Lost Her (Lost #1) (6 page)

“I would like to purchase a coffee maker like I had at home that grinds the beans and brews the coffee, a Grind and Brew,” I say with doubt of finding one.

“I know just the place to get one of those and you will also need little creamers and beans,” she smiles. I follow her into an appliance store and I see many things I would like to purchase. I buy the coffee maker and internet Wi-Fi signal booster. “Any other items that you need?” Rosalie asks.

“Yes, liquor store,” I respond.

Rosalie grimaces turning to me, “That is an insult. Is my liquor not good enough for you?”

“No, I mean yes. I just want to get a few bottles of some amazing red dry wines for Livi. She loves a good spicy red with her Italian food,” I smile back at Rosalie.

“What is wrong with my red wine?” she states again. “Rosalie that is cheap stuff you sell. I bet you Livi does not even drink it, am I right?” I chuckle.

“You may be right. She has only had wine once since I know her,” She shows me in to another store. I shop around and find everything I need. I even grab the largest bottle of the best 30-year old single malt scotch whiskey I can find. We walk out of the store and head back to the truck.

As we drive away from the city, I think to myself how nice it is to live in desolation. Rosalie hums along with the Latin music on the radio. I nod off until we turn off the highway on a bumpy road. I wake up thinking to myself that we have about an hour and a half on this road
before we get back to the Cantina. She turns off the static on the radio and she asks me questions about how I knew Livi was the one for me. I tell her only the basics about meeting in college and Livi was the quiet type not having any female friends. But then, I die off the conversation thinking back to the first time I met her crazy family. My parents and my sister went away for Thanksgiving. I could not join them since I had daily practice for the hockey season starting up. Livi felt bad and invited me to her house to have dinner with her family. I had not met them yet since we were only dating for 2 months. She warned me that her older brothers were uncivilized and were completely into football. She also warned me that she, as well as her dad, loved hockey, but they were not into the same NHL team that I liked. I guess that was her way of warning me to not talk sports.

She drove up to the college the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and picked me up in a beat up old pickup truck. I hopped in with a small bag since I was staying over for two nights. “What is this truck?” I asked kind of grossed out over how dirty it was.

She smiled, “It is my dad’s truck. My brother blocked me in the garage, so I could not get out. I grabbed the keys for the truck. I love this old truck, great memories growing up fishing and camping with this truck.” I just nodded and I started to think about what I got myself into for the next few days. I really was not prepared to be farming it or whatever they do out there. We drive up route 23 and get off the jug handle for a town called Kinne
lon. We turn down a road that has no houses but all woods. She stops at a security gate punching in a code, and then the gate opens. We drive in to a heavily treed area and down a paver stone driveway to a sprawling estate on a lake. I keep staring at the house and the views. She parks the truck taking the keys out of the ignition. “Are you ready for the mayhem?” she asks me looking completely nervous. I only can nod. “Ryan, I have to tell you that I never brought home any guys that I was dating. I was always afraid of what might happen. So I am saying sorry now if my brothers beat up on you or any other stuff that they put you through. Also, you have to sleep in the basement and I know my dad is going to lock you down there,” she says shyly getting out of the truck.

All I can get out of my mouth, “I thought you lived on a farm.”

She smiles, “A crazy farm, you will see.” We walk in to the house greeted by 7 German Shepherd dogs and there before me stands a tall man about six feet four inches in height. He is very familiar to me as he extends his hand to shake mine. Livi does the introductions and I notice that he is squeezing my grip tighter.

Then it dawned on me and the words just come out of my mouth, “
Holy shit, you are Henry McGraw, The State Attorney General. You had selected me for a full sports grant and law scholarship two years ago and made a special appearance at my Clifton High school graduation to hand me my diploma. I am sorry Sir, I am rambling.”

He grinned at me like he was very pleased that I knew who he was, “Ah yes boy. I remember you
. Funny how it is that you are here in my house with Olivia being her new friend,” sternly the words leave his mouth.

Livi is beaming a smile ear to ear, “Ryan, you never told me about your scholarship?”

“I am not one to brag,” still looking star struck. I can’t believe I am having Thanksgiving dinner with my idol.

“Olivia, you better suit up if you are going to catch tomorrow’s dinner. Boy, have you ever hunted before?” He looks at me knowing my answer.

“No Sir, never,” I state sheepishly.

“Olivia, you will need to keep watch over him so your brothers who are out there with guns don’t mistake him for a deer. Olivia will be using a bow since she is going for a fresh kill turkey,” he nods with the most confidence in his daughter.

We all go out in the woods and hunt. It only takes Livi 20 minutes to find her turkeys
, shooting two birds. I am completely grossed out as she pulls out her arrows. We walk back to the house and into the garage. She does the unthinkable and begins butchering them right there in front of me. I get queasy passing out. When I come to, I am on the couch with a nice gentle older woman blotting my head with a towel. Then the pain flushes over me. I passed out and hit my head. Livi runs into the room and looks at me. She speaks very softly, “Margret, he is awake, very good. So what is the story going to be so he is spared the ridicule?”

She laughs smiling
, “He walked into a branch. That will work. Ryan, go with that story do you understand? These men are ruthless and will look for anything to tear you apart.” I just nod in an agreement.

My thoughts are returning to the present, but I just keep smiling about how Livi always protected me to make sure her family accepted me. I never did that for her. I allowed my family to destroy her and put her down for being assertive, a forward thinker and independent as hell. I remember back to when we got pregnant with Katie at the end of the summer right before law school. My family had many choice words for her, but I never let them know exactly who Livi was or who her Dad was.

The pregnancy was a medication accident. Livi was on the pill but had taken antibiotics for a sinus infection. We had no clue that the antibiotics would nullify her birth control pills. I was more afraid of her father being accepting, but he was completely supportive. My family on the other hand thought she was gold digging the soon-to-be-lawyer. They did not realize that she too was going to be attending law school at Seton Hall. We had a beautiful wedding all sponsored by her father. My family learned a few days before the wedding that she came from a superior family, but I was already disgraced by my family. I knew then Livi would never be accepted, she was just too different.

I shake off my thoughts as Rosalie pulls up to the Cantina. We off load the truck and place my items in Livi’s truck. I take out the scotch and hand it to Rosalie. “Here, you will need this with Henry coming down tomorrow. I did receive his flight itinerary e-mail; I just have not read it yet.” She takes the bottle from my hands and smiles. I head off into the kitchen to start preparing the food. I finished baking two trays of food and place one tray in the freezer. Rosalie walks in as I am washing up the pots.

“Thank you for doing this for me. Now I can enjoy Saturday for Parker’s birthday outing. I was not going to go if I had to cook all day Saturday for Sunday’s family
day.”

I smile, “So why is this family day so important?”

She looks at me, picking up a drying cloth and a pot, “The area families congregate here after mass. Many women drop off dishes for me to keep cold while we are at the church service. Then we all come back here and feast.”

I look at her surprised
. “I know I just got here, but I have not seen a church. Where is it?”

She laughs, “In the school.”

I look at her while she is smiling, knowing that I have a lot to learn and I simply reply with an “Oh.”

I finish up and pack the food up into the truck. I head up the hill wanting to get ready for Livi to come home. I know I have some time since it will take her some time to walk home. I shower putting on fresh clothing and keep busy to set up the internet booster. I test it and it is working great. I go get my laptop and download my e-mails. It takes about 15 minutes and I read the flight itinerary for Henry. He will be here on Friday. Good, I have more alone time with Livi. Wait until I tell Livi that her father is coming down. I think she will be excited.

Then I notice the time and she is not home yet with the dogs. I decide to jump in the Land Cruiser and drive to see what is keeping her. I get to the bottom of the hill and there is no sign of Livi anywhere. I go directly to the Cantina and find her sitting at the bar laughing with Parker and Rosalie. She is leaning on Parker and I feel a wave of jealousy come over me. I need to find out what is going on between them and take her back. I think to myself that she better not has eaten yet. That would ruin my surprise. I walk up to the bar and Rosalie smiles at me with a shrug. “Hey Livi,” I interrupt, “I was waiting for you at home and I have something special to tell you.”

She spins around on the bar stool
noticing that she may be a few drinks into the night. “I know! Rosalie told me that Daddy is coming to visit tomorrow. I just can’t believe it. He hates the heat.”

I smile at her pulling at her arm to follow me, “Yes, he will be here Friday and I have a surprise for you at home.” She jumps up
waving good bye to everyone. I open her door for her to get in the passenger side of the truck. She hops in and I seatbelt her in before closing her door. I open the back and the dogs jump in. She is quite chatty on the way up the hill and is talking about her dad coming. I knew Rosalie did not tell her about Margret. I will tell her during dinner, I think to myself.

I pull up outside the house. I walk around to help her out of the truck. She grabs her bags and calls the dogs to follow her. As soon as I open the front door, she is able to smell the lasagna. Her eyes open wide and she turns to me with an awe stricken look, “You cooked?”

I nod
smiling, “Yes and you now have internet in the house.”

She looks at me with surprised glistening blue eyes
that open really wide, “Nooo way, and internet?” She grabs my bicep to balance herself through the front door. She leans in to my arm and pauses for a moment, “You smell amazing as always.” Then she looks up at me, “Let’s eat, I am beyond over hungry and the beer is hitting me hard.”  I take her arm and escort her to the table. I pull out the cork on the dark red wine and pour two glasses. I hand a glass over to her and she takes a small sip.

She nods in agreement with her taste buds and she speaks seductively, “I forgot what it is like being married to an Italian.” She rolls the wine in her glass to allow the oxygen to aerate it. She looks over to me as I am placing her food on the plate. She has an extremely surprised look, “Rye, lasagna! How did you manage that with no oven?”

I look at her with endearing eyes, “Rosalie allowed me to use her ovens today when we returned from the market.” I stated boldly with confidence. As soon as I laid the plate in front of her, she has dug into her dish right away, not even waiting for me to return to my seat. She started to make those little noises that she makes when she is enjoying her food. I start the conversation to mildly ease her into what her father had told me today. “I spoke with your dad today as you know.” I look at her and there is no surprise there, “Margret left him.”

She looked at me with a smile on her face which just confused me and then she spoke, “That was a very long time coming. Margret loved us kids. But she knew Dad was never going to stop chasing his children around bailing us out of our problems. She only wanted someone to travel the world with her and experience new things.” I look over to her relieved that she will not be saddened with this news. She continues, “Daddy needs a woman who is perfectly fine set in her ways and well planted.” I laugh because I knew that I always wanted the same things. Maybe that is why Henry and I got along so well all these years. He raised Livi to be the ideal perfect strong woman and I feel like I was hand chosen for her in an indirect sort of way. Her father had brought me under his wing the first day I walked through the door of his house and we shook hands. I remembered that I was so
scared of what he was going to do to me when Livi became pregnant, but he was very understanding. He actually was excited to be a grandparent and quite giddy with all the wedding plans. It was as though he wanted us to be together all along. I guess some might call it fate.

Livi jumps up from the table to get more food, then she sees the coffee makers. She just points to them, “You bought a Grind and Brew? Where did you find those? They must have cost you some serious cash.”