Don't Turn Back (Coming Home Book 1) (17 page)

A handful of tickets shoot out from my game, and I pass them over to her so she can count them. “You only need a couple thousand more to win me that big stuffed animal up there.” She says, pointing up to the ceiling at the huge teddy bear that has probably been hanging there for years.

“Ha. I bet that thing is so old. There is no way anyone has ever won enough tickets for that thing. I’d be better off going to the toy store and buying you a brand new one.” 

“You’re probably right. But he’s still cute.”

“He’s not as cute as you.” I brush my hand along the side of her cheek as I am telling her this. She steps up on her toes to kiss me. I return the kiss, and before we know it, we are both standing in the middle of the arcade, kids and parents running all over the place, sharing a passionate, needy kiss that could even be considered X-rated by some standards. We break apart, realizing it may not be appropriate in a public setting to show this much affection.

Damn, I truly enjoy the company of this girl
.

I reach for her hand again as we walk towards the door leading out. “I’ve had such a good time tonight.” I tell her as we climb into her car. 

“Me too. I’m glad we were able to work things out.”

“So what’s next?” I don’t want tonight to end any time soon.

“You hungry? I could go for some food myself.” She asks me.

“I’m starving. I thought you would never ask. What’s good around here?”

“Let’s see.” She pauses for a minute then offers a few suggestions. “How does seafood sound? It’s been a long time since I’ve had some fresh shrimp. Or we could do Mexican.”

“I can’t remember the last time I had shrimp either. That sounds pretty good to me.” I really want to treat her right, and taking her out to a nice meal is a start in the right direction. Besides, I owe it to her. Even though Mexican food is somewhat less expensive, I don’t want to risk something bad happening should either of us have one too many margaritas.

I am so happy that everything is going well tonight. Brian has really been fun. I can feel my heart pulling me in a different direction, already; I just don’t want to rush things. Again.

I pull into the parking lot for the seafood restaurant, and we walk inside together, hand in hand. The waitress seats us in a booth, and I chose to sit beside Brian instead of across the table from him. We order an appetizer of crab claws and a pitcher of beer. “Look, I promise I will not get carried away this time with the beer.” I share this with him because I don’t think I can emotionally deal with the events of
that
night again.

“I’m not going to let you drink too much, but if you did decide to get carried away with me, I promise I might let you.” Brian teases me. 

He pours our beers into icy mugs, and we spend the next few minutes talking about the fun we had earlier. Our food arrives, and I have no idea where I am going to put it all. There is no way I can eat everything that is piled on my plate. Underneath the shrimp is a mound of French fries and hushpuppies, with coleslaw on the side.  “We should have shared a plate. This is a lot of food.” I mention, even though it’s too late to send back the order.

“I’m sure we can get to-go boxes. If you don’t like eating leftovers, I can take it to work with me Monday. There’s a break room area with a couple of tables and a microwave.” He suggests.

“You like working there so far?”  I ask him, eager to hear more about his job.

“It’s a job. Don’t get me wrong, Jared’s got a pretty good business going, but I know this is just temporary until something else comes along for me. Besides, when the weather turns cold, I’m not sure I want to be outside washing cars all day.”

“I don’t blame you there. I’m sure something else will come along.”

We finish our food and pitcher of beer, and when the waitress drops off our check, Brian scoops it up before I’m able to put my hands on it. I know he’s trying to save up his money, but he insists on taking care of it. I offer to pay my half, but he still refuses.

“It’s my treat to you. Consider this our first real date.”

My heart pounds, and I am once again filled with emotion for him just by hearing him say this. 

On the drive home, he reaches over and places his hand on my leg. I put my hand on top of his, enjoying the feel of it.

“You know, Brian, I’ve been doing some thinking. Since you still don’t have anywhere to stay yet, would you maybe consider staying at my place? I would hate asking you for rent right now since you’re trying to save up, but you could just chip in on things like food and maybe the electricity.”

I pull up to the red light and look over at him. I can tell by the look on his face my invitation has taken him by complete surprise. I’ve actually surprised myself be making this offer, but it’s something I feel inclined to suggest.

“Are you sure about this? What would your parents think, especially since we just met and all?” He asks.

“Well, since they aren’t coming home for Thanksgiving, I’ve got some time before I have to let them know. I’m sure they won’t be thrilled about it, but I’ll smooth things over with them. Besides, I work nights and you’ll be working days. With our schedules being opposite, it’s not like we will really be there together anyways.”

He wastes no time in making his decision. “Jennifer, you just made my night complete.” He tells me this, and I can sense the relief in the tone of his voice. I also take it to mean he’s saying yes, to my offer and to us being together.

I don’t know how he has been doing it, sleeping in his car night after night. I’ve heard stories of entire families being homeless and living in their vehicles, but this is my first time personally knowing someone who has had the experience firsthand. Since working at the hotel, I’ve had to help out several guests who stopped in for a room and didn’t have enough money to pay. The hotel allows us the flexibility to help from time to time if we feel the need is legitimate. But to stay in your car for weeks at a time, with no place to call home is so sad. We ride the remainder of the way home in silence.

“I don’t know about you, but I am really tired.  What do you say we call it a night?” I ask him as we are nearing the entrance to the apartment.

“I’m pretty beat myself. Someone kept me awake all last night.” He teases me with his comment, even though I know I wouldn’t change last night if I had to. For a moment, I picture myself looking up from the counter just after reading his card, and seeing him standing there in the doorway. My heart had melted.

I tell myself that tonight is going to be different. I’m not going to worry about waking up to an empty bed in the morning.

We both crawl into bed exhausted from all the fun we had this afternoon, and still full from the great meal. “Is there a certain side of the bed you prefer?” He asks me.

“I’m kind of partial to that side.” I tell him pointing to the right. I keep my alarm and cell phone charger on a table that’s within reach of the bed, convenient for me should I need them while I’m sleeping.

“That’s fine by me. Come here and let me hold you.” He motions for me to join him.

I snuggle up to him, and he drapes his arm across my stomach. I admit to myself how comfortable this feels. “Goodnight.”

“‘Night.” He says so softly that I think he is nearly asleep already.

A few minutes later, he shifts a little bit, getting more settled. “Jenn? You still awake?”

“Yeah.”

“I just want to thank you for another wonderful evening. I can’t tell you how much it means to me for you to let me stay here. I tell you, I was really starting to wonder if I had made the right decision to stop here. It’s a scary feeling having to sleep in your car every night, wondering if the cops are going to come by knocking on the window, accusing you of something. It’s embarrassing. “

“Look Brian, it’s going to be okay. You’ve got a place to stay now. Besides, I couldn’t continue to let you sleep out there. The weather is turning, and you would have probably frozen to death the closer it gets to winter.”

He pulls me a little bit closer to him, and we both drift off into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The next morning, I wake first and see Brian is still sleeping soundly. Relief fills my body, and I relax. I trusted him when he told me he would not leave, but the possibility otherwise remained in the back of my mind all night.

I fix us a light breakfast, and I hear him moving around in the bathroom before too long.

From the hallway, I hear him call out. “What smells so good in there?” 

“It’s just some cinnamon rolls. I’m still a little full from last night, so I didn’t want to start the morning off with anything too heavy.”

As he walks in the kitchen, he leans against the door’s frame wearing nothing but his boxers. I quickly turn my head so he doesn’t see my cheeks redden.
Damn, he’s hot.
He walks up behind me and kisses me softly on the neck. I want to melt right here on the kitchen floor.

“You sleep good?” I ask him, trying to allow my cheeks to cool.

“That’s the best sleep I’ve had in a long time.” He’s still standing near me, and I would give anything to rub my hands across his chest muscles. How is this guy so hot first thing in the morning? My mouth waters, and the heat radiating from him causes feeling to stir in me down below.

I can’t let that happen so suddenly, again
. I’m the one who instigated it the first time; next time, I will let him be the one to make the first move.

“Anything special you want to do today?” I don’t have anything going on this week since school is out. I do need to prepare for my finals, but right now, I’m going to enjoy this new happiness that has returned to my life.

“If you don’t have any plans, do you think we could stop by the mall so I can pick up a few things? I’m sort of limited on clothes, and I could use a few new shirts and a pair of jeans.”

“Okay, we can definitely do that. Then, on the way back, I need to stop by the grocery store and pick up some things for this coming week.”

Being Sunday and the mall doesn’t open as early as it does during the week, we spend the next couple of hours hanging around the apartment, watching television. I swear that boy could watch
Sports Center
all day if you’d let him. I take my shower close to noon and pick out a simple outfit of jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. Shortly afterwards, we head to the mall.

Surprisingly, Brian is almost as fun as Rebecca when it comes to shopping. Most guys don’t like to shop, but he is having a blast trying on clothes and coming out of the dressing room modeling different outfits and getting my opinion on them.
I’m loving this
. 

The afternoon passes too quickly, and as we walk back out to the car, the sun is starting to set. Brian settled on a couple of outfits, and I hope he feels better now knowing he’s not going to be stuck wearing the same thing over and over again. He also picked out a warm jacket that I know he will need for work, since he is outside most of the day. 

We stop by the grocery store, and Brian pushes the shopping cart again as I toss different things into it. “If you see something you like, go ahead and get it. Or, if there’s a particular thing you would like me to prepare for supper this week, let me know.” I don’t want to appear too pushy, but he knows more about his likes and dislikes than I do. I’m used to eating something light on nights that I have school, so he will be on his own those nights.