AllFreeNovel
Share Us
________________
25
________________
“You sure about this?” Cary asks, warily.
We’re standing in Davina’s driveway, so it’s about half past late to send our regrets. My boyfriend takes the cake I’ve carried in my lap on the drive across Brighton.
“It’s fine,” I repeat for the bazillionth time since Cary asked if we’d go to dinner at his mother’s home.
Cary’s refusal to let me walk toward the front door is getting on my nerves. It isn’t like the beach house hadn’t made it apparent the Cass-Stanton’s are part of a significantly different income tax bracket than me.
“I wish I understood your reservations about Bhodi and me—” My voice trails because I don’t want to admit I’m worried he’s embarrassed by us.
“This was his house.” Cary means Rex’s.
“Oh,” I say, regaining a little confidence that I’m not white trash. “It was yours too.”
I know Cary moved out and I’ve gleaned it was his concern for Davina that had him moving back in. “You stay here when you don’t stay with us.”
I step toward a hedgerow. Cary has to follow.
“I don’t want to wear out my welcome at Laurel’s and I can’t move you and Bhodi in here. If we get someplace it’ll have to be in a different neighborhood.”
“Uhm, I’m not looking to move anywhere.” I’m smart enough to figure it’s Davina’s house and her rules. However, I can’t resist the tiny seed of curiosity Cary’s planted and stop short. “But why? Or, uh, why not?”
“I don’t want you guys where the things Rex did can touch you.” The glass cover of the cake holder rattles. Cary’s nerves have the best of him.
I cock my head, taking the cake plate back so we don’t wind up cleaning sticky shards of glass covered in strawberries and cream off the concrete.
Then the root of his hesitance hits me. “This is about bad memories.”
Cary flopped in bed last night and didn’t want to touch me. I hadn’t thought much of it since we’re exceptionally good at patience when it comes to sex. The build-up makes the waiting worthwhile. Why accept a quickie trying to time it between kid interruptions when you can have it long and leisurely.
Who am I fooling? I’ll take it both ways.
The reality is, Cary likes to make up for the absence of sex with lots more sex and an abundance of orgasms. I’ve decided this has far more to do with dating a man in his prime than Cary’s past. Yet, he’s cautious about using sex to mask his doubts.
“I did things here I wasn’t proud of.”
“Intentionally? And let me be clear; were you aware while you did those things of your father’s intentions?” There are better places to set the cake stand than on the scorching hood of the car, but I put it there anyway since it’s the closest flat surface that isn’t the ground.
“No.” He scrubs a paw down his face, tugging at the front of his hair. His beard is a little longer and due for a trim. Cary looks rugged… and strung out.
I wrap my fingers around his and bring them to my lips.
“Are you guys coming or what?” Bhodi yells from the doorstep.
“Ring the bell and let Miss Davina know we’ll be right in.” I flash an award-winning smile at my son to disguise our conversation. Turning my attention back to Cary I say, “Show me the mess your mom made.”
When Cary opened up about Rex, he also talked about his troubles with Davina after Rex’s death and how she’d spilled a bucket of paint in the living room.
“That’s cleaned up. She hired a contractor to do some of the other rooms too.”
“So it doesn’t look the way it did when she tried to paint it herself.” It’s not a question.
He paces in a circle with his hands on his hips. “No. None of it’s the way it was before.” His hands slap to his sides as I push on with my point.
