At Peace

“I did?”


“You do it all the time,” he said, “fuck, baby, you’re doin’ it now.”

God I loved him. I more than loved him.

“What’s beyond love?” I asked and felt Joe’s body give a slight jolt.

“What?”

“What’s beyond love?” I repeated.

“Don’t understand the question, Vi.”

I didn’t explain. Instead I said, “Whatever it is, that’s what I feel for you.”

He was silent and still for a second. Then he rolled into me.

“Joe –” I whispered when his hands went into my tee.

“Shut it, buddy.”

“Joe –”

“Shut it.”

I shut it.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Crash





“Momalicious!” Keira shouted. “I’m gonna go to the beach and lay out.”

“Big surprise,” Joe muttered and pressed deeper into me as I looked at the nightstand and saw it was barely nine o’clock.

I lifted up from the pillow as far as I could go with Joe’s weight against my back holding me down and shouted, “You had breakfast, baby?”

“Toast!” Keira shouted back.

“Where’s Kate?” I yelled. “She still sleepin’?”

“Um…” Keira muttered loud enough for me to hear and at her hesitation I felt Joe’s head come up and his body move and I twisted my neck to look at him. “That boy from next door is out on the beach. She’s out there talkin’ to him.”

I wondered when Taylor had become “that boy next door” since I was under the impression, considering the amount of time Keira spent talking about him, that she had a crush on him. Not to mention the amount of time Taylor spent out on the beach which I reckoned meant he had a crush on Keira. Perhaps I was wrong and he had a crush on Kate.

This was not good.

“Bummer for Dane,” Joe murmured and even with my misgivings about the Kate/Keira/Taylor teenaged triangle, I grinned.

It had been months but Dane had not fully made it back into my good books yet, nor Joe’s. Kate had forgiven him and they were as tight as ever so Joe and I should give it up, it was just that we couldn’t. If you hurt someone’s child that forgiveness takes awhile but Dane was determined and I figure he’d get there one day. As long as he didn’t act like an ass.

“All right, honey,” I yelled.

“See you on the beach,” Keira called then we heard the door close.

Joe settled back in and I did too.

It was Christmas break and we were at his beach house in Florida for two weeks. The house was up on stilts and painted a faded blue with white woodwork. It had a deep deck all around and a big locked garage which held Joe’s Land Rover, a beach buggy and a huge barbeque grill which was the first thing Joe (with Keira’s help) rolled out onto the deck. The house had wood floors all through, even the kitchen. It was rustic but cute with two bedrooms; open plan living room and kitchen; a small utility with a deep sink, a washer and dryer and a bunch of hooks for beach towels; and one bath. But the bedrooms and living room were huge and airy and all the furniture was way comfy. There were so many windows that there was barely any wall space and all you could see was ocean or trees. It was fantastic.

Even as fantastic as it was, my first order of business was to make Joe take us to town where we bought a Christmas tree and all the decorations. We also bought bright, braided throw rugs, new linen and bathroom and kitchen towels to perk up the place. Further, I bought a huge windsock which Joe installed on a flagpole out on the corner of the deck. Lastly, I bought some wind chimes because nothing said “Florida” (or “beach” for that matter) better than wind chimes. Joe put those up on the overhang of the deck.

We’d been there three days and the girls were already golden tan from playing Frisbee, laying out and travelling the beach in the buggy Joe taught us all how to drive.

He was mostly right. There wasn’t much to do but fish, cook, eat, sleep, read and, for Joe and I, have sex. He was only mostly right for there was a beach which meant the girls could lay out, Joe had the buggy in which the girls could tool around, the girls bought a Frisbee which provided them with hours of entertainment. The kitchen had been updated with top-of-the line appliances so I was in throes of ecstasy. I’d already finished two books while sitting out on the deck or in the sand and the beach house next door had the aforementioned cute boy-man in it named Taylor. Therefore, the Winters girls were not at any loss for things to do and were nowhere near bored.

I, particularly, was not bored. I was a lot of things but bored was definitely not one of them.

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