Page 15 of Nightclub Surprise
I’d sent her flowers that morning, having them delivered along with a box of candy and a stuffed tiger for Calum. She’d yet to call or text me that she’d gotten them. I was sure she’d do that once she receivedthem.
When she contacted me, I wanted to ask her out again and include Calum if she’d let me. The boy interested me—I couldn’t shake the feeling that he might be mine. I did know for certain that I wanted to spend more time with him, to try and find out—regardless of how long this thing between Tawny and Ilasted.
If Calum was mine, why hadn’t Tawny told me as much? Why would she keep that a secret fromme?
I shook my head. She’d never do that. He had to be some other man’s. Tawny would’ve told me by now if he wasmine.
Wouldn’t shehave?
More than once she’d said that I didn’t owe her anything. Tawny acted as if my being in the marines was all I ever needed to do for her. Like that act alone was enough to give me a free pass foranything.
I didn’t want her to sell herself short or, God forbid, a child that might be mine, just because I’d served our country for a while. Would she do that to her own son? Would she deny him his father only to keep that burden off my shoulders? And had my telling her that I had PTSD affectedthings?
Maybe she’d been planning to tell me about Calum, but then I’d told her about my condition, and she decided not to. Maybe she felt she needed to protect the boy from me. At least for a while, until she could see how my episodeswent.
There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, but I didn’t know how to do so without being presumptuous. This thing between us was so new still, and I didn’t want to scare her off by prying or asking too much of her before she was ready to share. In my experience, women didn’t like it when men asked too many questions about the men they’d been with in the past, at least not so earlyon.
My phone dinged, telling me a text had come in. Tawny had gotten the flowers and wanted to know if I was too busy for her to call me. I called her right away, and her sweet voice answered, “Hello, August. What a sweet thing to do. The flowers are gorgeous. Peonies are my favorite. And the chocolates are to die for. Calum will love the stuffed tiger, too. Thank you somuch.”
“It was nothing. I just wanted you to know that I had a good time.” I drummed my fingers on the dresser as I leaned against it, still looking out the window. “How’s West Hollywood looking today? Fires smoking you guys outyet?”
“No, it’s clear today. There’s a little breeze—I suppose it’s keeping the smoke away for now anyway.” I heard her walking around, her shoes clicking as shedid.
The way I missed her didn’t make sense to me. She and I didn’t know each other well at all. I had no idea what kinds of things she liked or disliked, no idea what her favorite color was or what food she liked the best. “Wanna get somelunch?”
“I’d love to, but I’ve got to go to the hospital to fill out insurance papers today. They called me a little while ago and asked me to stop by aroundone.”
The real question I wanted to ask her kind of hung in my throat. But then I went for it. “What do you think about taking a trip to the San Diego Zoo tomorrow, since it’s Saturday and Calum won’t haveschool?”
“He’d love that!” she soundedexcited.
But all I could think about was that she’d said she didn’t take him around men. So why was it okay for him to be aroundme?
“You sure about that, Tawny? I know he was with us last night for a little, but I don’t want you to change all your rules if you don’t want to.” I crossed my bedroom to take a seat on the bed. Running my hand over the chocolate brown comforter, I made a mental note to get my housekeeper to put the emerald green one on. Tawny’s auburn hair would look fantastic splayed out against it. And I did mean to get the woman into my bed in the near future. I just wanted to lay the groundworkfirst.
“Well, you’re different,” she said, making me think she might be on the verge of aconfession.
“How’s that?” I asked as I leaned back on the pillows, wondering how I’d respond if she told me I was his father. It was one thing to speculate about it, but the reality would be muchdifferent.
“Well, he likes you. And he adores your sister. All the way to school today he talked about her and her kids. He can hardly remember their names, but he definitely knows your name and yoursister’s.”
“I’d like to get to know him, if that’s okay with you, baby. I want to get to know you, too. I mean, I know the basics, and I know the intimates, but the real you—well, I don’t know that woman yet. I’d like to get to that if that’s okay with you.” The soft blanket brought to mind how soft her hair was when I ran my hands throughit.
“Let’s see…my favorite color is red like my hair. I know that sounds like I’m a little too into my own looks, but I just love the color. I’d wear it every day if I could, but it has to be the right shade to look good on me or else it clashes. I don’t even decorate with that color. I have to simply be satisfied to like it, but not use too much ofit.”
“Mine’s green. Like the color or your eyes.” I closed mine to picture her eyes, how they’d shine for no reason at all. She was just that happy person who always had a sparkle in her eye—the kind of person that people liked to bearound.
“Hmm, really? Or is that a line?” she asked with a knowing tone in hervoice.
“No, it’s not a line. Green really is my favorite color. And I love Mexican food, how about you?” Taking about these small things was so much easier over the phone—when she was around all I wanted to do was kiss her and touch her. It’d take forever for us to get to these details about each other if we were face-to-face.
“Chinese is my favorite, but I like Mexican. But only authentic Mexican, not like Taco Hell,” she laughed lightly, and the sound captivatedme.
“What made you become a nurse, Tawny?” I asked, as that seemed like a thing a boyfriend should know about hisgirlfriend.
Hold up! You’ve got to take thingsslow.
Between this thing with Tawny and me and my compulsive desire to spend more time with Calum, I knew I was getting wrapped up in this woman too quickly. Despite that, I knew one thing for sure—my therapist was right about me needing to take thingsslowly.
