Page 20 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

I kissed her, ‘Are we good?’

She wrapped her arms around me and nodded into my chest. ‘I’m going to be forever fighting girls off you.’

‘Not true, I can fend them off myself,’ I winked at her. ‘Like I just did.’

~

Easter was mid-April this year. It was my first real family holiday in America. The Cahills were heading to the Caribbean with Deb, and Breton wasn’t able to come home for the long weekend due to work. Which suited me just fine. I wasn’t sure I was actually ready for a family holiday yet—at least not with them.

I had been invited to spend the weekend with Lisa and her family off the Cape. I declined, but after many tears and arguments, it was easier to just give in and go with her in the end.

‘What do you mean no?’ Lisa yelled at me when I had initially declined.

‘I mean, we’ve only been together for five fucking minutes, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to be spending the holidays with you at some family member’s house I don’t know,’ I answered her in an even tone. I always kept my cool with her, someone had to, and I was coming to see that she could go from zero to sixty in no time.

‘Let me get this straight, it’s ok to move in together, but not for you to meet my family.’

I took a breath in. ‘I think meeting your relatives and staying at their house over a holiday weekend are two completely different things.’

‘You never stayed at your ex’s parent’s house?’

I rolled my eyes; she was starting to piss me off. Lately, her thing was to compare our relationship, if that’s what you wanted to call it that, to the one I had with my ex.

‘Of course, I did,’ I replied. ‘But I never stayed at her family’s house, and we’d dated for two years.’

‘How else are they supposed to meet you and get to know you?’ she started to cry. ‘Are you that ashamed to be seen with me?’

‘Don’t start this shit again. If I didn’t want to be seen with you, I wouldn’t be, nor would I be fucking you. I think you know me well enough by now not to insult me like that.’

I rolled the mop back into the back room then grabbed our things.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ I put my jacket on.

‘Drew,’ Lisa cried after me, grabbing my arm before I reached the door. ‘Please don’t go, I’m sorry.’

Despite not wanting to be here, to keep the peace between us, I gave in. I was spending Easter with Lisa and her family at her aunt's house off the Cape in New Bedford. It was a large house, with lots of extended family around. She felt it was a good way for me to meet the rest of her family, and given that we were going to be living together starting next month, she wanted everyone to know who I was.

While I had only wanted it to be slow and casual, she had other plans, and our relationship moved fast, physically. Emotionally, I had iron walls, which even her tears couldn't penetrate.

In terms of living together, she needed a roommate, and I knew I would need to move out of the house eventually. Many of my contracts were for the Cape and areas, but some would take me to Boston, and I was trying to line them up to coincide for logistics.

By the summer, the entire first floor would be completely finished, new windows and floors, kitchen, formal living and dining room along with a large first-floor bedroom with walk-in closet and en suite. Colleen said it could be considered a second master bedroom. I’d been busier than expected recently, and Lisa demanded a lot of my time. I’d told her things would really change come spring and summer, but she was relentless to allow me any freedom.

I was hoping that moving in might quell some of her doubts, but now I was the one doubting if I made a rash decision or not. My gut told me at the time not to, and it was a nagging feeling that had remained. If the Cahills wanted to rent the house out for the summer as a one-bedroom, they would be able to fetch a great price for it, and I didn’t want to hold them back from it. I had mentioned it to them and offered to post it on Airbnb and property manage it for the summer, but they hadn’t seemed receptive to the idea.

I hadn’t told them yet that I was moving out, I wasn’t sure how they would feel about it. I was pretty sure they knew about Lisa, however, they never mentioned her or invited her to join me whenever I met with them.

Lisa was all too happy to show me off all weekend. I felt like a show dog and I hated it. We were staying at her paternal aunt's house, who turned out to be a great host, and the entire extended family all welcomed me in. I felt like a bit of a gate-crasher at first, but by Easter Sunday I’d felt more comfortable with everyone.

We were at her grandmother's house for a big family dinner, a bunch of people were in the kitchen helping to clean up. I’d offered to help but was told to go sit down. There was a marathon of some home renovation show on TV, which, to be fair, wasn’t half-bad, and it kept my interest and that of the other men. The few kids that were there were running around, still hopped up on the chocolate that the Easter Bunny had brought.

Conversations were being exchanged, and I was happy to just relax, however, I kept thinking about jobs, checking emails, and last night, was on the computer in bed for a few hours finalizing some plans for a client to approve of. Lisa really didn’t understand everything that went into my job, that it wasn’t just about pushing some dirt around and making things look pretty. What pissed me off was that she didn’t really want to know, she just usually wanted me naked. It wasn’t an entirely bad thing; I just needed more substance in a relationship.

My phone buzzed in my pocket again. Breton had sent a new iPhone to me a few weeks ago. It had some new prototype software that his company had developed, but this one was no longer needed, and he always made fun of my old phone and felt sorry for me, I assumed. The case was practical for me too; top-of-the-line, waterproof, shatterproof and I was sure enhanced by Breton and his co-workers.

I dug it out of my pocket and looked at it; there was a text message from Breton.

BRETON:Did the Easter Bunny find you?

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