Chapter Thirty-Three
Kane
By Saturday at lunch time I had Helene on her hands and knees in my bedroom, her cute little ass in the air. She’d curse, growl, beat the floor with a mallet, and then curse some more. I heard, “This is bullshit,” every time she couldn’t get the interlocking pre-finished hardwoods to pop into place easily.
I was following her with the power nailer, and it was a damn good thing the nailer made noise, because it helped drown out the sound of my laughing at her. She was sweating even after stripping out of her sweatshirt and wearing only her tank top with her yoga pants. I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off her nipples that were showing through the thin fabric.
When my phone rang in my pocket, I contemplated ignoring it. We still had half the room to go before we were done. But I pulled it out, setting the nail gun beside me.
I glanced at the number, but I didn’t recognize it. “This is Kane Thorson.”
“Mr. Thorson, this is Bob Kendrick at Home Depot. Just thought I’d give you a call to tell you the sink we special ordered for you has finally come in.”
“Oh. That’s great. Timing’s perfect. I’ll head that way soon.”
I hung up moments later, and I collapsed onto my back next to Helene. She smiled down at me.
“Want me to grab lunch while I’m out?” I lifted her hand, letting my fingers twine through hers.
“No. Remember? Hilde said she was bringing us lunch today.”
“Oh, yeah.” I scowled. “She’s going to try to poison me isn’t she?”
Helene shrugged. “Maybe. I really couldn’t say.”
I pinched her in the side, and she instantly doubled over as she laughed. When I reached for her cheek, I pulled her mouth to mine, kissing her gently. She crawled on top of me, straddling my hips and looking down at me. I reached for her waist, running my palms up under her tank top, but she stopped me quickly, pulling my hands back. She leaned over me, pinning my hands above my head, and then she kissed me again.
She pressed her tongue between my lips, but she teased, pulling back when I tried to suck on it. My mouth chased after hers, but she dodged my lips at every turn.
“Come on, baby,” I whispered. “Put that tongue back in my mouth. Let me suck on it. I know how much you like that.”
Her cheeks turned rosy, and she finally lowered her mouth to mine, keeping her eyes open and on mine. She licked slowly along my lower lip, and I sighed, and when she slipped her tongue back between my lips, I moaned as she filled my mouth. I sucked, just as I promised I would, and she was the one who moaned then.
When she pulled back again, she kept her weight pressed down on my hands that were still above my head.
“For a woman who’s supposedly cold, you sure do warm up nicely. Now how about you lean over a little farther and let me warm up those nipples.” I stared up at her, waiting to see if she would.
“You have an errand to run. My nipples will be here when you get back.” She smirked as she pushed off me.
I groaned dramatically. “Yeah? Well, Hilde will be here too.”
She smiled sweetly as I crawled up from the floor.
I wrapped my arms around her, leaning to her ear. “Careful little tease. I’m not afraid to make you lay flooring naked with an anal plug in your ass. In fact, I’d like it very much.” I smacked her butt and walked out of the room, speaking over my shoulder. “I must go pick up a sink now. Make Hilde take a bite of my food, so I know she’s not trying to kill me.”
Helene laughed as she followed me from the room.
I pulled out of the driveway a few minutes later, and I passed Hilde on my way into town. I gave her the appropriate wave, and she ignored me completely. I wandered the aisles once I’d made it into the oversized store. I was contemplating buying the light fixtures I still needed, but as I strolled, I kept worrying Helene wouldn’t like them. It wasn’t my house, it also wasn’t my intention to live in the house any longer than I absolutely had to, and yet, I couldn’t help but want that space to feel like us.
The whole process ended up inspiring a very pleasant daydream of Helene—one that included a home of our own, a life of our own. I could imagine relaxing on a couch with her and watching a movie, laughing with her at the dinner table, making love to her in a bed that belonged to both of us, sleeping in late, taking walks, owning a dog for fuck sake. It was all so … domestic, strangely and intriguingly domestic. It also felt very foreign to me, as though that life was a page in a magazine—stunning, glossy, perfectly composed, but it was just a picture of something beautiful. It wasn’t the thing itself. The thing itself existed in some place so far off and outside my realm of understanding that I couldn’t really accept it truly existed.
But, God … what if it could?
When my brain returned from fantasy land, I was staring blankly at a display of ceiling fans, seeing nothing, just staring like an idiot.
I looked around, making sure no one had caught me drooling over my daydreams, and then I moved on to the kitchen section. It didn’t take them long to bring the large farmhouse sink up to the loading area. It was going to look perfect with the antiqued cupboards. My dad’s house was rustic to begin with. That had always translated into run down, cheap, outdated, smelly, and just plain disgusting. But now … the rusticity was going to be charming, fresh, and frankly, damn enviable. It was exactly what a quiet, out of the way home buried in the woods was supposed to be. It was the type of home that belonged on the pages of that glossy magazine spread I was enthralled with.
My phone rang as I was pulling out of the parking lot, and I snatched it up.
“Mr. Thorson, this is Sadie from Shady Oaks.” Her voice was clipped. I didn’t think Sadie liked me very much.
I sighed. “What’s he done now?”
Sadie was silent for a moment. “No. It… I just wanted you to know we’ll be calling Dr. Cameron to have your father seen early this next week. It’s nothing we feel warrants emergency attention. He’s exhibited some behaviors that could be concerning but could also be nothing. We just want to be thorough.”
I pulled the truck over in a parking lot. “All of his behaviors, past and present, are concerning to me,” I muttered. “What kind of concerning behaviors are you talking about?”
“He seems confused, disoriented, placid.”
“And you consider this somehow different from how he’s been behaving since having a stroke?” I scoffed. “Sounds pretty typical to me.”
“Well, that’s the problem with stroke victims. It makes it far more difficult to assess their symptoms when their neurological function is already compromised. He just doesn’t seem … himself.”
“Meaning he hasn’t broken anyone’s nose recently?”
“Meaning, I think it’s important to further assess his current state,” Sadie said with a decidedly annoyed tone to her voice. “You know, Mr. Thorson, he is your father. And I understand that his behavior now may be off-putting, but you can’t—”
“First of all, Sadie,” I cut her off quickly. “You don’t know my father. And what you call off-putting, I happen to know as his normal state of being. He is no more an asshole now than he’s ever been, and if I choose to hate him for that, that’s my business, not yours.” I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I appreciate you calling. Keep me posted on any new developments.” And then I hung up.
I chucked my phone onto the seat next to me. “Fuck,” I muttered as my fingers gripped tight on the steering wheel.
It seemed unnatural to hate a parent. It was. I knew it was. But hate was only one thing I felt for the man, and it was the simplest of what I felt, so I tended to let it supersede the rest. Because in addition to hating my dad, I also just really, really wanted to love him. I wanted what I was supposed to have. I wanted the idea of what that relationship was supposed to look like. But I’d given up thinking I would ever have those things a long time ago. I’d been short changed. There was no doubt. And yes, I was absolutely capable of feeling sorry for myself because of it at times.
I finally pulled out of the parking lot again and headed home. I was ready to be in that beautiful place again. I needed the glossy image of that pretty life with Helene. And I knew the moment I saw her, I’d feel it—the possibility of it.