Once again, thank you to my editor, GentWithHandcuffs."
Thank you so much for your help and hard work. :)
I didn't wait for him to call first. The next day, on my lunch break, I texted him "Had a great time call me." Not terribly eloquent, but clear.
Heidi was full of mischief about my new man. I played up the comical nature of our introduction. Spontaneous confessions were not my thing. I kept my strong feelings to myself for the most part. And there was a superstitious fear of jinxing things somewhere in there too.
James did indeed call me. He was working through the weekend, but I asked him to Heidi's New Year's Eve party on Sunday. Heidi was delighted when she heard she would get to meet the mystery man who had so captured my attention.
***
My car still in the shop, James picked me up Sunday night. Heidi had invited us for a family dinner before the party, so we departed my house at 6.
When we got to Heidi's we were greeted by the delicious aroma of Heidi's famous stew. Bruce and Heidi's daughter Lydia, a teenager, was whispering with her two girlfriends when we arrived, and they laughed giddily when I introduced James to Bruce and Heidi. Evidently word had gotten around that I had a new man. As their son Tom had been away in college when I was hired at the toy store, he was a new face for me.
Heidi started interrogating James immediately, asking him about his family, his course of study, his intended career, obviously wanting to ask exactly what his intentions with me were... should she buy a new dress for our wedding? Never mind that this was our third date.
Luckily, dinner preparations called her away. Bruce and Tom invited him into the den for a drink, leaving us girls to serve up dinner. Lydia and her giggly friends were banished to the dining room to lay the table. That gave Heidi the opportunity to congratulate me on my new catch.
"He's so much nicer than Justin!" she exclaimed, ladling the stew into a huge tureen.
"Well, seeing as Justin landed me in the hospital, anyone would seem nice in comparison." I was slicing hot bread at the kitchen island.
"Justin was a stuck up asshole," she pronounced. "Even before all of that... I never liked him."
She looked at me from her rummaging of the utensil drawer. "You need a good man like James. Someone who will treat you right. These fashionable men... Pfft! I have no use for them. They just want eye candy."
I was amused. "So you approve? I have your permission?"
Heidi beamed at me.
***
Bruce and Tom seemed to like James too, inviting him for another drink and a game of darts after dinner. The bartender had shown up and was arraying his tools and supplies. The girls did a great job with the decorations. We mature women needed only to lay out the finger foods. Finally the guests began to arrive. By nine, the place was packed and humming.
The champagne was wonderful. I think, ordinarily, Heidi would have been introducing me around, connecting me with kindred spirits, but she left me and James alone. We ended up on the porch swing. James fetched our coats as midnight approached and there would be fireworks to follow. I had switched to this incredible peachy drink that had very little bite to it, disguising the alcohol almost entirely.
Normally rather reserved, I found myself cheerfully chattering away with James, confessing all kinds of hidden thoughts and feelings. I believe I mentioned my penchant for poetry in the 10th grade and my ardent desire to be published in The New Yorker. I also became huggy-kissy, not my normal mode. I was practically in James' lap out there on the porch swing.
At midnight, we cheered and I locked James into a serious soul kiss. Then we were saying our goodbyes. I exuberantly thanked Heidi for the smashing party. I half noticed her pulling James aside as I said goodnight to Bruce as well.
On the ride back to my place I continued my virtual monologue. Some distant part of me said 'You're drunk and making a fool of yourself.' When we parked in front of my apartment, I swooped down on James with an energetic kiss and quickly over-heated. I started trying to undo his shirt buttons while I licked at his neck. James gently pulled my hands away.
"Whoa, Karen. You've had a lot to drink," he cautioned. I had forgotten we were in his car.
"Come upstairs," I invited. James carefully steered me up the steep front steps, took my keys from me after I dropped them the second time, unlocked the front door. Up more steps, more locks, then he had me in my bedroom. He pulled back the covers.
"C'mon, girl, sit down before you fall down."
I laughed and pulled him down with me. He managed to get my shoes off and laid me back against the pillows.
"Karen, you're beautiful."
I tried to focus on him and said, "You're a sexy Scotsman. What do you wear under your kilt?" More giggles.
"I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed my forehead.
***
"I swear I don't drink that much usually," I told James in the morning. I had called him first thing when I found his friendly note on the kitchen counter.
"Heidi told me that when she charged me with your safe-keeping. She also strongly implied Bruce would have something to say about it if I mistreated you." He laughed. "I like Heidi."
James' remedy for a hangover was a hearty brunch at Molly's. Their buffet offered roast pork, several potato dishes and, of course, cabbage, as well as more ordinary brunch foods like quiche and fresh fruit. I started feeling more human by noon. James had a short shift at Denny's, one til eight. After work, he wanted to take me to see the holiday light display Shermer city park hosted every year.
As my car was still in the shop (damn my bad luck, car breaking down in the middle of the holidays) James picked me up. The "Celebration of the Oaks" display was fun. I had never been to it, being new to Shermer, so it was one surprise after another.
We took our time. Holding hands, we wandered under the oaks looking at the gaudy designs picked out in colored lights, then between corridors of fancifully decorated Christmas trees, and finally through the botanical garden's formal pathways, which glittered with tiny white lights.