Keep Me Safe (7 page)

“Seems like you two are close. Do you spend a lot of time at Matt’s?”

“Yeah, we’re pretty close - always have been, really. I have a feeling I’ll spend a lot more time on this side of town now though.” He winked at me and I was thankful my cheeks were already red from running.

“Is that so?”
Fine by me
. “Well you have fun painting. I need to take a shower and go get some groceries.  I have to meet Beth and her friends at the movies later.” I stood up and backed away from his car. “Enjoy what’s left of your view,” I yelled over my shoulder with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I will!” He drove slowly behind me until he reached Matt’s house and pulled into the driveway. I walked into the house and turned some music on in the kitchen while I made some lunch. “Breakout” by Foo Fighters came on and I couldn’t help but dance around while I made my chicken salad. My mood was so refreshing. I hadn’t been this happy and carefree in so long and it felt amazing. I was really looking forward to the movies tonight with the girls; they seemed like so much fun.

I went upstairs, took a shower, and then threw on some jeans and a plain black V-neck shirt. I grabbed the shopping list I had been adding to all week and headed out the door. When I pulled out of the driveway, I saw Parker and Tyler playing catch in the front yard. Just from what I had seen already, he seemed to be a family man. I bet he would make a wonderful father. They both looked over at me and waved simultaneously. I waved back and was hit with a pain in my heart knowing that I would never have that on my own; my husband and son playing together in the front yard.

I got to the store and took out my list. I usually bought pretty healthy foods, mostly because if I had junk food I would eat it all in a heartbeat and it was just better to not tempt myself with it. I had to hide any kind of sweets or junk food from Brent because he liked to tell me that I’d get fat and no one liked a fat girl. Self-esteem issues weren’t usually a problem for me though so luckily I shrugged his comments off without a second thought.

I picked up the extra stuff for lasagna just in case I happened to find a good time to invite Parker over for dinner. I wasn’t a great cook – my mom had taught me how to cook a few of her signature dishes – but other than that, I stuck to simple things. We didn’t really have a kitchen when I was living in the dorms and Brent was a pretty picky eater, so we ate a lot of the same meals all the time. I didn’t do a lot of major cooking just for me, but I definitely made a mean lasagna.

I got everything paid for and headed out to the car, putting the groceries in my trunk. When I left, I headed to the pharmacy to drop off my prescription. I wish I could just call for a refill, but my doctor required me to make an appointment with her once a month to see if there were any changes to be made. I wished. I’d be ecstatic to stop dealing with this anxiety shit. It was exhausting.

I spent two or three months seeing a therapist once a week to just get it all out there. My parents were oblivious to everything that happened because I chose not worry them.  Stephannie was the only other person who knew; mostly because we worked so closely together and it was hard to keep her from noticing. I cut back to an appointment once a month or as needed and I felt okay with that now. Most of my major issues had been worked through and hadn’t really come up any time recently.

When I left the drive-thru at Walgreens, I glanced down and realized it was already two. I guess I was feeling pretty lazy and slow today. I drove to Subway and picked up something to eat and headed home. When I got home, I saw that Parker and Matt were outside working under the hood of his Mustang. I went around to the back of my car to get my grocery bags out and waved over to the guys. Parker waved back and by the time I looked up from getting my first batch of groceries, he was jogging over to me.

“Need some help?”

“That would be great, thanks. I usually pile enough bags on my arms to make them feel like they’re going to fall off.”

We both carried the bags into the house and laid them on the kitchen counter. When all the bags were on the counter, Parker started taking everything out and setting it on the counter. I noticed he was separating the food into groups based on where it needed to go. I stood with the fridge open and smiled, thinking to myself how natural it felt to have him standing here helping me unload groceries. He turned around with the milk and the eggs and realized I was watching him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. I didn’t even think before I started helping you unload this stuff.”

“No, that’s okay.” I moved out from in front of the fridge so he could put the stuff in there. “I was just thinking how nice it was to have someone in the kitchen with me; someone helping me.”

“Did your ex-husband not help you? A woman should never have to bring in her own groceries if she’s got a man around.” He turned around to grab the rest of the fruits and vegetables I bought and I cringed at the mention of Brent.

“No, not very often. He was either busy or not speaking to me.” I leaned up against the back of the counter and hoped this conversation wouldn’t go much farther; I didn’t want to ruin this moment by talking about Brent.

“That’s too bad.” He put the last of the food in the fridge and shut the door, brushing his arm against mine when he closed it. “His loss for sure.” His lips turned up a little bit, just Parker’s way of flirting with me subtly. “I’ll be at Matt’s if you need a big, strong man to help you with anything else.” He winked at me, waved, and walked back out of the house. How did he do that? He managed to waltz into my life and leave me reeling. By looking at him, you’d never know he was nervous or unsure around me. I wonder if he knew what he was doing to me.

I smiled to myself and finished putting the other stuff in the pantry. When I finished, I grabbed my phone and headed upstairs. I had the free time, so I figured I’d sneak in a little nap before the movies tonight. I took my shoes off and fell back onto my bed and heard my phone chirp at the same time. I opened it and saw a text message from Parker:

Have fun at the movies. Beth’s rambling about her favorite actor being in it. Don’t eye him too much ;)

I laughed to myself and hit “Reply”.

Why not? I don’t mind seeing a good looking guy…

Parker:
I know one you could see a little more if you wanted to ;)

Me:
Is that so? Do you think he’s into me?

Parker:
I don’t doubt for one second that he’s already really into you….

I tried to think of a clever response but my heart was too busy clawing and leaping its way out of my chest.

I’d be okay with that. Gonna try and take a nap. Talk to you soon :)

I put my phone on the nightstand and crawled under the blankets. I closed my eyes and imagined being with Parker. Although I obviously didn’t have a good track record for picking the best guys, Parker seemed like one of those guys that you searched for all your life. One that your parents hoped you’d find, and that you knew would take care of you forever. I said a silent prayer that I didn’t do something to screw it up. I knew Parker was going to change my life; one way or another.

Seven

I woke up to the sun glaring through my window. I knew it had to be at least five if I was blinded by the sunset already. I looked over at my alarm clock and it was 5:06. I needed to get up and get moving. I yawned and went to my closet to find something to wear to the movies. I pulled out a simple navy blue maxi dress and went to do something with my hair. It was really humid this week, so I pulled it to a low, messy side ponytail and did a fishtail braid. By the time I got downstairs it was 5:50, so I needed to get going and pick up my prescription. I slipped on my silver flip flops and headed out.

I finished at Walgreens and got to the movie theater at 6:45. I had to park quite a few rows away, but when I got up to the sidewalk in front of the theater all four girls were standing there waiting for me. Christa noticed me first.

“There she is!” All the girls waved. “It’s good to see you again Sadie. Glad you came out with us.”

“Thanks for inviting me! I haven’t been to the movies in ages. It feels nice to leave the house for something other than work.”

“I hear ya. For us, it’s school, soccer or work. I don’t think I’ve been to the movies in probably a year,” Rachel said.

“Well, are we ready? I need to stop on the way in. I don’t go to the movies without popcorn.” We all walked in and made small talk while we stood in line to buy our tickets and then at the concessions counter. We finally got into the packed theater and found a group of empty seats right in the middle.

Christa had been right. We were seeing a movie with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington. Ryan Reynolds was definitely hot, but I couldn’t help but silently chuckle at Parker’s comment earlier. I felt my phone vibrate and pulled my purse open close to the floor to check the message so I didn’t disturb anyone. It was from Parker.

How’s that hot guy? Hope you’re having a good time :) Just drove past the theater and thought about ya.

It’s like he read my mind and knew I was thinking about him. I smiled and texted him back as discreetly as possible.

They frown upon cell phones in the movie theater. I’d like to stay and finish watching this hot guy and not get kicked out ;)

Once the movie was over, we all left and stood out front of the theater.

“What now? Do you guys want to go out? I’m not ready to go home yet,” Yoly said. We stood there for a minute thinking of a place to go, and then Beth spoke up.

“Why don’t we just go back to my house? I have plenty of stuff for us to drink. We can light the fire pit in the backyard and just hang out. Matt went with Parker and Tyler to the go-kart track just down the street from here. They won’t be around.” There were different answers of ‘yes’ and ‘sounds good’ from the girls, so we all started walking to our cars.

I got there after the other girls and the parking lot had filled up between us, so I realized I’d parked quite a bit away from them. When I finally got to my car, I got in and started it. Then I noticed what looked like a piece of yellow paper that had been torn off of a steno notepad. Someone had stuck it under the windshield wiper on my car. I got out and grabbed it and got back in the car before I read it; the note was hand written.

I miss you…your smile, your eyes, the smell of your perfume when you’re around. See you soon.

My smile was definitely huge. You probably couldn’t have pried it off of my face. Parker was so sweet. They must have stopped here on the way to the go-kart track. It was nice to have someone who thought of me and enjoyed doing the little things. I loved that he paid attention to the way my perfume smelled because I had noticed his cologne more than once. Now I didn’t feel like such a crazy, obsessive girl. Like he said, it had only been a week.

I put the note in my pocket, pulled out of the theater parking lot and drove to my house. It wasn’t very far and I’m pretty sure I smiled the entire way there. All of the girls were walking through the front door as I pulled into my driveway, so I got out and walked in the door that they had left open for me.  We all congregated around the kitchen island as Beth pulled several different bottles of alcohol out of the cupboard.

“Alright, anyone want strawberry margaritas? I think that’s what I’m going to have,” Beth said as she pulled some frozen strawberries out of the freezer.

All three girls nodded their head yes and I agreed. “Yeah, that sounds awesome. Should we just make a pitcher of them like you did the last time?” I asked her.

“Yeah, that works for me. I just realized I forgot to put Matt’s work clothes in the dryer, though. Can you finish this for me Sadie? I’ll forget if I don’t do it now.” I had been standing right next to Beth, so she handed me the strawberries.

“You got it.” Beth had already taken out the blender, so I took over adding the things for the margaritas. When I was done and turned the blender off, she was already back in from the garage and her eyes shot over to me with a quizzical look and I knew she was getting ready to say something to me.

“So, how was your date with Parker last night?” She grinned and I felt the other girls look over and stare at me.

“Whoa, you went out with Parker? The ladies’ man himself?” Yoly crossed her arms and I suddenly felt like I was in the middle of an interrogation.

“Uh, yeah…It was really great. He’s a really nice guy.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Yeah, he was over here earlier helping Matt paint Tyler’s room and I heard him telling Matt that you guys went out.”

“We had fun. We had dinner and sat down on the beach for a while.” The curiosity got the better of me, “What did he say?”

“He just said that he took you to Sandbar Bob’s and that he had a really great time. He was hoping you guys were going to go out again soon.”

I blushed and looked down, hoping I could tone down the cheesy grin I had plastered to my face, even though I had the desire to jump up and down like a girl in high school who just got a phone call from her crush. “Yeah, it was pretty nice. He was a total gentleman and it’s been a while since I was treated that way. My ex-husband wasn’t very attentive.”
In a good way anyway…

“Well, I haven’t heard him talk about someone he went out with in a very long time. Actually, I think it’s been a while since he’s dated.”

“Did he date a lot?” I wanted to get her perspective on her ‘troublemaker’ comment without telling her that Parker and I had talked about it.

“Um, he did for a while. He seemed to go through a whole lot of first dates and then nothing after. He just wasn’t content with any of them. I gave him a hard time, but I just like to bust his balls. Matt and I have been married since a month after we graduated high school, so I just tease Parker about being the manwhore of the family.” She poured a margarita for each of us and grabbed some spinach dip out of the fridge. “Anyone still hungry? I could use a snack. Let’s take this stuff out back.” She grabbed some paper plates, the crackers and the dip and we headed outside while I grabbed the pitcher.