Love Came Back (a Pyro-Princess Design and Style novel Book 1) (22 page)

38

Girls, Drinks, Books and Sex

..::Siddaleigh::..

“Do not worry, Cammy, Damien is in good hands. I promise.”

I knew Cambria was still a little hesitant, but she did seem more relieved to be able to spend girl time without having to watch over Damien constantly.

“Thanks, Siddaleigh. When I work, my mother in law Nanette watches him. She never really liked me, you know? Craig was a year older than me. She always thought he gave up his life to be with me. He didn’t even go to college. He was in the AFJROTC, in high school and loved it so much, he enlisted when he was eighteen.”

Koralen sat next to her, and put her hand on Cambria’s arm and kneaded gently in comfort.

“Don’t worry, girlfriend. He loved you with everything he had. And that little boy in that room? Is a miracle. If she can’t appreciate that, then that’s her loss.”

Everyone agreed on that score and Mags stood up from her perch on the love seat.

“Alright, if we’re going to be all sentimental, let’s get some drinks. Sidda? You got tequila and margarita mix, right? Luckily for all you guys, I was a bartender in college, so my ‘ritas are delish.”

She walked into the kitchen where we heard the clanking of glasses and a few things shaking. We were talking about Brianne’s classes when Mags came back in with a pitcher and seven assorted glasses with ice.

The margaritas were passed around and she poured into them until they were each full.

“Yummy, Mags. These are delicious.” Callie commented after taking another sip.

“Thanks. Now, Brianne, when will you graduate?”

“Not until the January.”

Konner had told me over dinner that his father gave him property to make my shop and the few shops around it, into like a ‘chick strip’. With my boutique in the middle, a hair salon on one side, massage-slash-spa on the other. He said he wanted me to own it all. Manage it all. I told him he was crazy. I didn’t know how to manage property. He told me that I as lucky enough to have a fiancé, who did.

He said it would be ready after Thanksgiving. I mentioned this to the girls and they were excited about working in a separate store. I mentioned the massage therapy place to Cambria and saw the excitement at the aspect of having her own place of business. She was going to school for massage therapy and although she was happy working for me, she wanted to be a massage therapist. Especially for military veteran’s, and children with disabilities.

“I simply couldn’t, Sidda. That would be too much. It’s a lot of equipment-”

“Do you think you could make it work, and bring in a lucrative revenue?”

Cambria’s spine straightened and she nodded her head. “Yes, I could. I have another two years though.”

“Don’t worry about any of that. It’ll all work out. Brianne? You know your brother is having that other place made for you. It’s going to be dubbed the ‘chick strip’. I know it sounds like a lot of stress, but I know we could work on making it a successful property.”

“Uh, Sidda?” Koralen caught my attention. When she started working for me, she was really quiet. Kept to herself a lot. She was Cambria’s best friend and I knew she was probably hiding some dark secrets, but prying is simply something I couldn’t do. If anything, she had Cambria and I knew maybe only telling one person, your best friend, was the only way you could move forward. I looked at Mags for a moment and she looked to be in her own little bubble, so I focused back to Koralen.

“Yes, Koralen?”

She looked down at her feet and said something incoherently.

“Koralen, look at me, please. Whatever you have to say would not go further than this apartment and I promise to not judge anything you have to say.”

“Could I sell my jewelry when the shop reopens?” She said this so quickly, I almost didn’t understand.

“Jewelry? When did you start selling jewelry?”

Her face peaked with a tint of pink as if she was embarrassed. “Only the past couple of years. I’m not in school like Cambria, but I took some classes at Hobby Lobby for jewelry making and I really liked it. I’ve become pretty good. I’ve done a few arts and crafts shows before, and sold a good amount, but not enough. I would still like to do that, but…maybe it’s not a good idea. Never mind.”

If Koralen made jewelry and she wanted to sell it at the shop, I wouldn’t want to stop her from making her dreams come true.

“No, no, no. Koralen I would be honored to showcase your jewelry. The only thing is I would like a 20/80 royalty. Twenty for me and the rest would be yours. I would love to sell jewelry. That’s actually an idea I had not thought of. I can talk to Konner about putting a special glass cabinet to hold it. This is going to be great. You selling your jewelry at art and craft shows is also amazing. Next week or whenever you want, bring me some of our stuff and let’s take a look.”

I never saw Koralen smile very much, but she did now and it lit her whole face.

“I told you she’d go for it, girl.” Cambria whispered to Koralen but loud enough so we all could hear.

Koralen laughed shyly and nodded her head to me. “Yes, that would be great, thank you, Sidda.”

“It’s my pleasure. I know Candace also wanted to bring her own designs into the store,” I turned towards Candace and said, “You do make beautiful hats and the belts are simply gorgeous. Just so you ladies know, my only requirement is for them to not be terribly expensive. My boutique is not only for those who have money. It’s for all women. As long as that is something y’all can agree on, I think this will turn out to be an awesome idea.”

We talked about the store for a bit. No one mentioned the fire. Since I knew Konner had it well in hand, I figured I’d just let it go. He was making me a whole new store, I would be more vigilant, but I wasn’t going to worry about it. It still hurt. I was pissed as all hell, but there was no use crying over spilt milk, or in this case, burned ash.

“Ok, ladies, have you brought your books?”

We chose a new book each month. I love to read. Read every spare moment I could. I got the girls hooked. Mags said she wished more heroes would be real live men. She told me she had many fictional boyfriends. I said, me too! I had over seven hundred paperbacks on the shelves lining my walls and over eight hundred on my Kindle Paper white. (What can I say? I’m a romance novel tramp.)

This month was one of my favorites to read. I read it as soon as it came out. It was Charmed by Cambria Hebert. I knew Cambria thought it was weird reading a book by a woman with the same name, but went with it anyways. I never thought I’d like reading Young Adult or New Adult romance, but whenever I needed a break from historicals by Candace Camp or Brenda Joyce, and contemporary adult romances, such as Maya Banks or Lora Leigh. I’d read some NA or YA. I could reread this one by Cambria Hebert over and over and feel like it’s a first read every time. Being a lover of romance books, there is only certain ones I could seriously read over and over and know the story by heart. Charmed is one of them.

Our discussion maintained about how Charming’s character became more likeable, then more lovable.

“In Recalled, he was such a douche, even at the end, helping Dex, he still seemed like an unlikable man. But with Charmed, he has such an amazing background story. And of course, he’s a fighter! Who doesn’t love fighters? Boxers? Or military men?” Callie said as she sipped her margarita.

“I know, right? Even when he was kinda being mean to Frankie, he had such a big attraction to her. You read that love scene?” Cammy sounded as if her margarita was starting to affect her just a bit. “I mean, it was
soooo
swoon worthy. Made my heart race.”

Candace and Brianne just sat and listened, since this was their first ‘chick’ gathering. I did make sure not to leave them out though.

“Do you ladies read any kind of books?”

Candace nodded and Brianne shrugged her shoulders.

“I like historical romance. Especially about highlanders. Have you all read Suzan Tisdale’s Laiden’s Daughter, from The Clan MacDougall series? So good.” Candace mentioned Suzan Tisdale and my face brightened.

“Yes, I have. I’ve read all the way up to the novella, McKenna’s Honor.” I loved that we shared a passion for the historical. “Maybe we should read her after the next book. It’s Samantha Young’s On Dublin Street. Have you ever read her before?”

“Oh! I have!” Brianne chimed in. “I read her Fire Spirits series. It’s ah-maze-balls.”

“Yeah, I loved reading that series, too.” Callie worked in.

After our book discussion, there was a knock on the door. I got up and looked through the peep hole and Nathan was standing on the other side. I opened it, let him in and directed him towards the back den area where Konner and Damien were holed up in.

All the way walking towards where I pointed him, Nathan stole subtle glances at Brianne. When he finally caught her looking back, he smirked, and walked off.

“Damn insufferable man.” Brianne grumbled.

“He so has a hard-on for you, girlfriend.” Mags said and laughed out loud as Nathan turned the corner.

“I have a boyfriend. A very dedicated boyfriend that I love.”

I looked at her and waited until she felt my stare. When she did, she shrugged.

“What, Sidda?”

“Who are you trying to convince? You see Nathan and you light up like a Christmas tree.”

She sighed heavily and flipped her strawberry blonde curls behind her shoulders. They were beautiful long locks that gave me a reminder of how long my hair used to be. I had ended up cutting fourteen inches, in which I donated to Locks of Love and I kept this length ever since.

“I’m with Kent. He’s good to me. We’re happy. I’m happy.” She said that a little forcefully.

“How’s the sex?” Candace burst out, “because if the sex isn’t giving you all sparks and lightning? Girl, it’s time to trade up.”

Brianne blushed cherry red and looked away towards the floor.

“Oh. My. God. You’re a virgin!” Candace whispered loudly, making sure no violating ears (Nathan’s in particular) could hear.

“Yes, we’re waiting.”

“That’s just fine, Brianne. It’s always good to really make sure you’re ready. It’s a big step.”

“Thanks, Callie.”

“How about you, Siddaleigh? Konner giving it to you like a he-man?”

“Eeewww, that’s my brother!” Brianne laughed and covered her ears with her hands.

All I did was chuckle, and made myself drink the rest of my margarita, which made me feel positively lax.

“He
so
does. I love every second of it, too.”

39

Meeting the Parents

..::Siddaleigh::..

A few weeks after the fire, I hadn’t receive any more threats or warnings. Nothing to even hint that I had a mad man after me. Another guy from Konner’s team was a computer whiz and had found out Mike was released from jail. Being his first arrest and he had good behavior throughout the measly few years he was in there, he was able to be released. He did have to stay away from me though. That was court ordered before he went in. H2H, Konner’s team member (Konner said the guy didn’t want no chick to know his real name when I asked what H2H meant), said that since the jail was over packed they were releasing the first offenders on good behavior.

What a crock of beepitty-beep-beep. First offender? He’s done it before. Maybe not as bad, but he was or better yet,
is
still a bad guy. Good behavior my ass.

Konner reassured me everything was being taken care of. I had to trust his judgment. I knew he wouldn’t knowingly or willing let anything happen to me. I knew he had someone watching me as I worked, went to yoga or ran any errands. So basically, everything went back to normal.

One evening at dinner, Konner, my over bearing fiancé, tried to persuade me to let him pay for the reconstruction of the site for the store. I told him I had some money saved. I didn’t spend it all. Well, I do buy a lot of books, but come on, when they were under five bucks, and if I liked them? I bought them. End of. What could I say? I had a book obsession. That was beside the point, I didn’t want Konner spending thousands on me. We argued, ended of having hot, wall-banging sex, and came to a compromise. He would let me pay for half.

“Whatever, babe, so Brianne moved in with Kent, and I spend all my time at your place. How about we move in together?”

Here came my ‘what the eff’ face.

“Uh, sure?”

“Good, why waste good space? I can move my things into the house, and whenever you’re ready, we could move in the house.”

Move in a house with Konner? I so don’t know how that’s going to work.

“I already agreed to marry you. I don’t-”

“Shh, babe,” he wrapped his arms around me, “It’s okay. I willna rush you, love. My home is there for whenever we’re ready.”

I felt more relaxed by his answer. I did want a home one day, but I don’t think I was ready for that responsibility yet. Besides, who knew if I would like his home or the way it was built in the first place? I told him this and all the goof-ball did was laugh.

“Babe, when ye see it, if there is anything ye want to add or take away, it’s yours to do as you wish,
banphrionsa
. Carte blanche. Whatever your heart so desires.”

Could he read my mind? This man was crazy. I love him but he is crazy. He had talked to Brianne, and told her to take her time, that the salon would just stay empty until she was ready.

I underestimated how much money my fiancé had. He told me he had been saving ever since he moved out of his parents’ home. Especially being single and in the military, he stayed either with his parents when he was younger or he’d stay at the base. He accumulated a lot.

With the promise from the girls to wait, I felt elated to have a two month semi- vacation. He told me to oversee whatever I wanted for the store and I did. He got more serious with his physical therapy, so he could be ready when they called him back to duty.

I knew this news was coming and it still made me pause. I really didn’t want what happened before to happen again, but he promised me that this time, it would be different. He would be smarter. First thing? Meeting his parents.

As our birthdays crept closer, Konner mentioned a family get together. He told me it would only be immediate family and maybe his uncle and cousin.

Yeah, right.

Mags didn’t have any plans and I convinced her not to leave me to go by myself. Being the bestie that she was, she agreed.

The ‘immediate’ family consisted of family from out of town, as well as out of the country. Never in my life have I seen so many Gingers in one place. I mean I have Irish in my blood, but like one-eighth. This was a red or strawberry blond haired, freckle convention. They were all loving and welcomed me into the fold of their family. His Uncle Braedon didn’t really seem so nice, but he was nice to my face and I wasn’t going to worry about him.

I saw Mags looking around to all the wild Irish people to one good looking man.

“Konner, who is that over there?” I pointed to the older man, who looked to be maybe a little older than Konner.

“That’s my cousin, Lucan. That’s the son of the uncle I help sometimes. He works with his da at their security firm. Why?”

“Oh, no reason, besides Brianne, I don’t see many younger people around.”

Mags took off inside the house. She looked as if she was conflicted over something, but Konner’s parents stepped up to us and I didn’t want to be rude. I knew Mags would be okay and hoped she would tell me if she felt uncomfortable being here.

A pretty little girl trailed after her. Not long after she followed, Konner’s cousin followed.

Konner’s parents were so supportive and told me as many times as possible how happy I made Konner, which made them equally happy.

His father even mentioned something about grandbabes.

Uh. We hadn’t really talked about babies just yet. I blushed, Konner shrugged.

“Not now. Later, da.”

♥

The weekend before his birthday, I decided it was time for him to meet mine too. Since he already met my mom, I wanted him to meet the rest of my family. On Sundays after church, me and the girls met, did our thing and if it was football season, I always went to my parents for a football party. Backyard Bar-B-Q with the game playing on the radio and inside on their huge flat screen. Only my ‘immediate’ family was there. So my oldest sister, her husband, along with her three boys, and my middle sister with her two kids were there.

My dad looked a little worse for wear, but my mother had told me they reconciled their differences and started taking couples therapy.

Wide-eyed was me for like the whole conversation on that one. I mean, couples therapy? Okay…I heard imaginary crickets in the background when she said that was what they agreed to do. I figured, let them own up to their own mistakes and move forward. I knew they love each other. They’d been together for thirty years. They were what my mother says, ‘lived-in’. Like comparing their marriage to a house was relevant. Insert eye roll here.

Konner loved hanging out with my nephews. They’d never met anyone in the military before, so it was an experience they enjoyed. They asked him so many questions, and I soaked it all up. He was so wonderful with them.

I had yet to tell him. I was late. Only by two days. That’s happened before, I was a heavy set girl with irregular periods but with my Pink Pad tracker app, I’ve actually been on time for over a year. I didn’t want to worry him and I wanted to wait to make sure there wasn’t any complications, if I did happen to be pregnant. We’ve been having a serious amount of sex lately. I couldn’t get enough. That could be another reason. Sometimes sex pushed the cycle back. Or so I’ve read.

Pregnant
. I definitely didn’t want to tell him just yet. My stalker ex-boyfriend was on the loose. Not really ideal. I was planning on making Mags go with me to get a test after I had Konner’s birthday and mine over with. So hoping it’s a false alarm.

My oldest sister, Jeanine, gave me and Megan, my other sister, a shot of whiskey as a toast to Megan who finished getting her nursing certificate and a job at one of the hospitals in their hometown. Megan was a single mother, who lived with my parents until two years ago when she wanted to become a nurse. So with their help she was able to go to nursing school when her kids were in school.

It was definitely something to celebrate. The only thing that went through my head while we were shooting back the liquor was…here’s to hoping.