Chapter Five
KYLE
I was lying in my bed, exercising my legs like Amber told me to, thinking about Amber and watching mindless afternoon television on Thursday when Sarah called. I thought about not answering it but, she would just race over here and beat the door down if I didn’t. She had no idea how hard talking on the phone is for me. I accepted the call and put her on speaker. “Kyle? Can you hear me?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, good. I know you don’t like talking on the phone right now. I just wanted to let you know that I’m sending Michael to pick you up at six tonight. Wear a clean shirt and shave – and don’t wear one of those ugly ball caps-”
“Sarah. What for?”
“For dinner.”
I wondered why the clean shirt and the shave, but I didn’t have the energy to get all of that out so I just said, “Okay.”
I was able to do a lot more for myself already. Dad got me a shower chair, and I was able to stand enough to get into it. So after I got off the phone, I went in and showered and shaved. I know my sister too well. If she’s telling me to put on a clean shirt, she’s having someone besides just me for dinner. I can only hope she doesn’t have a wild idea and think that she’s going to fix her brother up with one of her friends. Surely, she has to get that a guy who still talks like he’s got a mouthful of shit and has staples in his head isn’t up for meeting anyone new in the romance department. Speaking of which – I’m wearing the hat. Sarah was on a mission before I got sick to try and set me up with anyone she thought would make a good wife. She thinks I should be married before I’m thirty. Look how good that worked out for my dad.
When Michael got to Dad’s place to get me at six, he took one look at me and whistled. “Well, look how pretty you are.” I flipped him off and he laughed.
“What’s your wife up to?” I asked him. He grinned and held the door open so I could wheel out.
“Who knows with that one? I haven’t been home yet, but I was given strict orders to pick you up at six and not be late.”
“Great.”
He laughed. “Yeah, whatever it is should be fun.” On the way to their house Michael said, “So…Storelli signed on.”
You have to fucking be kidding me. I had waited for that man who owns a quarter of the real estate in Dallas to finally pick an agency to design and build his new home. It would be his family’s private residence and if his current house had anything to say about it, it would be a lavish one. “Fuck,” was all I said out loud.
Michael laughed again. “Nope, it’s a good thing.”
I felt guilty. I knew it was a good thing for his firm. I was just jealous that I wouldn’t be the one to do it. “I know, sorry.”
“It’s a good thing for you. Storelli picked us because of your designs and mock-ups. I told him what happened and that you might be out for a while. He’s okay with that – as long as it’s you who handles it when you come back.”
Excitement coursed through my veins for the first time since the day I took the nosedive. If I got this contract, it would be the biggest one I’d ever gotten. Not only would it bring in a fortune for the firm and me in commission, it would get my name out there. Storelli is one of the most connected guys in Dallas. His company designs and builds the rigs they use in the oil fields. He’s connected with anyone who is anyone in Dallas…this is huge. “Fuck,” I said again, only this time with a smile. Michael laughed.
When we drove into my sister’s driveway, there was a little blue Honda sitting out front. “Looks like you were right, kid, we’ve got company,” Michael said. I’d wasted all my “fucks” already, so I stayed silent. Michael got the chair out and sat it next to my door. I put myself in it as he went and opened the front door so I could roll myself inside. I hadn’t gotten two feet before I was treated to a full-on frontal assault. My niece Kimber launched herself at me and landed in the chair on top of me.
“Uncle Kyle! I was so worried and Mama and Daddy wouldn’t let me see you!”
“Oh, baby, I’m okay.” She hugged me tightly and when she leaned back, I could see she had chocolate all over her face and hands. I looked down and it was all over the front of my “clean” shirt. I looked back up at her, and she giggled. I laughed, too, and tickled her before I made her laugh again by swiping my finger against my shirt and tasting it. “Mm!” I looked up and that’s when I saw a little blonde-haired girl with big green eyes standing a few feet back looking at us. “Hi.”
She looked down at the floor. “Hi,” she said. I looked at Kimber.
“Your friend?”
“Oh, yeah! This is Nona. She’s in first grade.”
“Wow. Hi, Nona.” That was a hard name to pronounce, but the little girl didn’t seem to notice. She peeked up at me through her hair and smiled.
I looked back at Kimber and she said, “Can I see your owie?”
“I’m not sure you can handle it, little girl.”
She giggled. “I can handle it, mister!”
“Are you gonna scream?”
“No!”
“Cry for your mama?”
“No.”
“Okay, but remember you promised no screaming.” I slid off my ball cap and just as I knew she would, she said,
“Ew! Gross! Does it hurt?”
“Not so much anymore.”
“Can I touch it?”
I laughed and put the hat back on my head. “No. Where’s Mom?”
“In the kitchen. Can I have a ride?”
“Of course.” I rolled the two of us into the kitchen, and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw who the surprise guest was.
“Mama, Uncle Kyle is here!” Kimber jumped off my lap as I stared at Amber in shock – and maybe a little bit of lust. My sweet little niece “whispered” the way five year olds do and said, “I didn’t say nuthin’ about the way he talks, either.”
I laughed, Amber looked like she was trying to hold it in, and Sarah gave Kimber a stern look. “Why do you have chocolate all over you right before dinner?”
I reluctantly took my eyes off of Amber. Damn. she looks hot in a pair of jeans. I looked at my niece and saw her little eyes filling with tears. “I gave it to her,” I said.
Sarah looked at me and her eyes fell to the chocolate all over the front of my clean shirt. “Aye! What am I going to do with the two of you?” She took Kimber’s hand and led her out of the kitchen. I looked back up at Amber. She was smiling.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“You look like you didn’t know I was coming.”
“My sister,” I said with a shrug.
She laughed. “I’m sorry. I picked my niece up from school today and ran into her and Kimber. She invited us.”
“Good,” I said. I didn’t want to try and say too much. Between the impediment and the goddess in blue jeans, I wasn’t sure I could manage much more than that.
Sarah came back way too soon and tossed one of Michael’s shirts at me. “Go change,” she snapped. “And, stop covering for her when she does things she’s not supposed to,” she yelled after me. Fat chance that was ever going to happen. I changed my shirt and when I got back, they were putting things on the table. Michael was already in his spot and the two little ones sat at Kimber’s small table next to the big one. Sarah had moved out one of the chairs and I parked there. Of course, she put Amber next to me. I wasn’t complaining, but sometimes I just had to shake my head at the not so subtle way my sister has of doing things.
“Michael, say Grace please.” Michael bowed his head and reached for Sarah and Amber’s hands. I took my sister’s hand on one side and Amber’s on the other. “Take off the hat, Kyle.”
Shit! My sister is a pain in my ass. “I’d rather not.”
“Kyle John Cloud!” She was using her stern mother voice. I’m not afraid of her, but I didn’t
want to bicker in front of Amber. I took it off and felt the cool air of the room waft across the bald spot on the side of my head. It was mortifying, to say the least. That was until I felt the gentle squeeze of Amber’s soft hand in mine. I looked at her from the corner of my eye and she winked at me. I felt that simple wink all the way down to my core, and even as my brother-in-law thanked God for the food we were about to eat, I was having carnal thoughts about the woman sitting next to me.
“So, Amber,” Sarah said as we began passing things around. “How long have you lived in Dallas?”
“My whole life,” she said. I passed the potatoes to her and our fingers brushed as she took them. I wanted to brush my fingers over a lot more of her skin. “My folks have a ranch just out near Seagoville. That’s where I grew up.”
“Oh, how nice,” Sarah said. “Do you have any siblings?” I handed her the meat and gave her an apologetic look. She smiled, and my heart sped up.
“I have three sisters,” she said. “They’re all older than me.”
“Oh, you’re the baby like Kyle.” I shot Sarah a look, but she just smiled at me and said, “Kyle loves to ride horses, don’t you Kyle?” That time Michael gave her a look, too…she ignored him the same as she did me.
“Yeah,” I said. I took a bite of my bread and hoped she wouldn’t ask me a stupid question while my mouth was full.
“Do you ride, Amber?”
“Yes. Not as much as I used to. Between work and…life, I don’t have a lot of free time.”
“You’re so young, you should be out having fun every chance you get,” Sarah said as if she were forty years old herself. “Have you ever been married, Amber?”
I dropped my fork. “Sarah.”
Amber laughed. “It’s okay. No, I’ve never been married.”
“I’m just trying to get to know her, Kyle.”
I rolled my eyes and gave Amber another apologetic look. I was surprised when I felt her touch my hand lightly. I looked at her, and she mouthed, “It’s really okay.”
I mouthed, “Thank you” – or something that hopefully looked like that.
Sarah did most of the talking through the meal. She told Amber how she and Michael met and talked about our dad and his job in the oil fields. After dinner, Amber tried to help her do the dishes, but Sarah insisted poor Michael help her and pushed me and Amber into the den.
When we were alone, I said, “I’m really sorry about her.”
“I think she’s cute. She’s just trying to help out her little brother.”
I shook my head. “She hasn’t noticed that I’m not so little anymore.”
She was still smiling. She went over to the mantle and picked up a picture of me and Sarah that was taken when we were small on the Reservation where our grandparents lived in Oklahoma. “Is this you?” she asked.
“Yeah, me and the pushy one in there.”
“So cute,” she said. “Where is this at?”
It took me three tries, but I finally said, “The Cherokee Nation Reservation in Oklahoma.”
I was rewarded with her pretty smile. I thought I might just stand on my head for that. “You’re doing so well with your speech,” she said.
“I like to talk,” I told her. “Not as much as my sister, though.”
She laughed, and then I saw her look at the clock. “I should get going. Nona has school tomorrow, and her mother will be by to pick her up soon.”
“You didn’t have dessert.”
“Maybe another time,” she said, putting her hand on that gorgeous, flat stomach. “I’m so full…and skipping a dessert or two isn’t going to hurt me a bit. I’ve been trying to shed my winter coat.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Smiling, she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound like I was fishing for a compliment.”
“You should be. You’re gorgeous.” She gave me a long, piercing look, like she was trying to figure out if I was being serious or not. I couldn’t believe that she didn’t know how drop-dead gorgeous she was.
“Thank you, Kyle,” she said after a long pause. “I’m going to get Nona and say good night to Sarah and Michael.” She started to pass me, and then she stopped and bent down and kissed me on the cheek. “Have a good night.”
“You, too.” I knew exactly what kind of night I was going to have: it was going to be a sexually frustrated one. That tiny little brush of her lips had turned my insides into hot liquid and sent the blood all racing down south.