Lulu's Loves (13 page)

“Well,” he began. “This is a nice surprise.”

“I was hungry,” I laughed.

“I meant seeing you in my kitchen.” He looked at me a moment and grinned. “Do you have anything on under that shirt?”

“Not a thing,” I said, and he smiled.

We enjoyed breakfast and got ready to go to the beach. Thom grabbed lounge chairs and filled a small cooler with drinks. “We can come back here when we’re ready for lunch. I’ll open the apartment so we can use the bathroom if we need to.

I started to slather myself with sunscreen. “I can do that,” he offered.

“No!” I said abruptly. He looked at me, questioningly. “If you start rubbing my body with this stuff, we will never see the sun!”

We both laughed. “I know this is true,” Thom said.

We spent a beautiful day in the sun: walks, swims, and naps. Later, Thom fixed dinner and we ate on the porch. By ten, we were both sound asleep.

Sunday, we returned to Charleston and took a horse and carriage tour through the city. We shared dinner at Hank’s, a Charleston landmark, before heading back to Kiawah. When we arrived back at Thom’s, he poured wine, and we sat on the porch enjoying the rest of the evening.

“This has been a relaxing visit for me. I hope it was for you,” he told me. “No more than two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” I asked.

“I can’t go more than two weeks without seeing you,” he replied.

I thought a moment and finally replied, “336?”

He roared with laughter.

“We don’t have to do something every time. Just being with you is all I need. Although when you come south, we’ll have to get a room somewhere. I think my dad knows what happens, but I couldn’t sleep with you at home.”

“I understand that.”

We took a walk on the beach Monday morning before I had to go. Thom held my hand and talked about coming south. I was ready for my dad to meet him.

The car was loaded and I dreaded leaving him. I saw that he felt the same.

“I hate this part,” he said, taking me in his arms.

“I’ll call you as soon as I get home.”

“Lulu, I’ll miss you every minute you are away.”

“Don’t make it harder. I’m struggling. I have to go,” I said quickly, and turned to get in the car.

He turned me back to him. “Remember that I love you.”

Two weeks later, I was preparing for Thom’s visit. He had reservations in St. Augustine, but he was coming to the house for dinner first to pick me up and meet my dad. Thom was such a good cook that I spent hours searching for a recipe that I could pull off to fix for such an occasion. I cooked basic stuff for Dad and me, but I needed something special for this.

I came in from school and finished packing my bags, to make the hour drive south after dinner. Last night, I’d prepared the chicken, spinach, and Swiss cheese roll-ups. They were ready to pop in the oven thirty minutes before I was ready to serve. The salad was waiting in the refrigerator. All that was left was the mushroom cream sauce. Dad would be home by six. Thom would arrive any moment. I was anxious I watched the clock, thinking the minutes were crawling. I wanted this to be perfect.

I was in the kitchen when there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find Thom.

He grabbed me, lifting me off my feet to hug me. “Hello, beautiful!”

“Hello, handsome,” I laughed. “Come on in. Dad will be here in about an hour. Join me in the kitchen; I’m attempting a mushroom cream sauce.”

“I can do it,” Thom said as he followed me.

“No.” I turned to look at him. “Here’s the thing. I can boil water. I can cook basic things. You make me want to branch out and try something new.”

“Oh, Lulu, how you tease me.”

“Stop it!” I laughed. “You’re such a good cook, I want to show you that I can do it. My dad too, actually.”

As we headed to the kitchen, he stopped by a table in the hallway. I saw him pick it up. He was holding a picture of Dad, Mom, and me before she got sick.

“You look like her.”

“My dad says the same thing. Come on,” I said, reaching for his hand.

We sat at the kitchen table for a little while, talking. Finally, I looked at the clock and knew that I needed to start. I had everything ready. I put the butter in the pan and lightly sifted the flour in, stirring. I added chopped mushrooms, while Thom watched. I was adding the cream when Dad came in through the garage door.

“Dad – Thom. Thom – Dad. I can’t stop stirring this!”

My dad extended his hand and Thom accepted it in a firm handshake.

“Dale Welk; it’s a pleasure to meet you. Is she cooking?” Dad peeked over my shoulder. “Grab a camera quick,” he joked.

“Thom Miller. I take it this is a momentous occasion,” he laughed.

I removed the pot of sauce and took the chicken out of the oven. “It’s all about timing. I got this!” I poured the sauce over the chicken and placed it back in the oven.

“Thom, grab that salad, please. I even made a homemade vinaigrette.” I was so proud, I thought I’d bust. I poured the water off the pasta and sent the men to the table with the salad. I thought this would give them a moment to talk.

I dished up the food, sprinkling chopped chives on top and carried their plates to them. Dad opened the bottle of wine Thom brought and was pouring it when I set their plates down. I returned to the kitchen to get mine.

“Lulu, this is lovely.” My dad beamed, looking at the meal I’d prepared.

“This? Oh, it was nothing,” I giggled.

Thom was the first to take a bite of salad. “This vinaigrette is so different…”

“It’s her mother’s recipe,” Dad said as he took a bite.

“Half warm bacon drippings, half olive oil, and then the red wine vinegar and seasonings,” I said, watching my dad.

“This is a nice surprise, Lulu.” He rose and came to my seat to kiss my cheek.

I put my arms around his neck to hug him.

I saw Thom out of the corner of my eye. I could see his emotions as my dad and I shared this moment.

“It’s delicious,” Dad said, finally. “It’s my favorite. I haven’t had it in a very long time.”

We made small talk about the day, my job and my dad’s, and Thom talked about St. Augustine.

“It’s a beautiful place and this is the perfect time of year. Late September isn’t too hot,” I said.

“Everything was delicious, Lulu,” Thom said. He helped me carry dishes to the kitchen.

“Please go sit with my dad for a few minutes; it won’t take me long.”

I heard them talking and it made me smile. My dad was telling him about some places we should go to in St. Augustine when I entered the room.

“It’s getting late,” Dad, said. “You probably want to be tourists for a while.”

“Mr. Welk, it was a pleasure talking with you,” Thom said as he rose to grab my bags.

“You as well.”

I noticed a look on my dad’s face that I’d never seen before. “Thom,” he began.

Thom looked back at him.

“She’s all I have.”

His reply shocked me. “She’s all I want, all I have ever wanted, Mr. Welk.”

“Please, call me Dale.”

Once we were on our way, Thom looked over at me. “That was his way of telling me not to hurt you. My reply was telling him that I love you, and I will never hurt you.”

“Oh, I love you.” I leaned across the console to kiss him when we stopped at the traffic light. “Whose car is this?”

“Mine, for the weekend,” he laughed. “I don’t like putting a lot of miles on the Shelby. Dinner was amazing, Lulu.”

“I’m so happy it turned out–it was iffy there when my dad came in. I couldn’t stop stirring. This was a new experience for me!”

“I love new experiences,” he teased.

He pulled up to the Hilton on the water. A young man came to get our bags and valet the car. “Another reason not to bring the Shelby,” Thom winked and made that ‘chk’ sound.

“Second floor with a balcony overlooking the waterfront,” he said, after he checked in. He took my hand and we followed the bellman to our room.

“It’s beautiful.” I looked around; I wanted to remember every detail. The furnishings looked like old Spanish décor. There was a king-sized bed with gold and red covers. I walked to the window to look out, just as a horse and carriage rode by with a young couple snuggled up to each other.

Walking up behind me, he wrapped me in his arms. “Like Charleston,” he remembered. “I feel a little funny thinking about making love with you tonight.”

“Because of my dad?” I smiled as I turned to face him. “I know, me too.”

“Let’s take a walk before we turn in for the night. This place seems alive. Let’s go experience it.”

We walked a couple of blocks and heard someone singing. We went to investigate. We ordered drinks and sat back to enjoy the music. It was folksy-blues music. It reminded me of Savannah when he got up to sing. Thom liked it. He was drumming along to the music with his fingers on the table. I smiled because he was having fun.

Finally, a man came to the table and whispered in his ear. Thom leaned to me. “I have a surprise for you.”

He left our table and went to the area where the guy who was playing was seated. I saw Thom hand him a piece of paper and the guy nodded. Thom took the mic.

“Lulu, this is for you.” He nodded my way and everyone in the place turned to look.

There you were…

From a distance,

I knew I had to know you.

There you were…

Walking in the sun…

My heart knew, it was you

There you were…

Smiling like an angel

When I said hello.

There you were…

A beacon on a dark night

Your smile aglow

There you were…

An unforgettable surprise

I’ve been waiting for you.

There you were…

Your smile was irresistible,

I knew I had to have you.

There you were…

Mixing up my emotions,

I knew I had to love you.

There you were…

My unforgettable

Irresistible love…

I felt tears trickle down my cheeks. He finished and returned to our table. “There you were,” he sang softly in my ear. He took my hand and led me away.

“No one but me will ever sing that song. I handed the guy the music and he handed it back at the end. It’s yours, Lulu.”

“Oh, but it’s so beautiful. You should do whatever you do when you write a song. I love it, and I’ll always hear it and know you wrote it for me.”

“No. It’s only for you-
Lulu’s Love
,” he replied.

We walked back to the room. “I need a quick shower,” he said.

“May I join you?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

The shower was sensual and romantic, not hot and steamy. His hands roamed my body in a way that said he owned me. I was his, and he was mine.

His kisses were passionate when we finally crawled in bed; he rose and hovered above me. “I love you, Lulu.”

The way he said it, the tone and the emotion, made me cry.

“Why are you crying?” he asked, brushing my hair away.

“When you said it before, I heard you. I heard the words, but I didn’t feel the emotion, not
this
emotion. It made me happy, but not
this
happy.”

He took my hand and placed it on his heart. He leaned forward to kiss me once more. “Can you feel my heart, Lulu?”

“I can.”

We didn’t make love. We held each other. He whispered sweet words of love in my ear, and I fell asleep wrapped in his arms.