A light rain had started to fall from the sky when she stepped outside, and she hurried to the pickup where he was already waiting with the passenger side door opened a crack. Quickly she stepped up inside and slammed the door behind her, shaking the water from her clothes as she sat, and made herself comfortable. She looked over at him and caught that strange smile on his lips again, the one that always made her stomach turn to butterflies. She looked around slowly, taking in everything around her. She smiled a little to herself at the truck itself – set high up off the ground, and decked out with all the latest amenities, right down to the leather seats. He even looked a little out of place in his own truck! There was a plastic bag on the seat beside them with the bookstore's logo scrawled across it, and she wondered when he'd had time to buy anything. But she quickly dismissed it as not important.
"Ready to go?" His voice quickly brought her out of her observations, and she only nodded softly in response.
"Where are we going?" She didn't really expect a response, and she didn't get one. Instead, he put the truck in drive, and eased out of the parking lot.
~*
When she finally made it home that evening she was tired, sore, and wet. Mike never even budged as she dragged herself into the bed beside him, still wet from her shower, and fell asleep. She woke up long enough the next morning to get the kids dressed, and off to school, then headed straight back to bed where she stayed until the phone woke her up at ten. It was Trina, of course, wanting to hear all about her evening with Jake. So Debbie pulled herself from the warmth of the comforter and headed to the kitchen for her breakfast of coffee and a bagel.
She liked these times that her and Trina shared - it was nice to feel like someone was a little interested in her personal life at least. For an hour or more she sat at the kitchen table in her panties, and told Trina every little detail she could possibly remember. She was just glad that Trina seemed to enjoy it as much as she did!
After she got off the phone, she quickly pulled a t-shirt over her head, and headed back to the kitchen to clean up a little before getting dressed and heading out. But just as she entered the kitchen the phone rang, and she quickly grabbed the one that hung on the wall, just inside the door - frame. She was immediately greeted by that thick Southern voice she loved so much.
"Did you have a good time last night?" She could hear that smile in his voice again, and she leaned back against the wall as she replayed in her minds eye what he must look like as he talked to her.
"Yes I did, very much so in fact." She thought about it for a very brief moment before adding a very shy, "Thank you."
She heard him laugh softly to himself, and she smiled as well, never being able to resist his lighthearted humor. "Anytime, Darlin', but I called to ask if you'd looked in that sack yet."
Of course! She'd been so tired last night that she'd just stumbled in and put it away. She'd completely forgotten about it this morning. She hurried down the hall to get the cordless, then back to the kitchen to hang up the one there.
She knew she was amusing him, running around like this, but she couldn't help it. She was very surprised at herself for having forgotten, and now that it was in her mind, she just had to know what was in it.
She dropped down to her knees in front of the nightstand and pulled the drawer out. She remembered how quietly she'd had to do this last night, to keep from waking Mike up, and how the small task of opening the old drawer silently had seemed to take forever. The sack was sitting right where she'd left it, and she quickly pulled it out and untied the knot in it.
It was a book. A book of ghost stories to be exact, and she thanked him profusely. She loved the old ghost stories, real or imagined, and it delighted her that he'd remember it, and that he'd get it for her. She flipped the book over, studying the back jacket of it thinking what great material it'd be to have in a nice hot bubble bath for a while.
"Do me a favor." His voice startled her out of her reading, and she quickly complied. "Take a look inside. Tell me what you find. I have to get going, I'll see you soon."
And he was gone, and she was free to read to her little heart's content. But not before she found whatever it was he was wanting her to look for.
She leafed through the book, and not finding anything, flipped it over and fanned the pages out. Sure enough a small white square of paper fell from between the pages, and she quickly picked it up and began to read.
So, my beautiful girl has risen for the day! I figured you'd sleep in a little, since I kept you out so late last night, welcome to the living! I want you to do something for me. There is a lingerie shop just a small ways from you, and I'd like you to go there for me. I've picked something out for you, but you need to go have the sizing done properly, and pick it up. The name of the place is 'Sugar 'n Spice', you'll have to look up the address. You shouldn't have any problem finding it. Ask for Judy, and tell her I sent you. She'll know what to do.
Jake
She reread the note before she raised her eyes, and she quickly scanned the room. Those damn butterflies were back again, and it was driving her crazy how she couldn't seem to stop that feeling whenever anything to do with Jake presented itself. She hurried to the kitchen for the phonebook that lived beside the phone and quickly looked the place up. He was right. It was just a few blocks away. She did have a few other things to do today, but surely they could wait while she made this one stop and figured out just what was going on.
As she got dressed she thought over her situation. She didn't really understand the relationship between her and Jake. Up until a week ago it had been simple flirting, and now that they had taken it a step further, he had changed. Well, she thought he had changed. Maybe this was the way he'd acted all along. Perhaps she just hadn't noticed. She'd have to remember to ask Trina about it later. Maybe she'd realized it before Debbie had.
And then there was the question of whether or not she was truly enjoying where this was leading. Sure it was frightening. And it was certainly different than the relationships she'd had previously. But it definitely wasn't a bad change. Every time she thought of the things he did for her, and to her, she got wet all over again. That can't be bad – right? And what about this whole surprise factor? She never could stand to be kept in the dark on these kinds of things. She liked to know exactly what was going on around her. She had never liked unforeseen circumstances popping up without warning. And that seemed to be the entire basis for this relationship they had going. He never seemed in a hurry to tell her anything about their dates until he felt good and ready. She just couldn't figure out why she didn't mind it when he did it!
Her thoughts were a jumbled mess by the time she was completely dressed, and she found it kind of ironic, when she glanced in the mirror, that she looked so calm and collected on the outside when her mind was going a million miles a minute.
It wasn't a long drive, and without much trouble she spotted the little shop hidden in a small thicket of trees that would have been easily missed if she hadn't been looking for it. She eased into a parking space, shut off the engine, and looked at the place. She had no idea why she was so nervous, but it seemed to take her a full five minutes before she could coax herself up the little steps and into the brightly lit store. The tiny bell jangled overhead, and she took in a shaky breath and looked around. There were teddies, babydolls, and camisoles galore. The place seemed deceptively large compared to what it had seemed to be while sitting outside in front, and she realized the somewhat narrow room seemed to stretch ahead in front of her. What it lacked in width it certainly made up for in length. Racks, shelves, and hooks piled high with satin and silk, bows and lace, straps and hooks, it was all just so gorgeous. She had never really owned anything as nice as the things in this shop, and she got a little giddy standing there trying to figure out just what he might have picked out for her.
"Can I help you find something, Ma'am?" The soft voice carried a lot of warmth, and what seemed to be a touch of that Southern charm she loved so much in Jakes voice. She quickly wrote it off as her imagination and turned to find a very small woman standing next to her. She couldn't have been any taller than 5'3, and probably didn't weigh over 130 pounds, but the girl's smile was sweet and genuine, and Debbie soon became very comfortable with her.
"Well," she started off hesitantly. She wasn't sure exactly how to explain to this woman why and how she'd been sent here. "I was supposed to be seeing a woman named Judy here."
The woman smiled that sweet girlish smile again.
