Holiday Spice (2 page)

Suddenly, Jenna started to giggle.

“What?” Brad asked.

“I just keep expecting your parents to come down the stairs and catch us,” she laughed.

“That never happened,” he protested.

“Not that you know of,” she teased back.

She became aware of her cell phone buzzing on vibrate and sat up to get it from her purse. 

“I wonder how long this has been ringing…”

Taking a few steps across the room in her birthday suit, Jenna glanced back at Brad.  He was drinking in every square inch of her naked body with his eyes.  His breathing became deeper.  In an instant she could tell that he wanted her again and she felt absolutely powerless to resist him. 

On the phone, it was her mother wondering where she was as it had been quite some time since she had left for the store.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I ran into an old friend and we were just… catching up. I’ll be home soon,” she stammered.  “Oh and, by the way, do we have room for another guest for Thanksgiving dinner?”

Jenna winked and Brad accepted the invitation with a smile.  

It would be almost another 2 hours before Jenna and Brad would make it home for dinner.  But they were both truly thankful this year.

It was a lovely December morning,
with a
crisp and chilly breeze in the air
.

O
ne of those mornings
that always made me
feel in dire need of some hot chocolate and someone to cuddle
up with
by the fire. The
probl
em with that wa
s, as
a single woman living in the secluded mountains of Colorado
, there were no men immediately in sight.

I’
d
been living alone for the past 5 years
in a log cabin
that my
dad
had
built for me with his own bare hands.

Sitting alone by the fire, hot chocolate in-hand and my favorite quilt draped over my shoulders, I buried my face in a romance novel. This particular book was placed at a beach house where a group of single women went to enjoy a summer vacation; little did they know that they would all come back with handsome men on their arms.

I longed to be Claudia,
the
beautiful, blonde and tan
lead character
. She seemed to have everything figured out and I felt like I related to her so well. But, alas, my dreams
of
love and companionship remained
dreams
.

A woman with a cat, brunette, pale and shy… seriously, who would want someon
e like me? Well, at least I had
Mr.
Reshimi
, the rescue cat whom I
found in a ditch three years before as a barely weaned kitten.

He wa
s the closest thing I’ve
ever had to a husband in my decade
of legal adulthood.

When I finally set down my novel, Mr.
Reshimi
curled up in my lap and quickly fell asleep.

I
always
pet
ted
his black fur delicately, treating him like he
was
my own heart. Before him, I never had an animal, so even though we lived
together for
so long,
I still marvel
ed
at almost everything he does.
  We
’d
often stumble over each other in an awkward dance going to the kitchen.
He
wa
s my shadow, constantly following me
from
room to room and purring loudly, as if to assure me that I’m never
really
alone.
  And yet, I was so very lonely.
 

The phone rang.

“Hello?” I said, disoriented.

“Are you okay, dear?” a soft yet toughened voice answered back.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine, mom. Was just thinking…”

“Well, I’ve been worried about you all alone up there without a single phone call!”

“Mom, it hasn’t even been two weeks since we last-”

“Doesn’t matter, your fat
her and I are coming up for a
visit! Don’t worry about your house being a mess if it is one, you know I could care less as long as I see you.”

“Um…. Okay, when should I be expecting you?”

There was a knock on the door that echoed through the phone.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I
hung up the phone and scanned the room in a flash of panic.  A mess is one thing, but there are certain substances and devices that a single gal who never entertains company might find
herself
casually leaving out in plain sight.  They were the kinds of things that would horrify well-meaning parents on a surprise visit.

Whew, we seem to be all clear.

I
proceeded to the door as the second round of knocking began.
 
C
rack
ing it
open for a peek, and there stood my parents, dressed heavily in their winter clothes while I was still in sweats and a messy ponytail.

“Hi, how did you-?” I couldn’t decide how to end my own question. They lived in Texas, how could they get all the way up here without letting me know?

My dad spoke
first
, “Your mother has been bugging me to come up here for weeks, she told me not to tell anyone so we could surprise you.”

“And here we are!” Mom shouted with a giddy tone. She quickly shuffled up to hug me and proceeded to kiss me on the cheek.

“You must be freezing,” I said, “come in, I have a fire lit and hot chocolate on the stove.”

Endless time seemed to pass as we
sat,
discussing old memories and how I still read ‘filthy trash’ as my father called it. Then the infamous questions about marriage and grandchildren arose. This kind of talk made me sick to my stomach.

I discretely changed the subject to my sister, who was due any day now with her second child. They thought very highly of her, happily married, successful photography career, and with dogs and children in her home in Sugarland, Texas. My parents complained that we all lived too far
away
since they
moved to
Galveston, and my brother
now
lives in Pearland with his wife. 

I was
the rebel –
the only o
ne to live in a different state,
and the only one not married, of course.

When lunchtime rolled around, I remembered that I hadn’t gone to the grocery store in a while, so I invited to take them out to lunch. We
drove down
to the neighborhood
lunch spot
, where we were sat quickly in a corner table. As I was browsing the menu, my mother noticed something.

“Annie, you have an admirer…” She whispered with a wink, and gestured to her right.

“Mom…” I was mortally embarrassed, but I took the bait and looked anyways.

‘Damn!’ I thought, looking at the most handsome man I had ever seen in my life, similarly sitting with
an older couple
whom I presumed to be his parents.

He smiled and waved at me and I felt my whole face go red, but I
returned the gesture
. He was tan,
with
jet black hair and the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.

After we had eaten our lunch, we
decided to browse the little shop across the street
, and my parents dragged me to the kids section. I rolled my eyes every time they picked up
something that had to do with a baby.

As I turned to look at the jeweled boxes on display, I ran into a leather jacket that wasn’t hanging on a rack, but on the man that was flirting
from
across the restaurant.
I
was somewhat
shocked, and quickly uttered an apology
while trying
to make a quiet escape.

He followed me over to the front
door
and asked my name.

“Me? Oh, I’m Annabelle,
”
I said sheepishly.

I couldn’t help but look at the floor. He smiled and complimented my name, lifted my chin and
whispered
that I didn’t need to feel
embarrassed
.

He
introduced himself as Leon, a
singer/songwriter working at the local coffee shop. He then invited me to his performance Saturday evening. After our conversation was over, I felt as if I were floating on a cloud. My head was spinning, my heart was racing, and I could hardly put together what had just happened.

Sleep did not come eas
il
y that
night
;
my mind was too busy putting together all kinds of scenarios
.
I imagined that we would go d
ancing, skiing,
enjoy
hot chocolate by the fire, get married, and
grow old together
.

“Calm down, Annie,” I said to myself.  “Let’s just get through the first date!”

Tomorrow, at
his performance, I decided that
I would be late
.  No reason to
seem too eager or desperate.

I had my apparel already in mind: a red dress that had a black leather waist belt, black pumps, and a single strand of freshwater pearls. I also knew that it would be cold outside, but I already had a black leather jacket that would complement the dress perfectly.

In the morning
I rolled out of bed and slowly headed
over
to my computer to check if I had any orders. Working from home has been fantastic, but sometimes business slows to a halt. To my
surprise, I had a surplus of orders for all sorts of artwork. I would be knee deep in paint for the next two weeks trying to complete the requests.

When I began working on my paintings
for the day
,
my mind was enveloped in a h
aze.  The work consumed me and
I lost nearly all track of time.
When I
finally
looked at the clock
, it was hours later than I had expected and only
five minutes until Leon’s performance
began
.

I jumped up and ran to the bathroom,
after a record fast shower
I threw on my red dress and pearls and did my makeup in
what absolutely had to be
the fastest time ever seen before.

I jumped in my car and rushed as quickly as legally possible to the coffee shop he was performing at, still
without any clue as to
what kind of music I was in
for
.

Finding a parking spot was practically impossible, the closest
available
spot was the next street over; even all of the roadside spots were taken! Now I was really worried and hoped the coffee was just that good! Twenty minutes late, I walked through the door of the crowded shop, and maneuvered my way to a side table, where a nice lady invited me to sit.

Leon was performing already.  It
was a more alternative
form of
rock
than I usually listened to
, but with very sweet lyrics that would entrance any woman, or
really
, anyone.

After the show had ended, the audience slowly dissipated, but I hung out with my cup of coffee. A nice hot chai tea latte would calm anyone’s nerves.

As I
luxuriated
in the warm embrace of the gingerbread-
flavored
beverage,
Leon
suddenly
slid in and
sat at my table.  For a moment, I was surprised, but
of course I had been expecting him.
  Although, to be totally honest, I had also allowed myself to consider the possibility that it was all a dream and he wouldn’t even say “hello” to me tonight.  Thankfully, that was not the case.

W
e shared a wonderful
conversation that
covered almost every aspect of
our lives, our pets, even stories from school days! He mentioned he had an all-white German Sheppard and a Siamese cat that often secluded herself from everyone else. I told him about
Mr.
Reshimi
,
but carefully made sure to omit
saying anything that would
suggest I w
as a crazy cat lady.