Love's Crazy Twists (18 page)

              “You did what?”  She asked sleepily.

              “I made breakfast, silly.”

              “Shane, you are too good to me. I can’t believe that you are really mine.”

              “For as long as you want me.”  He said as he leaned down and kissed her.

              When she pulled away and said, “Let’s eat!”

              Shane got the tray of goodies and they got settled in the bed.

              “Shane!  This looks terrific.  And it smells great.”  She took a bite of her omelet, “Mmm, it is delicious.  I never knew you were such a good cook.”

              “See, I am just full of surprises.”

              Julie laughed, “Yeah, you’re definitely full of something!”  She teased.

              They finished their breakfast and it was time to Shane to go.

              “I’m really going to miss you.” Julie said.  “What am I going to do without you for a whole week?”

              “You’ll be fine.  I’ll call you every chance I get.”  He kissed her on the forehead.  “I’m going to miss you too.”

              “Promise me that you’ll be careful.”

              “I promise.”  He leaned in toward her and kissed her full on the mouth.  His tongue danced with hers and he wanted to remember exactly how she kissed so that he could recall it any time he wanted.  He knew that he was just going to be gone for a week but it felt like a lot longer.

              “OK, Jules, I really have to go now.”

              “I know.  I love you.  Be careful and no picking up any women hitch-hikers.”  She laughed.

              “Don’t worry, I won’t.  I love you too, and I’ll call you soon.”  He finished as he walked out the door.

              As soon as he was gone Julie suddenly felt alone and not quite sure what to do all by herself.  Eventually she headed back to bed.  But she didn’t sleep.  She kept thinking about Shane.

              Julie passes the first part of the day cleaning up the house, running the sweeper and moping the floor.  When she sat down for a sandwich lunch the doorbell rang.  When she opened the door a young man with a large bouquet of flowers greeted her.

              “Are you Miss Boyd?”  The man asked.

              “Yes, I am.  Can I help you?”

              “These are for you, Ma’am.” He said handing her the big bunch of wild flowers.

              Julie signed for them and shut the door.  She read the card.

Jules,

I knew that you’d be having a hard

day today.  So I thought that

this would cheer you up a little.

I love you.  See you soon.

love, Shane

              Julie put the flowers in a vase and just started at them for what seemed like hours.  For the next few days she went about her business, the usual shopping and cleaning and getting ready for when the bank called her to return to work.  Everyday she got a delivery of flowers from Shane with a card saying that he missed her and that he loved her. And everyday when she got the flowers she’d smile.  Every night Shane would call her to tell her that he was safe and that he loved her.  Julie couldn’t believe how loved she felt.  It was an awesome feeling that she never wanted to lose.  Though somehow she doubted that she would lose it if she stayed with Shane.  He worshiped the ground she walked on.  He said that she was his everything and in return he was becoming her everything.

              The time had finally come and Shane would be back home and in Julie’s arms the following day.  She was so excited to see him again.  She couldn’t wait to kiss his lips and feel his arms around her.  She had a splendid dinner planned for him as a surprise.  She had the whole house clean and sparkling.  She didn’t have anything else to do so she decided to sit down and relax while watching some television.  She was just about ready to doze off when the phone rang.

              “Hello?”  She asked, wondering who it was, since Shane had already called that evening.

              “Hey, Doll.  I hope I didn’t wake you.”

              “Shane?  Why are you calling again?”  She asked him.

              “Well, I’m having a bit of trouble.”  He started.

              “Are you okay?  Did you wreck? What happened?”  She asked frantically.

              “Julie, calm down.  I’m fine.” He started again.

              “Oh, thank God!”

              “I’m having a little trouble with the truck.  I was going down the highway and I went to pull in at a truck stop and I couldn’t steer.  Here my steering column broke.  Anyway, I called the company and talked to Steve, turns out it’s going to take a few days to get it fixed.  He’s got me set up out here in a hotel for a few days and then when the truck is fixed, I have another load to bring back.”

              “Oh my gosh!  I’m so glad you are okay.”  Then Julie’s heart sunk, “So when will you be home?”

              “In all honesty, I don’t know.  I’m hoping that I’ll be home by Friday.”

              “Friday!”  She exclaimed.  “That is almost another week.”

              “I know that, Baby.  I’m really sorry.  There’s really nothing I can do now.  Even if the truck was fixed right now, it’d still take me at least a day and a half to get home.  I have to pick up the next load on Tuesday and then I should be there by Thursday night.  Alright?”

              “Alright.  I was so looking forward to coming home.”

              “As was I.  Now you’ll be even more excited when I get there.  So when I do get back you’d better take the phone off the hook because I don’t want to get interrupted.”  He laughed.

              “Now
that
sounds like a plan.”

              “Well, I’d better get off the phone and let you get some sleep.  I’ll call you tomorrow, OK?”

              “You’d  better.”  She teased.

              “I love you Julie.”  He said.

              “I love you, too, Shane.”  She told him and then hung up the phone.

              Now Julie had almost another whole week to wait for her lover to come back home to her.  What would she do for a whole week?  Instead of worrying about it now, Julie decided to go to bed.

              When she finally dragged herself out of bed it was a quarter after ten.  She couldn’t believe that she had slept in that long.  She was usually up by nine at the latest. She got up and turned on the television then headed to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.  When she sat down on the couch and started flipping through the various infomercials and talk shows she realized that she didn’t feel very well.  She dismissed it as nerves and wanting to see Shane so badly.  She got her coffee and went on with her day.

              Julie dozed off for a few minutes and there was a knock on the door.

              “Now who could that be?”  Julie thought aloud as she headed to the door.

              “Jen?  Hi.  What are you doing here?”

              “I haven’t seen you in a while so I thought that I’d stop by and see how things were.”  Jen said while looking around as if she hoped to see a sign that she was interrupting something.

              “Come in.  Things are great.  How are you?”  Julie asked her friend.

              “Pretty good.  But enough about me, I want to know about you and Shane.”  She prodded.

              “Oh, so that’s what this is about.  You didn’t miss me, you just wanted to get the gossip.”  She teased.

              “OK, so you found me out.  What can I say?  I love a good story.”  She laughed.

              “Well, what do you want to know?  Things couldn’t be better between Shane and me.  He loves me so much and I love him.”

              “Aww.  Tell me about the sex parts!”

              “Jen!  You’re awful!”  She laughed.

              “I know I am. But I am your best friend so I am entitled to know the sex details.”  She grinned.  “Come on please?”

              Julie just looked at her friend for a second before Jen started again, “You already told me that he has a big penis.  So...does he know how to use it or what?”

              “Jen, if you must know...no.  He is a lousy lover.” Julie said and couldn’t hide the grin then she said, “Actually, he is the greatest lover I ever had.”

              “Really?  Can I get the juicy details or not?”

              “Jen, I’m sorry, but that’s all you’re getting.”  She laughed.  “Do you want some coffee?”   She asked, changing the subject.

              “Yeah, that sounds good.”  Jen told her, “I like milk and sugar in mine.”

              “I know this Jen, after all you are my best friend in the whole wide world.”

              Julie stood up and headed out to the kitchen and as she was just about there she suddenly felt dizzy and stumbled against the wall.  She caught herself and stood quietly for a moment before moving.

              “Jul, are you OK?”  Jen asked.

              “Yeah, I think.  I just got a little dizzy, that’s all.”

              “Here, let me help you sit down, I can get my own coffee.”  Jen said as she reached for her friends arm.

              Julie pulled away, “Don’t be silly.  I am fine. I must have gotten up too fast, that’s all.”  She said as she reached up into the cupboard to get a coffee mug for her friend.  She poured the coffee and got the milk out of the refrigerator and added it and sugar to the freshly poured cup.

              “So, Jen, how are you?”  You seeing anyone or what?”  Julie asked.

              “Nah, I haven’t seen anyone for like a whole month!”  Jen laughed.

              “Come on, Jen, I saw you with that cute guy at the Stomping Ground.”  She prodded.

              “What!” She exclaimed.  “How could you see anything that night, you were totally wasted, remember?”

              “Before that.  I saw you.  The tall, blonde guy who had the cowboy hat and the skin tight jeans!”  She searched her friends face for any signs of giving in, then she saw it.

              “Oh, him!  That was Tyler Stevens.”  She said as if to mean, ‘oh you didn’t know who
that
was, he is nobody, just a friend.’

              “OK, and who exactly is Tyler Stevens?  Friend or “friend with benefits”?”  Julie teased.

              “Friend.”  She answered nervously.

              “That’s it?  Just friends?”  She asked questioningly.  “If he were my friend, I’d definitely give him some benefits!”  They both laughed.

              “OK, Julie, here’s the deal.  The whole truth is this, Tyler and I met a few weeks before your drunken escapade and we were becoming friends.  He is a really nice guy.  Not to mention sweet as sugar.”  She then drifted away in apparent reminiscent of some sweet gesture that his new “friend” of hers had performed.

              “Hello?  Earth to Jen, come in Jen?”  Julie laughed.

              “Oh, sorry.  Where was I?”  She asked.

              “That’s what I was wondering.  You said that Tyler was sweet.”

              “Oh, yeah.  He is so sweet and we have such a good time together.  We just wanted to make sure that we were both really into this relationship before we went around announcing it to people.”

              “Jen! That is great!  I assume that it’s going well.”

              “It is going wonderfully!”

              “So, I guess now it’s my turn...”  Julie asked sheepishly, “have you slept with him yet?”

              Jen nodded her head.

              “An-n-n-d?  Details?”  Julie asked.  And when Jen just looked at her she continued. “You made me tell you about Shane.  Come on.  Spill.”

              “OK.  I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone.”  Julie nodded.  “Not even Shane.”  Julie held up her right hand in promise.  “All right then, here it goes.”  Her eyes widened as she prepared to tell her story of the first night that she had make love with Tyler.  She looked so innocent and starry-eyed just thinking about it.

              “He took me out to dinner at Mama Celeste’s.”

              “The new Italian restaurant out on Route 7?  Woo, fancy.”  Her friend interrupted.

              “Yeah, tell me about it.  It was amazing.  There were candles on every table, the lights were dimmed a bit, which made it very romantic.  Tyler ordered us a bottle of the finest Zinfandel.  I never knew I liked red wine before...but this one was wonderful.”

              “Come on, Jen, get to the good stuff.”

              “Well, we ordered and ate and Tyler had the violin player serenade me!  Right in the middle of the restaurant, I was so embarrassed.  But it was so sweet.”  Jen stopped and drifted off into la-la land again.  But then she snapped out of it.  “Uh, where was I?  Oh, yeah!  So then we left the restaurant and as we were driving home, Tyler suggested that we stop off and have a drink in the lounge of the Bellevue Hotel.”