Nate (The Princesses of Silicon Valley - Book 4) (10 page)

Quickly I learn that Sam’s New Year’s tradition is to take a mouthful of Jägermeister, spit it into the fire, then state a New Year’s wish or resolution. Needless to say this is a waste of Jägermeister, and quickly turns ridiculous, though it is a lot of fun as we watch the flames leap and sizzle with each mouthful we spit.

At some point, Sam’s phone goes off. He pulls it out and says, “Hey, thirty seconds until the New Year.” Grabbing Meredith, he pulls her onto his lap.

I figure that he has the right idea as I pull Juliette into my arms. Sam then holds up his phone as we count down. When it hits twelve, we all kiss our partners. After our kiss, I realize how tired I am and how much I want to break the New Year in by having a tumble with my girl before I fall asleep. Wrapping my arms around Juliette I stand, and carry her off to bed. Though as I start rocking into her, I think the house might shake off its foundation with three young couples all having the same idea.

In the morning, I’m shocked, the snow hasn’t stopped. Living in Buffalo you’d think I was used to snow, but I’ve never seen anything like this before. Overnight, we got another six feet combined with the three feet that fell yesterday, that’s a lot of snow. All the roads are closed but that’s irrelevant since the snow is past our windows and doors and there’s no way out of the driveway. I get up; leaving Juliette still asleep in bed, that girl can sleep through anything I think. It takes Cassie screaming to wake her up.

Rocket’s already in the garage, tunneling a path so his dog can take a leak. Lending a hand, I help him dig the channel out. Rocket finally has to pick his whimpering dog up and place her in the snow. We both laugh watching his dog’s first experience in the snow. Rocket and I decide to take a break. We head back into a house where everyone is awake and busy making breakfast. After breakfast, the six of us head back out into the still snowing day. Having parked my car in the driveway, it takes six of us two hours to uncover it. After drinking hot chocolate, drying off our clothes and eating some lunch, we head outside again to play with the dog, which turns into a massive snow ball war. At some point, Rocket climbs onto the house’s roof, jumping off into a large snow drift, creating a whole new recreational activity. Our two days stuck in the cabin reminds me of my childhood snow days and how much fun they are.

Lucky for us the power doesn’t go out. After all the fun in the snow, we head into the hot tub. Rocket has two sleeves, some interesting piercings, and a lot of art on his chest, ribs, and back. There’s an old school design that looks like it’s been modified, I’m sure there is a story to go with that. Meredith has a dancing Prince Charming and Cinderella on her back; I certainly hope she stays with this guy. While Sam has a design around his arm and a medallion on his chest; Juliette’s and Jennifer’s skin are both clean.

It’s my first time seeing Juliette in a bikini. As she and her friends enter the tub, I can’t help but admire what a nice figures they all have. Even so, I only have eyes for my girl.

Pulling her into our room afterwards for some more sex and a nap she just starts to laugh, “What is it with you? Why is a bathing suit so exciting? You’ve seen me in my underwear a whole bunch of times.”

As I run my hands over those wonderful curves of hers, I tell her, “Hell, if you walked into the living room just wearing your sexy little underwear, I’d be pulling you into our room for some sex too.”

By Sunday, we finally can make it to the ski resort. Another pleasant surprise, Juliette’s a good skier. We wind up hanging with Rocket who is a flashy snow boarder, shows us some of his tricks as he tells us about him and his buddies applying skateboarding tricks to the snow when he was a kid. Rocket is easy to be around. With the tats and piercing, he has the same style as my sister’s boyfriend. But that’s where the similarity ends. Rocket isn’t much of a talker, but is surprisingly interesting when he has something to say. Sam, Meredith, and Jennifer take a beginner lesson. The six of us meet up for lunch. The weather is surprisingly warm and the sky is almost purple it’s so blue, making it nice to eat our lunch on a large outdoor patio.

In January, Juliette tells me, “My sister got engaged on New Year’s Eve. My parents only met this guy once when they visited her in New York. My mom’s now planning some shindig so the family can meet the fiancé.”

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this information, so I just shrug and nod.

Juliette follows this up with, “Oh, don’t worry you won’t need to attend.”

At first I’m cool with that, but then I realize this bothers me. I really don’t want to be her secret boyfriend.

“You know I’m presentable. You can introduce me to your family. You can take me to family parties.” Juliette gets the most surprised look on her face and then shuts down. Now I’m wondering where we stand.

After a couple days of this uncomfortable status, Juliette says, “Were you really serious when you said you wanted to meet my parents?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I want to meet your family?”

She gives me an inscrutable look and shrugs, finally saying, “If this is what you want then you can join me on Sunday when I go over there for dinner.”

Juliette’s parents live in a large midcentury ranch house that’s been completely renovated. It’s warm and inviting with a similar feel to the home I grew up in. I’ve been to her house once before when we stopped by to pick up some tickets, though her parents weren’t home. Juliette looks a lot like her mom; they have the same shaped face, dark green eyes and dark hair. Juliette has her mom’s slim, curvy figure. My dad always said to look at the mother if you want to know what the daughter will look like in the future, which bodes well for Juliette. Her parents are casual and friendly making the dinner a comfortable occasion. Her grandmother is another story. She just says whatever is on her mind—no filter. As soon as she finds out that I’m a doctor, she corners me into a conversation about her and all her friends’ ailments.                                   

Juliette keeps interrupting her, “Grandma, he’s not that kind of doctor. He treats athletes, not old people.”

This doesn’t slow her grandmother down. Her parents roll their eyes, giving me an apologetic look.

Her mom tells me on the side, “She wasn’t like this when she was younger. I think it’s living with all the other old people. They’re’ all very friendly but they spend a lot of time talking about their health.”

On the way home, Juliette says, “You realize that you’re now in the family trap. My parents are going to invite you to all the family dinners. I’m sure you just can’t wait to go to dinner at my grandmother’s retirement home.”

“Will all the old people corner me and tell me about their ailments?” I ask.

“Don’t blame me, you’re the one that wanted to meet my family.”

My thirtieth birthday is next week and my sister wants to throw a party. Since I’ve met Juliette’s family I guess it’s time for her to start meeting mine. Not interested in a big party since I haven’t yet established friends in California, my sister decides to have us over for dinner. She also invites my high school friend, Ryan, and his girlfriend. They live in Pleasanton—a town about a forty-minute drive from me. I’ve gotten together with Ryan a couple of times in the two months I’ve been living here. Both times, we played golf on a Saturday morning when Juliette was off swimming and riding.

After talking about Tyler with Juliette, I work hard to change my attitude by being friendly to him and supportive of my sister. It helps that at dinner I don’t think Tyler is high and he’s actually helping Jamie out. Surprisingly, Tyler makes the cake, though I wonder if there’s any pot in it. He does a great job, even topping it off with a sparkler he said he bought in China Town. Ryan’s turning thirty next month, too, and I think we’re both a little freaked out by the decade change as we discuss our high school friends; Matt’s getting married in June while my other high school friend Dan just announced his engagement.

After my birthday dinner, Jamie calls me up to tell me that she approves of Juliette. Or in Jamie’s words, “Thankfully you got smart and didn’t choose another control freak psycho bitch.”

Meeting Juliette at the horse ring on Saturday afternoons has turned into one of the highlights of my week. Juliette no longer needs to lead my horse back to the stables since I’m learning to ride. The movies make riding look easy.

“Nate, you need to think like a horse so you can better predict their behaviors,” she tells me.

“How would I know how a horse thinks?”

“They’re grazers. They survive in the wild by being skittish. You need to predict what will spook them before they bolt. Then keep them facing what scares them. Predators don’t attack a horse from the front.”

Even with everything I need to think about, I enjoy riding the horse home.

As I pull off Jackson’s saddle, Juliette says, “Hey, tomorrow should be nice. You want to take the horses out for a picnic? I’ll teach you to trot. If you’re really good I’ll even let you canter.” She says with a flirty raise of her eyebrows.

“How is riding a horse sexy?” I ask.

“Picnic, blanket on the ground, remote location.”

“Cold, hard ground,” I reply

“Really? We’re that old already?”

I smile as I pull her close and kiss that sassy mouth of hers. “Why wait. Have you ever done it in the hay?”

“It’s forty-five degrees. Can’t we wait to do it in my nice warm bed?”

“What? We’re that old already?” I respond.

She starts laughing, “Can you figure out how to do it without me getting cold?”

“Baby, that’s a challenge I’m up to,” as I grab Jackson’s blanket and throw it over a couple of bales of hay.

Juliette squeals as I grab her by the waist and hoist her on top. Crawling over her I say, “I like all that skin, but I think to stay warm I’ll pass on it until later.” Then I pull her jeans down past her knees and unzip mine.

She wraps her hands around my neck as she tells me, “Poor Jackson, doing this in front of a gelding probably makes him feel jealous.”

“Yeah, I think he has a thing for me, but we’re not going there.” I then thrust into her. Man, she just feels too good.

***

On my rounds at Leland, I head into one of my patient’s room. He’s a thirty-seven-year-old competitive tennis player who just got a new hip. As I’m examining him his physical therapist comes in followed by a posse of trainees, the benefit or down side of getting medical treatment at a teaching hospital. The lead physical therapist waits until I’m done. Then he introduces himself to the patient. I get a prickle at the back of my neck as I briefly listen to what he’s saying before I take off. As I look around my eyes land on Mariana.

What the fuck?

How can this be?

I can tell she’s as shocked to see me as I am to see her. Our eyes lock. I just stand there staring. Unable to move. Unable to speak. It’s been sixteen months.

I finally pull myself together enough to leave the room. I’m heading down the hall wondering if I just had a hallucination. Then I hear my name called, with that inflection that no one else has ever used. Do I stop? Do I continue? Do I search for closure? My chest constricts. I slowly turn around.

She approaches me in that half run she does that has always turned me on.

With a surprised voice she says, “Nate….” Her bottom lip quivers, “I miss you.”

What! I stand there dumbfounded, finally saying, “You don’t get to just take off without a word and say that.”

She purses her lips, reaches her hand out and touches my arm. I flinch from the touch while my damn dick twitches. Then I take a step back. My broken heart, that had finally healed, starts to bleed.

Does this woman still have control over me?

Instead of doing the smart thing, turning and running away from her, I ask, “What are you doing here?”

She shrugs, “Getting a certification. What are you doing here?”

I take another step back, “I live here now.”

She smiles, “Please, let’s at least talk.”

I just stare at her. “What could we possibly talk about?” Then I shake my head and turn, and walk away. My head is so not in the game as I blindly make my way outside. I text the attending I’m working with and tell him I’m running late. I take a long walk around campus. Nothing comes to me. For months, I fantasized about running into Mariana again. At first I was magnanimous, letting her come back. Then I moved to angry telling her to go to hell. Now I’m just confused. She looks the same, which is too damn good.

Juliette and I have no plans to get together tonight but I need to see her, touch her, and screw her. I need to get Mariana out of my head. That voice, I had suppressed that amazing melodic voice of hers. Now all I can hear is that voice in my head.

Nate:
Booty call after hockey?

Juliette:
You taking new vitamins?

Nate:
My bed’s cold

Juliette:
How romantic – I’ll buy you a bed warmer

Nate:
You’re my bed warmer

Juliette:
Don’t ring the bell

Man, that girl is just too easy. Damn, and I’m complaining about that?

I go to hockey practice and am a total raging bear on the ice. One of the guys checks me against the boards and says, “Dude, this isn’t college. We’re a bunch of old guys who need to go to work tomorrow.”

I show up at Juliette’s late, way too late to be respectable. I crawl into her warm bed. She’s fast asleep. I just need to touch her, to reaffirm. I pull her sleeping body close. She snuggles into me and says, “I thought old guys needed a couple days off.”

“Yeah, when I’m an old guy, I’ll need a couple of days off. Anyway, you’re wearing too many clothes. I want skin.”

She groans as she strips off her T and pajama pants. “What I do for you,” she says as tilts her head up and gives me a light kiss.

My fingers just ache to feel all that nice, sweet skin. I move in so our lips are tight, my fingers feeling her curves, as my dick twitches screaming for release. My nose fills with the smell of Juliette while I listen to her gasps as I thrust into her. The surge and release feels just too good.

***

I find out that Mariana’s here for three months, working in the same ward as me. I know we’ll run into each other again. I take it out in the gym. I’m back to being a holy terror on the bag. I’ve got a great girl, and we’re happy. Why does running into Mariana throw me?

I manage to avoid running into Mariana for a few days, mostly because I avoid rounds at the hospital. That plan can last for just so long. Heading in really early for rounds we meet up. I take a deep breath, nod, and continue down the hall. That went well, I tell myself. About ten minutes later, my phone beeps. It’s a number I don’t know, but the text is clear.

Unknown:
Lunch? We can talk it out and get over the awkward

I just stare at the text. One side of me wants to hear her side of things. The other side tells me to stay away. Three months with her here. How will I survive?

Mariana starts texting me shit like:
Nate, let’s be adults and talk.

Fuck that. Sixteen months ago she couldn’t return one of my texts. Now I’m immature for not returning hers. What disturbs me the most is what my body does when she’s around. How can I be so angry with her and so turned on? Shit, things are good with Juliette; I’m not going to blow it.

***

February arrives; I take Juliette to Tahoe for her birthday. The next weekend she tells me we’re going up to San Francisco to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Juliette and her friends all treat this as a big deal. We drive up with Meredith and Sam. I listening to the three of them talk.

“This is Jennifer’s big deal,” Meredith explains to me.

“I hope someone warned Rocket. He better act really pleased. Jennifer goes out of her way for the Chinese New Year,” Juliette continues.

“Yeah, you remember the guy she dated who afterwards said, ‘I still don’t get what the big deal is. Why’d we have to go to San Francisco for Chinese food and to watch a bunch of high school bands in a parade?”

Sam laughs, “Dude was totally eviscerated.”

“This is so much fun. I love having all the princesses together,” Meredith cheers.

“You guys get together all the time,” Sam responds.

“But not in the city, doing something special,” she answers back.

The night is fun. We all meet at a Chinese restaurant and eat a special meal. Then we head over to China Town to watch the parade. Though I can see what the former boyfriend meant. It was fun, but it wasn’t mind blowing. Since I don’t want to get eviscerated, I go out of my way to tell Jennifer and Juliette what a great night I’m having. As we drive back home, I reflect that it’s nice having a girlfriend that has roots. I don’t think I would have ever have had any of these experiences if I was on my own.