Heaven Sent (10 page)

“I know. It’s just difficult standing here talking about my abilities like this.”

“I understand.”

He didn’t understand. The reason for my hesitance was a wave of shame had come over me. It was my fault he was captured by Beelzebub and nearly killed.

“I better get inside.” I again slipped into his arms. “Thank you… for everything,” I said again and then immediately kissed him before he could respond.

“Can I see you tomorrow?” he asked when we broke off the kiss. There was a little-boy look in his eyes I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“I’m not sure. I was thinking about hanging out with my boyfriend tomorrow.” A grin teased at the corners of my mouth.

“That boyfriend of yours is a lucky guy.”

“He sure is,” I said. “He’s supposed to show up at nine and take me to a sumptuous breakfast. But I suppose if he doesn’t show…” I left the unfinished sentence hanging between us and looked into his dreamy eyes that were crinkling with laughter.

“I’m sure he’ll be here.” His eyes turned deadly serious. “No way he’s going to mess this up again.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting,” was my near-breathless reply.

Our faces were inches apart and we wound up in each other’s arms again. The kiss was brief but sweet. Reluctantly I separated, and as I did I again felt the stinging in my lower lip.

I watched the bike disappear down the street and into the darkness. Guy and the bike were long gone when I finally turned and headed up the walkway.

For the time being, Erin and her plans to marry the molester, Danny Tambor, were totally forgotten, as was Maudrina and her planned sleepover with Curtis. I was happy. For the first time in eight weeks I was happy, and for at least one night, I wasn’t going to allow anyone or anything to disrupt my happy thoughts.

*

The dream I had that night was different from any I’d had before. I woke up with a feeling of dread. I sat up in bed shaking, beads of sweat rolling down my back, but I couldn’t remember the dream. As the specter of images retreated from my consciousness, all I could remember about the dream is that something bad had happened.

I calmed myself, realizing my forehead was sticky with sweat. It was then I looked down to the foot of my bed. Amanda’s iridescent eyes blinked back at me through the darkness. She was standing by my feet, instead of on my chest where she normally slept.

“Did I frighten you? Mommy had a bad dream,” I said.

She didn’t move, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realized her back was arched. She brought to mind a black cat out of a Halloween drawing.

“I did scare you, didn’t I? Sorry, baby. Come.” I wiggled my fingers, inviting her into my arms, and after a few moments of doubt, her back relaxed and she mewed softly.

Several moments and a scratch behind the ears later, I was back beneath the covers with Amanda once again sound asleep on my chest. Sleep wasn’t possible for me, however, and it wasn’t the horrible dream keeping me awake. The dream had already receded far into my subconscious; so far, I wasn’t even sure I’d had a dream.

The thing that kept me from drifting back off to sleep was thoughts of Guy and his stinging kisses. And even though my heart knew it was too soon to plan a future with him, I did so anyway. I did so freely, with reckless regard for the effect his leaving again would have on me.

I lay awake planning our futures together far into the night, until tendrils of dawn crept through the blinds. And when I finally allowed myself to be taken by sleep, there was the kind of Christmas-morning-smile resting on my face that I hadn’t known for a very long time.

When I awoke, Amanda was gone.

I rolled over and saw the bedroom door cracked open and knew she’d let herself out to go down to breakfast. I have no idea how that cat taught herself to open doors, but as long as the latch hadn’t clicked into place, she could get out.

I’d seen a number of YouTube videos where cats had taught themselves to open doors, so I knew Amanda wasn’t being exceptional. Still, I lay there smiling like a proud parent, as if my kid was the smartest kid in the whole wide world.

When I finally got downstairs, Suze was already gone, off to an early start of garage-sale hopping with Tony. There was a time when she would have been dragging me along, hitting garage after garage until late in the day—another reason to be grateful that Tony had come into her life. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy going to garage and estate sales with her, but I didn’t enjoy them as much as she did.

I arrived in the kitchen, and my stomach began to growl as if on cue. I didn’t dare eat anything. I wasn’t really hungry. My stomach was doing flip-flops of anticipation over my sumptuous breakfast with Guy.

I decided to text Maudrina my good news. Even though she hadn’t returned any of my recent calls or texts, I still had to let her know that Guy was back. After all, she was the one who’d stood by my side through the hard times. She deserved to know the hard times had come to an end:

Good news. Guess who came back last night? Guy Matson.

Two minutes later my cell phone rang.

“If you’re doing this to get me to return your call, it’s a horrible trick to play on someone, especially someone you consider your best friend.”

I started laughing before I could speak. Leave it to Maudrina to see through my ulterior motive to get her to finally talk to me. “It’s not a trick,” I said through my laughter. “He came back last night. In fact, he saved my life.”

I gave her the short version of my near disastrous trip to the Rattlesnake.

“How gallant. He’s just like the white knight, rescuing the damsel in distress.”

“It was very chivalrous,” I replied. “Normally I’d say you should have been there. Under the circumstances, I’m glad you weren’t.”

“I’m happy for you.”

I know she meant it, yet I got the feeling there was a hidden message in her words, almost a reminder that we should both be happy for each other, even if one of us was about to make the biggest mistake of her life.

“Thank you,” I replied. I immediately wanted to ask about the sleepover, but I knew if I brought it up all the pleasantness happening between us would come to an end.

“Is he back for good?”

It was a question I had avoided asking myself. “I don’t know. I just wanted to kiss him, and when I made him stop, I didn’t ask.”

“Wait. You made him stop?”

“We were standing in front of a convenience store. Mondo gross.” I’d delivered my news, yet as good as I felt about my own situation, I realized both my best friends needed rescuing, and I was the only one who could rescue them.

“Sounds to me like he’s planning to stay. Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to have a double wedding?”

It was an opening to bring up Curtis and the sleepover. “That would be so special,” I said. “And we could have our firstborns at the same time, too.” They were childish dreams, the kind Erin and I had had many an afternoon sitting in her backyard with our Barbies and Kens, gorging on Fun Dip.

“And we’ll have dinner together on a regular basis, since we’ll be living right next door to each other,” she added.

“Absolutely. Like dinner tonight, for instance.” There was a long silence on the other end that had me regretting choosing that moment to pounce. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot, you’re busy tonight. Okay, another night, then. We’ll all have dinner together another night.” I said, in an attempt to clean it up. The dead air on the other end told me she saw right through my disguise and knew it was my way of bringing up the sleepover with Curtis.

“Umm, I gotta go.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Wait, Maudrina. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to—”

“Yes, you were,” she said, cutting me off. “Good bye.”

“Wait, wait! Don’t hang up.” I could tell the line was still open so I barreled ahead before she clicked off. “I’m sorry. But you’re my best friend, and I worry about you. I can’t help it. That’s what friends do; we butt into our best friends’ lives, even into places we aren’t wanted, because we care.”

There was more silence on the other end, and I was certain at any moment I would hear the line go dead. “I’ve missed you these past few days,” Maudrina said. Her voice was small, as if coming from a far off place.

“I missed you, too.”

Another pause. “I’m happy for you that Guy is back.”

“I’m not so happy about what you’re going to do with Curtis. But that’s okay. You’re my best friend, and I’m here for you. I lost Erin because I was only thinking of myself. I’m not going to let that happen again. I worry about you.”

“Thanks,” she said softly.

“No problem.”

More silence.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m nervous about tonight, too. But not so nervous that I don’t want to do it. I love Curtis, more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life.”

Do I point out that she’s sixteen years old and probably hasn’t loved anyone aside from her parents and her pets?

“Including Piddles and Sam?” I asked. I didn’t know I was going to ask it, but once the words came out my mouth, I was glad I did, because she began laughing, and I could feel the tensions easing between us.

“Silly rabbit, you always love your children most. Everyone knows that.”

As if on cue, Amanda slinked into the room, her pet mouse in her mouth. She dropped the toy on the floor and began playing with it in front of me.
That is a toy, isn’t it?

“You’re right. How can we not love our children most? Their love is unconditional.” I immediately thought of Guy. “I have to go. Guy is picking me up in fifteen minutes for breakfast.”

“Don’t forget about the bake-off tomorrow.”

I’d almost forgotten. Aunt Jaz was participating in the Carefree Bake-off on Sunday. The bake-off wasn’t just another baking contest as far as Aunt Jaz was concerned. Nuh-uh. It was the Super Bowl of baking contests. The finest bakers in the entire valley would be there showing off their dessert-baking skills. Anyone who knew Aunt Jaz knew she took her cooking and baking very seriously. Anything less than a blue ribbon in the bake-off would be considered a failure.

“I’m looking forward to it. We’ve all gotta support Aunt Jaz,” I replied.

“Or she’ll never speak to us again.” We both cracked up with laughter, easing more of the tension between us. “No more crawfish ètouffèe,” she said, still laughing.

“Or gingerbread with whipped cream frosting,” I added.

“Or that kitchen. How many ugly shades of green can exist in one place?”

We were both laughing uncontrollably. We knew we loved everything about Aunt Jaz, as eccentric as she may be, and that knowledge seemed to make it funnier. “I’d miss those things,” Maudrina said, the laughter dying on her lips.

“Yeah,” I said wistfully. “I’d miss them, too.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow.”

It didn’t get past me that by saying
we,
Maudrina was sending a subtle message that Curtis would be attending the bake-off with her—basking in his post-
sleepover
glory, no doubt. “Yep.
We’ll
see you tomorrow,” I replied, flaunting the fact I was no longer the third person in the room.

When I hung up, I could feel the relief showering over me. Maudrina and I had finally spoken. I wondered if my concern about her and Curtis had to do with my own lack of sexual experience. Maybe I didn’t think she should do it because I hadn’t done it.

Maudrina was a big girl—a smart girl, fully capable of making her own decisions. Besides, didn’t I have my own life to worry about? I decided to let Maudrina worry about Maudrina and concentrate on enjoying my breakfast with Guy.

*

At nine o’clock on the dot, I heard the rumble of a motorcycle on the street outside and knew that he had arrived. The flip-flops that my stomach had been doing turned into Olympic-style backflips. I was so incredibly nervous, my hands were perspiring. It had been eight weeks since I’d last seen Guy, eight weeks since I had insisted we take a time-out.

Is it possible to pick up where we left off?

I wondered if Guy truly forgave me for nearly costing him his existence.

When I arrived at the curb, Guy was standing alongside his bike, a charming smile on his gorgeous face. He was wearing his typical uniform: a white tee and jeans. How one person could look so good dressed so simply was beyond me.

“Hello,” he called as I stepped onto the walkway.

“Hey,” I responded, the backflips in my stomach becoming cartwheels.

He had a shiny new helmet under each arm. “Your chariot awaits.” He made a grand flourish, sweeping his arm toward me and continuing across the bike. In the daylight, I could see it was a black Honda.

“What happened to the Mustang?”

A look came across his face. “Don’t you like my bike?”

While I’m no fan of speed, I did enjoy riding on the motorcycle, snuggled up close against him. “I just thought since Harrison was gone, you’d get your car back.”

“I want to try this for a while—unless you’re scared?”

The playful taunt elicited the response he was looking for. “I’m not afraid.”

“Good.”

As I arrived at the bike, I noticed a spiky bracelet on his right wrist. A gentle despair gripped my heart as I recalled the matching friendship bracelet that had once graced his wrist. My jealousy was the reason we both had stopped wearing the bracelets. Mine was once again on my wrist; his had been replaced with a spiked biker bracelet.

“That’s new,” I said pointing to the bracelet. I tried to keep my voice neutral.

“Came with the bike,” he replied with his teasing grin.

“Ah, I’m sure that’s what clinched the deal.”

“This and the leather vest. I’m saving that for when I need to get formal.”

He laughed, and I joined him. I was determined not to let a friendship bracelet ruin my elation over his return. I spotted a blue cooler strapped to the rear fender of the bike with a blanket underneath and focused my attention on them. “What’s that?”

“I see you’ve spotted our sumptuous breakfast. Let’s see, fresh fruit, some brie that’s to die for, a grilled Portobello mushroom Panini and a few additional surprises—everything a growing girl needs.” His smile became even more charming, and I could sense my despair passing like a tiny cloud that had momentarily blotted out the sun. All was right with the world.