Lee

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My phone rang and it woke me up. I glanced around to see Rusty’s arm slung over me. “Hello?”

“Lilou Marston?”

“Yes, this is she.”

“Ms. Marston, my name is Jeffrey Ammons, and my son is a friend of your brother Glenn’s. Glenn spoke with me yesterday about you and your involvement with the cafe in the old train depot. He also told me about your great-grandfather’s story and I’d like to do a news story on you and the cafe.”

Holy shit!

I sat up, waking Rusty in the process. “Mr. Ammons, this is fantastic. Jackson Blackburn is the owner of the cafe and let me give her a call. It would be great if all three of us could meet. What would be a good time for you?”

He gave me several days and times and I promised I’d call him back. I immediately called Jackson. She was up to her eyeballs at work.

“Hey Lee. What’s up?”

“You won’t believe this. That little Scuttlebutt was right!” And I gave her the details.

We decided on the following day, so I called Mr. Ammons back to set it up. In my excitement, I jumped out of bed and forgot to put on my prosthesis. Not a good idea. In my haste, I crashed on my face in zero point two seconds, letting out a loud yell.

“Shit! Shit!”

Rusty was at my side, helping me. “Lee, are you okay?” His hands ran down my leg, checking for injuries, I suppose.

An embarrassed giggle leaked out of me. God, I never giggled, but this was so humiliating. I needed to remember to hop and not run next time. “I’m fine. Just was a little excited and forgot about my leg. I haven’t done that in a long time.”

He slid his hands under me and set me back on the bed. This was the kind of treatment a girl could get used to.

“You need to be more careful.”

“Right? But this is so exciting. You heard everything, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, it was sort of hard to miss the way you were screaming.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No. It’s great.”

I threw my arms around his neck. “It’s because this is the kind of publicity the cafe needs. And even the town. A great restaurant can do amazing things for a town, you know.”

“Yes, it can.”

“Oh, my God. I need to call Scutt.”

“Scutt?”

“Scuttlebutt, my brother. He’s the one responsible for this.” After I filled Rusty in, I called my little brother.

“Glenn, you won’t believe what just happened.”

I told him about Mr. Ammons and thanked him. I even promised to buy him a new video game.

“See, I told ya I’d handle it!” Glenn said.

“You rock, dude!”

“Why’d you call me Glenn?”

“Because you are growing up and I think I’m going to have to ditch your nickname. You’re a businessman now.”

“But I like it when you call me Scuttlebutt. Maybe you can call me Glenn in public.”

“Deal. Now I’ve gotta go, but I’ll call you later. Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Yeah. But that’s kinda gross, Lilou.” I could only imagine the crests of his cheekbones turning bright rosy. He hated when I said things like this. I adored this kid and he was going to know it. One thing I learned in rehab and how I nearly died was our time on this Earth was precious and we needed to make sure the ones we loved knew how much they meant to us.

“Well, get used to hearing it a lot because I’m going to be telling you a lot.”

“Hey, why didn’t you come home last night?”

Now it was my turn for my cheeks to turn scarlet. “Um, I, er, that’s to say, I had some business to do with Jackson.” I cringed when I lied. But I could never tell him I spent the night with Rusty.

“Oh, cool. I’ll see you around.”

When I looked at Rusty, he already knew.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what?”

“For making you feel like that.”

“It was my choice. I could’ve gone home. Besides, I’m a grown woman.”

“Yeah, but you hated telling that to your brother.”

“He’s only fourteen, so …”

“I completely understand. But I have to add, last night was the best night of my life.”

Smiling, I said, “Mine too.”

“So, breakfast?”

“Yes! But let me run home to shower and change. I’ll meet you back here as soon as I can.”

“Shower with me. I’ll so make it worth your while.”

“Um, showers are a little tricky for me. You know.” I pointed to my leg.

“I’ll hold you up the entire time. I’ll even wash you. The bathroom has all sorts of hair products.”

“Are you sure?”

“You have to ask?” he picked me up and carried me to the massive bathroom.

The shower took much longer than any other shower in my life. Of course, there were some extracurricular activities involved, ones that centered around his dick and me being held up against the wall. I’m pretty damn sure I was going to be deliciously sore for days to come.

When he was drying me off as I sat on the edge of the bed, he asked, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“If you had, I would’ve told you.” I pulled him down for a kiss. “You have the most amazing eyes.”

“I’ve always hated them because they’re so like my father’s.”

“Then good thing I never knew him because I have nothing to compare them with other than they’re yours and they’re gorgeous.”

When I was dressed with my hair dried, I left for home and changed. While I was there, my mom stopped me on my way out of the house.

“Lilou, where were you last night?”

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

“I called out sick.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just a stomach bug. But where did you spend the night?”

“With Jackson. Um, I’ve gotta go.”

“Lilou, I saw Jackson this morning. I stopped by the cafe to see if you were there. She said she hadn’t seen you.”

I was a teenager again, getting caught for sneaking out of the house past midnight.

“Okay, Mom. I didn’t stay with Jackson. I spent the night with a man I met. His name is Rusty Garrett.”

“Oh? Where does he live?”

“In Virginia Beach. I’ll have him come over so you can meet him.” I quickly tapped his number on my phone and gave him my parents’ address. I told him I’d been busted and he had to meet my mom.

“Lilou, I know you’re not a teenager anymore, but a text would’ve been nice. I worried about you all night.”

“I’m sorry, Mom. You’re right. That was very inconsiderate of me.”

It didn’t take long for Rusty to get here. When he did, he came to the door and knocked. My mom answered and let him in.

“I think I’m grounded.”

“Mrs. Marsten, it was my fault she didn’t come home. I take full responsibility, ma’am.”

“That’s a noble gesture, but my daughter is old enough to take responsibility for her own actions.”

“Yes, ma’am, but you see, here’s the thing. While this may sound crazy to you and hard to believe, I’m quite positive I’m falling for your daughter. And the only way I know to find out is to spend time with her. The fact she didn’t come home was completely my fault because I persuaded her to stay with me. If you’re angry with anyone, it should be me. I apologize for any wrongdoing on my part.”

“Son, are you willing to make an honest woman out of my daughter?”

“Mom, this isn’t the eighteen hundreds,” I said. Mom was exasperating.

“I know, sweetheart, but this young man seemed intent on making things right, so I thought I’d see how far he was willing to go.”

Rusty said, “The way I feel about her right now, my answer would be yes.”