My eyes grew and brows hitched. “Were you listening to the wall of Stenton’s bedroom?
“No,” Bernard gasped. “You two woke me up. It didn’t quiet down until after four this morning.”
I blushed all over. I must have. I’d never been in a predicament where someone overheard me having sex. I didn’t know what to do.
I found myself scratching my head. I realized I was scraping my bottom lip between my teeth when the pain caused me to wince.
“Look, Bernard, I—”
“Zo,” I heard called out tersely from behind me. “We waited around for you to get up and we’re still waiting on you this morning to open gifts,” Stenton called out from the end of the foyer with Jordan bouncing in his arms.
Mortified, more by our activities from last night being found out, my nose flared as I rolled my eyes back over to Bernard.
“Enjoy your Christmas, Bernard. Please text to let us know you made it safely.”
Bernard turned for the door. His hand grabbed the door knob. “I hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship. I really like you, Zoey.”
“No worries.” I didn’t sound convincing. “Safe travels.”
I closed and locked the door after seeing Bernard into his car. When I turned to head into the living room, I was hit with Stenton and Jordan still rooted in place. Jordan was busy trying to bite his dad’s face, and Stenton couldn’t break his intense gaze from me. I knew an argument was going to ensue. For what exactly, I didn’t know. But I did know I wasn’t in the mood to fight about Bernard when my mind was still racing from him knowing what Stenton and I were up to last night.
Secondly, Stenton had no grounds to utter a single grievance when he was dating Erika Erceg. Preparing myself, I squared my shoulders and tightened my face as I approached the handsome pair. I was clearly knocked off balance when Stenton took me by the hand, laced his fingers with mine, and walked me to the living room where my family was waiting.
This man exasperated me like nothing before him with his variant behavior, but I was too relieved to call him out on it. The living room was huge. I hadn’t seen it until then and missed the rich Christmas décor and train set Stenton set up around the fresh tree. I couldn’t believe the ambiance of the room that was warming and welcomed the spirit of Christmas. The tree was almost as tall as the lofty ceiling and decorated with ivory and gold ornaments, beads, and ribbons. The white lit candles aligned the walls and tables in the room, but out of an explorative Jordan’s reach. Beautiful greenery including fully bloomed poinsettias. It was sheer elegance.
Everyone held and snapped cameras at an oblivious Jordan, who was more interested in chewing on anything that would relieve his irritated gums than joining in on our excitement. The number of toys for him was ridiculous, but I would save my reproving speeches for later. Now, I just wanted to bask in the unity of my family and the complete unadulterated happiness of Stenton giving out gifts and opening them with and, ultimately, for Jordan.
To my mother he gifted a designer tote and pearl earrings with a matching necklace and bracelet. Everybody knew Sarah Barrett had an affinity for pearls. She had a whole collection of them at home, only I knew unlike those, these were authentic. I’m sure she knew herself.