Lily White Lies(68)

“I want you there; you’ll make me feel more comfortable.” Caressing his hand with mine, I added, “Besides, if I let you come with me, there’s a better chance you’ll take me when you talk to your grandfather.”

He shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. I don’t know what I may have said to make you think he’s someone you’d want to know... but trust me, he isn’t.”

“I just can’t imagine him being as bad as what you and my grandfather describe.”

“I’ll reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ afterward.” Turning down my street, he continued, “When I was a kid, my mother and I used to pass the time on long trips by coming up with as many adjectives as we could to describe my grandfather. She said it made her feel better and it helped to build my vocabulary.” He laughed. “Trouble is I can’t say most of the words I learned in public.”

“I still think you’re exaggerating...” I pointed to a large brick building on the corner, and said, “This one here.”

It had been a long time since I was in my apartment and it took several minutes of rummaging through my purse before I found the right keys.

“How long have you lived here?”

“I moved in about six years ago but I sublet it once I moved in with Brian. My tenants bought a house about a month ago. I’ve just been too busy to run an ad or show it... but, as it turns out, that was a blessing.”

Con carried my bags in for me and after several stirring kisses that I hated to see end, he reluctantly said goodnight, leaving me locked in my apartment with my thoughts, the taste of his lips on mine and a few pieces of furniture that I barely remembered. Sleep wouldn’t come easily tonight.





Twenty





...If I didn’t think I’d look like a lunatic, I would do a Doublemint kick right in the middle of Main Street or throw something into the wind like Mary Tyler Moore. I was ecstatic and I wanted to share my news with someone. No. I wanted to share my news with Con...





I began staring at the alarm clock almost a half an hour before it went off; counting down the minutes until my busy day officially began. Lying next to me on the couch were three empty Diet Pepsi bottles, a half-eaten apple, a pen and a pad intended for my ‘to do’ list. I managed to write ‘talk to Gram and Gramp,’ but that’s as far as I got. However, I did manage to scribble several pages of my name in many forms, Meg Ellis... Meg Embry-Ellis... Mrs. Connor Ellis... I felt like I was back in high school at an all night slumber party, penning secrets and wishing on stars for a good-looking boy in my class to notice me. I laughed inwardly at the thought of anyone catching me at my sophomoric play.

I had very few of my belongings with me and had to set aside the time to retrieve the rest of my things from Brian’s house. By now, he’d probably moved back in, making the chances of running into him much greater. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

At the moment, I had more on my plate than I could say a blessing over. I had to finish moving, check in with Marco, meet with Ron at the bank, visit Gram and Gramp and I also wanted to make a trip to Cherry Hall, but first, I was going to Sal’s to meet the girls. Spending an hour over coffee, talking about the new man in my life was much more pleasurable than the other errands that were accumulating rapidly. It had been a whirlwind weekend and I felt as though I’d burst if I didn’t tell someone about it soon.

A search through the bag that the girls had brought for the weekend produced another pair of jeans and an Old Navy t-shirt. It wasn’t what I would normally choose to wear to work, but I didn’t find another option in the bag. Casual wear on a workday was about as outrageous or impulsive as I ever got, making this past weekend something I would always hold dear to me, no matter what happened or didn’t happen between Con and me.



As I stepped out of the cab at the café, I heard my name called out in a shrill tone and saw Cory standing at a far table, waving frantically. Charlotte pulled on Cory’s sleeve in an attempt to get her back in her seat.

“We’ve been waiting, like, forever.” She wailed.

Knowing that Cory’s forever was anyone else’s five minutes, I waved her off with a smile and pulled out one of the heavy chairs.

Our waiter took our order but became increasingly nervous by Cory’s heavy sighs and agitated side-glances, messing up Cory’s order and forgetting to ask what we wanted to drink altogether. Once we finally got our order in correctly, he wasn’t out of earshot when Cory began her grilling.