Chapter Thirteen

Celeste

 

My heart raced whenever Skeet told me he loved me. He had practically walked back into my life claiming to love me and that he always had... I wanted to tell him that I felt the same way, but things had changed and I had to think of Veeta and her safety. She was always in the back of my mind when I thought about totally giving into the love of my life.

Until things were made right...until I got the signal, I had to keep them apart. I had kept Veeta out of the picture whenever Skeet came around. Before heading to Tybee, I had my parents leave town a day early so we were all alone when he picked me up. He was smart and once he heard her call me “Mommy,” he’d have a million questions. It was bad enough that we hadn’t talked about the reason he ran off to California.

Part of me didn’t want to go back to the past but not because I didn't want to talk about what had happened between us. I learned all about the truth and results of the situation once he was gone. Without him knowing it, I forgave him and moved on quickly to help my best friend, Martina. What had happened between them wasn’t important when Veeta arrived...and when I had to take full responsibility for her.

It was nice to be with Skeet in Tybee and not responsible for anyone. I loved Veeta more than anything and loved being her mommy, but time to myself was very nice. Being alone with Skeet felt like I was turning back the pages of my life to when it was just us. I just wanted some time to pretend. Just a weekend away before I started unraveling the web I had spun around my heart and Veeta.

So I enjoyed walks on the sandy beach hand in hand with Skeet along with eating incredible seafood, drinking great wine, shopping and great sex. We lived in the moment, taking advantage of freedom and I let myself go. I still can’t believe that I was the one that got the ball rolling. A grin greeted my face every time I thought about my boldness... Well, maybe I could’ve been more forward and dropped my clothes the minute we walked inside the adorable cottage.

The excitement of him renting a dreamy cottage stopped me from disrobing quickly. “How did you find this place? It’s like my vision. My picture board.” I asked him once we had dressed and headed out to a crab shack.

The cottage—he told me—had been recently updated. It was even better than my imagination. Painted a dove grey with white trim and the roof had been changed from wood slats to a tin roof. The decorations, furnishings inside and out were so bright and cheerful. Just like in my youthful years, I could see myself living there forever.

“How could I not remember your dream? You carried around photos for weeks when you came back from your family vacation before you pinned them on your wish board.” His smile made me melt a bit, sitting across a table from him in a funky little place that had sand on its patio deck.

That was the last time we made a complete family trek to Tybee. We were all growing up and had school or sports...kid obligations. We had started going when we were little. I think I was around Veeta’s age—the baby of the family until Caprice arrived.

“Whatever happened with Caprice?” Was he reading my mind, I wondered. “Did she ever come back home?”

I shook my head. “Nope. We haven’t heard from her since she left.” I took a big swallow from my wine glass. “We only know that she’s alive according to banking records. She does draw cash out of her account monthly.”

I was never very close to her even though we were only two years apart. Since Caprice first arrived on our doorstep, she kept pretty much to herself. She only spoke when spoken to and never did anything wrong. I wasn’t shocked when she announced that she had been accepted to a college practically on the other side of the country in Arizona. She left and never looked back.

I did my best to never make Veeta feel unwanted. That was what I assumed my cousin felt once she was no longer in the room next to mine. Maybe I was right or maybe I was wrong, but the situation I was in reminded me of Caprice and also had me changing the subject so we didn’t head down another path I wasn’t ready to visit.

“What’s going on with Clancy and your pop?”

Apparently, that wasn’t a subject he wanted to talk about either. “What do you say we finish here and go get an ice cream cone to eat on the beach in one of those bright colored Adirondack chairs?”

“Love that idea! But...” I stifled a giggle and felt heat on my face. “...we can walk on the beach the next time we’re down here.” Bold or hopeful of me to think there would be another time. “Eating ice cream on the cottage porch swing...or in bed sounds better.”

“Your idea is much better.” Skeet smirked. “Check please!”

I loved how fast we got out of there. We didn’t agree on an ice cream to share, but we did come away with two pints of our favorites. “I don’t know how you can eat that bubble gum ice cream, is it even safe to eat that stuff?”

“Well, there was no way I would eat your cherries jubilee... And it’s like eating Razzles.” I smiled at him and I could tell we were thinking about the same memory.

“I remember when your mother told us about those and bought all of us our own little packages.” Skeet laughed. “You were happy when I gave mine up to you.”

“I love when you give in to me.”

“Always.”

I hoped that was a true statement. I was pretty sure he took it to mean the ice cream we were having in bed while being entangled naked. My mind was racing away again... Maybe his was too.

“You know I never meant to hurt you and if I could change things—”

“I know things weren’t your fault.” I rolled onto his chest and put my fingertip to his yummy full lips. “Let’s leave the past in the past for this weekend.” He nodded and I replaced my finger with my eager lips to silence any further conversation.