Fresh fallen snow greeted Alexa on Saturday morning. However, the cold winds and gray skies could not put a damper on her mood because the sun was shining in her world. With a smile, she snuggled beneath the down-filled comforter thinking of Darius. His spontaneous proposal left her teetering between feelings of exhilaration and apprehension. The whole weekend was like a dream with her fairy-tale wishes coming true and she wasn’t prepared for that to happen.
Due to their late night, the two had overslept on the day Alexa was to leave. She ended up having only an hour and a half to get back to the house, collect her belongings and get to the airport to make her flight. Darius suggested that she catch a flight the next day, so that she wouldn’t be so rushed, but Alexa declined because she knew how much work waited for her at the office.
A warm sensation flowed throughout her body as she pictured him lying beside her in the bed. She hugged the pillow tight, wishing instead that it were Darius. Closing her eyes, she imagined his virile body moving in sync with her own. Her body tingled as she remembered the pressure of his lips exploring areas that made her cry out in joy because they hadn’t been caressed in such a loving way for some time. She could almost feel the kiss he planted on her forehead before she entered the jetway to board her plane. It was tender yet somewhat desperate as if he was afraid to let her out of his sight again. The ringing of the telephone interrupted her daydreaming and she growled in disappointment as she picked up the receiver.
“Hello.”
“So how was the wedding?”
Alexa recognized Beverly Kirkwood’s nasal voice anywhere. The warmth she felt about her weekend quickly dissipated.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Are you sleeping?”
With a yawn, she stretched and sat up, crossing her legs beneath her in one movement. “I just got up. How are you?”
“I’m fine. So how was the wedding?”
“It was beautiful,” she said, and began to give details surrounding the event, leaving Darius and his marriage proposal out of the story. “Maya told me to send you her love.”
“That’s nice. I always did like Maya. She’s such a good girl,” Beverly replied fondly. Then like turning off a light, she switched to another topic of conversation.
“I’m thinking about making a trip to Denver. What’s your schedule looking like this month?”
Alexa rolled her eyes and sank back beneath the covers. She couldn’t take her mother on the telephone sometimes, let alone in person. Since her parents’ divorce, her mother had changed into a person she hardly recognized. The first change was the tinting of her hair and then she dropped twenty pounds and began to dress like she was twenty years younger. Although Alexa admitted that she did look good and seemed happier than ever, she couldn’t help but worry about her new lifestyle. All of the new men calling her and traveling to far-off places at a moment’s notice made Alexa worry. It was as though the tables were turned and she was the mother now.
“I thought you were going to go out to California to visit Justin. Didn’t you want to meet his new girlfriend?”
“You sound like you don’t want me to come,” Beverly said with a hint of hurt in her voice. Alexa immediately felt bad for trying to pass her off on her brother.
“No, Mother, it isn’t that. It’s just that the beginning of the year is always my busiest time. I’d hate for you to come out and I wouldn’t have time to show you around. You know how you like to shop and tour the city.”
The older woman snorted in response as if she didn’t believe her daughter’s story.
Alexa sighed in defeat. “Let me check my schedule to see what it looks like for February. Is that okay?”
“I guess it will have to be.”
The two talked for a few minutes longer with Beverly revealing what was going on in her single life. The stories made Alexa ill. There were some positions Alexa did not even want to imagine her mother being in.
“I hope you are using condoms, Mom. Old folks get diseases, too,” she preached after her mother gave the details about her latest sexual adventure.
“Do I have idiot written on my forehead?” Beverly snapped. “I know these old men carry diseases, too. For your information, I do use protection.”
Alexa sighed with relief. The first time she learned of her mother’s sexual prowess, she got all bent out of shape. Although her parents had been divorced for some time, she didn’t think her mother should be sleeping with other men. To top it all off, her mother proudly boasted of her exploits.
The first time she had sex with another man outside of Alexa’s father, Beverly could not conceal it. The only man that her mother had ever known was her father James Kirkwood. But when a new man had introduced Beverly to the joy of sex, she was blown away. Now most of her time was spent among the mature single set dating, partying and traveling. She was gone so often that Alexa couldn’t keep up with her schedule.
Sex wasn’t a topic discussed in the Kirkwood household. For a long time she thought all her parents did when they closed their bedroom door was write out checks for bills and talk about what they had to do the next day. By the time they ended their call, Alexa prayed that Justin had the time to fit their mother into his schedule.
“Have you tried to shut down?” Darius asked the caller. It was Saturday morning and he was already working. He realized early on after getting the word out about his computer consultation business, it was going to be successful. Through his company he had made lots of good contacts and consequently had received a lot of good referrals. Within a week of dispersing his business card at a networking social, he had begun to receive calls. However, Saturdays were typically reserved for the nearby college whose campus computing office requested his contracting services for their students.
“I tried everything,” the young woman on the line wailed in exasperation. “I just need to have it fixed. I have a term paper due on Monday and I don’t want to start over if I don’t have to.” Her voice gave way to soft sobs.
“Okay, okay, calm down,” he tried to comfort her. “If you give me a half hour, I’ll be up on campus. How does that sound?”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she shouted with relief. She proceeded to give Darius directions before releasing the call.
Darius placed the receiver down and opened his planner to place the address inside when he spotted the piece of paper containing Alexa’s address and phone number. The memories of their weekend flashed before his eyes, bringing a smile to his face. It was as if what they had had never ended, which was why his proposal came so easily.
Darius didn’t know what came over him when he asked Alexa to marry him, but he found that when he was in her presence, he did some pretty unusual things. There seemed to be a sense of urgency in him, for a response to the smallest of things, in order to prevent her from changing her mind.
This time, he had opened the door and was determined to go all the way, but if she wasn’t ready he was prepared to put everything they had shared behind him once and for all. He could not deny that her desire to keep her scheduled flight had struck a raw nerve with him and did not want to be placed on the priority of her To Do list. At the same time, he was grateful to have spent time with her. Knowing this scared him because it put her in more of a position of control and he didn’t want to have that happen again. He hoped that he didn’t reveal too much of himself too soon, but rationalized that without doing so he would not have been able to get as far as they had. Either way the situation looked very grim.
Picking up the piece of paper again, he brought it to his nose and sniffed it as if recalling her scent. Yes, Alexa Kirkwood had lassoed his heart again. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had felt so alive and energized. The emptiness he once felt had disappeared the minute he held her in his arms. And making love to her as he did—all night long—had satisfied his aching hunger. He couldn’t remember possessing that level of stamina since his college days. The irony of it all was that this was the same woman who captured his passions in his past, the one who held the key. Those days were so special, he thought. He closed his eyes again and allowed his recollections to guide him back to their days of innocence.
The sun was setting across the horizon. Darius and Alexa were at the park on the hood of the car cuddled beneath a thick old army blanket watching the twilight set in with an orange kiss.
Darius sighed as he held Alexa tightly to him blocking out the cool winds. He inhaled deeply, taking in the aroma of her floral perfume. Alexa, sitting before Darius, turned around and planted a soft kiss on his mouth.
“Mmm, what was that for?” he murmured against her ear, while at the same time thinking that she should stop before he took her right there on the hood of the car. The thought made him squirm with excitement. Since they’d crossed the line of intimacy in their relationship he found her even more irresistible.
“For making me happy,” she said, smiling sweetly into his eyes.
“Is that all I do?” he asked, probing for more strokes of her gratitude.
The fluttering feeling in his stomach made him feel like jumping twenty feet into the air. He realized what he was experiencing was deeper than infatuation or lust. Alexa possessed all of the qualities he wanted in a woman. She made him happy. He knew these feelings stemmed from the fact that he loved her. Even so, he didn’t want to be the first to say so without knowing her feelings for him.
“There’s more,” she replied, securing his hands in hers. She looked him directly in his eyes, causing him to melt. “You make me feel so special. So, so, loved.”
“Shoot, that’s because I do love you, girl,” he heard himself confess.
Alexa’s brown eyes widened with surprise. Darius’s heart began to thud rapidly.
“Oh,” she sighed. “I love you, too, baby.” Placing her arms around his neck, she kissed him passionately to show him how much.
Alexa had always had that effect on him. He carefully replaced the paper inside the pocket of his planner, wanting to hang on to it for reasons he could not begin to comprehend.