A Summit City Christmas (5 page)

Gabe punched me in the shoulder. “How could you allow me to become his play thing?”

“Ouch!” I said, rubbing my shoulder while marveling over his near hysterical outburst. “I thought I was doing you a favor, you little freak of nature.”

“You’re right, I know you’re right.” Gabe folded his arms staring blankly at the floor. “I should be happy with whatever happens.”

I stood there for a moment, staring down at the white subway tiled floor. “What do you want the two of you to be?”

He was chewing on his lip again so I knew it was something serious.

“Wasn’t it only like a month ago you were telling me you were gonna let it be?” I asked. “That whatever happened, happened.
Que sera, sera
?”

“And you actually believed me?” he asked, seeming genuinely shocked.

I laughed thinking I hadn’t really, but that was beside the point. “Do you love him?”

Gabe immediately started to squirm, which told me everything I needed to know.

“I can’t believe you just referred to yourself as a fuck buddy.
Really
wish I’d gotten that on video.” I yanked my phone out of my back pocket. “Let’s do a reenactment! Pretty please?”

“I’m not some virgin, fresh off the farm, you know.” Gabe’s brow was furrowed, those disapproving wrinkles running across his forehead. “I’ve had plenty of experience.”

“Oh puh-lease,” I said, looking him up and down knowing I totally had his number. “A regular man-about-town, are you? Is that why you thought the guy asking if you liked tantric, meant you threw a lot of fits?”

His face went beet red. “I told you I misheard him!”

“Sure you did.” I said, not buying that for a minute.

He let out a growl, like he was nearing the end of his patience with me. “Just tell me what I need to do to land him. Seriously, I’ll be like putty in your hands or whatever.”

As much fun as I knew I could’ve had running around with that kind of power, I couldn’t actually go through with it. That realization made me sad for a brief, totally selfish moment. I made it up to myself by taking several minutes to amuse myself, pondering all the possibilities.

Finally, I reached over and patted him gently on the shoulder. “My advice would be to not start by pretending to be something you aren’t.”

Gabe crossed his arms, obviously frustrated and not the least bit happy after hearing what I had to say. “I haven’t asked for your help all that much over the years, you know.”

“I know,” I said, momentarily wondering why that was.

“So would it kill you to help me now?” Gabe asked.

“I’m trying to, sweetie.” I sighed, flinging my arms through the air.

He was watching me suspiciously, like he was trying to figure out what angle I was working.

I reached over and placed both hands on his shoulders giving him a little shake. “You have plenty to offer just by being who you are.”

Gabe scoffed, shrugging my hands off. “If you don’t want to help me you could just say so.”

I laughed, for some reason finding it funny that my paying him a compliment had been assumed some sort of smart-assed attempt at sarcasm. “You pretending to be someone you aren’t in order to win him over will only result in something that won’t last. That’s not good enough for my best friend. It might be fun for a while, babe, but Chip can’t love a guy he doesn’t really know, right?”

He seemed to physically deflate, as if some of the air had been let out of him. “But I’m so boring.”

I reached up and tweaked one of his nipples. “Oh honey, you’re way too neurotic to be
that
boring.”

“Very funny,” he said, smirking as he swatted my hand away. “Always at the ready with a backhanded compliment.”

“I’d venture a guess that Chip never wanted you to begin with because he believed you to be a great lay.”

Gabe’s mouth fell open. “Thanks!”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m just saying, you don’t exactly scream, legendary lothario.”

“You’re so not helping.” Gabe stood back up. “Why I bother with you, I’ll never know.”

“You’re so not listening.” I smacked him upside the head. “He wanted
you
—the prudey, not in a million years, never gonna get it guy who flirted with him through dares and threats of wasted time.”

“So you’re saying?”

I threw my hands into the air. “If it ain’t broke, don’t go friggin’ trying to fix it.”

He seemed to seriously sit back and consider all of that. “So just be my usual prudy self?”

“He obviously enjoys a challenge so why rob the man of the opportunity to seduce you each night?”

“He is like this endless well of naughty come-ons and justifications for bad behavior. It’s somewhat impressive.”

“Sounds like a keeper to me,” I said, for once in all seriousness.

Gabe frowned. “My mother hates him.”

“Roberta? Really? No wonder you’re gaga over him,” I said, poking him in the side after he shot me a nasty look.

“I don’t want my mother to hate the guy I lo…
like
.” Gabe’s face flushed the instant he saw my reaction over what he’d almost said.

“Oh Chippy, I love you!” I said in my high-pitched girlie voice.

Gabe growled under his breath, shoving me out of the way before making a beeline for the door.

“You’re so dreamy,” I continued, following on his heels as he flung the door open and marched down the hall.

“Go to hell, bitch,” Gabe muttered. “Why I tell you anything, I’ll never know.”

“Come back!” I called out, trying not to laugh. “I’ll let you re-organize my hard drive!”

He flipped me off just before rounding the corner and disappearing from view.

“They grow up so fast.” I sighed, excited for him and terrified at the same time. I looked up toward the ceiling as if speaking to the big man upstairs while shaking a fist at him. “If that fucker breaks his heart, I’ll kill him myself.”

~ * ~ * ~

Standing at the end of the bar I quietly watched all the hustle and bustle as the flurry of activity surrounding the massive buffet kicked into mach speed. Dixie, Del, and Cecelia, the mayor’s wife, went about debating the best way to organize the food. I smiled, watching Jackie standing behind the three of them, rolling her eyes, apparently not caring where the marshmallowed sweet potatoes sat in relation to the medley of steamed veggies and the chafing dish filled with baked potatoes.

My eyes bugged out watching Pete coming out of the swinging kitchen doors carrying the largest tray of beef brisket I’d ever laid eyes. Mayor Nelson was already rubbing his hands together at the sight of it, his inner cave man craving for red meat rearing its ugly head.

“My goodness Pete,” the Mayor said, practically salivating. “You have certainly outdone yourself this year.”

Uncle Pete set the tray into a chafing dish and smiled at Gordy. He was a man of few words, in very good shape for his age. His full head of grey hair and well-lined, but kind face, made him seem very approachable.

Sara ran to the front door of the restaurant seeing her boyfriend, the Adams boy stumbling in. They were all still suspicious of his intentions, but I’d caught him looking at her on several occasions—times when he wasn’t aware they were being watched. I couldn’t speak for the rest of his family, but he seemed pretty genuine to me.

Gabe was staring sweetly at Chip, whose twin brother Dean was telling tales of God only knows what. They were sitting around a table with my twins, drinking red wine and laughing at whatever Dean had just said. Chip’s parents, who were entirely too
Leave it to Beaver
to have spawned two such wild children, were giving one another a smooch under the mistletoe. I was tempted to begin laying bets on how long it took one of my parents to say something inappropriate, thereby breaking up the harmonious holiday vibes currently humming peacefully along.

In contrast to Roberta, Chip’s mother whose name I couldn’t seem to remember, adored sweet little Gabe. How could she resist, though really? He had that whole, forever boyish, Michael J. Fox, frozen-in-time thing going for him. It was like mom-nip. I assumed it brought back memories of when their own kids were still wee lads and lasses, fresh out of high school but still in need of a parent’s guidance.

Gabe totally worked it too, though he’d never admit to it. Anyone who had a heart, he could get to, the little bastard.

I smiled, feeling Wade’s arms wrapping around me as he hugged me from behind, his body pressing into mine, pinning me against the bar.

“You’re uncharacteristically quiet.” Wade kissed the back of my head. “Hair’s starting to really grow back in too.”

I squished my face up, still not happy with my coif. It was stuck in that in-between stage where nothing I did with it looked good. “Not fast enough.”

I reached up, playing with it in hopes I might make it look tolerable.

Wade squeezed me tighter, the heat from his body radiating into my backside. “You look pretty damn fine to me.”

“Well get you and all the sweet talkin’,” I said, getting a little chill from his warm breath brushing across the back of my neck. “Even more impressive considering you already know I’ll be putting out.”

He chuckled under his breath, kissing the back of my neck. “You idiot. Like that’s the only reason someone might sweet talk you?”

I laughed as he kissed my neck once more. “I suppose that might be my fault—always looking for any ole excuse to stick my pecker in where it thinks it belongs.”

“You are good like that,” Wade said. “Never cease to amaze me with your slutty generosity.”

I shrugged off the compliment. “What can I say? I’m a giver. It’s how I was raised.”

“Remind me to thank your parents with an obscenely appropriate gift,” he said.

“You already offered to make an honest homo outta me,” I reminded him. “I’m not sure you’ll ever top that one as far as my mother is concerned.”

“And to think that didn’t cost me a thing.” Wade removed one of his arms from around me. I could feel he was fiddling with something, and when I tried to look back he hugged me tighter with the one arm still around my waist.

“Hah!” I said, like he’d suffered some tomfoolery. “A lifetime with me by your side…never without an opinion I’m not ashamed to share with anyone who’ll listen? We pulled one over on you but good, pal. Now you’re stuck with me. My mother’s sure to refuse any returns now that you’ve deflowered the goods and stripped me of my innocence.”

“I’ve certainly stripped you often enough.” Wade slid a small box across the top of the bar. “However, there is one thing I didn’t quite get right.”

“Only one?” I quipped, staring at the package, pristinely wrapped in silver paper and neatly tied with a white ribbon. “It’s pretty, but what am I supposed to do with it?”

Wade poked me in the side causing my entire body to wriggle in response to his tickle torture. “Open it.”

I picked it up off the bar and glanced around the room, suddenly uncomfortable noticing all eyes were on the two of us. I had the sneaking suspicion that everyone but me had been aware he was going to do whatever the hell he was about to do.

“You’re in
so
much trouble, pal,” I muttered as I began untying the ribbon.

The fact he was chuckling told me he wasn’t the least bit worried. I had a sneaking suspicion what was inside due to the size and shape of the box. Removing the metal container from inside the cardboard one I realized I was right.

I lifted the lid to find two platinum wedding bands secured in a tuft of black velvet. “I thought we were going to pick these out together.”

I turned around in his arms to face him and he took the metal container from me, then gave me a soft peck on the lips before he got down on bended knee.

“The first time I asked you to marry me, Boone Daniels, I was anything but prepared. No rings, no idea of what your answer might be. It was in a moment that while very sincere on my end, was fueled by the fear I could ever lose you.”

I was embarrassed by this sort of attention, but I reached down and caressed his cheek with the back of my fingers anyway. I knew him well enough to recognize the earnest seriousness behind his intent to redo this moment in the way he would’ve liked to have done in the first place.

“Not to mention you looked like complete and utter hell,” he added.

I laughed at his acknowledgment of my vanity and nodded my agreement. I’d given him more than a little shit over the fact I was flat on my back and bruised black and blue the first time around.
I’ll forever have to remember looking like a crash test
dummy when you proposed,
I’d said, razzing him.

“So I’m going to ask you again, baby.” Wade looked up at me all wide-eyed, like somewhere in the back of his mind he harbored some fear I might not say yes this time around. “On bended knee and in front of all the people we love, I want to tell you once more that I love you. More than I ever thought I could love another person. For you I’d do anything. Give anything. Pay any price, if only to have you in my life from now until my last dying breath.”