Boycotts and Barflies (28 page)

She gave him everything but his underwear. “Here you go. Somehow I just knew you were the boxer briefs kind of guy,” Grace teased as she playfully dangled his underwear from her finger.

He snatched it out of her hand and closed the bathroom door with a bang as he pretended to be upset. A minute later,  Michael emerged from the bathroom, clean, dressed, and smelling like soap. Grace was lying across her bed when he came out and she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him.

“You clean up pretty nice, Mr. Andris.”

“Thanks, Miss Park, glad to hear you app rove. I’m going to go downstairs and flirt with your mom and aunt for a while. I’ll see you in a few. Oh, by the way,” he said as he opened the bedroom door, “I left something for you in the bathroom.” And with a wink and a dimpled smile, he was gone.

Grac e climbed off the bed and took her pile of clean clothes into the bathroom so she could shower. When she opened the door, she couldn’t help but smile.  Lying on the counter were Michael’s neatly folded boxer briefs.

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Damn  that man and his naked ass. Grace laughed as she undressed and turned

on the shower.

She quickly showered, lathering her hair and wondering what Susan was doing to poor Michael, or worse, how she was introducing him to her guests.

With newfound energy, Grace quickly washed herself and got dressed.

Feeling rebellious, she decided to follow Michael’s lead and left her forest green silk panties sitting on top of his boxer briefs on the bathroom counter.

She slid into a pair of plain black slacks and a form fitting green blouse with a deep V-neck. She took a quick look in the mirror at her outfit and smiled.

Before Grace left the bathroom, she gave her hair one last fluff, threw on a quick spray of perfume, and headed to check on Meg. She tapped on her door and  found Meg dressed and sending Bianca a quick text to check on her—and

Jack.

The two women headed downstairs to join the party. As they got to the last step, Grace could hear the ladies chattering in the kitchen and assumed the men had congregated in the family room to watch television. The girls walked into the kitchen to see who was there. Six women were huddled around the

punch bowl, laughing, as Grace stuck her head in the room.

“Grace, Meg!” Susan called them over, wanting them to meet all of her friends. They spent the next fifteen minutes talking with the wife of Grace’s old dentist,  a girl from high school she completely detested, and the wife of one of the new  deputies at the police station.

Meanwhile, Meg sucked down a glass of wine. Her head, Grace was certain, was  spinning from all the local gossip.

“Mom, we’re going to go, um, say hello to everyone else.” Grace carefully  slipped from the gaggle of women and generously refilled both of their wine  glasses.

Meg mouthed a silent “thank you” as they headed out of the kitchen. In the  foyer, they sat down at the bottom of the staircase and drank their wine in  relative peace and quiet.

“This is going to be a long evening, isn’t it?” Meg asked nervously.

Grace solemnly nodded her head.

“She has plenty of liquor, right?” Meg asked with a playful smile.

“Yes. If we’re lucky, we can drink ourselves silly by ten, and then we won’t  remember a thing—no matter how bad it gets.” Grace laughed as she stood up,  feeling the need to check on the guys in the family room.

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Meg walked in first and found an open seat next to Ryan. Grace stood in the doorway for a minute and watched the two of them whispering back and forth.

Meg laughed at something Ryan was saying and laid her head sweetly on his chest.

They just fit together, Grace thought with a smile.

She continued looking around the room until she spotted Michael. He was sitting on the couch with Uncle Frank, deep in conversation. She couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but instead watched Michael gesture with his hands to demonstrate something to her uncle, and then Frank laughed out loud. Frank must have begun telling Michael something interesting because she saw him lean forward with a serious look on his face.

Michael’s hair looked darker in the dim lights of the family room, but his pale blue eyes shone like always. Grace wasn’t sure how long she had been watching him when felt someone come up behind her and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

“You love him, don’t you?” Evelyn whispered as she brushed her hand down the back of Grace’s long hair.

“More than I ever thought I could love someone, Aunt Evelyn. He’s just so … amazing,” she said, never taking her eyes off of  Michael.

“He loves you too, you know,” she whispered in Grace’s ear. She turned her head and found Evelyn’s eyes were warm and loving as she nodded her head knowingly before she went and joined her husband on the couch. Michael looked up, finally noticing  Grace standing in the doorway, and hurried over. “Don’t you look gorgeous,” he said as his eyes raked over her body, making  Grace’s skin tingle. “Did you like the present I left in your bathroom?” He smirked, giving a slight tug on his belt loop.

“As a matter of fact I did, and I was inspired to follow your lead.” Grace softly ran her hand over her hip, making Michael draw a quick breath in surprise. “Come on, there’s got to be an empty room in this house somewhere.”

Grace took his hand and they navigated their way through the family room to their final destination, the completely empty living room. “Peace at last,”

Grace murmured as she fell onto the couch.

Michael stood near the piano and smiled. “Are you having fun yet?” he asked as the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of even more freeloaders in Grace’s home.

She let out an annoyed groan in the direction of the front door and threw her arm over her eyes. “Wake me up when they leave, please.”

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Grace heard his footsteps followed by the soft tinkling of a single piano key.

She moved her arm to find Michael sitting at the piano bench, smiling, while he messed with the keys.

“Do you play?” he asked, looking over the top of the piano at her.

“Sure, I’ll show you what I learned after two solid years of piano lessons.” She took her place beside him, sat up straight as her teacher had always taught her to do, and cracked her knuckles loudly, before final y placing her fingers on the keys.

Michael raised an interested eyebrow at her elaborate preparations and waited for the show to begin. Grace then broke into the most horrible version of

“Jingle Bells” ever played by a human who still possessed all ten of their fingers.

Michael’s face was priceless. He sat stoically beside her, trying his hardest not to laugh for fear of hurting her feelings. Grace saw him biting his lower lip with each sharp note she hit, like it was somehow causing him physical pain as she played completely out of tune.

Keeping a straight face, Grace turned to him and asked eagerly, “What did you think?”

“It, um, it was … It was really …” he struggled to find a tactful word to describe how bad it actual y was, but he was saved when Susan came into the room. “Grace, that was horrible! And you had lessons for years. Mrs. Wonters is probably rolling over in her grave at that.” Susan laughed as Grace clutched her chest and faked being offended.

“Michael liked it, didn’t you?” she asked as she turned to him, unleashing her big, brown baby doll eyes on him.

“It was lovely. I doubt I could have done much better,” Michael said, gently patting her hand.

His mother couldn’t resist jumping into the conversation. “You might have been able to do better, but I guess we’ll never know now, will we? Had you continued with your piano lessons instead of taking up the electric guitar the summer you turned twelve, who knows how good you could have become?”

Liz gave her son a quick swat to the back of his head. He rolled his eyes at his mother and turned  back to the piano, running his fingers lightly over the keys. “Do you remember anything?” Grace asked as he plucked away at random keys. “A little,” he said as he placed his fingers on the keys and began to play out of key. Liz couldn’t stand it a second longer and tapped him on the shoulder. Michael stood up, allowing his mother to take his place on the bench beside

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Grace. As she played the opening chords to “The First Noel,” Michael stood beside the piano and began to hum with the music.

Grace watched in amazement as Liz played and, after some prodding from his mother, Michael began to sing along in perfect tune. He sang “The First Noel” and, without pausing, they smoothly transitioned into “Silent Night,”followed by  “O Holy Night.”

The entire time he sang, a peace and tranquility seemed to wash over him.

As he smiled at Grace, his face was completely relaxed, showing no sign of stress or even concentration, only joy. He was as beautiful as the music itself.  By the sec ond song, the other guests had crowded into the small room to hear him sing.

When the final note hung in the air, the room erupted into applause.

Grace placed her hand over his. “Michael, that was phenomenal.”

“Thank you,” he whispered as he leaned over an d touched his head to hers, embarrassed by the attention from the people around him.

The crowd of admirers descended, and as they began their flurry of compli-ments, Grace stepped to the side, leaving him to their praises.

“Thank you very much,” she heard  him say, flashing a shy smile, his cheeks red. The room began to feel much too small for Grace. She weaved her way through the room, listening to Liz discussing Michael’s years of success in choir during high school.

Grace smiled at the faces she passed by as she retreated to the kitchen for some much needed time to herself.

While she sat on the kitchen counter, watching her legs swing back and forth, her head was spinning. She had just witnessed something so beautiful she couldn’t even put it into words. He was simply an extraordinary man.

Grace already knew she loved Michael. But with every day that passed, she continued to find out something new about him—something that made her fall even more deeply in love with him even though she hadn’t even told him yet.

Plus, she only had inklings about how he actually felt about her. The voice in her head began whispering doubts and reminding her how boring she was in comparison to other women.

Before she could allow her demons to consume her, Grace heard footsteps on the kitchen floor.

“There you are. I was wondering where you ran off to.” Michael made his way

across the kitchen to her.

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“Michael, that was beyond impressive,” Grace stammered, dropping her eyes.  “It was … breathtaking.” The footsteps stopped and she could see his shoes on  the floor directly in front of her.

“The only breathtaking thing around here is you, Grace.” He lifted her chin and  his darkened eyes bore into her, making her feel the intensity of the feelings  that were behind them. He put his hands on her knees and ran them softly,  intoxicatingly up and down her thighs.

This is it, Grace told herself. I need to tell him. I want to tell him. It’s now or

never.

She took a deep breath, trying to collect herself and work up the nerve to actually say the words. She opened her mouth and her mind went blank. The well -thought-out speech she had come up with to profess her love to him left her head, and instead, she started rambling. “Michael, I need to tell you something, and I don’t want you to think I’m nuts or anything, but I know how I feel even if I’ve never felt this way before about anyone, but I’m sure, trust me, and I just want you to know that I … love you. And I know I haven’t known you very long, and it seems fast, but  ”—

Grace didn’t get another word out because Michael’s finger flew over her lips and stopped her babbling. He moved even closer, now standing firmly between her legs. His face was directly in front of hers, their noses nearly touching.

“Did you just say that you loved me?” he asked with a brilliant smile on his face. His finger was still pressed to her lips, so instead of answering, she slowly nodded her head up and down.

The next thing Grace knew, she was in his arms. It was as though she were flying as they spun around the center of  the kitchen. He threw back his head as his deep laughter filled the room.

At least my declaration seems to amuse him.

Moments later, he hugged Grace tightly then placed her safely back up on the counter where she had been sitting earlier. He took her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Grace, I love you too.” He raised her hand, pressing his warm lips to the center of her palm. “I’ve loved you, I think, since the first time I heard your voice, when you told Jack to go take a hike.” He kissed the  other hand. “Then each time I saw you after that, I just fell deeper, more helplessly, in love with 220

you. The morning we spent in bed was when it hit me. When I had you in my  arms, I realized that I love you. I knew, right then and there, that I could never  stand to let you go.”

Even though she was shocked by his words, she completely understood everything he was saying. Grace felt the exact same way. Her overwhelming emotions started to get the best of her and tears of  joy filled her eyes.