It's Not About You (27 page)

I ran to my room before he opened the door and slammed the door shut.
 

For a split second I thought about not opening it back up. Just stay there. Lock it. And then he'd be forced to leave. Lying bastard.
 

But when I heard the tenor of his voice through the wall my resolve melted and I started yanking clothes out of my closet. I picked out a pair of jeans I knew made my ass look good, added a bra cause the girls were getting heavy, and then pulled on one of my comfy sweaters. I slipped into the bathroom and washed my face and cleaned off the makeup. There wasn't time to reapply and I didn't feel like it.
 

My hair would take an hour to style. Blah. I ran a brush through it and tucked it behind my ears.
 

But when I put my hand on the door handle of the bathroom I started shaking. Could I do this? Could I confront him and tell him to leave when all I really wanted to do was throw him down and have angry sex?
 

Yeah…
that's
what I was thinking and had been thinking since the second I figured out Kyle had talked to Michael. Damn these hormones and their betrayal.
 

Screw all things!

It took me several deep breaths, and making sure I didn't hyperventilate, before I could walk out of that bathroom and down the hall. I smelled his cologne first, and then something a bit less masculine and more…feminine.
 

I stopped at the edge of the stairs as Michael jumped off the couch and faced me. Damn he was beautiful. His hair wasn't brushed back but fell a bit into his eyes as it framed his face. He wasn't wearing his glasses so I could see his intense blue eyes. He wore a black turtle neck and dark jeans. He pushed his hands into his pockets, then pulled them out as if he wasn't sure what to do with them.
 

Another figure stood and faced me. It was the blonde. But now I could see her face clearly. And she looked familiar.
 

"Grace," Michael finally stepped around the couch and walked toward me. He didn't get too close, but acted more like a puppy who wasn't sure of the one addressing him. "I'd like you to meet my sister, Melissa. You saw her picture at my place."
 

Sister.
 

She'd bleached her hair.
 

Melissa pushed her brother out of the way and came toward me, her hand out to take mine. "Grace…I've been wanting to meet you. It's very rare my brother falls for anyone and you're all I've heard about for weeks."
 

I took her hand. It was calloused and not at all like I thought it would feel. She wore several rings and a menagerie of bracelets clinked on her wrists. My eyes landed on strange places as I looked at her. At the choker around her neck with the ankh hanging from it, to the edge of a tattoo just visible under the seam of her button down shirt. Large silver hoops hung from her ears and she wore a lot of makeup.
 

But it was there. The unmistakeable resemblance of his fraternal twin.
 

Her grip was strong and I squeaked when she took me into a strong embrace.
 

Michael was watching us. He wasn't smiling or frowning. He looked…worried.
 

Melissa let go of me and stood back. "Now, you have to listen to Michael, okay? I'm taking the car and leaving him here. So no kicking him out." She turned and gave her brother a kiss on the cheek. "Call me," was all she said as she waved at Kyle and moved past me down the steps.
 

When she was gone we three stood in the semi-hall between the kitchen, stairs and living room without speaking until Kyle put his hands together. "Okay. So…you two head outside. I've got a heater on out there and I hung plastic to keep it warm."

Michael turned and followed Kyle outside. I grabbed a blanket off the back of the sofa and trailed behind them.
 

Wow. Kyle had actually hung little white Christmas lights along the arbor and he really had hung clear plastic from the wood frame. It was toasty and warm with just a hit of cool as the November night found the cracks under the deck.
 

Two chairs sat facing one another with a small table between them. A bottle of wine, open and breathing and two glasses.
 

Kyle squeezed my shoulder as he moved past me and shut the door. When he locked it I glared at him through the glass. He smiled and disappeared.
 

We faced each other for a few minutes before Michael gestured to the chairs. He pulled one out for me and I sat. He took the other and poured the wine but didn't drink. He sat forward in his chair and I just…sat. For the first time since we met, I was nervous.
 

Why? Because I was sure I'd made a really big mistake.
 

"Grace, before you say anything I need you to listen to me. Just…listen, okay?"

I nodded and had my hands clenched together, tucked between my thighs, under my blanket.
 

Michael raked his long fingers through his hair. "I'm not…my family problems aren't easy for me to talk about. I'm not comfortable sharing them with others. So I think that's where I need to start so I can hopefully straighten this mess up and you'll forgive me for not being completely honest with you."

I stared at him, wide eyed. Here I was thinking I'd completely misjudged him and he wanted to show me how wrong I was, just rub it in my face, and he was blaming himself? Why would I think Michael would act this way. He never had before.
 

And then I realized I was expecting him to act like Burt. Because Burt would find a way to blame me, even when he was wrong. He would twist things so that I would feel as if I had to apologize.
 

Michael clasped his hands together on his knees. "Melissa called me a few times on Sunday and I put off answering the phone because I wanted to spend time with you. But when she kept calling, I had to answer. That's when I found out her boyfriend had locked her out of her house. It's her house. It's been in our family for a generation and it was willed to her by our grandmother. He'd put his name on the checking account and cleaned out her trust, burned her clothes and called the cops on her."
 

I blinked. Oh hell. No wonder he'd switched gears so fast.
 

"I had to go to her and straighten up the mess. I was both mad at her and embarrassed for her because this was in the end, her own fault for giving him access to everything. She lives in Boston, which is where I had been before I came here. Our family lives in Oregon just outside of Portland. And she didn't want mom or dad to know what had happened.
 

"I called the local law and let them know, and had them call the retired sherif, who stepped in and worked on getting Melissa into a hotel. I booked the first flight into Boston and took it Monday. I know I told you I was going to Oregon but…I just wasn't ready to talk about what was going on."
 

"No, no.. It's okay. What happened? Did you get the house back?"
 

"Yeah. My name's on the title and mortgage so I had claim to throw him out and I had him arrested. But he'd already trashed the inside. Destroyed most of our grandmother's antiques, put holes in the walls, and he'd actually removed all the appliances and sold them for drug money."
 

"But I thought he got hold of her trust?"

"That's what she told me on the phone before I got there, but the bank knows I have to sign off on withdrawals and they refused him. Called the police. Made it easier for me when I got there. He wasn't at the house but they found him with some chick Tuesday morning and arrested him. He's gong to be in a jail for a long time and I started the paperwork for insurance. It's going to be a weird claim and I'll have to fly back out there a few times." He unclasped his hands. "I brought Melissa back here with me just to get her away from his friends who were threatening her."

"Because this guy's in jail?"

"Because this puts an end to their partying there with a free place to crash." He took in a deep breath and I could see him exhale in the light of the porch. "I thought about surprising you, on Thursday. Showing up and bringing Melissa. I've been wanting you two to meet. We got back here this morning and headed out to find a desert to take. When I saw Kyle at the bakery—" he held his hands out. "And the look he gave me and the look he gave Melissa, I figured out he had the wrong idea. And if you were nearby or he told you, then all my trying to protect my family would just go to shit."
 

The first smile of the evening cracked my facade of anger. The look on his face was priceless. "It did go to shit."
 

"No shit." Then he laughed and picked up the wine. He downed half of it in one swallow. "I've been trying to call you all day but you never answered your phone. Till Kyle finally picked up and I told him who this girl was. He didn't ask a lot of questions. He just told me to get over here and he'd make sure we talked."

Kyle.
 

My match maker.
 

I picked up my wine as well and drank it like iced tea. And then it was my turn. "I'm sorry I made assumptions and I'm sorry I thought you were capable of cheating and lying to me—"
 

"But I did lie. About my family."
 

"Yeah but I understand it. Michael, I have crap in my family I've not shared with you. And an ex-husband who got arrested tonight—"
 

"What?" He was on his feet. "What happened?"
 

I finished my wine and gestured for him to sit down as I poured us both another glass. "It's going to be a long night, but it's time to tell you about me, and about Burt, my sister and my daughter…cause tomorrow," I set the bottle down and looked into his concerned blue eyes. "Is going to be hell."
 

It was a lot to take in. So much that by midnight we woke Kyle up to unlock the door and moved the conversation into the living room. Michael filled him in while I served the last of the cheesecake and promised myself I'd get back to the gym. Soon.

After Thanksgiving.
 

When we were finished eating I brought out coffee and served it on the coffee table. Michael sat rubbing his chin, a serious look on his face. "I'm going to put this into perspective so I can get it right. Tomorrow, Gerald's coming and he thinks you two are a couple which protects Kyle's job because Gerald is a homophobe and he can't know about us because it'll jeopardize my job as well as Kyle's."
 

"As fucked up as that sounds, it's the truth." Kyle said as he put his coffee cup down.
 

"Your sister's coming and she has a religious issue with Kyle's being gay, which you said she seemed to come to a truce with today? And she wouldn't understand you and I dating," He pointed at me and himself, "Because of our age difference."
 

I nodded.
 

"Your daughter is coming home and though she knows about the agreement with you two to fool Gerald, she doesn't know about me, and you believe once she finds out about Burt, your ex who sounds certifiable to me, she's going to hate you."
 

I nodded again.
 

"And this guy you've started seeing, Stephen, isn't coming because you think this kind of drama isn't good for him and your budding relationship?" He looked at Kyle.

"Yeah. I told him about Burt and we agreed it might be better if we just go see each other later in the evening."
 

Michael gave a short sigh. "Then there's only one thing I know to do to cut out a good chunk of the stress." He looked at each of us. "Melissa and I will have our own Thanksgiving. At my house."
 

Kyle and I sat forward and said, "No!" at the same time.
 

But Michael held up his hands. "Guys, this is the best idea. Grace, you and I already talked about this. And I'm great with that. I want to spend as many months as I can getting to know you and your family and about your…quirky ex-husband. But I'm also not ignorant to other people's opinions when it comes to our ages. Trust me. I'm not sure that fostering us on them this early is fair to them…or us. Grace, I want the chance to be with you. So that means we have to take time with each other. So I think our original idea for this Thanksgiving should stand."
 

I sat with my jaw hanging slightly low.
 

He looked at Kyle. "And me not being here takes a lot of pressure off you and your job. And there's no issue of Grace and I trying to snag a kiss and Gerald seeing it." He looked at me. "So the only thing you have to worry about is letting your sister in on the rouse and hoping she'll go along with it. Because it
is
lying."
 

"Yeah," I said. "But she's not hip on bigotry and I'm afraid she and Gerald will butt heads anyway."
 

"But," Kyle said as he held up a finger. "I think that's a lot less to worry about."