Page 76 of Road Trip
Stevie laughed. “Yeah, Aaron and I didn’t get much of a chance to have those kind of times until we came here and got married. Between his brothers, my shit, the assault and his damn cast on for eight weeks…then we were staying in the big house in a room between his parents and his brothers while they finished renovating our apartment. We got here, got married, and then didn’t leave our hotel room for two full days! I didn’t think there was such a thing as too much of a good thing, but damn.”
“There’s just been so much sexual tension. I wondered if there would be anything left after we finally did the deed, you know?”
“Well, how do you feel?”
I got a stupid grin on my face, but then my little voices started to remind me of what life would be like back home. I sighed. “Conflicted. Stevie, how’s he going to deal with the women in my life? And I don’t mean ex-lovers.”
Stevie’s smile slipped. “Your mom. Right. Have you told him anything?”
“Just the bare minimum. Part of me thinks I should just throw him to the wolf, but then if he couldn’t handle it…fuck me, Stevie. I’m invested! If he can’t handle sharing me with my mom and her mental illness picnic, then what?”
Stevie hugged me. I loved the feel of her long red curls as they tickled my face. “Then we talk. But don’t let your fear drive him away, Abey.”
“Easier said than done. But I’m going to try my hardest, because…wow. I can’t even adequately express to you the capabilities this man possesses…but more than that, he’s the real deal. And he loves me.”
Stevie sighed. “I can’t think of a more deserving person.”
We told the McShanes we were driving back the next day. They were going to take one more day before heading back home. This was their first vacation together and they weren’t anxious to get back to real life yet.
Kelly and I, however, had a whole lotta real life facing us, so we spent the rest of the early morning hours kissing, cuddling, nuzzling, and just sleeping together.
When we woke around nine the next morning, my stomach was in knots. Kelly decided to go for a run before getting in the car for hours, so I was on my own for a bit. I took a dip in the little pool and listened to some music, but nothing eased my nerves. I put off calling home until just before I expected Kelly back.
“Hello, darling! Are youhaving a good time on your excursion?” Gran’s voice was like melted butter on fresh buttermilk biscuits. It was all the comfort I’d ever had in my entire life wrapped up into one tiny lady.
“Hi, Gran! Just wanted to let you know I’m in Vegas, but we’re driving back today to the Bay Area.”
She was quiet for a minute. “Is everything all right, darling? I thought you would be gone at least the rest of the week.”
I always kept Gran up to date on my adventures, you know, in case something happened.
“Everything’s fine. Great actually. I met someone, Gran, and he’s pretty wonderful.”
Gran was able to bring out the optimist in me that no one else could. I didn’t have to hide behind my snarky attitude when I was with her, and if I tried to, she’d call me on it.
“Really? Do you want to tell me?” She sounded hesitant.
She’d had a hard time when I came out to her as bisexual. Of course my mother claimed I just did it to get attention, but Gran was concerned it was due to something deeper, that maybe something terrible had happened to me. I don’t think she ever really believed me that I hadn’t been molested.
“His name is Kelly and he’s a police officer. I don’t know why, but he seems to think I’m pretty neat. Neat? Lord, I’m sounding like him now! You’d approve, Gran. He has a non-potty mouth.”
“Which is good,” she said. “You swear enough for three people. I love you for it, darling. I loveyou. Now I just need to rain on your day a little. Your mom isn’t doing too well. I had to take her back to the doctor two days ago and get her meds readjusted. Her anxiety medication was causing severe headaches and the doctor says we need to wean her off of it totally. I don’t know how that’s going to go. I would have called, but I didn’t want to rain on your parade. You have more than enough reality when you’re home.”
I let out a huge sigh. It figured. Just when I had something good going in my life, I got pulled back into my mom’s vortex of drama. Kelly came back in, glistening with sweat and immediately noticed my expression.
“We’ll do it together, Gran. We always do. I love you. I’ll come by tomorrow, or Saturday at the latest if we get back too late. You call me if you need me before that.”
“Drive careful. I can’t wait to meet this new friend of yours.”
I smiled up at Kelly, who was chugging a water bottle down.
“I can’t wait for you to meet him, either.” I just hoped he would still want to hang around after he got a load of my mom. I told Gran I loved her and hung up. I flopped back onto the fuck station and groaned.
“What happened, doll?” Kelly sat doTwn next to me and put his hand on my leg. Just one touch from him and instantly I felt better.
“Mom’s having some medication-related issues. Gran said she is looking forward to meeting you, but no rush. In fact, it’s probably better if we wait a while. I’m not sure I’m ready—”
“Abra, you talk like you’re trying to protect me from something. You don’t need to do that. There’s no part of your life that I don’t want to be a part of. Whoa, that sounded stalkery!”
