Shame On Me (9 page)
Authors: Cassie Maria
“Jeez Noah! Why can’t you do this for me?” My voice elevates to show just how exasperated I am with him.
“Because I’m never letting you go.”
“Did I not give you what you needed? Was I not everything you desired me to be? Was I not sweet as sugar to you even after your infidelities?” I watch as he flinches. Good. “I gave you all of me and what did you do?” His gaze drops to his lap but he still says nothing. “Answer me!” I hiss as I slap the bar in front of him. The regulars begin to stare but I ignore them.
“I destroyed you,” he whispers.
“You destroyed me. You wounded me. You gutted me. You deceived me. You devastated me.” I want him fully understand what he has done to me, so I unrelentingly stare at him until he raises his eyes to meet mine. “You promised to never hurt me but I didn’t walk away unscathed, did I?” He stares at me but doesn’t respond so I slap the bar in front of him again. “Did I?”
“No.”
“So do right by me for once in your life and walk away.”
Noah closes his eyes and sighs before looking at me. “I’ll leave but you’ll always be my better half and I’ll never give up on us. I’ll be here when you chance your mind.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Don’t speak too soon.”
“Goodbye, Noah.” He winces at the finality of my farewell.
“Goodbye, sweetheart.” He stands and bows before leaving. I shake my head smiling as he walks out; leave it to Noah to have the perfect exit. When my eyes scan over the booths I notice Ethan is seated at our table with food.
“Hi.”
“Hi. Do you to know how it went?” I ask when I slide into the booth.
“Nope, I trust you. Lets eat.”
That’s the last time we ever speak of Noah.
The Call
Saturday morning
“Answer your phone,” I mumble to the empty spot next to me. I raise my head to check the bathroom door and its closed. “Ethan your phone!”
“Get it for me.”
“Hello?” I grumble but it sounds more like ‘
o
.
“Uh hello?”
I sit up at the feminine voice on the line. “Yes?”
“Who is this?”
“Who is this?”
“Why are you answering Ethan’s phone?”
“Why are you calling it?”
“Who are you that you feel comfortable answering his phone?”
I shoot a questioning gaze at the bathroom door before I respond. “I’m the bitch that gets him off every night. Now who are you that you feel comfortable enough to call at the crack of dawn and question me?”
“His mother,” she laughs.
Oh shit! I run to the bathroom and hand him the phone as he’s stepping out of the shower.
“Darlin’ what’s wrong? You look sick.” I can’t look him in the eyes so I shake my head and hastily walk out to give him privacy. When he finally enters the bedroom I can tell he’s trying hard to hold in his laughter.
“Shut up!” I throw a pillow at him, which begins an epic pillow fight.
****
Two weeks later
We’re rocking in our hammock when he gets around to asking me what’s on his mind.
“Do your parents know about me?”
“That’s what’s been bothering you for two weeks? Jeez Ethan you had me worried.” He’d been acting nervous and withdrawn to the point that even Ava knew something was off about him.
“Well?”
“They know I’m dating but not the specifics.”
“My parents want to meet you and I want to meet yours.”
“You do?”
“Absolutely. I want my parents meet my girl.”
“Are we ready for that?”
“Ready or not you piqued my mom’s interest and she’s determined to meet you even if she has to fly to Delaware to do it.”
“Where do your parents live?”
“Florida.”
“Florida?! I can’t go to Florida!”
“Why not? Tell Kate you need a weekend off and we’ll fly down and have a mini vacation.”
“What if I can’t get off?”
“Kate loves you, she’ll give you a weekend off.”
He’s right. I help Kate out with different odd jobs around the bar so she would let me have off with no questions asked.
“I’ll let her know tomorrow.”
“When do I get to meet your parents?”
“Are you absolutely sure that you want to meet them?”
“Darlin’.” I can hear he’s getting impatient so I finally give in and agree.
“I’ll give them a call later and set up dinner on Sunday.”
“Great.”
We snuggle up together and the hammock slowly rocks us to sleep. I wait until Ethan leaves the next morning before I call my parents.
****
“Hi Daddy, is Mom home?”
“Hey princess, you wanna talk to her?”
“I want to talk to both of you. Can she grab a phone too?”
“Sure.” I hear him yell for mom to pick up the line.
“Hi Ma.”
“Is this my Amelia?” My mom can be dramatic when she wants to.
“Who else would call you ma?”
“You never know, I was pretty wild in the ‘80s wasn’t I David?”
“Eww guys, please no weird sex stories today.”
“Oh come on you have time for one. Okay let me see, which one should we tell Dave? Have you heard about the jellyfish room in the aquarium? Well-”
“I met someone and he wants to meet both of you,” I say in a rush in an attempt to cut her off before she can get into her story. Its quiet for a long time and I know they’re staring at each other having a complete conversation that no one else is privy to. Finally my mom breaks the silence.
“David she’s bringing home a boy.”
“Mom, Ethan isn’t a boy and can you please not embarrass me?”
“How else will we get to know your gentleman caller if I don’t embarrass you?”
“That’s exactly what I mean! Please control your weirdness at least until our one year anniversary.”
“Amelia I taught you better than that! You get them hooked in the bedroom and they’ll never leave.”
“Mom,” I whine
“Okay Celina, leave the girl alone. We promise to be good as long as you tell us about him.”
“Thanks Daddy. He’s an anesthetist, home owner, has a car, is twenty-eight years old, has no children, and is very sweet.”
“Blah, blah, blah. Give me some details on how he looks.” Of course my mom wants to know how he looks.
“He’s tall, hazel eyes, dark hair, and Caucasian. I’m only telling you that he’s white because I know that Mom doesn’t handle surprises well and will start asking weird questions.”
“So I’m a curious person. There is no crime in that, as long as I’m respectful. How do you feel about him? There are a few cultural differences that you’ll have to deal with, are you okay with that?”
“I’m falling deeper in love with him everyday. He makes it difficult not to love him. I know we have cultural differences but we believe in the same God and agree on most moral issues. If we get as far as marriage and babies then we’ll discuss both subjects thoroughly before hand.”
“Babies. She said babies David. We have a chance of spoiling grandchildren.” Mom sniffles.
“Yeah,” Dad says softly. I roll my eyes but I understand their sentiment. My parents wanted lots of children but complications arose during birth and she was forced to have an emergency hysterectomy.
“That is a
big
maybe you guys.”
“So when are you bringing him by so we can get the ball rolling?”
“What ball?”
“The one that fast forwards you to marriage and babies.”
“Mom we’re nowhere
near
marriage and babies.”
“So when are you bringing him over?”
“How’s Sunday at six?”
“Sounds great! Is there anything he doesn’t eat?”
“No.”
“A man after my own heart. C’mon Dave we have to go shopping. See you Sunday Amelia.”
“See you Sunday.”
“Later Princess.”
Ethan Embraces the Weirdness
Ethan
I glance over at Mia and see she’s fidgeting with her shirt for the billionth time. “If you don’t stop acting so nervous I’m going to think that you don’t want me to meet your parents.” I see her nervously glance at me out the side of my eye and can’t help laughing at her.
“Ha ha very funny, but you don’t know how extra my mom can be.”
“Baby relax; extra or not, I’m honored to meet the people who gave me you.”
“Remember you said that when she starts with her sex stories.”
I pull the car up to a two-story farmhouse with a tree swing and I wonder how she ever left this place. I mean it looks like it belongs on the front of a Christmas card. I look over at her and notice that she has tears in her eyes. I have no idea what’s wrong and I know she’s not going to tell me. All I can do is reach over and hold her hand until her tears dry up.
“I’m sorry,” she says while wiping her eyes, “every time I come here I miss it.”
“How old were you when you left?”
“Twenty.”
“Why’d you leave?”
Her eyes start to water again. “I had to grow up sometime.”
I watch her for a while and know that it goes deeper than that but right now is not the time to probe. Once she has herself together she smiles at me before picking up her purse and opening the car door. I take a deep breath before climbing out of the car and take her hand as we walk towards the house.
Before we can make it onto the porch the door flies open and out comes an excited woman and laid back man. The woman resembles Mia in looks and stature so much its kind of creepy. The man is tall, with not one grey hair in sight, and is very muscular. No wonder she didn’t date much in high school. I’m about to introduce myself when Mia’s twin takes notice of her outfit. Her eyes slowly wander over Mia’s black top, skinny jeans, and heels that have some type of straps on them.
“Dave is that our daughter wearing heels and carrying a purse?”
“I’m not sure.”
They’ve never seen her dressed up?
“Wearing heels and a purse and we’re not on our way to church?”
“No, this can’t be my princess. My princess would be wearing sneakers and a t-shirt.”
“Welcome to the family Ethan! Any man who can get her in that getup and isn’t a rapist, molester, or murder has my blessing.”
“Dramatic much Mom?”
“Oh David, it is our Amelia!”
“Ethan this dramatic woman is my mother Celina and this is my daddy David.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Stevens,” he says shaking their hands.
“Please call us Celina and David and the pleasure is all mine. With a voice, tattoo, and hair like that no wonder she kept you all to yourself.”
“Mom you promised.”
“What? I haven’t even told him about having sex on a camel.”
“Dad!”
“Lina lets feed him before you start making him uncomfortable.”
“Well if I must.”
It’s obvious that Celina does things to get a rise out of Mia, and I have to admit that it’s funny to watch. David leads us all into the dinning room where Celina begins telling me stories about her wild days before settling down with David.
****
Mia
“A lot of my friends began doing drugs and was lost to me. They weren’t themselves anymore. Their entire lives were ahead of them and they threw it all away for a high. Some of them died from overdoses and others were forced to live on the streets. Seeing them made me realize that life is too short and it can change with every breath you take. I didn’t want to look back and regret letting life pass me by so I lived it to the fullest. Some have called me loose but I prefer being called a free spirit. I moved from state to state and didn’t stay too long in one place until I met David.”
“Mom please stop telling stories about your hoe days.”
“I wasn’t a hoe. Although the fact that your natural hair is curly is a cause for concern.”
I turn wide eyes to daddy and everyone laughs except me. “That wasn’t funny Mom.”
“You should’ve seen your face princess. How could you doubt that you got that mellow personality from anyone but me?”
“Well there was a guy named George that was a lot like you that I met a few months before I got pregnant.”
“Mom stop already!”
“You always were an easy target.” My mom laughs as I roll my eyes and finally changes the subject. “So Ethan where do your parents live?”
“They’re in Florida and I’ll be taking Mia down there soon to meet them.”
“Excellent! Soon you two will be getting married and making gorgeous babies.”
“Mom I told you that is a
big
maybe.”