Looking around my parents’ living room, I have to respect these retired legends. My parents flew back for the weekend to celebrate my father’s 70th birthday. Now, a couple dozen of his friends and their partners are floating around our big living room and the backyard. While I am hearing way too many conversations about stocks, golf, and vacationing in warmer climates, I am thoroughly impressed by the amount of whiskey being drunk and my mother’s cosmopolitans flowing in a steady stream. These folks know how to have a good time.
“Lucas, my boy, come join us for a drink,” my father motions for me to join him and a circle of people.
Since I do appreciate the conversation to be had and the fact I know someone is going to break out on the piano in the other room, I gladly join them as someone hands me a neat scotch.
“How’s the new practice? We were so happy to hear you were the one to take it over,” an old colleague of my father’s asks.
I take a sip of my scotch. “Good. I look forward to you all coming in for your cholesterol check,” I quip, which earns me a laugh from the group.
“My son is housesitting for us until his house is ready. He bought a beauty, and the renovated kitchen is going to be top notch,” my father notes.
“Did you use Felix McGee? He’s a great one for renovations,” Mr. Hill asks.
I have to laugh. Felix McGee, the arch nemesis of our group of friends when we were in high school. We would throw a party and he would try to outdo us with the next party. Yet, now as mature adults, we respect each other’s work—just still call each other asshole when we can.
I nod slowly. “I did speak with him, but I decided on someone who could do a quick flip.”
“Understandable. I remember you have a son, and I can imagine with the divorce that you want to start again sooner than later. Isn’t William’s daughter also divorced recently? Hey, William—” Mr. Hill nudges a man in a dark polo shirt from another discussion circle behind him.
Internally, I have to smile to myself. William Call turns to join our group.
“Lucas! I didn’t know you were back.” He smiles as he comes to pat the back of my shoulder.
I give him a smile. “Hi, Mr. Call, it’s been a long time.”
Mr. Call laughs. “Geez, Lucas, none of that ‘mister’ stuff.”
“We were just talking about my son’s divorce,” my father points out as he pours more whiskey all around.
“Oh yeah? What a party killer,” William says.
“I was just going to mention that your daughter is divorced too and back in town. A dentist, right?” Mr. Hill mentions.
“Abby? She’s a vet, and yes, she did get divorced. Hey, you should catch up with her,” William suggests with his eyes almost giving me encouragement.
Now I just grin. “Yeah, maybe I should.”
“She’s here, actually. Your mother invited her,” my father informs me and nudges my arm to look across the room to the open kitchen where Abby is indeed talking to my mother who’s dressed like this is a fancy club and looks like she is forever forty with dark hair and perfect make-up. Abby has a smile thrown across her face, and she is in a simple blue dress, her hair down.
My eyes alternate between my father and William, giving them both a face that tells them that I am on to them.
This must be planned, because now my mother is waving me over.
“Right. Well, looks like I am being summoned.” I shake my head, sip my glass, and adjust my buttoned-down blue shirt that matches my dark jeans and shoes.
By the time that I make it to the kitchen, Abby and my mother are laughing about something. I can see that Abby is helping my mother arrange a replenished snack tray. Abby’s eyes immediately flash up to meet mine and she gives me a closed-lip smile that tells me she is on to our parents too.
“Mother.” It comes out a little stiff.
“Mon amour, I was just catching up with Abby. Such a sweetheart to help me.” My mother touches Abby’s arm as she gushes her praises.
Abby licks her lips and seems to be enjoying this situation.
“I had no idea you were going to be here,” I mention.
Abby looks at me. “Me neither. But your mother phoned me a few hours ago along with my parents and informed me I had no choice.” Abby throws on an overly done smile.
My eyes slide up and I nod once, biting my inner cheek in delight of this situation.
“Maybe, Abby, you can help Lucas? I am out of ice for the cosmopolitans. It is so much easier with a bag of ice than the ice from the fridge. I think you will need to go to the store,” my mother requests as she arranges crackers on a tray. Almost sounding convincing, but I know better.
“Uhm… sure, why not? I can help Lucas.” Abby is caught off guard about what to do, but her eyes meet mine and we exchange a flirtatious look.
“Merci. It’s just ice we need. Nate isn’t coming until later, and I don’t want to wait. Thank you both,” my mother quickly adds, before taking her tray and shimmying off to the living room where the noise is picking up.
Abby and I look at each other and admittedly it is with smoldering looks. I touch her arm briefly.
“Come on,” I tell her and motion for her to follow.
“I should grab my coat,” Abby comments.
Ignoring her, I grab her arm and guide us to the end of the downstairs hall past the laundry room and open the door to the garage. Walking into the garage, I close the door behind us then walk up to the chest freezer. Opening the door to the freezer, my hand indicates for her to look.
Abby gives me a puzzled look then looks into the freezer and starts to laugh.
“Yeah, something tells me that we don’t need to trek it to the supermarket.” My mouth slants into a lopsided grin.
“Well, there are a lot of bags of ice,” she states and shakes her head in amusement.
“My mother is always up to tricks,” I admit.
Abby puts a hand on her hip and tilts her head to the side. “What now? She’ll be upset her plan was an epic fail.”
“Come with me upstairs?”
Abby’s eyes question me. “Someone is blunt.” Her lips quirk.
I smile. “Yeah yeah yeah. No, I want to check on Theo.”
Abby’s face lightens as she nods in agreement and follows me through the house and upstairs.
Despite the noise downstairs, it’s quiet upstairs. We soften our steps as we approach Theo’s room. Gently I crack open his door and see that he is sound asleep with a dinosaur stuffed animal and small nightlight on. My parents decided to make one of the guest rooms into a Theo room. They went a little overboard.
Gently closing the door behind me, my eyes look at Abby who was watching me check on my son with a soft smile on her face.
My hand goes out indicating for her to take it, and she does. I walk us a few steps to my room then close the door behind us as I turn the light on. Abby walks into the room and flops onto the edge of the bed.
“You have Theo for the weekend?”
“Yeah, which works out great as my parents really wanted to see him.”
She smiles at me and there is a pause.
“So, this was your elaborate plan to get me into bed,” she teases as her hand glides along the white duvet.
“You mean have my mother persuade you to come here then fake a lack of ice? Oh yeah, totally my play,” I say sarcastically as I go to my speakers and find some music on my phone to put on.
Abby looks around my room. “Interesting. Was this your room growing up?” she wonders.
I come to sit next to her on the bed. “Yes. Why, a fantasy of yours?” I give her an inviting look.
“I was expecting an entire shrine of your trophies and stuff. This doesn’t seem like your room.”
Leaning back on the bed, I feel relaxed. “True. My mother re-decorated Nate’s and my old rooms. So, this is adult Lucas’s room.”
Abby comes to lying on her side. “Ah, so this is where adult Lucas sleeps.” The corners of her mouth tug.
“It is.” I let it come out simple.
“Nice music. Jimmy Eat World, right?”
“Soundtrack of my youth,” I reminisce.
Abby lets her fingers tap the duvet. “So, our parents are plotting.”
“Yeah, just ignore them. Although thoroughly hilarious. We may send one of them into a heart attack if they know I took you to dinner and I have date number two in the cards.”
There’s a brief silence as we just lie there and look at each other. Our mouths twitching as we’re both trying to avoid being the one with a bigger smile than the other. Something tells me that we’re both enjoying this moment.
“True. Date number two is in the cards,” she confirms softly.
I can’t help it. A few strands of her hair are begging me to assist. Reaching for her hair, my fingers tuck it softly behind her ear. Her skin feels hot under my touch as my thumb barely touches her cheek.
“How will date two end?” I ask, and she blushes, which I love.
“The way I would have wanted date one to end. Your lips on mine.” She doesn’t blink.
My fingertips trace her mouth, and her lips feel smooth to the touch and firm. I’ll be able to kiss her hard.
“I like the sound of that,” I answer with a whisper.
We lie there and get lost staring at each other. My hand rests on her outer hip. Music on in the background like a perfectly orchestrated soundtrack. The air between us full of wants that we can’t act on. It ups the anticipation and makes the room warm.
She sighs. “Your mother can talk an ear off, by the way.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, she always liked you. But she thinks I need to move on and date again too.”
“Wow. My parents kind of mourned that they were losing a son-in-law for a while. But yeah, I know what you mean. I get the occasional text that my mom met so and so who has a divorced son.”
“Sure, they wanted us to work it out for Theo, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. Then they let me know that they were never fans of Isabella and now they hope I don’t die a lonely man,” I explain.
“Eeeks, and yeah, your mother may have mentioned her concerns that you were a good catch and needed a woman to keep you entertained.” Abby wiggles her eyes at me.
I laugh. “Entertained?”
“Oh yeah, your mother thinks you should have some fun.”
Abby isn’t even teasing which should concern me, but my mother is French and doesn’t shy away from cultural stereotypes. Talking about sex is not a problem for my mother.
I shake my head in annoyance.
“Your mom has lived in the U.S. for a while, right?”
“Yeah. Met my dad as an exchange student in college, been married since. Wow, they have more than forty years of marriage.” I didn’t think about that until now.
“Some people were destined for one long marriage,” Abby sighs.
“Maybe. Or maybe they found their one early, so they didn’t take any stops to get to each other.”
“Is that what you think? That your first marriage was a step towards a different end point?” Abby looks at me with curiosity.
“Hmm. I don’t know. I guess I just want to think that in the long run that I will end up with someone and will look back thinking that one decision led to another to make me reach my final destination,” I contemplate.
“You are quite a romantic, Lucas. A lot of whimsical ideas.” Abby looks at me in almost fascination.
“Is it romantic? Nah, it’s just philosophical,” I correct her. “Anyhow. We should probably head down. Just grab a bag of ice from the freezer and say we went to the store. Give her false gratification that her plan was amazing.”
Abby laughs. “You like messing with your parents, don’t you?”
I shrug a shoulder and smile to myself. “I may get my kicks out of it.”
“Then why don’t I just pretend to adjust my clothes and give her the impression that we had a quickie upstairs. She would love that.” Abby rolls off the bed.
“Because that’s too tempting for me to actually turn that into a reality,” I warn her as I open the door to the hall.
But first I grab her hand to check her wound. “Nearly forgot my doctor duties. How’s the hand?” I can see it’s already healing nicely.
Her fingers grip my hand to give me a squeeze that reaches all corners of my body. Sending a line of desire between my legs and my chest. Stomach swirling.
“It’s fine. The Italian dinner helped.”
“Good,” I say as our eyes hold. I’m proud that I still have some game, and my imaginary cocky pride slaps my shoulder in accomplishment.
I also notice that there is an unbearable feeling taking over me that I can’t kiss her.
Quickly, I lead us back on our way.
We head downstairs and arrive to the kitchen where Nate is eating off a small plate that is piled with snacks as he leans against the counter.
“Well well well, did you two just come from upstairs?” Nate grins.
I slap him playfully behind the head. Abby just ignores us as she goes to grab a bottle of water from the other end of the counter.
“Why are you late? They’re holding off on birthday cake because of you,” I ask.
“Matchbox is packed tonight. Plus, does it really matter if I’m here? You are their golden child.”
My brother is two years younger than me. We are total opposites. While I was busy studying medicine, Nate was playing professional hockey. When his career ended due to injury, he didn’t quite stop his player ways. His rotation of women gives me whiplash. I can imagine my parents enjoy saying they have a doctor as a son as opposed to a philandering son who owns a bar. Nonetheless, Nate is a good guy, confident, awesome uncle and my little brother who also happens to be my running partner.
“I think I’m going to head out after cake. I still don’t know how I ended up here, other than your mother begged,” Abby mentions.
“Are you sure, Abby? I think I may crash here tonight, so I can watch Theo if he wakes. If you two want to go for a drive for something.” Nate flashes his eyes at me, and I shoot him some warning daggers from my eyes.
“Positive. But how chivalrous you are with your offer,” Abby says sarcastically.
At that moment, I notice that my father and Abby’s father are motioning for us to come over. Abby and I look at each other with agony as we know this is more parental tricks.
Reluctantly, we head to them.
“Oh good, you two found each other. You know Lucas is back for good, Abby,” her father mentions, and she nibbles her lip.
“I know. We have run into each other a few times,” she mentions with her eyes focusing on me.
My father seems to have pulled out the cigars that the men will go light outside. “You kids should catch up over dinner or something.” My father was never shy with his suggesting.
“Maybe,” is all I manage to say, because I am sure as hell not going to say that I beat them to the punch.
“I’m not sure Lucas has enough time. I hear he is quite busy with taste testing crème brulées.” Her eyes lock with mine as her mouth forms a gentle tug that tells me she may just enjoy being busy with me.
And I like that. I like that a lot.