Never Close Enough (19 page)

Ella

   Ella woke a few hours after he had left, stretching, remembering the night before.  Campfire.  Kissing.  Rain.  Laughing.  Loving.  She rolled over and smiled to herself.  She was so h
appy he had come over and wanted to be with her, officially.  Her muscles were sore and she was a little slow to sit up in her bed.  She had a whole day to fill before he was off work and she needed something to do.  An idea occurred to her and she quickly grabbed her phone to type a text to her sister.

**Hey, Megs.  Are you free this afternoon?**

**My last class is over at noon.  What’s up?**

**Want to meet in Salem for lunch and shopping?**

**I’ve love to.  Is everything ok?**

**Everything is fine.  I’ll fill you in when I see you at lunch.  I need your help with a special project.**

**There is a cute little deli on Main Street.  Want to meet there at one thirty?**

**Great, see you then!**

   Ella pulled up to the deli right on time and went in to find Megan already sitting at a table.  They hugged and both ordered a sandwich from a polite waitress.

   “Hey, Sis, thanks for meeting me.  How was class?”

   “Oh no, Ella.  We didn’t come here to small talk.  What’s happened now in the roller coaster that is your life?”

   Ella frowned.  “My life isn’t a roller coaster,” she pouted.

   “Oh, yes it is and I love it.  Now, tell me what’s happened.”

   Ella figured it was pointless to deny it; her life was a little crazy as of late.

   “Well, the morning after we talked on the phone, Porter’s mother came to my house.”  Megan’s eyebrows shot up.

   “Oh my.  Was she in mamma bear mode?” 

   Ella cocked her head to the side, contemplating the question.

   “Well, yes and no.  At first I thought she was there to
convince me to go back to him, or yell at me for hurting him.  But eventually, she was a little more focused on me.  She was trying to tell me that I shouldn’t let my fear keep me from being happy.”

   “Smart woman.”

   “Yes, there are a few smart women in my life at the moment,” Ella winked at her sister.

   “So then what happened?”

   “Well, coincidentally, Porter texted me while his mom was there and I agreed to see him last night.  He showed up and told me to meet him on the beach.  When I went out, Megan, he had set up a campfire with blankets and champagne.”  Megan smiled and placed a hand over her heart.

   “Aw, he loves you, Fella!”

   “Yes, I know.  We talked, well, he talked.  He basically wasn’t taking no for an answer, which is good because my answer was yes.”

   “Yes?!”

   “Yes.”

   “You’re together?”

   “Very much together,” Ella smiled.

   “I am so glad, Ella.  You look so happy right now.”

   “I am, Megan.  I feel amazing.”

   “Good sex, huh?”

   “Oh my God, Megs, shut up.”  But Ella couldn’t keep the smirk off of her face.

   “I knew it.  You slut,” Megan laughed.  “So what’s the plan then?  Are you guys going to do the long distance thing?”

   “In the beginning, yes.  He doesn’t seem too worried about it, so I’m not going to worry about it. If I want to see him, I will just drive out and see him.  Gas prices be damned.”

   Their sandwiches arrived and as they ate they spoke some more about Porter and a little about Megan and Patrick’s graduation coming up.

   “I can’t believe my baby sister is graduating from college.”

   “Well, believe it.  Now we’ve just got to find jobs.”

   An idea came to Ella’s mind and she was immediately excited about it.  It wasn’t something to jump into though, so she would have to mull it over for a while.  She pushed the thought to the back of her mind, saving it for later.

   “That is sort of the next step,” Ella replied.

   “Well, speaking of next steps, what is this project you need help with?”

   Ella smiled to herself, trying to hide the flush of embarrassment
that washed over her.

   “I was hoping you could come with me and help me pick something out.”

   “Ok, captain mysterious.  What are we picking out?”

   “Well, Porter sort of has an affinity for lingerie.”

   “What man doesn’t?” Megan laughed.

   “Yes, we
ll, Porter seems to
really
like it.  So I was hoping you wouldn’t mind helping me pick something out.  I would appreciate another girl’s opinion.”

  “Sounds fun.  I might pick something up for myself while we’re at it,” Megan waggled her eyebrows at her.

  “Now who’s the slut?” Ella laughed.  Megan laughed with her, covering her mouth.

   “Ok, let’s get our slutty selves out of here and to the trashy lingerie store.”

   Ella was in a fitting room of a small boutique lingerie store, and she was a little ov
erwhelmed by what she had in front of her.  Megan had basically thrown piles and piles of lace and satin in her arms and shoved her in a dressing room.  Ella went to sorting things out by style.  One pile for nighties, one pile for bras and panties, and another pile for ridiculously perverted pieces of cloth that no respectable woman would wear.  Ella held up a pair or neon green crotchless panties. 

   “Megan, I am not about to be in a porn movie.  Don’t bring me crotchless panties.”

   “Ella, don’t be a prude.  Crotchless panties aren’t just for porn stars.  They’re pretty practical and men love them.”

   “Oh dear God, please stop talking.  I will never be able to look at Patrick the same.”  She heard Megan giggle on the other side of the door.  “I think
we missed the mark, Megs.  I’m looking for smoking hot, not totally trashy.” 

   Megan groaned.  “Those two things are not mutually exclusive, Fella.”

   “Ok, well, I need something softer, not so harsh.  I want him to look at me and do a double take, not have a heart attack.”

   “Fine, wait a minute, I’ll be right back,” Megan said impatiently.

   “He really likes lace,” Ella yelled to Megan as she walked away.

   A few minutes later Megan knocked on her door.

   “This is as soft as it gets, Ella.  Anything softer and you’re going to have to go to a granny shop or something.”

   Ella cracked the door open and Megan handed in an indistinguishable pile of lace.  As Ella untangled it, she immediately started smiling.

   “Nice work, Megs.  This is exactly what I was looking for.”

   “Glad to be of service.”

   Ella put on the navy blue corset, made of lace, with scalloped edging all alone the bottom.  It came with matching lace boyshort panties.  The corset pushed everything in and up and even Ella was approving of the image of her breasts hoisted up for display.  The boyshorts were playful and sexy, and rode up just enough to accentuate the curve at the bottom of her ass.  She was turning every which way, trying to catch all different angles.  Finally, she opened the door just a little, and called for her sister.  Once she was right outside the door, Ella opened up enough for her to see.

   “Oh Ella, you’re in trouble tonight,” Megan said as her yes moved up and down the outfit.

   “You like it?”

   “Definitely,
yes.  Buy it.  In all colors available.” 

   Ella laughed.  “It’s missing something though.  I need some fuck-me heels.”

   Megan laughed out loud.  “Now we’re talking!”

   With her sister’s help, she had found the perfect pair of heels to complete her outfit.  They were walking to their cars in the parking lot.

   “Thanks for meeting me and for helping me pick this stuff out.”

   “I live for lingerie shopping.”

   “Patrick’s a lucky guy.”

   “Damn straight,” Megan agreed, waving her own bag full of sexy purchases.  “So is Porter.  I am so glad you guys worked it out.”  Megan had a thoughtful look on her face.  “You realize that Mom and Dad still think you’re with Kyle, right?  You’ve broken up with him and fallen in love with a completely different man whom they’re never met, and you haven’t told them any of it.”

   “Yes, I know,” she exhaled loudly.  “I just don’t think I should tell them this over the phone.  I will tell them next week when everything calms down a bit.”

   “Ok, well as long as you know what you’re doing.”

   “I do.”

   “Ok, well, have fun tonight and I will see you next week when you get home.”  Megan gave Ella a big hug.  “Love you, Sis.”

   “Love you back.  Drive safe and thanks again.”  When she got into her car she checked her phone
and saw she had a text from Porter.

**Hey, Baby.  What are you up to?**

**I met my sister in Salem for lunch and shopping.  How is your day going?**

**My day is fine.  I wish you would have told me you were going to Salem.  You’ve got no jumper cables. I could have left you mine.**

   Ella smiled and rolled her eyes at his concern.

**I’m sorry.  Don’t worry.  I made it here fine and I am on my way home now.  If I run into any trouble, I will let you know.**

**Okay, text me when you make it back to Lincoln City.**

**I will, promise. Have a good rest of your day**

**Please be careful.  I love you.**

**Love you too.**

   It was going to take some getting used to having someone so protective over her.  Ella thought it was attractive the way he fussed over her; it made her feel safe.  She had only one more stop to make before she put her master plan into action.

   Ella pulled up to Tilly’s, and took a deep breath before she got out of the car and headed towards the door.  Once she was inside, she was reminded of how friendly and welcoming the bar was and it reminded her of its owner.  She knew Tilly had just been protective of Porter and that was the driving force behind coming to confront her.  She tried to remember how nice Tilly had been the night she first arrived and hoped that she hadn’t permanently marred Tilly’s opinion of her.  It was important to her that she got along with Porter’s mother.

   She saw Tilly behind the bar, and when they met eyes, Tilly gave Ella a very big and genuine smile. 
Ella felt a little more comfortable approaching her, keeping her own smile plastered on her face.

   “Hello, Tilly.  It’s nice to see you,” Ella said, hoping she didn’t sound too nervous.  Tilly took a step from behind the bar and came to Ella and wrapped
her in a big, warm hug.

   “It’s nice to see you too, Ella.  I am so glad you’re here.”  Tilly took a step back, her hands still resting on Ella’s shoulders, eyes twinkling at her to compliment the smile she still wore.  “Can I get you something? A drink?”

   “You know?  I would really like a beer,” Ella decided.

   “Coming up.  Now why are you really here?”  Tilly asked as she put a bottle in front of Ella.

   “Well, I was hoping I could ask you for a favor. Have you spoken to Porter?”

   “No, not since ye
sterday morning.  Sometimes he stops in before work, but he didn’t today.  I’m hoping he was too busy,” Tilly winked at her and Ella almost died of embarrassment as she felt a wave of heat from the blush that was most certainly crawling across her face. 

   “Well, regardless, I wanted to say thank you for coming to speak with me yesterday.  I needed someone to help me see a different point of view and yours really helped.  I just need a little more perspective.  I was hoping that you had a spare key to Por
ter’s house that I could borrow.”

   “You want a key to his house?”

   “Um, yes.  I wanted to surprise him with dinner, so I thought if you had a key I could borrow it, just for the day.”

   “I am to assume, then, that you and my son have decided to give
it another shot?”  Ella looked down at her beer, unable to look Tilly in the eye because it was all a little too embarrassing.

   “I was hoping he would have told you by now, but yes, we are together.  He came by last night and we talked everything through
.”  Ella finally looked up at Tilly, trying to overcome her discomfort, only to see wetness in Tilly’s eyes.  Ella’s eyes became wide, realizing that Tilly was getting emotional.  “Tilly, please don’t cry.  It’s ok.  Porter is fine.  We worked everything out.”