Chapter 23
LOVE AT LARGE
I made a quick stop at home to ditch my graduation gown and change into jeans. I’d been tipped off that it was tradition for all the kids at St. Norman’s to wear white on grad night, so I switched out my blue button-down before barreling back down the stairs.
My parents were waiting to see me before taking off for their dinner in the city. The TRU Times Square was only weeks away from its grand opening, and my father wanted to be there for the restaurant’s dry run. Thank God I wouldn’t be home until late, when hopefully, everyone would already be asleep. Let Claudia deal with the old man’s drunk ass tonight. She owed me for all the years I’d been doing it alone.
Just as I was getting ready to cut out, Dad’s voice boomed through the house. “Terrence! Don’t leave yet. Come in here first.”
My posture deflated as I turned in the direction of his command, and rounded the corner to find both of my parents sitting on the leather couch in the library. Dad was still nursing his first drink, but I knew his sobriety wouldn’t last very long. It was nice while it lasted, though.
“Glad we caught you. Your mother and I wanted to give you your graduation present before you took off. Here.”
He handed me a small package wrapped in silver. I tore off the paper, opened the box... and was met with an American Express credit card.
Platinum.
With a Sky Miles logo stamped in the corner.
And my name embossed along the bottom.
“My own credit card?” I asked, stunned.
“That’s a no-limit card, you understand,” my father offered proudly. “Accepted everywhere.” He and my mother shared a guarded look as he added, “And at every airline.”
“Just be careful with it,” Mom added.
I was kind of speechless as I turned the thing over in my fingers. “Thanks, Dad, Mom. This is...” I didn’t have the proper words to show my gratitude. I couldn’t believe they were finally on board with my travel plans, with my quest to find myself. Not only that, they were volunteering to fund it.
I gave them both a humongous hug before tucking the thing into my wallet and beating a hasty exit out of there. I was a little choked up by their gesture, and needed a minute alone to pull myself together.
I checked my hair in the hall mirror before grabbing my keys and hopping in my truck, pulling into Layla’s driveway three minutes ahead of schedule. But before I could go to the front door and retrieve her like a goddamned gentleman, she came bouncing down the front steps.
And Jesus. The sight that greeted me stopped my heart.
She was wearing this knockout white dress that made her look like an angel. The gauzy fabric danced around her legs, tickling the skin just above her knees. She didn’t have her usual big crunchy hair going on, and the brown mass floated in bouncy waves over her bare shoulders.
The sight paralyzed me. So much so that I didn’t realize I’d forgotten to open her door until she was hopping into the passenger seat. She met my eyes timidly, swiping her fingertips through the left side of her hair, tucking the strand behind an ear studded with three sparkling diamonds.
I couldn’t contain the goofy grin on my face as my eyes traveled up and down her body.
My girl.
“Hey Chester,” she teased.
I swallowed hard, giving myself an extra second to find my voice. “That is one hell of a dress.” She blushed, lowering her gaze to her lap as I added, “You look good. Like, real good.”
I hoped I wasn’t overdoing it, but I was sick of tip-toeing around this. We’d done it for ten months.
Ten months too long, if you ask me.
She returned an embarrassed “You too” before I threw the truck in gear and navigated us back up the hill toward Rymer’s.
The lawn was littered with a million cars. I parked in an empty patch of grass before we both got out and met at my front bumper. But before we could make our way toward the house, I stopped her with a hand at her elbow. “Hey, Lay-Lay?”
She looked at the spot where I’d lain my hand, swallowing hard before asking, “Yeah?”
“We’re okay, right?”
Her warm eyes met mine. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t we be?”
I considered getting into everything right then and there, this Big Unspoken Thing between us that we still needed to address. But then I thought better of it. Rymer’s front yard wasn’t exactly the place to get into any sort of in-depth discussion.
“Never mind. It’s nothing. Let’s head inside before Rymer drinks all the beer.”
She laughed as we made our way around the house to the backyard and onto the deck where all our friends were already partying away.
I said hello to the guys hovering around the keg while I grabbed a couple of beers.
When I handed one to Layla, she took a quick sip before saying, “I’m starving. We should have stopped at BK or something on our way here.”
Rymer whacked his forehead in a V-8. “Oh yeah! I forgot, I bought a shit-ton of chips.”
“I’ll get them,” Lay offered as she disappeared inside the house.
Lisa had a wicked smile on her face as she said, “Not charging for beer... you bought snacks... Rymer, I’m impressed. Did you get a heart transplant or something?”
“Yeah, DeSanto,” he snapped. “Same place you got your lifetime membership card to The Bitch Club.”
We all just stopped and stared at him for a beat before we exploded in laughter at his stupid comeback.
Lisa flipped him the bird and headed inside.
I was left to talk with the guys. They were all acting like not a day had gone by since I was part of their inner circle. I was grateful for that.
Rymer gave me a nudge. “Some new tail at this party tonight, huh.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Good luck getting any. They may be new to the scene, but you’re still you.”
He snickered at my dig. “I don’t know, man. Margie has been eyeing me up all night.”
“You think everyone’s eyeing you up.”
While I was recovering from his friendly-though-not-entirely-painless punch in the arm, I spotted Heather Ferrante standing a few feet away with Becca Bradley. “Hey Heather!” I yelled, drawing her into our circle and running down the introductions. “You guys all know Heather, right?”
Sarge immediately stepped up. “No, but I’d like to.”
Damn. Smooth.
Within minutes, Sarge had hijacked Heather’s attentions, Cooper took over wingman duties with her friend Becca, and Rymer was busy playing Man of the Hour, leaving Pick and me to play DJ.
He threw on a Zeppelin CD and held his cup out to me in a toast. “Good riddance, Saint Norman’s.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
We took a swig before he asked, “So. Did you figure out what you’re gonna be doing next year?”
“Not sure yet.”
Pick shook his head. “I can’t believe you didn’t even apply anywhere.”
I shrugged and explained, “I knew if I got in somewhere it would be too hard to turn them down. I don’t want to burn any bridges for next year.”
“I guess that makes sense.” He mulled my words over before asking, “So what’s the plan? Cross country trip? Backpacking through Europe?”
The AmEx card burned inside my wallet. “I told you. I don’t know yet. Travel, yeah, but who the hell knows where I’ll decide to go.”
“My vote would be Tahiti.”
“Tahiti, huh?” I asked absently, glancing past him in the hopes of spotting Layla.
He noticed.
He gave a quick scan behind him before facing me with a smirk on his face. “So, I see you two came together tonight. You uh... You hittin’ that yet or what?”
“Like I’d tell you if I was.”
“That means no.” He erupted into a full belly laugh as he clapped me on the shoulder. “You two have been dancing around this all year. It shouldn’t be this hard.”
I huffed out a breath that was half-laugh, half-sigh. “When it comes to the two of us, it sure as hell hasn’t been easy.”
* * *
After a few too many hours of signing yearbooks, reminiscing, and exchanging addresses, I finally caught up with my girl out on the deck. Sneaking up behind her, I wrapped an arm around her middle, nudged my lips against her ear, and asked, “Having fun yet?”
She giggled as she returned, “At a Rymer party? Oh sure. Fun, fun, fun!”
I laughed as I released my hold on her. With all these people surrounding us, I didn’t want to spark any rumors.
Didn’t mean I was happy about letting her go, however.
Then again, putting a little distance between us allowed me a better view. I scanned my eyes down her body, leering at her like a depraved lunatic. “Jesus, Lay. I still can’t get over this dress. I almost feel like I should take you out of here to ah, you know...” I darted my eyes around the crowd before I leaned in, buried my face against the hair at her ear, and whispered, “go dancing.”
She smacked my arm and chastised me for that one. “Tease.” Then she raised sheepish eyes to mine as her tone turned serious. “Actually, I was hoping we could find a private place to ah...” she leaned in to whisper, “go talk.”
I would have busted her chops for giving me a hard-on right there in the middle of the party, but instead, I registered the weight of her request. There was still a ton of things that had gone unsaid between us. “Yeah. You’re right. I figured we’d be having this conversation sooner or later.”
She scrunched her nose to answer, “No time like the present, right?”
I snickered and gave her hand a quick squeeze. “Let’s make the rounds to say goodbye and I’ll meet you back at my truck.”
“Sure thing, pal.”