“Callie, I missed you so much,” Allison said as she hugged my sister.
I wanted to hug Allison, too…so badly.
Stephanie was looking over at Allison and Callie, then gauging my reaction. “So, she works with your sister?” she asked.
“Yeah…yup…she does.” I said flatly, immediately picking up my beer and taking a swig.
Stephanie was looking Allison up and down as she sipped her white wine.
My mother waved everyone over to the table where a dozen side dishes flanked the gigantic roast pig, which had now been carefully sliced into individual pieces of savory pork, garnished with herbs. Thankfully for Denise and Stephanie, the head had been discarded. As good as it looked, I had lost my appetite the second Allison walked through the door.
Stephanie sat next to me while Allison was diagonally across the table from us, next to Callie. I watched as Allison carefully tucked a napkin into the front of Callie’s shirt and carefully placed slices of pork and sides onto my sister’s plate. God, she was so good with her and Callie looked so happy to have Allison back.
Allison glanced over at me, catching me watching her. I didn’t even try to pretend like I wasn’t and kept my gaze on her. To my surprise, she gave me a slight smile, which I returned. My fists were clenched into balls of frustration under the table.
Everyone was unusually quiet throughout the meal until my mother broke the silence. “Allison, when did you get back into town, honey?”
“Last night. I called Bright Horizons about getting reassigned to Callie, but haven’t heard back yet. I’ll keep on them until they get back to me.”
She didn’t offer any information on where she had returned from and even though I wondered so badly where she had been and what she was doing these past few months, I couldn’t bring it up right then and there.
I nearly spit out my food when Stephanie decided to ask Allison a question. “So, Allison, how long have you worked with Callie?”
Allison seemed startled before answering. “I had worked with her about six months before I took a leave of absence. We get along really well, don’t we Callie?” Allison turned to Callie who still had her head face down in her food and then laughed nervously.
Stephanie nodded. “That’s so nice.”
You could cut the tension in the air with a knife as everyone continued to eat, with only my mother and her friends at the far end of the table making small talk amongst themselves.
After about fifteen minutes, after Callie had cleaned her plate and left the table, Allison excused herself and walked into the house alone.
Stephanie had been trying to engage me in a conversation about her law firm’s upcoming yearly banquet that she wanted me to attend, but the corner of my eyes were all too aware of Allison’s absence and my brother Caleb’s swift exit to follow her.
CHAPTER 36
ALLISON
I had to get out of there and take a breather, so I locked myself in Bettina’s bathroom as a million thoughts ran through my mind.
Who was this Stephanie and how serious were they? She’s clearly all over Cedric…who could blame her…but I couldn’t help but feel like he only had eyes for me out there. They seemed to follow my every move, while she was going on and on about her job. I wanted to scream while Cedric pretended to listen to her while he clearly wanted to say something to me.
I had also forgotten just how painfully good looking that man is; he is hotter than ever. His hair has gotten a little longer and is parted and pieced so perfectly together framing his beautiful face. And his scent had been killing me from across the table. Let’s just say, the pork wasn’t the reason my mouth was watering.
This was all so awkward and frustrating. I can understand the predicament he is in. He could have never imagined I would show up out of the blue after disappearing for months and never contacting him. Who could blame him for moving on? I might have done the same thing if I were him. Taking a deep breath and grabbing my bearings, I opened the bathroom door to return outside.
As I exited the bathroom, I was startled to see Caleb standing there waiting for me with his arms crossed. “We need to talk, real quick, Allison. Let’s go out front.”
I nodded, took a deep breath and followed Caleb out to the front steps, as he gently closed the door behind us.
“Listen, I know this has got to be awkward for you,” he said.
I shook my head in agreement. “Obviously, I wasn’t expecting this when I came here.”
Caleb blinked rapidly and shook his head. “Where have you been for three months?”
I hesitated for a second, unsure about whether I wanted to tell him where I was before I had a chance to explain it to Cedric, but caved. “I was in Chicago actually…with my sister’s parents.”
Caleb looked stunned. “No shit…Wow. I didn’t expect you to say that. Cedric had no clue where you went and you told him not to contact you, so—”
“Yes, it’s a long story, but the Thompsons and I have really gotten close. That’s part of what I wanted to talk to Cedric about. I was going to contact him later today, before I knew he was here. I really did come here to see Callie and I didn’t mean to make anyone uncomfortable.”
Caleb quickly looked back to check if anyone was coming and then said, “Listen, we don’t have much time. People are gonna start to wonder where we are. I just wanted you to know that Cedric has been really broken up over everything that happened between you two. It’s taken him all the time you have been away to only somewhat recover and even though it may look like he has moved on, I know for a fact that he hasn’t. I just talked to him this morning on the phone and he was still talking about you, okay? I didn’t want you using the fact that he is here with a date as an excuse to run away from him again. They are not serious. I just wanted to make sure you knew that.”
Relief washed over me. “Thank you. I appreciate that.” I couldn’t contain my smile upon hearing that.
He looked back again and spoke softly. “And Allison, listen…I know he hurt you really badly by not telling you the truth right away, but he didn’t mean to cause you pain. His feelings for you were as true as I have ever witnessed. But let me tell you, if your plan was to come back here and ream him out face to face about what happened, I would appreciate it if you didn’t. Just walk away from him instead and let him try to move on. Believe me, he understands his mistakes.”
Walk away? No.
“Caleb, I wasn’t planning on doing that. I had a lot of time to think in Illinois about his reasons for doing what he did. Amanda’s parents really helped me through it. I know now that he didn’t mean to hurt me and I still care about him a lot. I just wish I could talk to him right now.”
Caleb smiled, looking a little surprised at what I just said. “You’ll get your chance. Come on, let’s head back out.”
Stephanie was still talking Cedric’s ear off when Caleb and I returned to the yard.
At the sound of the sliding glass door, Cedric turned around looked at me and then to Caleb inquisitively. I wondered if he knew we were inside talking. Denise didn’t seem fazed and I have a feeling she knew exactly what Caleb had been up to in cornering me.
My heart clenched when I looked over and saw Stephanie running her fingers through Cedric’s hair. It was painful to watch but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Jealousy swept in like a freight train.
I tried to distract myself by walking over to where Callie was sitting and trying to involve her in a game of tic tac toe on her iPad. As we took our turns with x’s and o’s, I snuck glances over at Cedric and Stephanie who were still seated next to each other at the dinner table and noticed how uncomfortable he looked, stiff and fidgety. He wasn’t returning any of her touches and his hands were planted firmly on his lap.
Stephanie’s back was turned to me, when Cedric’s and my eyes briefly met and I could tell by the look he gave me that he wanted to talk to me but he didn’t know how to break away from her. I needed to communicate to him somehow tha
t I wanted to talk to him too and that I wasn’t mad at him for being here with her, that I wasn’t mad at him for anything anymore.
Stephanie ran her fingers through his hair again and then reached over and pulled him toward her suddenly kissing him on the mouth. I turned away immediately at that sight and could feel the bile rising in me and started burning up with more feelings of intense jealousy. It was one thing to see him here with another woman. It was another to see her all over him.
I was done with this, especially after what Caleb told me. If I truly felt that he was happy and moving on, I would have up and left. Thank goodness Caleb confronted me or I may have been gone by now. But I was determined to stay and determined to send him a signal that I still wanted him…that I needed him, and most of all, that I had forgiven him for not telling me the truth. I couldn’t sit here while someone else took something so important from me…while I watched. A primal urge to claim what was mine erupted in me and I knew needed to fight for him.
Just as Stephanie put her arm around him, Bettina started clearing the table. Stephanie got up and took some plates through the sliding glass door into the kitchen.
Then, Cedric immediately got up from his seat and started taking in some of the side dishes and was gone into the house.
Callie and I had stopped playing tic tac toe and now, she was just looking at You Tube while I sat beside her, playing with her long braid and pretending to focus my attention on anything other than the competition I had mentally started.
Stephanie came back out and returned to her seat, checking her phone, but Cedric remained in the house.
This was my chance.
I got out my phone, scrolled down to find his name and frantically typed.
I forgive you, Cedric.
I miss you so much.
I am sorry for leaving.
I need to talk to you.
About a minute went by and there was no response. I hoped he had the same cell phone number and that he even had his cell phone on him.
After another minute, my phone vibrated on my lap.
Cedric: God, Allison, I’m going fucking crazy…I need to touch you.
Cedric: This is killing me.
Oh. My. God.
Allison: Where are you?
Cedric: In Callie’s room. Meet me in here when I tell you to.
Allison: What if Stephanie comes looking for you?
About thirty seconds passed before he responded.
Cedric: Ok, when you see Caleb walk over to her, come inside the house.
About two more minutes passed before Caleb walked over to Stephanie and started a conversation about a legal issue his construction company was having. I realized quickly this was a setup and that Cedric had texted Caleb to occupy Stephanie.
My heart began to pound out of my chest and I walked quickly past them through the sliding glass doors, past Bettina washing dishes in the kitchen and down the hall.
It was as if I floated past everything until I got to Callie’s room.
The door wasn’t even halfway open when Cedric pulled me into his arms, shut the door and held me tighter than anyone ever had in my life.
“Tell me this isn’t a dream,” he whispered into my ear, seeming to fight back tears.
Our faces slowly met and he kissed me like his life depended on it backing me against the door. After about a minute, he broke away suddenly and examined my face. “How could you have become even more beautiful?”
I looked down at the floor suddenly bashful and emotional and started to tear up.
“Cedric. It’s so hard to see you with her. We really need to talk.”
Cedric grabbed my chin, pulling it up to meet his icy blue eyes that were burning a hole through me. “Look at me, Allison.”
I wiped my eyes as he caressed my chin and said to me, “There has never been anyone who has ever come anywhere close to how you make me feel…not before you or after you. I had been trying really hard to forget you lately, but even so, I didn’t get very far. You need to know that I haven’t…been…with Stephanie or anyone for that matter, sexually, since you, okay? I hadn’t even wanted to…it just hasn’t felt right. I have been so fucked up. It’s the longest in my life I have ever gone without—”
“Really? No one?” I interrupted.
“No one. I swear to you, Allison.”
I shook my head and smiled. “Me neither.”
Cedric kissed my forehead. “Thank God,” he said letting out a deep breath and laughing a bit.
Immense relief washed over me to hear that Cedric hadn’t slept with her…or anyone else.
“Where have you been for the past three months…did you leave town?” Cedric asked as his fingers kneaded the skin on my waist gently.
“God, Cedric, I have so much to tell you.” After a brief pause, I said, “I was in Chicago with Ed and Elaine.”
The kneading stopped and he shook his head in disbelief. “What?”
“I’m sorry. I told them not to tell you. It was just supposed to be a quick visit to meet them, but then we bonded and I decided to stay and help out with Ed and we got really close and well, it’s like they’re second parents or something to me now.”
Cedric moved back in shock. “Holy crap, Allison. How could I have not known this?”
“It’s my fault for keeping it from you. They wanted me to tell you. I just needed time to deal with this alone, Cedric. It was all too much too fast after the truth came out. But Elaine and Ed, especially Ed, helped me see things clearer. So much else happened out there. I really want to tell you everything later tonight or whenever you can get away from here, but we can’t stay in here like this much longer.”
Cedric pulled my mouth into his and sucked on my bottom lip slow and hard, then released it slowly. “I can’t let you go, Allison.”
I brought his head back toward me for another kiss and our tongues collided into one another.
I pulled back, panting and said, “We should go back outside before someone comes looking for us.”
Cedric shook his head and pulled me back into him, sucking on my neck hungrily, his erection pressing firmly against me as he moaned over my skin. “No.”
“No?” I asked looking up at him.
“No…just a few more minutes,” he said, his eyes turning darker with the strongest sense of desire I had yet to experience from him.
“I missed you so much, Cedric.”
Cedric breathed heavily on my neck, “I need to feel you…now.”
Upon hearing him say that, my knees got weak as if my legs were going to collapse and my moist underwear felt like it was going to disintegrate on my body.
I opened my mouth against his as our bodies pressed together and felt his hand move under my dress as he abruptly slipped his fingers inside me. Cedric moaned into my mouth as I moved down over his hand.
With the sound of dishes clanking getting louder in the kitchen, he pulled his fingers out of me. “I am sorry, sweetheart…I’ve just missed you so much. I got carried away.
He held me close as I put my head on his chest and could feel his rapid heart beating against my ear.
“Cedric, we have to leave this room.”
“Okay, but I need to see you tonight. Promise me. I’ll text you and come pick you up.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Cedric kissed me desperately one last time. “You leave first. I have to go to the bathroom and take care of this,” he said pointing down to his bulging crotch.
“Okay.” I laughed. He was not kidding. He could not go out like that.
I started to walk out when he stopped me and grabbed both of my hands and kissed them over and over softly.
“Bye,” I whispered, slipping out the door.
CHAPTER 37
CEDRIC
It look longer than expected to get rid of the hard-on. I was so turned on and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.
Five minutes of focusing intently on images from that Sarah McLaughlin ani
mal abuse public service announcement finally did the trick.
Allison was talking to my mother in the kitchen filling her in on where she had been all of these weeks, when I emerged from the bathroom.
My mother didn’t look at me or let on as to whether she knew we were hiding in Callie’s room together. I passed them in the kitchen, went through the sliding door to the yard and joined Caleb and Stephanie who were thankfully still talking.
When I sat down, Caleb got up and thanked Stephanie for her advice, sneaking me a smirk, as I knew he would.
“Where were you all that time?” Stephanie asked.
“I was in the bathroom, sorry,” I said.
“Huh…that was an awfully long time to be in the bathroom.”
I lied. “Yeah…sorry, having issues.”
Technically, my hard on was an issue that needed to be dealt with.
Stephanie’s eyes lingered on me and I got the impression she knew I wasn’t exactly telling the truth, but she proceeded to change the subject.
“What are we doing tonight?” she asked.
I felt like an asshole and really hated lying. I silently vowed to never lie to another woman again once I could get out of this situation today. But now that Allison was back in my life, I needed to break it to Stephanie that we couldn’t date anymore, but this was not the right place or time. I just prayed she didn’t try to touch me or kiss me in front of Allison again.
“I don’t think I am going to be able to do anything tonight,” I said.
Stephanie raised her eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Yeah, I have a client pitch I am way behind on and forgot about an early morning meeting, so I’m going to need to call it a night after we leave here.”
“I could just hang out at your apartment, make a late dinner and stuff while you work,” she said.
She was not going to make this easy.