Happy Hour (23 page)

Then Jamie did something she never thought she was capable of doing.
Injured or not, with her free hand she touched the side of his cheek and kissed
him hard on his lips. For a second, there was no real response, but before she
knew what was happening, he was kissing her back just as hard. Jamie forgot the
elbow, forgot that she barely knew Tyler, forgot that he was her riding
instructor, forgot that he was ten years younger—she forgot all of it.

Jamie laid back on the couch. Tyler pulled himself away and looked at
her, but before he could ask her if she was sure, or before he could tell her
he was sorry, and before she could change her mind, she reached for his belt
buckle and he rapidly unbuttoned her blouse. “Your elbow?” he whispered.

“It’s fine.” She pulled him into her, kissing him longingly the entire
time they undressed one another. Jamie hadn’t felt this kind of desire in so
long and, as far as she knew, there was no one else in the world but the two of
them. He helped her out of her jeans and his lips caressed her breasts, a hand
between her thighs. Jamie let out a soft, husky moan.

His lips moved down to her stomach. Jamie tilted her hips up. “Please.”

Tyler moved up and inside her with a gentle ease that made her wrap her
arms around him and pull him in deeper. Her fingernails dug into his back as he
rocked back and forth slowly. Then together they began moving at a rapid pace
that left them both breathless. Within moments, an electrical sensation—a warm
glow all over her body—took hold of Jamie and she came. It was only then that
Tyler released himself. “Oh, Jamie. Oh, God.” He eased himself off of her,
looked at her, and then kissed her passionately, eliciting the same desperation
she’d felt when she’d began undressing him.

It
took a few minutes before the full realization of what they’d just done settled
into her. She still felt the afterglow, but the reality that they were not the
only two humans alive all too rapidly flooded back. They were in the real
world.

“I uh, I…Oh my God. What…?” she couldn’t even form a complete sentence or
thought. She started grabbing her clothes. Now the elbow hurt.

“Wait a minute. Sit down and take care of that elbow. What are you
doing?” he asked.

“I have to go.”

“Jamie. No. Have dinner with me.”

“I can’t. Maddie. I have to get Maddie,” she lied.

“Have dinner with me tomorrow then. Come on. We can’t forget what just
happened.”

“We need to. Forget it. Just forget it. That was crazy. I don’t know what
that was.”

“That was a bit crazy, but damn if that wasn’t best crazy I’ve ever
had.”  He smiled, flashing those dimples of his.

“No. It wasn’t. I mean, yes, it was fantastic. I have to go.” Jamie
grabbed her boots and ran to her car barefoot with Tyler right behind her.

“Don’t be silly. Come and have dinner with me.”

She stopped and turned to face him, her head lowered. She nodded and
sighed. “Tomorrow. I’ll have dinner with you, but this? What we did? This
didn’t mean anything. It was the whiskey and I was hurting and you were nice
and…”

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Why don’t you come here around seven and I’ll fix
us a meal.”

“Fine. Seven.” She just wanted to get out of there and away from Tyler.

Jamie drove home. There was no real thought. She tried hard to block out
that she’d attacked Tyler and had sex with him. Then the tears came—a flood of
them, and then surprisingly, between the tears, was hysterical laughter.

What had happened to her? What had come over her and what in the world
had she been thinking? She was a slut, a bimbo. No, she was a grown woman who
hadn’t had sex in over three years and who lusted after a man who was
seriously, seriously gorgeous and her body took over her brain. It happens. No.
She was a slut. She argued with herself the entire drive home, never coming to
a solid conclusion about what in the world she had just done and who she really
was.

Alyssa was in Los Angeles with Ian’s family for the second time. She’d
come down midweek to be tested to see if she was a match for Ian, and also to
get to know his family better. At first it had been a little awkward. Everyone
was nice to her, but the situation being what it was, it couldn’t be anything
but strange.

Ian’s family lived in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles in a
good-sized, older Spanish style home that had been in Ian’s mother’s family for
years. Half of the seven children that had been raised in the home were now
grown and living on their own.

Alyssa liked and had the utmost respect for Ian’s father Charlie. He was
warm, kind, soft-spoken, and a strong father. He had to be. She really admired
that he’d been raising these kids on his own for the past few years since
losing Louise. One thing she’d noticed about the family was that they talked
about their mother quite a bit. The house was filled with lots of love. Family
photos hung on the walls and were displayed on side tables. Like Alyssa’s
parents, Louise had been white and Charlie was black. They were a
multi-cultured, multi-faceted family.

Touring the house with Ian, Alyssa picked up a photo with his mom and him
in it. “Your mom was really beautiful,” she said. In the photo taken at the beach,
Ian looked to be about ten, Louise’s dark brown hair was tied back into a
ponytail with long strands coming out of it and blowing in the wind. Her arms
were around Ian as she stood behind him and they were smiling—happy. Her brown
eyes were content, confident and loving while Ian leaned back against his mom.
“Could I make a copy of this?” she asked.

“Sure. I can scan it in my computer, I guess.” He appeared perplexed.
“Why would you want a picture of my mom and me?”

Alyssa set the photo back down on the side table next to the tan suede
sofa. She thought for a second. “Connection. You and I have formed a nice
connection and I wish I’d had the opportunity to have known your mother.
Sometimes we need a reminder of how to be great, why we should be our best. The
way your family speaks of your mom, I get the feeling she gave her best all the
time, and I’d like that reminder.” What she didn’t tell him was she also wanted
a reminder that she’d done the right thing by giving Ian up for adoption. Ian
had been brought up in the right place.

Ian picked up the photo. “I’ll scan it now and set it on the kitchen
counter. I’m going to go throw the ball around across the street at the park
with my brothers and some of their friends. Have you had a burger yet?”

“No. I’ll head out and grab one. You’re feeling okay, then? I mean to go
play ball?”

Ian smiled. “It’s not tackle, or even rough at all. Yeah I get tired, but
I think I can handle it. I like being outside.”

“Okay. Have fun. Be careful.” Was she sounding like a mom?

Ian laughed and shook his head. “Yeah. I know.” He gave her a brief hug
and then jogged up the wooden steps to go and print up a copy of the photo.

She took in the house with its white stucco walls, archways, and wrought
iron chandeliers. The furniture was worn but comfortable. The house screamed
family
.
They even had two cats—a calico and an orange tabby—along with a chocolate lab
named Cocoa. Ian’s family, as diverse as they were, looked to be the most
normal family on Earth. Now she had to help make sure Ian spent a long life
with his family.

Alyssa made her way out back.  Like the house, the backyard was
comfortable. There was a decent-sized lawn with a koi pond off to the side,
lots of green foliage, and a small rose garden. Charlie and his brother Darren
had been busy making hamburgers for the family.

The barbeque where Charlie stood flipping burgers was set up on the patio
with a large square table and umbrella in the center. His brother stood next to
him, drinking a beer.

“Hey, Alyssa. You finally gonna eat something?” Charlie asked.

“I was waiting to make sure the kids got theirs first. I wanted to be
certain you had enough.”

“Girl, I didn’t raise all of them without learning how to plan meals,” he
replied.

His brother Darren laughed. “Shoot, your kids alone can eat everything in
that kitchen and then some. Once their friends pile in, forget it.” He glanced
at Alyssa. “You’re lucky you getting any.”

“He’s full of it. Don’t listen to him. I know exactly what I am doing. I
didn’t listen to my wife’s family rules and how to get it done for all those
years for nothing.”

“You actually listened to your wife?” Alyssa asked. “I didn’t think most
men did that.”

Darren winked at her. “When Louise spoke, we all listened.”

“Amen. Or she’d whoop our ass. Man, that woman could make a fuss when she
needed to.” Charlie scooped Alyssa’s burger off the grill and onto a bun.

“Beer?” Darren asked. She nodded. He grabbed the plate from Charlie and
handed it to her, pulling the chair out from the patio table while she sat down.
She looked up at him. “Thank you.” She could tell they were brothers by not
only their polite manners, but each had dark, deep-set eyes, and strong builds.
Though Charlie had a bit of a stomach on him that Alyssa assumed came with age
and stress. Charlie looked to have about ten years on Darren. He had a beaming
smile that she couldn’t help but like and she guessed he was in his early
forties. He reached over into the cooler and took out a Sam Adams, opened it,
and gave it to Alyssa.

“Whatever she did, she must have done it right. You have a great family,
Charlie,” she said. “Thanks.” She held up the beer to Darren.

“They’re faking it because you’re a guest.” Darren took a sip from his
beer.

“Now, there you go again, telling lies. I may be older and fatter,
brother, but I can still take you.”

“Uh-huh.”

Charlie sat down with them, and popped open a beer.

They bantered back and forth a bit longer and Alyssa enjoyed the show,
but she knew there was something bigger here than men having fun. She knew they
wanted to talk to her and she waited for their cue.   

After more small talk, Charlie set his beer down. “Alyssa, we got the
test results this afternoon.” He sighed.

She could tell it wasn’t good news by the way he said it. “So soon? I thought
it would be a day.”

“Ian’s doctor rushed it,” Charlie said.

“I’m not a match, am I?”

Charlie looked down and Darren said, “No.”

Charlie leaned across the table. “I know you’ve already done a lot here,
Alyssa, and I can’t thank you enough.”

She looked back and forth from Darren to Charlie. “What is it?”

“The doc still says that the best matches come from blood relatives, like
your parents, any blood siblings, or, since you weren’t a match, then maybe the
father. The doctors say that a sibling is usually the best bet.”

Alyssa sat back and didn’t say anything for a minute. She nodded. “My
parents don’t know about Ian. They were in Tuscany when I had him, but I can
call them. And siblings…” She knew that Ian had at least six siblings out
there. “This is hard.”

“We know,” Darren said. “You don’t have any other children?”

“No. I don’t.”

“What about the biological father? Do you know where he is, or if he has
other children?”

Alyssa set her half finished beer down and mustered a smile, and then
glanced away before looking back at the men. “Look, I don’t want to sound cold
or selfish here, but can I have some time alone? I need to think for a bit. I
really have some stuff here to process.”

“Of course,” Charlie replied. “I know how hard this must be. Here we’ve come
at you out of the blue and stirred up a lot in your life in a very short amount
of time. Take some time.”

“Thank you. I think I’m going to take a drive. I’ll come back in the
morning, though. We can talk some more about this then. I know time is of the
essence.”

Both Charlie and Darren stood. “Thank you again.” They each gave her a
hug.

She took the photo Ian had scanned and left. She spotted Ian with his
brothers and their pals playing their game across the street. She decided not
to bother them. He looked to be having a good time, smiling, laughing, and
living. Watching him, Alyssa knew what she had to do.

***

After leaving Ian’s home, Alyssa took a long walk by the beach, the sand
between her toes cool, soaking in everything that had happened to her over the
past weeks and the myriad of feelings she was now coping with.

After watching a Southern California sunset that filled the sky with
shades of purple and red, she headed back to her hotel room at the Marriott,
where she’d had enough hotel points to stay in a little suite. It was nice with
a kitchen, couch in one room, and then the bedroom in the other. She paced back
and forth in the room for several minutes and picked up the phone twice, once
actually sitting down to dial. She still remembered the phone number, if it
were the same number that it used to be.

But she couldn’t do it. Not yet. How would she explain this? She’d run
far and fast from Terrell, breaking off their engagement without a very good
explanation—she’d told him she wasn’t ready and he’d told her he didn’t
understand. How could he? He suggested they live together and he’d wait. But
she’d told him that she didn’t know if she would ever be ready. She’d left him
behind with a broken heart and she’d boarded a plane to the West Coast and kept
her secrets buried deep inside her. How many nights had she laid awake
wondering if she should’ve told Terrell the truth?

She wanted to be able to tell Charlie and Darren that she’d called the
father and that he would be tested to see if he was a match. She knew that for
her to get what she needed from Terrell that she would have to tell him the
truth, or at least a part of it. How strange life is. How ironic. There is so
much truth to the six degrees of separation theory. The last thing in the world
Alyssa ever expected was for that night to come full circle and force her to
face her past head on.