegetables to his plate before adding some to mine. “You need these, too. Tomorrow is your birthday. Lots of sweets on the horizon. You know what you want?”
"Yes.” I nodded. “I want you.” He smiled, nodded. “And them.” He nodded. “All together and at once.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He winked and we started toward the table where my mom was chatting up Winston as he ate and Autumn tuned in to listen.
"Really?” Autumn asked. My mom nodded.
“What?” I asked.
Autumn looked up at me, Stormy, and said, “She was telling us about the summer—”
And it was like something took over in my brain and began shuffling the deck of my life, throwing memories this way and that until I remembered that summer. Remembered that guy. Remembered that when he kissed me, my father and some other woman walked in and we…hid and…that didn’t happen to me. None of that…
“Holly?” My mom’s voice asked as something strong hit my sense of smell so hard my eyes popped open. “Oh good.”
She sounded relieved.
I looked up at four people, her, Stormy, Autumn, and Winston. “What happened?”
Where the hell even was I?
“You fainted.” Autumn held my hand. “You were about to sit down and then you just…bam.”
I looked at Stormy who had only his t-shirt on. No more button down and tie. He said, “I caught you, but that meant letting go of the plate.”
I gulped as the memory flooded me and I said, “I wasn’t…that summer, I was still a virgin.”
My mom looked very confused, and I was not about to tell her anymore. She lived in the dark as far as what kind of monster my father truly was, so why shine the light now?
Winston asked, “Mrs. Ringwald, maybe we should take a turn about the garden? Get some air?”
I bit my lips and Autumn frowned at him. Stormy chuckled and nodded. My mom agreed and with the air of some historic hero, Winston escorted my mom out of the room.
As soon as the door closed, Autumn crawled into bed and hugged me, rocked me, and said, “You are okay now. Safe. We don’t have to go back out there. You don’t have to see anyone.”
I looked at Stormy. He did. His family was one of the big ones that meant something and I had already caused a scene. I said, “It’s okay. I’m fine and I know you must be present.”
“Okay.” He nodded and then moved to his closet and pulled out another shirt. “But I’m not putting another tie on.”
Cara North
Cara North writes contemporary, paranormal, and sci-fi romance ranging from sweet to full-on filthy. Be sure to check out the blurbs and categories lest ye find yourself reading some stuff you are not really prepared for. I do my best to put in some content warnings, but there is no way to know what may trigger someone and I put some characters through hell in sweet romance, so...yeah, read the blurbs and decide for yourself.
I write YA for Mature Readers as September North and in all genres and ranging from light to serious.
I write Fantasy as Echo North.
My non-fiction is by Tonya Nagle, PhD and you can find it all on my website Creative Writing With Dr. Nagle. I also have a podcast by that name.
