Page 35 of Treasured
He turned toward me and stopped. “She’s the sweetest woman I ever met.”
Sweet wasn’t strong. I ignored how my gut was twisting, and I kissed my brother goodbye and grabbed the bottles of milk from the refrigerator. “Let’s go, Dwayne,” I said.
Joseph followed us to the door. “She’s been through a lot. And it’s my job to protect her, so don’t hurt her.”
Dwayne held up his hand like he was swearing an oath. “I won’t.”
I smiled and said, “I can take care of myself. My brother is not my keeper.”
Joseph glared at me, but Dwayne said, “I understand.”
Probably not, but the three of us headed out. I locked the door.
We were quiet as we went downstairs, and this time, the parking lot was empty except for my blasted car. I went slow and stayed close to Joseph while Dwayne checked out the cars. He unlocked both his and Joseph’s, then turned on the engines.
All was clear. We buckled Bruce in the back, and while it wasn’t logical, my heart constricted as we closed the passenger door. I swallowed the fear but practically jumped into the front seat.
Joseph waved goodbye to us, and Dwayne packed in our luggage, then took the front seat. Once he joined us and put the car in drive, I said, “Thank you for taking us out of town for a few days.”
“I’m excited to show you my beach house,” Dwayne said, curling his hand around my own.
The drive to the airport was uneventful. Dwayne returned the car, and we were dropped off at the front gate.
As expected, there was no line, and soon, we were seated in our first-class seats. I swallowed but didn’t say a word about how I wasn’t his equal and couldn’t pay for this on my own. I tensed up but only said, “I didn’t expect to be this close to the hotel where we met this fast.”
My skin jumped but Bruce pressed against my legs as he said, “So, for our date, when you get all fancied up—”
He must have noticed my face was hot, so he put his hands out and offered to hold Bruce for me. I squeezed my son and said, “I can’t leave Bruce.”
He smiled like he wasn’t offended and asked, “Movie and pizza delivered, or do you want Chinese?”
My son was dead weight right now, and he wasn’t so little. I took a deep breath and said, “Those are my choices, then?”
“No.” He opened his legs and spread out all those muscles of his. “If you want sushi, French cuisine flown in special for the occasion—just let me know what you want to eat. And we can relax just watching the waves from my backyard.”
I held Bruce up to see if he would take him, and he did without questioning me. “Sounds perfect,” I said.
Bruce slept on his lap comfortably, like he belonged there.
Part of me wished I’d waited to have my son till I had met a man like Dwayne.
I hadn’t thought like that ever, and I pressed my lips tight.
My wishes didn’t matter, I guessed. We were there because I never made smart choices.
The plane landed, and he carried Bruce through the airport and grabbed our bags.
As we headed to his car while he pushed a cart, my stomach twisted. Once again, Arthur was out to destroy my life, and now, I had involved Dwayne in all this.
When my father had died, I hadn’t freed myself. Instead, I’d gone from bad to worse when I moved in with Arthur, but I would never have guessed he would blow up me or his son.
Dwayne parked his car in a garage, and I could see sand sprayed a little on the street, like it had breezed onto the pavement. I sniffed the salty air, and my gaze wandered in search of the water.
He closed the garage door, and I retrieved Bruce and the diaper bag. We headed into his house, and I was determined to be more myself and not so melancholy. I stood in a huge empty room that had a TV and a couch with nothing else. “This is it?”
He took off his shoes and put them up. I handed him mine. Most people didn’t have this habit, but I hated germs in the house. Perhaps he was appeasing me, but I didn’t ask. “It is. It’s a three bedroom, plus den, though I’ve been using one of the bedrooms as my gym.”
I rested Bruce on the couch for a moment and took a deep breath. It smelled like the beach, but then I walked across the room and stared out the back window. There it was. White sand, blue water, and his backyard was green, though it had sand in it. I hugged myself. We weren’t from the same universe. “The view is amazing.”
