Keeping Her Love (3 page)

“But you were with me and your family the entire time. Tiramisu doesn’t need to be cooked, does it?”

Tula sighed, buttoning her shirt back up. Rhett couldn’t help but feel that the nails were hammered in the coffin considering the potential for a ‘happy ending’ to their evening.
 

“I don’t know what happened,” mentioned Tula. “There must have been some kind of mistake that was committed by someone. My parents have home insurance, so it’s not a big deal. It probably doesn’t even matter if we find out who is at fault or not. As far as I’m concerned, it was an accident, so it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter that it was your sweet mother who left something in the oven, but tried to pin it on you?” Rhett suggested with a smirk.
 

Tula returned a suggestive look. “It doesn’t
really
matter, does it? I’m sure a month from now, we’ll have all forgotten about it. For now, I guess we need to get back.”

“Right,” Rhett responded, turning the ignition. “I suppose we’ll have to pick up where we left off some other time, huh?”

“Yeah. Sorry about that. My mom is really flipping out right now. She can get a little antsy when stuff like this happens. One time, she actually crashed her car into a pond. Oh my god, that was really traumatic for me when she called on her cell phone! She was panicking throughout the whole thing, thinking that she was going to drown. When I told her that I had to hang up the phone to drive to her, I felt so guilty. Luckily, she had Max to talk her through it.”

“Well, we can’t keep her waiting, can we?”
 

Rhett sped through the night to get back to Tula’s house. He was being a little reckless as he drove down the highway—often surpassing a hundred miles per hour—but he figured that the built-up testosterone probably had something to do with it. Where Tula’s mother would become upset at any disturbance to her safety, Tula herself was giddy to go fast on the pavement as they passed cars and trucks. Rhett could always tell that his girlfriend was a little scared when he hit the throttle, but the way Tula screamed and laughed only encouraged Rhett to act like an obnoxious speedster.

When they pulled up in front of Tula’s house, full of adrenaline and joy from breaking the rules of the road, a loud ‘SCREEECH’ sounded throughout the peaceful neighborhood.

“Oh, shit!” They giggled to each other, realizing that they had probably woken up the entire neighborhood.
 

A few firemen eyed them warily from their large trucks across the street. Once Rhett had gotten their attention, the men seemed to stare in wonder at the little piece of heaven that had driven in front of their eyes. The Camaro always got the attention of passersby, particularly of men who knew a priceless classic car when they saw one. Moments later, the curtains behind the large windows in Tula’s house parted. Mrs. Florian had a small scowl on her cherubic face.

“Oh, man. I better go,” said Tula, planting a kiss on Rhett’s cheek.
 

“You don’t want me to go with you at all?”

“No, don’t bother. It’s going to be a drama-fest, I can guarantee that. You don’t want to be there. Besides, my parents probably won’t be too happy with the entrance we performed after being out after-hours. You don’t want to get yourself involved in all of this.”

Rhett immediately felt guilty, thinking that he had perhaps let Tula’s parents down in some way by being reckless.
 

“Don’t worry about it,” Tula added, forcing a smile. “We’ll talk tomorrow, okay? I’ll let you know all the gory details.”

“If you say so.” Rhett returned the kiss on her cheek. “Talk to you tomorrow, love.”

“Bye, darling.”

Tula got out and went to the front door while Rhett made the drive back home. It was only around ten minutes away from his girlfriend’s neighborhood, but all the same, it seemed like a long time to get to his residence. He missed Tula the moment the woman was out of sight, the way he would have missed his left leg if it ever disappeared. Rhett wanted nothing more than to be around his lover for every hour of the day, seven days a week. He didn’t know whether it was just dumb love or something much deeper. Regardless, his dumb, young head wanted to act on his feelings.

As he pulled into his parking spot at the apartment complex his lived at, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He pulled it open and stared at the shining silver band presented on the little pillow. There was a large round ruby mounted, Tula’s favorite gem, with small diamonds acting as a halo around the jewel. All he could do was sigh when he looked at it. It’d been two weeks since he bought it, and he felt as compelled as ever to make his engagement with Tula come true. But he hadn’t.

Cold feet wasn’t the issue. If Rhett knew that his girlfriend would respond positively to him getting down on one knee, he would do it right away. He was simply scared that Tula would reject a proposal made so soon in the relationship.

I want her,
Rhett thought.
I think about her constantly. I want her dreams to come true. I want her to open her bakery. I want to own a house with her. I want to be the person she kisses before she falls asleep, and the person she sees when she wakes up in the morning. I want to make her feel so good as a person. But I don’t want to push her away by scaring her off.

Rhett shut the box closed.
 

Soon. I’ve met her parents, so at this point, it’s just a waiting game. I don’t know if I can wait much longer, though.

Chapter 2

Rhett later found out that not much was discovered about the incident with the oven. Fingers were pointed for the night that the firemen were there and papers were filed with Mr. and Mrs. Florian’s insurance company. When the fancy new high-tech double oven was installed a week later, the whole problem was put down as a happy accident. Mr. Florian even jokingly suggested that they set fire to the spare room that he wanted to turn into a home gym.
 

Weeks passed with little of concern occurring. Tula and Rhett continued to talk on the phone, go on dates, and fornicate in the back of Rhett’s Camaro. Rhett kept carrying around the little velvet box in his pocket for some reason. He guessed it was like a security blanket or a teddy bear to him, always reminding him that he had a special day planned in the future for he and Tula. Hiding it in his pocket had the unhappy consequence of nearly getting himself caught with it. He and Tula were making out when Tula’s hand graced over the lump in Rhett’s pants. Rhett had to feign denial delicately, not raising suspicions in Tula’s mind. Quickly inserting his tongue into Tula’s pussy helped greatly to alleviate suspicions.
 

Rhett finally decided that he couldn’t take holding in the secret anymore. He invited Tula out for a weekend in Sacramento, suggesting that there might be a romantic interlude up in Tahoe. Tula agreed to it happily enough, having the weekends free, and so the date was set for the big day. But much to both of their disdain, Tula came into a bit of a hiccup a day before the trip: one of her co-workers had to call in sick for the birth of his wife’s child, and her boss needed an extra hand for a fancy brunch. Tula, being the reliable worker that she was, agreed to show up.

“But only for a few hours,” she explained to Rhett over the phone.

Rhett sighed, though he tried not to make his disappointment too apparent for Tula’s sake. “A few hours, and then I can pick you up?”

“Of course! At eleven, at the latest. I’m so sorry that I had to spring this on you. Karma is just in a really bad spot right now.”

“No, no. Don’t blame yourself. It’s fine with me as long as we can still go together.”

“I’m so glad that you understand! I’ll see you then, love!”

“See you then.”

Rhett walked into the bakery the next morning to a flurry of excitement. Every table in the warm and kooky cafe was taken by satisfied patrons, whether their eyes were glued to the glow of their laptops or their mouths were chattering back and forth with a good friend. The walls were decorated with rock and roll memorabilia from the 60s and 70s, most notably from the bands
Grateful Dead
and
Moby Grape
. The smell of the place was simply wonderful, due a lot in part to Tula’s baking skills and the natural ingredients used for the products. Rhett felt a bit out of place in the establishment, dressed in a leather jacket, sturdy blue jeans, along with carefully-greased black hair. He had nothing against vegans, free love, or old rock music, but he was certainly the odd man out that morning. Most of the time, he came in so close to sunrise that only a few old-timers were sitting in the corner reading their newspapers. In the cafe that day were a lot of young hippies and college students.

He went to the front counter after waiting in line for a few minutes, asking the familiar cashier if Tula was around. Instead, Rhett got to hear an earful from the infamous Karma Worldpeace about how the morning was and how he felt about where his mind was in the context of the mood of the universe. Karma was a keen businessman, often able to target what it was his customers were craving while also being fair and reliable for his employees, but he certainly didn’t look the part. He often wore Birkenstocks to work, a worn-out tie-dye T-shirt, and shorts that were a bit
too
short by Rhett’s standards. Karma’s white hair was also often flying all over the place, probably seeming quite hospitable to the neighborhood birds.

Rhett had to keep himself from breathing a sigh of relief when he saw Tula round the corner while taking her white apron off.

“So where are the two heartthrobs off to this weekend?” Karma asked as Tula pulled Rhett in for a hug.

“Not far,” said Tula with a smile. “Just up the highway. Rhett and I have been wanting to check out the rose garden at the capitol for some time.”

“Oh, the rose garden! Yes, very nice. Very tranquil and centering.” Karma reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and handed Tula two hundred dollar bills.
 

“What’s this?” Tula asked, her eyes wide.

“For the great job you’ve been doing. You mean a lot to me, kiddo, and something just told me that it was a good time to show my appreciation. Take it—you deserve it for your kind nature.”

Rhett and Tula shared a brief look.
 

“Well, thank you, Karma!” Tula made a small leap for her boss, wrapping her arms tightly for a brief hug.

“It’s no problem at all! I hope your trip is filled with generosity and kindness. Have fun, you two!”

When Tula and Rhett buckled into the car, they shared curious smiles with one another.

“What was that all about?” Rhett asked.
 

Tula shrugged. “I have no idea. I guess Karma is just in a good mood today. The important executive brunch
was
a big success, despite everything that happened. Karma just got a bunch of new clients because of it, and like you saw, the cafe is booming with business. We’ve been busy like this for four consecutive months. It’s been nuts.”

Rhett smiled knowingly as he drove them out of the parking lot. “It’s because of you, Tula. You’re the grease to the wheels of that place. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Tula took a moment to observe the hundred dollar bills before slipping them back into her pocket. “That’s what makes it worse. When I leave, what is good ol’ Karma going to do? He really relies on me, and I’m going to pull the rug right out from under him. I feel even worse thinking about the fact that I might even be competing with him. He has no idea, either! Ugh, I just feel like I’ve been holding onto some big, dirty secret. And here I am taking money from him. I would have given it back, but I don’t want to hurt his feelings or raise his suspicions.”

“Hey, don’t even worry about it. I know you feel guilty, but just think of it this way: you’ve been a real gift to Karma, and nothing lasts forever. You have to be thankful for the good things that come to you, and not bitter that they left. I think that if anyone would understand something like that, it’d be Karma. I mean, he
was
talking my ear off about cosmic consciousness for a good ten minutes before you finished work.”

Tula let out a little laugh. “That sounds like him. It’s still beyond me on how his head is screwed on enough to have business sense, but there you go. I guess life is weird like that.”

“Right. And hey, there’s two hundred more dollars to go to your fund. How much have you saved so far, anyway?”

She counted in her head for a moment. “Roughly thirty-five thousand. That’s not counting the cash that my parents have promised me, though, so probably more like forty-eight or fifty.”

“How much do you need at this point?”

“Well, I need to scope out some places and figure out where I am concerning a loan. My goal before I open my doors is somewhere around seventy or eighty thousand dollars.”

Rhett took a moment to absorb the impact of this number. “That much, huh? And you make around twenty thousand a year from old man Karma?”

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t mind. I need time to learn more, and I also need time to research what it really takes to open a bakery. Not to mention that I need a business plan, and I need to come up with all of the pastries I want to feature. Also, all the cakes I need to come up with and decorate for client photo albums. I still have a lot of work to do.”

“Right, right. It certainly does sound like work. I guess you’re right that you need the time. So what is the time frame that you’re looking at to open your own place?”

“I don’t know. Two years, maybe three.”

“That sounds like a long time. Two years? Wouldn’t you rather open at around one instead?”

Tula shrugged. “Sure, it would be exciting to think about. But I don’t make enough for that to be a possibility. I just have to wait.”

Or so you think,
Rhett reflected on privately.
Best not let on to her now what my plan is—just act cool.
 

Rhett chose to start the day by getting right down to spoiling his dear girlfriend. First they went out for a fun and filling lunch at a fondue restaurant, putting on approximately ten pounds after walking out the front doors. Tula held her stomach as they walked down the streets of downtown Sacramento, observing the local business and the people walking the streets. When they got to the grounds of the rose garden, she took the first opportunity to sit on one of the stone benches to rest. As she eased down to relax, she sounded a bit more like a ninety-year-old woman rather than a twenty-two-year-old one. Rhett could feel the anxiety curling up on him as he sat next to her.