Meet Eddie

A bonus!  We haven't had one of those in awhile :)  Look for a third post sometime late Friday or on Saturday.  
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I used my Friday morning to finish up the rest of my wedding-related tasks for the week, including booking our rehearsal dinner at the place we'd decided on the night before.  Then I headed into town, went to the gym, stopped at the grocery store to pick up something to make for dinner and some snacks in preparation for Sarah to spend Saturday night.

I was looking forward to Sarah's visit.  I'd only talked to her a couple times since she had just showed up in Denver and called me in a panic.  She had been worried because she'd heard Nadine talking about how Sarah and AJ's mom wanted to try to get custody of them.  In our last conversation, she'd told me that they had to go to court in October but that it didn't sound like their mom would be successful.

After picking up a few groceries, I headed home.  I did a little cleaning and then started making dinner.  Brody, with his amazing timing, made it home just as dinner was done.  "You're earlier than I thought you'd be," I greeted him cheerfully, setting down the dish towel I'd just swiped over the counter to wrap my arms around his neck.

"Slow week," he replied, dipping his head down to kiss me.  "Though I probably shouldn't say that out loud, since I'm on call."  I wrinkled my nose and he laughed.  "How long until dinner's ready?"

"It's done," I said, peeling myself out of his arms and turning off the stove.  Brody tugged his tie off and laid it on top of his jacket, which he'd draped over the back of a chair when he walked in.  He grabbed plates and silverware and put them on the table, then unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled his sleeves up.  By the time I made it to the table, he'd pushed his hands through his hair, messing it up significantly, kicked off his shoes, and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt.  I chuckled.  He had gone from put-together businessman to half undressed in a manner of minutes.  "Why don't you just go change?" I asked.

"Because it's time to eat and I'm hungry," he replied.  "And because upstairs is really far away."

After we ate, Brody insisted on cleaning up.  I didn't make him argue too hard, and happily let him do the dishes I hadn't already done.  We spent the night relaxing on the couch with a movie, and it was an excellent night in.

On Saturday, Brody actually slept in with me and we got up and made breakfast together.  After we ate, he disappeared into his office for awhile to do some work.  He emerged again around 4.

"Leave in about a half hour?" he asked, looking at his watch as he moved my feet to sit down on the couch.  I promptly plopped my feet in his lap and nodded.

"I just need shoes and I'm ready," I replied.  Brody entertained himself for the next 20 minutes by rubbing my feet and distracting me while I tried to read.  Small price to pay for the foot massage!

We headed into town.  We were going to go meet Eddie, the dog Pete was looking for a home for, before we had dinner with Nadine, Jon, AJ, and Sarah.  Brody drove us to a nice residential neighborhood, and we stopped in front of a good sized, well cared for house on a corner.

When we rang the doorbell, we heard two sharp barks, a muffled command, then silence.  A second later, the door swung open.  Pete greeted us cheerfully and ushered us in.  "The wife is out running some errands," he said.  "She might be back while you're here, she might not.  Can I get you anything?"  We both declined and I took a second to appreciate the home's decor.

"That is gorgeous," I said, pointing to a print hanging on the wall above their couch.

Pete grinned.  "Thank you.  I'd love to take credit, but Serena has an eye for that kind of stuff."  He motioned for us to sit, and I did, noticing a huge, copper colored dog sitting near the corner of the room, warily watching Brody and I with large, intelligent eyes.  "This is Eddie Mac," Pete said, motioning to the dog.  One of his ears flicked towards Pete, but his warm brown eyes stayed locked on us.

Brody laughed.  "Eddie Mac?  He must have good hands."  I looked at Brody, confused.  "Ed McCaffrey was a wide receiver for the Broncos in the 90s and early 2000s."

"Oh," I said.  Obviously.

Pete released Eddie and he walked straight to me.  I let him sniff my hand, and after a thorough inspection he licked it once and dropped his head into my lap.  He leaned gently against my legs, nudging me with his huge head.  I laughed and scratched the top of his head.  He manipulated his head until I was rubbing his ear, then relaxed onto my leg, letting his tongue flop out happily.

"I think he likes you," Pete said, laughing.

"I'm feeling a little left out," Brody said, pretending to pout.

I withdrew my hand from Eddie's head and said, "Go lick him to death!"  He kept his head in my lap, nudging me gently, for a few more seconds, then trotted over to Brody and repeated the process.  He didn't get quite as comfortable, but he looked pretty happy.  "He's so well behaved," I commented.

"They were training him to be a service dog," Pete explained.  "Their son has seizures, and apparently service dogs can help.  He was almost done with the training, but then they had to move, and their son got really sick, and it just got to be too much for them."

Brody grinned, and Eddie pulled his head away from him and came back over to me.  "He could be a therapy dog," Brody suggested.

"You don't have to sell me on this," I said, laughing.  "I don't know why you think you do."  Eddie put an experimental paw on my leg.  When I didn't scold him, he sat up on his haunches and put his other paw on my other leg.

"That's bad manners," Pete said, chuckling.  Eddie gave him the dog equivalent of a side-eye and shimmied closer to me.  After a minute of slowly creeping, his chest and belly were shoved between my shins and his forehead was shoved against my stomach as I scratched his ears with both hands.

"He's hugging you," Brody crowed, laughing.  "You have a new friend."  

We stayed for another half hour, and Eddie happily laid on my feet the whole time.  When we got up to leave, he followed us to the door.  He obeyed Pete's command to sit several feet away from the door but watched me forlornly.  "Look," Brody said, "He's sad.  He wants to go with you."

"I would love for him to come with me, but then we'll have to leave him again in a few weeks and that's not fair to him," I said firmly, though my resolve was waning.  It hadn't taken me long to fall in love with Eddie.

"Well?" Brody asked as we left.

"I love him," I declared, grinning.

Brody chuckled.  "He loved you.  I was getting a little jealous."

I snorted.  "You got plenty of attention from me last night."

"Oh no, I meant jealous of you.  I wanted more attention from the dog!" He smirked and bumped my shoulder with his as he stopped to open his car door for me.

"Of course you did," I said, laughing.  He paused before he shut the door and leaned in to kiss me.

Once he was in, he looked at me.  "So, we'll pick him up when we get back from our mysterious honeymoon?" I asked.

Brody grinned.  "I guess that's okay," he replied, pretending to consider it.  "I'll let Pete know."

We got to the restaurant where we were meeting Nadine, Jon, AJ, and Sarah a little early, and we headed inside to get a table.  I kept an eye on the door, and waved when I saw them walk in.  We stood to greet them, and I hugged Nadine, then Jon.  Sarah smiled shyly but slid into a chair without hugging me, which was fine.  AJ gave me a quick hug and said, "You didn't tell us you were getting married.  Are you marrying this guy?" He pointed at Brody.

I laughed and Nadine scolded him.  "AJ, that's rude.  At least sit down first."

Once we were seated I said, "Yes, I'm marrying this guy.  This is my fiancé Brody.  Brody, you met Nadine and Jon briefly, you know Sarah, and this is AJ."

"I'm 10," AJ said matter-of-factly.

"That's awesome," Brody replied, grinning.  "I would have guessed 11."

"Really?" he asked, wide-eyed.  Then he turned to Nadine.  "See?  I told you I looked older in this shirt."  I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh, as Nadine nodded patiently.

I caught Sarah rolling her eyes, and we exchanged and quick smile before she ducked her head back down, letting her curtain of hair fall in front of her face.  The streaks of color that had been purple the first time I met her were now bright turquoise.  "I like the new color," I said.

"Thanks," she said softly.  Her eyes darted to Brody and then back down to the table.  She was so painfully shy, which was the only thing about her that didn't remind me of myself at that age.

"So you must be so excited," Nadine said.  "3 weeks!"

"Yes, 3 weeks," I agreed, smiling.  "The last couple months have gone really quickly."

"Is there anything we can help with?"

I shook my head.  "I don't think so.  Thanks, though!  Brody's mom has been helping, and my parents will be here a whole week before to help with some of the last minute stuff."

"Oh," Brody said suddenly, looking like he just remembered something.  "I was supposed to have you call Jen.  She wanted to know if you wanted her to come early."

"When was I supposed to call her?" I asked, confused.

"A couple weeks ago, maybe?" he replied sheepishly.  "Sorry."

Jon and Nadine laughed, and Nadine nudged me and said, "Get used to that."

"I'll call her tomorrow," I said, laughing.

"So, speaking of your parents," Nadine said, quietly and hesitantly.  "Do they know we're coming?"

I smiled kindly.  "They do," I said reassuringly.  "My mom is happy that you guys are a part of my life."  Nadine looked visibly relieved.  I was stretching the truth just a little bit, I guess.  My mom didn't really care either way as long as I was happy, and had volunteered on her own that she would be perfectly polite and respectful--you know, just in case I was worried.  I hadn't been, until she had mentioned it.

The rest of the dinner went well.  Brody charmed the entire table as usual, and I longed for that skill.  He was truly comfortable around just about anyone.  That was probably what made him so good at his job and so successful with his business.  Sarah was quiet, but she was at least making eye contact by the end of dinner, which was a success in itself.

After dinner, Brody and I walked to Nadine and Jon's car to get Sarah's overnight bag.  She was spending the night with us.  Brody offered to take the bag and Sarah surprised me by handing it over.  I touched her shoulder gently and smiled.  "Ready to go?  Do you need to grab anything else, or is there anything we should stop and pick up while we're in town?"

"No thanks, I'm ready," she replied, smiling a real smile for the first time since she'd walked into the restaurant.

It's a Deal

After work on Tuesday, I headed for the gym.  I hadn't been going as regularly again, but really I was looking to procrastinate completing the wedding planning items on the list Lauren had helped me make.  I stayed there for an hour, then headed home.  Once home, I took a quick shower, threw together a quick dinner of chicken breasts, rice, and a salad, then pulled out the list.

Brody came home as I was working on calling and emailing the short list of people we hadn't received RSVPs from.  Because we were doing tableside ordering, we didn't need to get a catering number in for dinner, but we still needed to know numbers for appetizers, dessert, tables, and chairs.  Luckily, all but 8 RSVPs had been returned, which seemed like a pretty good number.  

"What are you doing?" Brody asked, kissing me on the forehead before opening the fridge and pulling out the plate I'd made him.  I told him, and he frowned.  I handed him the paper where I'd written down the names of people on his side he needed to contact.  He only had 3.  He agreed to call or email them this week.  

"We need to figure out music and the rehearsal dinner this week," I informed him.

He groaned.  "How about we do whatever you want.  Just let me know how much to make the check out for."

I pressed my lips together and took a breath before I answered.  "I'd really like to know what you want, too."

"I really don't care," he replied.  "Seriously.  Whatever you want."  

"What I want is for you to help me with this," I snapped back.

He raised his eyebrows and said, "I took half a day off work to go meet with officiants.  I've spent time I could have been working driving back and forth between here and there, meeting with people.  I've worked my ass off so I can write checks to cover everything without batting an eye.  Don't pretend that I've done nothing."

"Oh, so because you're paying, you don't have to do anything else to help?  That's perfect.  That's an amazing attitude to have.  So you should never have to do things around the house either, I suppose?"

"Seriously, Liv?" I was surprised at his tone.  I expected him to be angry.  Instead, he sounded hurt.  "That's not even close to what I meant.  I hope you know me better than that."

I stood abruptly and walked over to the sliding glass door that led to the deck.  In my mind I saw this conversation easily spiraling out of control.  I pressed my forehead against the glass and took several deep breaths before I turned around again.  I leaned against the door, the coolness of it grounding me. 

"I'm sorry," I said finally.  "That was shitty.  I know that's not what you meant.  But sometimes it's felt that way when it comes to this wedding.  I don't ask you for your input on everything.  I know some of the stuff matters more to me than you.  And I appreciate you taking off work, driving back and forth, and all the things you have done to help.  But I want this to reflect both of us, and when I ask for your help, it's because I want or need your opinion too.  I don't want to make all these decisions on my own and have it look like my wedding.  I know you're busy, so I try to choose what I ask for help with carefully."

He frowned, considering, then said, "I guess I don't actually know what you've done so far."

"Because you've brushed me off 9 times out of 10 when I ask for help with some of the smaller stuff," I pointed out.  At his request, I rattled off a list of all the things I'd done on my own so far, either because he'd said up front he didn't care about them or because he'd told me to do whatever I wanted when I asked him.  

When I was finished, he looked sheepishly at me.  "I had no idea, Liv.  I guess I haven't been paying attention.  I'm really sorry."

"I'm not upset about doing a lot on my own.  I expected it--hell, I decreased my hours at work partially to account for doing a lot of it on my own, which is why it hasn't really bothered me before today.  It just gets frustrating when I do ask for your help and I get brushed off."

He nodded.  "I understand," he replied.  "I want to help, but I just can't tonight.  Can we pick a night this week to sit down and work on it, and I'll give wedding planning my undivided attention then?"  That seemed reasonable to me, and we decided on Thursday night.  In the meantime, I sat down to work on some of the things that I didn't need his input on, like researching some of the hair places Lauren had found and deciding which ones I wanted to call.  

On Wednesday, I met Lauren after work to go shoe shopping.  After trying on roughly 17 thousand pairs of shoes, I finally settled on a pair.  I had never spent so much on a pair of shoes in my life, but they were ridiculously comfortable and perfectly matched the deep purple of Lauren and Lynn's dresses.  Lauren easily talked me out of my sticker shock by reminding how awful my feet would feel if I bought cheap shoes.  "And you can't go barefoot, because gross," she finished.  

I laughed and rolled my eyes at her dramatic speech and decided to buy the shoes.  On the way to the register, Lauren listed a few items in my closet that I could wear the shoes with after the wedding too.  "I'm concerned at how well you know my wardrobe," I said.  

"How many times have I gone through your closet and picked out outfits for you?" she asked pointedly.  

"Fair enough," I replied, laughing.  It was true.  

"It's a good thing you're marrying rich," she continued.  "Once you put expensive shoes on your feet, you'll never go back."  

"Lauren!" I exclaimed, embarrassed at her mentioning Brody's bank account in front of the associate who was ringing up the shoes for me. 

"It's true," the sales associate said with a shrug.  

"I can't take you anywhere," I muttered.  Lauren just laughed.  

After the shoes were paid for, we headed out to get dinner.  We were close to one of our favorite places so we went there and enjoyed dinner and a couple drinks before going our separate ways for the evening.  

I got home around 8:30 and Brody's car was there, but I didn't see him.  As I went upstairs, I heard the shower running.  I quickly slipped out of my clothes, leaving them in a pile on the bedroom floor, and went into the bathroom.  I slid back the shower curtain, and a surprised Brody spun around.  "Hi," I said, smiling as I stepped into the shower.  

"Hi," he murmured, returning my smile and reaching for me.  I moved into his embrace and tipped my head up to kiss him.  "Did you find shoes?" he asked, his lips moving against mine.

"Mmhmm," I replied, pushing my fingers into his hair.  

Brody shifted and slammed his elbow into the wall, knocking a container of body wash down.  "Damn it," he muttered.  "We need a better shower."  I stifled a giggle and took his arm, kissing down his biceps to his elbow.  He groaned as I sucked gently on his wet skin, then he gently took my chin between his fingers and tipped my head back up so he could kiss me.  His hands slipped down my back to my ass and he squeezed and pulled me closer to him.  

Eventually we made our way out of the shower to the bathroom vanity.  Brody lifted me onto it and I wrapped my legs around his back as he pushed into me.  We spent the rest of the evening in bed, shirking our adult responsibilities, just cuddling and talking about our days.  It was a nice change after arguing the night before.  

On Thursday, my last day of work for this blissfully short week, I surprised when Josh walked past my office muttering something rude-sounding under his breath.  He'd been out of work a lot lately, and when he'd been around he'd been polite but not overly friendly.  Curiosity got the best of me and I wandered down to his office.  "Everything okay?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe.

He snorted.  "What do you care?"

I blinked in surprise.  I shouldn't have been surprised, but he had been polite or friendly lately and I didn't expect the hostility.  "Never mind, then," I said, turning and heading back to my office.  He didn't follow, and I got back to work.  

I ended up staying a little late at work, then heading to the gym for a quick workout.  I figured I had until at least 7:30 before Brody was home to work on wedding stuff.  

I realized I was wrong when I pulled into the garage a little after 7 and saw his SUV already parked.  "Brody?" I called, as I came in through the garage.  

"Kitchen!" he yelled back.  I could see half the kitchen from the garage door.  I wandered in, smelling something delicious.  He was in the part of the kitchen I couldn't see from the door, opening a bottle of wine.  

"Are you making dinner?" I asked, eyeing the stove hungrily.  

"I am," he replied, grinning at me.  "I also went grocery shopping.  And picked up a bottle of your favorite white.  And got something to decorate the table." he motioned with his head towards the table, where a pretty late summer bouquet of flowers sat cheerfully in a vase.  

"What'd you do?" I teased him.  He laughed and looped an arm around my waist, kissing my forehead before releasing me and giving me a gentle push towards the stairs.  

"Nothing," he replied, smirking.  "That was the problem.  Go take a shower.  Dinner will be ready in about 15 minutes.  After we eat, we can do wedding stuff for as long as you want."  

I showered quickly and pulled on a pair of leggings and a comfy, fitted v-neck t-shirt.  When I came back downstairs, Brody handed me a glass of wine and turned down my offer to help.  So I sat at the table, admiring the flowers and enjoying my wine.  A few minutes later, Brody set a plate of pasta with chicken and veggies and some sort of garlicky, lemony sauce down in front of me.  "This looks amazing," I said, picking up my fork and twirling a little pasta onto it.  It tasted as good as it looked and went perfectly with the wine.  

We enjoyed our dinner leisurely, neither of us in a particular hurry to get to wedding planning.  As happy as I was with our decision to do a small wedding and get married soon, I wouldn't have minded a little more time.  But I reminded myself that it would be all done soon and then we could focus on evenings like this without having to choose music and do seating arrangements after.   

We spent about an hour and a half doing various wedding planning related things before I decided I'd had enough.  As promised after our argument the other night, Brody helped good-naturedly the entire time--though he looked relieved when I announced I was done for the night.  We got a lot done and I was happy with our progress, especially since it meant we could relax and not have to do much this weekend.

Later that night, when we were curled up together in bed, Brody said, "I promise I'll help you with anything else you need help with, as long as we pick a day that works for both of us to sit down and do it, like we did tonight.  How does that sound?"

"It's a deal," I replied.  "We're actually in pretty good shape, though.  We got a lot done tonight."

"We'd better be," Brody said with laugh, "Because the wedding is now in 3 weeks."

"Don't remind me," I groaned.

Brody nuzzled his face gently against my shoulder, then teasingly said, "Don't sound so excited about marrying me."

I laughed softly and wiggled out of his grasp, turning to face him.  "You know that's not what I meant.  I couldn't be happier to be marrying you."  I looked at him, barely able to make out the outline of his features in the dark room.  "But I'm still mildly terrified to do it in front of 50 people."

"There's still time to cancel it and get married on a remote island somewhere," Brody said.  His tone was only partly joking, and he gently brushed hair out of my face as he spoke.

I smiled, though he probably couldn't see it.  "My parents would kill me.  So would Lynn.  So would your sister."

"That's true," he agreed.  "Okay, so remote island wedding is out.  Maybe next time."

"Next time?" I asked, chuckling and shaking my head.

"It's never too soon to start planning for the future," he replied solemnly.

I snorted.  "I might kill you," I warned him.

"Then you'll definitely need to plan another wedding to someone else," he responded, laughing.  I hit him playfully in the arm and he grabbed my hand and tugged it to his lips, kissing the knuckles lightly.  I scooted closer to him and pressed my face against his chest, breathing in deeply and relaxing a little.   Brody wrapped his arms around me and stroked the back of my neck with his thumb and I relaxed further, melting against him.

"Don't think about the actual process of the wedding...just think that by this time next month, we'll be married.  And on a kickass honeymoon."  I perked up at that.  I had pushed the surprise honeymoon to the back of my mind.  "And no, I won't tell you yet," he followed up.  "Just think about how awesome it will be to be my wife."

I shook my head.  "You mean how awesome it will be for you to be my husband," I retorted.

"That too," he said, and I could almost hear him grinning.  "I love you, Liv."

"I love you too," I replied, shifting back to my other side into a more comfortable sleeping position.  Brody pushed himself up on one elbow and dropped a gentle kiss on my cheek.  "Goodnight," I said sleepily, fighting a yawn.

"Goodnight," Brody replied, kissing my shoulder before settling next to me.

Labor Day Camping Trip Part 3

On Sunday morning, I woke with a stiff, sore neck and a headache.  The perils of sleeping on the ground, I guess.  We were heading back home early that afternoon, and Kinsley was dead set on going back to the beach before we left.  Brody, Damien, and I decided to stay at the campsite and just relax.

I was reading and ignoring Brody and Damien--who were having a lively sounding sports-related debate--when James and Haley came back to the campsite.  They both looked pissed off and Haley stormed off towards the bathroom.  James dropped into the chair next to me and sighed.

Brody, Damien, and I just sat and stared at him for several seconds.  "What?" he asked irritably, looking up.

No one spoke, and Brody and Damien looked at each other, then me.  Their mouths remained firmly closed.  Looked like they were punting this one my way.  Thanks, guys!  I looked at James and gently asked, "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" he snapped back.

I shook my head and made a face.  "You know exactly what I mean.  She is awful.  Seriously, wretchedly awful."  Brody and Damien quickly nodded their agreement.  At least they weren't going to argue with me.

James sighed and rubbed his forehead.  "I know," he admitted finally.  His eyes darted in the direction Haley stomped off in, then back to mine.  "I know.  She's actually really great one on one, but as soon as she gets around other people, she's a nightmare.  She was fine at the barbecue I met her at, and then we weren't around other friends for a few weeks after that.  And now, since she's a friend's cousin, I can't quite figure out how to extricate myself."

Brody shook his head.  "The longer you wait, the worse it's going to be," he pointed out.

"I know that," James replied.  "I--" He stopped suddenly and sat back in his chair.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Haley approaching.  I willed Brody and Damien to not turn around and make it obvious we'd been talking about her.  Luckily, they didn't.  She approached our little group and stood there looking at James.  He looked back at her evenly and she huffed out a sharp breath and continued, making her way back towards the beach.  He shook his head and stood.  "I should go talk to her," he muttered.

"You probably shouldn't," Damien advised.  But James shrugged and jogged after Haley.

When he was gone, I looked at Damien, "What's the deal?  I don't think it's just because Haley is his friend's cousin."

Damien shrugged, then said, "I'm not completely sure, but I think he's feeling a little bit like a relationship failure lately.  No offense, but between you, Cassie, and now Haley, I think he's trying a little too hard to make something work."

I wrinkled my nose, sighed, and said, "Well, he should find someone new to try really hard with, because she's horrid."

"I agree," Damien replied.

James and Haley didn't return until they came back with Lauren, Kinsley, and Alex.  Neither of them looked happy but they seemed fine otherwise.  We got to work cleaning up the campsite and taking down the tents.  Lauren walked over with one of my shirts in her hands.  "Here's the shirt I didn't wear," she said loudly.  "Thanks for letting me borrow them.  I'll wash the ones I wore and get them back to you.  Any ideas on how to get the sunscreen and lotion out of mine?"

I snuck a look at Haley, who was watching our exchange with the shadow of a smirk on her face.  Lauren suddenly turned towards her and sweetly said, "Maybe you've got some ideas."

"Why would I?" Haley asked snottily.

Lauren rolled her eyes and snapped, "Oh, stop pretending you didn't do anything.  How old are you, 14?"

"Lauren," I warned her softly.  I just wanted to get everything packed up and get home so I could spend the rest of the long weekend on the couch with Netflix.

Haley turned to James and said, "I'm not riding in a car with her.  She's rude."

James sighed and said, "Well, you also said you wouldn't ride in a car with my 'skanky ex-girlfriend' so I'm not sure how you want to get home."

"Skanky ex-girlfriend?" I repeated.  "We dated for a month.  It barely even counts!"

"Thanks," James snapped sarcastically back at me.  "That's so helpful."

Brody bristled, sending an angry glare in James's direction.  "Don't talk to her like that."

"Would you all shut the fuck up?" Kinsley yelled to be heard over the angry mutterings of half of the group.  "Seriously, are you all 14?  Let's finish packing shit up and leave.  Then none of you will have to even look at each other anymore."  Being the voice of reason was not a common thing for Kinsley, but in this moment she pulled it off.

To avoid further conflict, Alex handed his keys off to Damien and Damien drove Alex's car back.  James and Haley rode with Damien and Kinsley, and Alex and Lauren came with us.  The drive back into town was a rather quiet one.  Once we got to Lauren's house, we all went our separate ways pretty quickly.

Once Brody and I were alone in his SUV together, I said, "We can't do big group trips anymore.  Something ridiculous always happens."

"Always?" Brody asked, considering this.

"Always," I repeated.  "Savannah at the cabin...both times.  Savannah at Kendra and Christian's wedding.  This time we didn't even need Savannah, because we had Haley."

Brody shook his head.  "I'm too old for this shit," he muttered.

"Tell me about it," I agreed.  "At least we weren't planning on staying another night.  That would have gotten awkward fast."  Brody nodded in agreement, and then we changed the subject, putting the uglier parts of the weekend behind us.

When we walked into our house, I was still surprised to find it empty.  Even though Ken had only been living with us for a few weeks, I'd gotten used to his presence.  "It's so quiet here," I mused, as we tromped upstairs with our bags.

"I'm okay with that," Brody said.  "In fact, it's perfect."  I agreed.

We spent the rest of our weekend lounging on the couch and watching crappy TV and movies.  Well, I watched.  Brody spent a good chunk of time doing some work on his laptop, but he sat with me while he did it.

On Monday, I was making lunch when Brody wandered into the kitchen, laptop in hand.  "Liv?" he asked, setting the laptop down on the table and watching me.

"Yeah?" I replied, only half paying attention.

"Were you serious about wanting a dog?"

I paused, setting down the knife I was using to chop vegetables, and turned around.  "Yes," I said, "But not until after the wedding.  Why?"

"Well, Pete emailed me.  I had mentioned that we were talking about getting a dog, and his sister and brother-in-law are apparently moving in with his parents and can't take their dog.  Pete has the dog for now while they try to find him a good home.  He's really cute."

I laughed at Brody calling the dog "cute."  "Let me see," I said reluctantly.  Brody showed me the picture he'd pulled up on his laptop.  I had to admit that he was awfully cute.

"He's part Rhodesian Ridgeback and part German Shepherd," Brody continued excitedly.  His whole face lit up and it was adorable.  "He's 3 years old, and Pete says that he's really well-trained and well-behaved.  He's also a good watch dog, but he stops barking on command."  I bit my lip to keep from laughing at how excited Brody was.

"Brody, he is really cute, and he sounds great, but what will we do with him while we're on our honeymoon?" I asked gently.

"Well, I told Pete that dilemma and he suggested that we visit and see what we think, then if we want him, he'll keep him until after we're back and settled and ready to take him for good."

"You've got this all thought out, huh?" I asked.

"Hey, I know you well enough to know what all your arguments will be before you even make them," he replied.

"Apparently," I said, laughing.  "Okay, we can go meet him at least.  I feel bad for him, though, going from his home to Pete's, then to someone else's.  Poor thing."

"Yes," Brody agreed enthusiastically.  "Keep feeling bad for him.  Take pity on the poor dog."  I laughed and threw a dish towel at Brody, who apparently thought my empathetic nature might make me more likely to fall in love with the dog.  "Here," he said, picking up the knife I had set down. "Let me help."

"You know, I'm not against getting a dog," I pointed out.  "You don't have to convince me.  I just don't want to do it before the wedding.  So as long as we're waiting until after to take him home, your chances are good enough without sucking up to me."

"Well in that case, here's your knife.  Let me know when lunch is done!"  He set the knife down and made it two steps before he laughed and said, "Seriously though, do you want some help?"  I waved him off and returned to chopping things.

That evening, even though it was Labor Day, Lauren and I planned to hang out like we usually do on Mondays.  She offered to come out to our house though, and I took her up on it.  Brody retreated to the second living area downstairs that Ken had been using with his laptop and Lauren and I sat in the living room on the main floor with our takeout and wine.

"So James showed up today and offered to pay for any of my stuff that was ruined," Lauren said, once we were settled with our food.

"Seriously?  That's pretty much a guilty verdict for Haley."

Lauren shrugged.  "Yeah, that's what I figured.  I didn't take it though.  I mean, it's his fault that she was there, but I believe that he had no idea she was that crazy."

"He picks real winners," I said, shaking my head.

Lauren burst into laughter.  "You realize that includes you, right?"

"Well, I'm not crazy, but I was kind of shitty to him," I pointed out.

Lauren didn't disagree, but she said, "But you also warned him you weren't in a good place to date, so at least he should have been fully aware that there was a chance you'd end up being shitty to him."

"I guess," I agreed half-heartedly.  I didn't really want to talk about the drama-filled camping trip anymore.  Luckily, Lauren happily changed the subject.

"So, your wedding is less than a month away," she said, grinning.

"Don't remind me," I groaned.  "I have so much to do still."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Table assignments and place cards, find a card box, figure out music, find and book transportation for guests between the venue and the hotel, figure out the rehearsal dinner, find shoes, find someone to do my hair, decide on favors, figure out who hasn't RSVPed..." I rattled the list off easily, because it was constantly gnawing at my brain.

"I didn't hear you say 'get the marriage license' so you should probably write that on your list," Lauren said.  I smacked my forehead and flopped backward against the couch, groaning.  Lauren laughed.  "What can I do?" she asked.

"Let's go shoe shopping soon," I suggested.  "And any suggestions on someone for hair?"

Lauren and I talked wedding the rest of the evening.  She pushed me to grab the envelope where I was keeping the RSVPs we'd gotten back and helped me organize them and figure out which we hadn't gotten back yet.  Brody came up at one point, heard us talking about the wedding, and retreated quickly back downstairs.

Before Lauren left, she had come up with a list of places to call about hair, we'd set a shoe shopping date for Wednesday after work, and she'd emailed her sister to ask if she still had her old card box laying around.  I also had a list of tasks to do that week that Lauren and I had prioritized.  Sometimes her Type A personality was a major benefit.



 

 

This Week's Second Post

Will be up sometime on Friday evening.  Probably later.  Sorry!  This week is kicking my ass, but I'm going to do my best to get you guys two posts every week until the conclusion of Liv and Brody's story!

(Now) Lauren: Labor Day Camping Trip part 2

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" I shriek.  I throw a shirt across the tent and glare at Alex, though I'm sure this isn't even remotely his fault.

He looks at me warily.  "What?"

"All of my stuff is spilled," I reply.

"What stuff?" he asks hesitantly.  He's clearly treading lightly to avoid my wrath, and I take a deep breath and get a hold of myself.

"My shampoo and sunscreen and everything.  It's all over my entire fucking bag."  I sigh and push my hands through my sweaty hair, immediately regretting that decision.

"Like they leaked?"

I snort and shake my head.  "It's almost like someone opened them all and squeezed everything out.  I could take a guess at who."  Alex cocks an eyebrow at me, and I can't tell if it's a curious eyebrow or a warning eyebrow. "Fucking immature stupid bitch," I mutter, and Alex's eyebrow gets higher.  "Oh, stop looking at me like that, I'm not going to do anything stupid."

I carefully lift out the clothes that have various products on them and set them aside.  When all is said and done I'm left with 1 tank top, my swimsuit, a pair of shorts, and a pair of capri workout leggings.  Everything else has shampoo or sunscreen or lotion all over it.  I change into my swimsuit and pull on the shorts, then leave the tent.  Liv looks my way as I come out and I walk over to her.  "Did you overpack?" I ask, knowing that she always does.

"Of course," she replies, laughing.  "Do you even know me?"

I force a smile and ask, "Can I borrow a couple shirts, maybe?  Someone thought it would be a good idea to go in our tent and open and dump all my shampoo and shit on mine."

"Wait, seriously?" she asks, giving me a weird look.  She looks around, locates James, then lowers her voice.  "Haley?"

I shrug.  "I don't know who else it would have been, and it's not like stuff just leaked.  Whatever.  I'm not going to make a scene because I'm sure that's what she wants."  Have I mentioned that I hate camping?

Liv returns with two shirts and hands them to me.  "Let me know if you need anything else," she says.  I nod and thank her, then pop back into our tent and put the shirts in Alex's bag, where they'll probably be safer.

Once we're all ready to go we make our way down to the beach.  As much as I'd prefer to just find our own spot, our little group wanders towards Kinsley, Damien, and Haley.  Haley pushes herself up on one elbow and watches us approach with a smug look on her face.  Or maybe that's just her face.

"How was your hike?" Kinsley asks as we start to get settled.

"It was great," I answer cheerfully before anyone else can.  Kinsley lifts her sunglasses off her eyes and gives me a skeptical look.  "It was," I growl, cutting my eyes at her.  I don't want to talk about the hike.  I'm pretty sure I'm not going to sleep tonight after the snake encounter.

"Okay," she replies with a shrug.  She replaces her sunglasses and flips over, wiggling to get comfortable.

I settle into the spot next to her and ignore Haley, who is watching me.  It's warm and the sun beating on me relaxes me.  I hadn't slept well the night before, and I quickly find myself dozing off.  I wake with a start when I feel something cold dripping on my stomach.  When I open my eyes, I see a wet Alex standing above me, dripping disgusting lake water on me.  "Gross," I say, rolling to the side and out of reach of his dripping.

He chuckles.  "You're going to fry, you should flip over."

"You couldn't have told me that without dripping all over me?"

He shrugs.  "I could have, but it wouldn't have been as much fun."  I flip myself over and adjust my bikini bottoms, brushing some sand off the back of my leg.  Alex lightly smacks my ass with his wet hand, and I glare at him.

"I swear that I will murder you in your sleep," I warn him.

"Kinky," he replies, wiggling his eyebrows at me.  I huff out a breath and roll my eyes, then turn my head away from him, trying to get comfortable again.  "Have I told you lately that you're pretty?"

"Nice try," I retort.  "I don't need your validation."

He laughs and kisses my shoulder.  "I love you," he says softly.

I turn my head back towards and roll my eyes, then realize that he can't see my eyes.  "I love you too," I reply finally.  He grins and leans forward, kissing me lightly.  I'm not normally into PDA at all, but he's looking pretty damn good right now and it's hard to resist.  Plus, he puts up with my shit like a champ.  The least I can do is let him kiss me in public once in awhile.

We relax on the beach for about another hour before we pack our stuff up and head back to the campsite.  At this point, I'm hungry again and I don't understand why.  Why does camping make you so hungry?  I busy myself actively ignoring Haley.  Liv approaches me.  "I'm going to take a shower.  Want to come?  You can use my shampoo and stuff."  She says the last part quietly.

"Sure," I agree.  "I have sand in my hair.  And my ears.  And all over."

We get our stuff and walk towards the bathroom.  The showers are disgusting and cold, and I decide not to wash my hair.  It's the shortest shower I've ever taken, but it's nice to at least rinse the combination of sweat and sand off of me.  I get dressed in my workout pants and one of the t-shirts Liv gave me.

Liv braves washing her hair and takes a little longer, so I have time to twist my hair back into a tight French braid, pulling it off my face and neck.  When Liv is done she asks me to do hers too, and my fingers work quickly to braid her long, straight hair.  Her hair is so easy to work with, it's a shame she's so hair-impaired.

We make our way back to the campsite and I'm pleased to see that the guys have started the grill.  I think we're grilling the steaks tonight.  I'm so glad we're not eating hot dogs.  Steak is so much better.  Of course, as we get close, I hear Haley complaining about red meat.  I want to smash her face into something.  My fist, maybe.

I do my best to ignore her as I throw my towel over the clothesline someone has rigged up.   I continue to ignore her throughout the evening.  "Need one of these?" Alex asks me after dinner, holding out a bottle of beer.

"Yes," I reply, reaching for it.  He pops the top off and hands it over.  "I might kill her."

"You wouldn't do well in prison," he points out, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.  The sun is going down and it's getting chilly so I actually welcome his arm and snuggle into him.  "Who are you?" he asks, laughing and kissing the top of my head.

"Shut up, it's cold," I say, but I laugh while I say it.

Haley seems to disapprove of us drinking cheap wine and beer and drags James to bed early again.  I can't say I'm sad about it.  We do nothing to keep our noise level down on their behalf, and I'm not sorry.  Well, I'm sorry for James, because I don't understand why he's with such a bitch.  It doesn't seem like his style at all.

Eventually we all wind down a little.  Alex volunteers to stay up to let the fire burn out tonight, and after everyone else disappears into their tents, I climb into his lap.  I'm a little tipsy and it's making me touchy-feely.  "Are you drunk?" he asks me, chuckling.

"No," I reply.  "Mostly not, anyway.  Maybe a little.  Shut up."  He laughs and rubs my back, and I relax against him.  

Once the fire burns down enough that we can easily put it out we do that and head to our tent.  It's definitely cool now and I quickly climb under the unzipped sleeping bag we're using as a blanket and press my body against Alex's.  "Cold?" he asks softly, rubbing my arm before slipping his arm around me and pulling me tightly against him.

I nod and shiver a little.  Alex presses his lips to the back of my neck and I sigh contentedly.  He shifts and finds my ear with his lips.  "I'll kill you if we pop this air mattress and I have to sleep on the ground," I warn him.  

He laughs softly and his breath tickles my neck.  "Do you want to be warm, or do you want to not sleep on the ground?" he asks.

"Right now I want to be warm," I admit.

"Then we'll just have to be careful." I roll onto my back and kiss him, enjoying the warmth already spreading from everywhere my body is in contact with his.  His hands are warm as they creep beneath my shirt and sweatshirt.  He strokes my sides and I shiver, but this time it's not from the cool air.

I'm conscious of the thin nylon separating us from everyone else, and I clench my teeth and hiss out a sharp breath when Alex peels off my pants and drags his fingertips up my inner thigh.  I moan barely louder than my breath when his fingers stroke gently between my thighs.  He presses his lips to mine to help me stay quiet as he brings me to orgasm, touching me perfectly to get me there quickly.  Then he wastes no time pushing down his sweatpants and pushing into me.

By the time we're done, I'm far from cold.  I snuggle up to Alex, not wanting the warmth to fade.  "I should take you camping more often," he teases.  "You're so cuddly."

"Enjoy it while it lasts," I say, yawning sleepily.

"I will," he replies.

"I love how warm you are.  That's the only reason this is happening."

He laughs.  "I'm going to turn the heat down in my house this winter," he says.  "You'll have no choice but to cuddle with me."

"Or I just won't ever go to your house," I retort.  But I shift closer to him, burrowing against his chest.
"I doubt it," he says, kissing the top of my head tenderly.

"Shut up," I reply, shaking my head.

"You liiiiike me," Alex says in a soft, singsong voice.  "You can't stay awwaaayyyy."

"Oh my god, you're the worst," I say, trying not to encourage him by laughing.  I try to roll away, but he tightens his arms around me.

"I love you too," he replies, chuckling.

"I do love you," I assure him.  "Even though you're the worst.  Now shut up, because I'm tired."  I snuggle even closer to him, relaxing into the gentle sag of the air mattress and Alex's warmth, and quickly fall asleep.

Labor Day Camping Trip part 1

We all met at Lauren's house and consolidated into two cars before heading off to the campground.  We got Damien and Kinsley and Lauren and Alex got James and his girlfriend.  James's girlfriend's name was Haley and she was a couple years older than me, from the way it sounded.  She was quiet, but she didn't know any of us, so I didn't blame her.

The drive took a lot longer than it should, because we were trying to leave town at 5:30 on the Friday of Labor Day weekend.  We didn't really think that one through very well.  By the time we got there, I was starving and quickly volunteered to start dinner while the guys dealt with the tents.  We had a pretty spacious group site with a grill and I waved off James's and Alex's offers to start it.  I'm perfectly capable of starting a grill.

Lauren, Kinsley, and I worked on dinner while the guys got the tents situated (which included a significant amount of swearing).  Haley did a whole lot of nothing, lingering around watching James.  Kinsley and I both tried to include her but she didn't seem terribly interested.  After the tents were up, Brody took the coolers out and started sorting through to get all the drinks in one.  "Will you drink wine with me?" Kinsley asked.  "I don't want beer."

"That's a stupid question," I replied.  "I'll always drink wine with you!"

"You can't drink wine when you're camping," Lauren replied, wrinkling her nose.

"Seriously," Brody agreed, coming over with a handful of beers.  Kinsley shook her head and so did I.  He shrugged and handed one to Lauren, then wandered away to distribute the rest.

"I don't think a camping newbie like you gets to make the rules, Laur," I teased.

Lauren snorted.  "I'm better off than she is," she muttered, barely moving her head in Haley's direction.  Haley was standing awkwardly a few feet away from James, not really participating in his conversation with Damien.

"Come on, like you've never been the person who doesn't know anyone except one person?" I asked quietly.

"Hmmmm," Lauren mused, seriously considering this.  "No, I don't think so, actually."

"Shut up," Kinsley hissed.  Haley was wandering towards us hesitantly.

"Hi," I said with a warm smile.  "We're going to open a bottle of wine, do you want a glass?"

"What kind of wine?" she asked.

Kinsley walked over to Brody's SUV and rooted around in the back, then returned triumphant.  "Yellowtail Pinot Grigio," she reported.

Haley wrinkled her nose and shook her head.  "No thanks," she said, turning and walking back over to James.  Lauren looked at me pointedly and I made a face.

We finally finished making dinner and we all sat and ate and drank and unwound a little.  When we were done, Alex and Brody got a fire going and we all sat and drank some more and got a little rowdy.  I was glad the group site directly next to us was empty, because we were awfully loud.

Kinsley and I had finished one bottle of wine and were halfway into another when I plopped myself down next to Haley.  "Hi," I said, cheerful and tipsy.

"Hi," she said skeptically.

"If you decide you want some wine, help yourself."  She nodded.  "So how long have you and James been dating?" I asked.

"Ummm, I don't know," she replied.  "More than a month."

I nodded.  She didn't say anything else, so I pushed on.  "What do you do?"

She sighed.  "Why does everyone ask that as a 'getting to know you' question?  I think it's a little rude."

I blinked in surprise.  "I'm sorry," I replied.  "I didn't mean to offend you.  I just want to get to know you a little.  I know what it's like to not really know anyone in a group and--"

"Thanks, but I'm okay."  And with that, she literally turned her body away from me and started talking to James.  I briefly caught James's eye over her shoulder and he gave me an apologetic look.  I shrugged and moved back over towards my chair next to Brody.  He intercepted me on the way, pulling me down into his lap instead.

"That went well," he said, his voice slightly slurred.  We were all well on our way to drunk.

"Oh well, I tried," I replied.  I snuggled against his chest, glad for his warmth since the night had gotten chilly quickly.  Ignoring the other people around the fire, Brody let his hand travel over my hip to my ass.  I smacked it lightly away.  If I couldn't tell he was drunk from his slightly slurred words, I could definitely tell by his PDA.

Just a few minutes later, James said goodnight and he and Haley disappeared into their tent.  "I don't like her," Lauren hissed.  I turned, craning my neck to look at her, because she was behind me with the way I was sitting on Brody's lap.

"She's not very friendly," I agreed.  I shrugged.  "Maybe she had a bad day and tomorrow will be better."

"I don't think anyone is more friendly after a night of sleeping on the ground," she grumbled in response.

I laughed.  "I brought a pain in the ass air mattress just for you," Alex reminded her.

"Trust me, you'll thank me in the morning," she replied.


No one was thanking anyone in the morning.  We were all a little fuzzy and slow moving from our indulgences the night before.  All of us except for Haley, that is.  She was up bright and early and had disappeared.  "She went for a run," James said.

"It's official, I hate her," Lauren whispered to me as we headed towards the campground bathroom to brush our teeth.  "She got up early to go for a run.  I'm hungover.  And I hate people that run."

"I run sometimes," I reminded her.

"Not anymore," she argued.  "You used to run.  And you were just as annoying as the rest of them.  Lucky for you, I could never hate you."

"Lucky for me indeed," I replied, laughing and rolling my eyes.

When we got back to the campsite, Brody and Damien were working on starting breakfast.  I had no problem sitting and relaxing, letting them cook breakfast.  "You could learn something from them," Haley commented to James when she returned.  "Real men make breakfast."

James laughed and looked at Alex.  "Hear that?  We're not real men."

Alex shook his head.  "I can make breakfast.  Sometimes I even do it.  You're on your own, man.  Sorry about your loss of manhood."  We laughed while Haley rolled her eyes and glared at James.

While we ate, we discussed what we wanted to do that day.  Kinsley didn't hesitate to say that she wanted to go to the park's beach.  Haley agreed quickly.  I wrinkled my nose.  "It's going to be packed."  Kinsley shrugged.

"I kind of want to do some hiking," James said, earning him one of Haley's now-familiar glares.

In the end, we decided that we were just going to split up.  Kinsley, Damien, and Haley were going to head to the beach.   James, Brody, Lauren, Alex, and I were going to do a little hiking.  Haley didn't seem pleased that James was going hiking instead of going to the beach with her, but James didn't seem concerned.

After breakfast, we all got ready for our respective destinations and headed off.  "So," I said, sidling up next to James as we walked towards the trailhead we'd located on the map of the park.  "How'd you meet Haley?"

"She's a friend's cousin," he explained.  "We met at a barbecue he had."  I nodded, not sure what else to say.  Luckily he continued, "Sorry that she's been less than friendly.  She's actually a little shy."

I forced my face to stay neutral, because I felt confident that there was little truth to that statement.  Instead, I asked, "Any tips to win her over?  I really want her to feel welcome."

He shrugged.  "She'll come around, I think."  Conversation over.  Luckily we located the trailhead shortly after that, and headed down the path.

Most of the trail was narrow and we walked single file, chatting in a slightly chaotic way.  Interruptions abound when you can't see other people's non-verbals to know they're about to speak.  It would open up a little occasionally and we'd clump together before moving back into single file.  The order of the line changed constantly this way, but I found myself in the front more often than not.

I was looking over my shoulder briefly to acknowledge something James said behind me when I heard a sharp rattling sound.  I stopped abruptly and quickly found the rattlesnake coiled along the left side of the narrow path, about 10 feet in front of us.  James bumped into me, causing me to stumble forward.  He put both hands on my shoulders to steady me.  The snake rattled again and instinctively I stepped back, treading on James's foot.

"Easy," he said softly.  I heard movement behind me and then he said, "You can back up now."  I backed up two steps until I bumped into him again.  He shifted, and I backed up another step.  The snake stayed there, rattling away.  We backed up a little more, and it stopped rattling, but stayed there, coiled and watching us.  Finally, it slithered off into the brush on the side of the trail.  I wasn't generally very afraid of snakes (and had seen a few while hiking before), but this one had caught me by surprise and I was still a little shaky when James gently nudged me and said, "You can go now, Liv."  When I hesitated, he stepped around me and led the way, skirting along the right side of the path, just in case the snake was lurking just off the path.

I followed him, still a little nervous.  After I passed the spot where the snake had been coiled, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.  I thought we were good, but I heard Lauren yelp behind me.  I turned in time to smack into Brody and see the shivering tail of the snake disappearing into the rocks on the right side of the path.  Apparently he'd changed his mind on the direction he wanted to go in and didn't want to wait for us to clear the path.  We were all past the spot where he'd been except for Lauren, who was now paralyzed with fear.

Tough, sarcastic Lauren is absolutely terrified of snakes.  I used to be able to convince her to go hiking with me in high school, but she rarely went out here because the likelihood of seeing a snake was much higher here than in Wisconsin.   She was rooted to the spot she had been in when I had originally heard the snake and even from here, a good 20 feet away, I could see the terror on her face.

"It's gone for real now," Alex said soothingly, but she shook her head and muttered something I couldn't hear.  He walked back to her and put his hand on her arm, saying something quietly to her.  She shook his hand off and shook her head again.  I turned away so we wouldn't all be staring at her, making it worse.  I could about imagine the conversation that was happening.  Alex would probably try to gently cajole her forward, and she'd refuse out of fear.  Then he'd probably offer to hike back with her, and she'd refuse out of pride.

I couldn't blame her.  I was still a little uneasy from the snake's slightly erratic and uncharacteristic actions.  I looked around, half expecting it to slither back out onto the path.  "You okay?" Brody asked.

I jumped, his voice startling me.  "Yes," I said, my cheeks getting warm.  "That was just weird.  I wasn't paying enough attention, I guess."

Brody looped an arm around my shoulders and kissed the side of my head.  "Do you think we should go a little further?  I feel weird just standing around and waiting for Lauren.  I imagine she's not a fan of the audience either."

"Yeah, maybe," I agreed.  Brody, James, and I moved up the path a ways.  Far enough that we could give Lauren a little more privacy, but close enough that we could see if they decided to head back.  Just moments later, Alex and Lauren started our way.  By the time they caught up to us, my remaining nervousness had faded.

Lauren, on the other hand, looked like the only reason she was still here was her pride.  I touched her arm gently and she snatched it away.  "I'm fine," she snapped, even though I hadn't said anything.

"I know," I replied, even though I could see her hands shaking.  "We could go--"

"No," she said forcefully.  "I'm. Fine."

"Okay," I said, holding up my hands in surrender.  Lauren stalked ahead, and we all quickly followed her.  She relaxed little by little and within 15 minutes was joking with us again, but she was clearly still on high alert.

We returned to the campsite around 1:30, made some sandwiches for lunch, then decided to join Kinsley, Damien, and Haley at the beach.  I was in the tent changing into my swimsuit when I heard Lauren shriek, "You have got to be fucking kidding me!"

House to Ourselves Again

Brody woke me up fairly early the next morning so we could get back home.  He was planning to spend most of the day helping Ken move out.  He was cheerful and wide awake, which was much more than could be said of me.  I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep since my last run-in with Jordan, but for some reason, I'd slept great last night.  Unfortunately, I was still sound asleep and not even close to ready to get up when Brody woke me up.  I grumbled the whole time I got dressed, while Brody tried not to laugh at me.  I was lucky that he was a morning person and not fazed by my crappy attitude in the mornings.

Despite her insistence that she wasn't going to get up early, Thalia was not only awake but had breakfast ready for us when we came downstairs.  She took one look at me and grabbed the mug of coffee she had set next to one of the plates and quickly replaced it with a travel mug twice the size.  "Take it with you when you leave," she said, smiling knowingly.  I got it together enough to return her smile and thank her as we sat down to eat.

"You didn't have to get up and make breakfast, Mom," Brody said.

Thalia shrugged.  "I was up.  I need to eat too."

"Well, thank you," Brody replied.

"Yes," I agreed.  "Thank you.  And thank you for letting us spend the night."

"Don't be silly," she said.  "You're welcome here any time.  Either of you!"

We finished our breakfast and headed out, and I took Thalia up on her offer to refill my coffee mug before we left.  Despite the coffee, I was asleep in the car within 20 minutes.  I woke up when we were about 10 minutes from home.  "Enjoy the drive?" Brody asked.

"Mmmhmm," I replied, blinking sleepily.  "It was refreshing."

"Since you got to sleep, maybe you should help Ken move," he teased.

"You woke me up," I reminded him.  He laughed.

When we got home, we were pleasantly surprised to find the entire main floor spotless.  Ken had clearly spent some time cleaning.  When we thanked him, he insisted it was the least he could do.  He'd tried to pay us a month's rent, which had offended Brody and he'd refused to take it.  "I had to do something," Ken said, shrugging.

I offered to help them, but they both turned me down.  With the house clean, I had no choice but to spend most of the day on the deck with my Kindle.  That's what I did until Brody texted that he was on his way home, then I headed inside to find something to make for dinner.

"Hi!" I called, when I heard him come inside about an hour later.

"You're awake," he teased, grinning at me as he walked into the kitchen.

I laughed.  "And cheerful, even," I replied, returning his smile.  He laid a hand on my lower back and leaned down to kiss me.  "How'd the move go?"

"Fine," he said shrugging.  He peeled off his shirt, wrinkling his nose at it and tossing it in the direction of the laundry room.  I raised an eyebrow and he grinned and walked over to where it landed, several feet short of the laundry room door, and tossed it into the room.  "I feel disgusting now though."

"Yeah, you've smelled better," I agreed.

He laughed.  "I guess I'd better go shower then."

"Yes," I said, nodding.  He headed towards the stairs and I turned my attention back to the food I was making.  I was just about done when he returned downstairs in shorts and a t-shirt.  He got out some plates and silverware and then wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"Better?" he asked, nuzzling his face against my neck before gently nipping at my earlobe.

I turned to face him and slipped my arms around his neck.  "Much," I replied, nodding in approval.

"Guess what?" Brody asked, raising his eyebrows.  "Our house is all ours again."

"You know what that means," I replied, smirking.  Brody grinned.  "Extra leftovers from dinner."

Brody's grin fell, then he laughed.  "I was thinking more alone the lines of we can have sex wherever we want again..."

I laughed at his temporarily disappointed expression.  "That's true too.  But dinner first, because I'm starving."

"If we have to," Brody conceded.  "Kiss me, at least."  I grinned and rose up onto my toes to kiss him.  He tightened his arms around me while I pushed my fingers into his hair, and we kissed for several seconds.  Almost long enough to change my mind about dinner first, but I pulled away just in time.  "Okay, okay," he said, laughing softly and dropping his forehead down to mine.  "Let's eat."

After we ate, he even managed to control himself long enough to start doing the dishes.  When he was almost done I wrapped my arms around him and rested my chin against his back.  "Have I ever told you how ridiculously sexy you are when you're washing dishes?" I asked.

He burst out laughing.  "Oh yeah?" he asked.  "Must be the dish soap fumes going to your head."

"Nope," I countered, sliding my hands up his stomach to his chest then back down, stopping just at the waistband of his shorts.  "Definitely sexy.  Few things turn me on more than a man doing dishes." I turned my head to the side and rested my cheek against his back as I inched my fingers beneath his waistband.

"Well in that case, you'd better let me finish," he said, pressing his hips forward to gently pin my hands between his hips and the counter, stopping their downward progress.  "I'd hate to deny you your foreplay."

He reached for the last plate on the counter, which tipped his hips away and let me slip my hands lower.  I wrapped one hand around him and he groaned as he quickly washed the last plate and set it in the drying rack.  He grabbed the towel and dried off his hands, then tugged my hand away and turned to face me.  His hands were in my hair the second he turned around and he kissed me hard.

"I didn't realize how much I missed being able to have sex wherever we wanted until we suddenly could again," Brody said, laughing and lifting me onto the counter.

"I realized it...because every time I so much as had an inappropriate thought somewhere in this house I remembered your brother walking in that night!" I replied.

"Shhhh," Brody said, between kissing my neck.  "Let's not talk about him."  That was easy enough.  I stopped talking altogether, pulling his head back towards mine and kissing him.  He worked my shirt up and over my head, our lips parting just long enough for it to pass between us.  Then he went for my shorts, lifting me off the counter so I could slide them down my hips.

Then he pulled me forward so my hips were at the edge of counter before he bent and dropped his head between my legs.  I leaned back onto one hand and pushed the fingers of the other into his hair, moaning softly.  Brody teased me with his mouth and fingers as long as I let him, but I didn't let him for long.  I pulled him up, using my feet to push his shorts down his hips.  I yanked his shirt up and over his head, then trailed my fingers down his chest and stomach, laughing softly when he shivered.

Brody inched me just a little further forward and pushed into me.  I groaned and dropped my forehead onto his shoulder, moaning as he thrust into me.  I wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him harder against me.  He lifted my chin and pressed his lips to mine, and I pushed my hands back into his hair, tugging gently.  Brody moaned into our kiss and I tugged a little harder.  "Let's go upstairs," he said suddenly, breathlessly.

"What happened to being excited to have sex wherever we wanted?" I teased.  But I didn't mind...having sex on the counter is not the most comfortable thing.

"Well, now we did and now we can go have sex in bed," he said, laughing and lifting me off the counter.

Once we were in bed, it was easy to get comfortable after we finished.  We stayed there, tangled together, for over an hour.  Finally, Brody groaned and rolled onto his back.  He stretched and said, "I need to work."

"It's after 8," I pointed out.

"I know," he said.  "That's why I need to get up and do some now."  But he didn't move.  After a couple minutes, he said, "I could probably be convinced to not work, if you're opposed to it."

I laughed and rolled onto my side, sliding my hand up his stomach to his chest.  "I'm not opposed to it, but if you want me to convince you not to, I'm sure I can be very convincing."  I trailed my fingers back down his chest and stomach.  "And, I mean, you took off work early to do wedding stuff with me yesterday, so if you need to work tomorrow, I'd understand."

Needless to say, Brody didn't end up doing any work that night.  He did work all Sunday morning and most of Sunday afternoon, but stopped in time to take me out to dinner.

My work week went well.  Josh was still being polite but he didn't go out of his way to talk to me, which was fine with me.  After the slightly rocky start with the client that I took from him, our sessions were now going much better.

Before I knew it, it was Friday and Lauren, Kinsley, and I met for lunch and to get groceries and supplies for camping.  Lauren was only dramatic about camping for the first 20 minutes or so, then she launched into her typical director mode, bossing us around in the most efficient way possible.  I love her for it.  Once we had everything we needed (and a whole lot of stuff we didn't need), we dropped it all off at Lauren's house, which is where we were meeting.

My phone vibrated while we were lounging on Lauren's couch, and I looked at it, seeing a text from James asking what time we were meeting.  "5:00 at Lauren's, which is my old place," I replied.  Kinsley had asked me earlier in the week if it was okay if James came with the woman he was dating.  I wasn't sure how Brody would feel about it, especially after having the recent encounters with Jordan, but he didn't care at all.  I couldn't keep his feelings about James straight to save my life.

 At 3, I decided to head home, because I still needed to pack and Brody would probably be home soon too.  At my prodding, he'd dug out his tent the night before and made sure all of the stakes and poles were still there, because he hadn't used it for a couple years.  Brody made it home on time and got packed, and we were headed back into town to meet the rest of the group by 4:30.

(Now) Lauren: Challenge Accepted

On Thursday I host a camping planning party in lieu of happy hour.  The guys are all working tomorrow, but Liv, Kinsley, and I are off, so we're going to go pick up groceries and the other things that we need for the weekend so we can head out as soon as everyone is done with work. I'm still not thrilled about camping, but if we have to spend an evening planning what we need, we're going to drink and eat pizza while we do it, damn it.

Liv arrives first, with a couple bottles of wine.  I had picked up some beer on my way home from work, so we should be good for alcohol.  Brody is the last to arrive, beating the pizza delivery by a very small margin.

Once we all have pizza and a drink, we sit down and start to plan what we want to eat.  There's a spirited discussion, which I basically ignore until Alex asks, "Lauren, what do you want to eat?"

"As long as there are s'mores and no one tries to make me eat a hot dog, I don't really care," I reply.  It's true.  I'm not a picky eater, but I hate hot dogs.  I can't even look at them.  They gross me out.

"Hot dogs are disgusting," Kinsley agrees.  "We should ban them.  No hot dogs on our camping trip."

"I like hot dogs," Damien says. "I don't think you can just say we can't have them at all."

"Well, actually," Kinsley retorts, "we're doing the shopping, so we could just 'forget' them, if you insist on putting them on the list."  She smiles sweetly at him and he laughs.  I wish I could be a total dick to my boyfriend and have him just laugh like it was adorable.  I will never have Alex that whipped.

I'm listening half-heartedly to them argue about hot dogs when Alex puts his hand on my leg, about mid-way up my thigh.  We're sitting at the table in the weird dining area between the living room and kitchen and I don't think anyone can see his fingers as they creep under the hem of my skirt, but I can't be completely sure.

"What are you doing?" I hiss, looking at him.  He looks at me innocently and doesn't respond.

I glare at him, and he leans a little closer and whispers, "More people will notice if you keep giving me dirty looks."  Then he looks back towards the others and pipes in with some smartass comment about the hot dog debate as he slides his hand a little higher.  Of course, people look over when he talks, and while I feel my cheeks get hot (which is not a thing that happens to me), no one seems to notice that Alex's hand has crept past a socially appropriate place.  I relax a little bit, since it seems that even looking directly at us, no one can see his hand.

He keeps his hand there, his fingers playing against my leg, inches from my underwear.  Despite my initial fear of being seen, I now find myself wishing he'd inch them a little higher.  The next time he talks to contribute to the discussion--which has now moved to bacon--he does just that.  Just enough so that the very tip of his middle finger brushes along the edge of my underwear.  I bite my lip to keep from sucking in a sharp, noticeable breath.

Liv is protesting bacon now, and when the attention is turned to her, I turn my head towards Alex.  "You are evil," I whisper.

"I'll stop if you want me to," he whispers back, smirking at me.  I say nothing.  Just as the group erupts into laughter over something Brody says, he slips one finger underneath my underwear and strokes it against me once before sliding it back out.

"I am going to kill you," I growl, though I make no move to push his hand away from me.  He just smiles in response.

He keeps his hand up my skirt as long as he can get away with it, occasionally slipping a finger or two beneath my underwear, occasionally stroking me from outside my underwear, but mostly just torturing me at the very top of my inner thigh.  At this point, I'm considering kicking everyone out so I can fuck him right here on the table.

We eventually finish our meal planning and list making, and people start to move around a little.  Alex moves his hand back to a socially acceptable position just above my knee.  Kinsley and I both stand, and I raise my eyebrows at her.  "Were you going to go to the bathroom?" I ask.

She nods.  "Go ahead though."

"No, you can go.  I'll go upstairs."  We slip past each other, her headed to the tiny half bath off the dining area, and me upstairs to my bathroom.  I stop briefly in my room to find a hair tie because I need to get my hair out of my face before I cut it all off, then proceed to the bathroom.  As I start to shut the door, a hand wraps around the edge and stops it.

"What--?" I start, as Alex slips in.

"Shhh," he says, pushing the door shut and locking it.  He wraps his arms around me and pulls me against him, kissing me hard.  As he kisses me, he slides his hands back up my skirt, squeezing my ass before sliding my underwear down.  I grip his shirt tightly in my fists, not sure where any of this is coming from, but I'm certainly not mad about it.

"There are people downstairs," I remind him half-heartedly.  To be honest, I currently give no fucks about the people downstairs.

"I know," he replies, before moving his lips to my neck.  I groan as he slips a finger inside me.  "You'll just have to be quiet."

The bathroom isn't very big, just big enough for us to barely maneuver as he turns me around and leans me against the sink.  He flips the toilet lid closed and lifts my foot up onto it so my leg is bent, then pushes my skirt up and out of the way with one hand while he unbuckles his belt and drops his pants with the other.

I can't help but moan softly when he pushes into me.  By this point, he's spent a solid 45 minutes torturing me, and I'm more than ready.  "Shhh," he reminds me, nipping at my neck.  I moan again when his fingers move between my legs, stroking me as he thrusts into me, and he clamps his other hand over my mouth.  I reach back behind me and push my fingers into his hair, tightening my grip as I come, hips bucking into the counter.  He moves his fingers away from me and wraps his arm around me to keep me on my feet as he thrusts harder into me for several more seconds before he finishes.

He leans forward and presses his lips to the back of my neck, making me shiver.  Once I recover, I stand up straight and turn.  "Who are you?" I ask, before bending to retrieve my underwear from the floor and pulling it back on.

"Gotta keep you on your toes," he replies, zipping his pants.  Then he smacks my ass and slips out of the bathroom.

"But seriously," I mutter to myself.  I glance in the mirror and smooth my hair, then wipe a smudge of mascara away.

When I walk downstairs, I'm pretty sure that everyone will know exactly what just happened.  But no one is paying any attention to me.  Brody and Liv are on the couch, deep in conversation.  Kinsley is curled up in Damien's lap in my recliner.  They are disgusting.  I'm still not quite ready to forgive Damien, even though he didn't do anything to me.  I just don't quite trust him yet.

Alex is in the kitchen getting more pizza and I join him there to get a glass of water.  "Oh, hey," he says, as if he didn't just fuck my brains out upstairs just minutes ago.  I make a face at him and take my glass of water into the living room, plopping down next to Liv.

"Lunch tomorrow before we shop?" I ask, looking from Liv to Kinsley.  "I need to enjoy civilization as much as possible before it gets yanked cruelly away from me."

Kinsley laughs and Liv just rolls her eyes.  "Sure Laur," Liv says.  "We can even go wherever you want."

Everyone stays for about another hour, then they all head out.  I cuddle up to Alex on the couch and he gives me a surprised look as he settles his arm around my shoulders.  "Who are you?" he asks, parroting my question to him from earlier.  I hate cuddling but Alex doesn't, and I don't often allow him the privilege.

"I figure it's the least I can do after how awesome you've been lately," I reply nonchalantly.

"I've been awesome lately?" he asks.

I roll my eyes, even though he can't see them.  "Yes.  You said we should go to that new restaurant when I kept suggesting places we always go, you're making me go camping, and then there's whatever happened earlier."

"Ahh," he replies.  I can almost hear the smirk when he asks, "So will you talk dirty to me tonight too?"

"Don't push your luck," I answer, digging my elbow into his ribs until he laughs and squirms away from it.  "But seriously, when...when everything happened, I wasn't sure I made a lot of sense.  But it seems like you get it.  And like you care and...I don't know.  Don't make me keep talking."

He chuckles and his hand that's wrapped around my upper arm begins to move, gently stroking from my shoulder almost down to my elbow and back.  "I do care, genius," he says.  "That's what I keep trying to tell you."

"Well, if you really care, you'll make sure that no hot dogs find their way into our campsite."

He laughs again, this time louder, and says, "Challenge accepted."

Next post: Friday

Just wanted to let you guys know the next post (Lauren's post) won't be up until Friday.  This week got away from me with the holiday on Monday!

If I were a betting woman...

It was nice to spend the rest of Thursday with Brody, since he'd been gone for a few days.  After dinner he went into his office to do some work, but didn't stay there long.  We both went to bed early, and while I slept restlessly--waking up often--I slept nightmare free and much better than I had the night before.

On Friday morning I got a call from my therapist letting me know that she'd had an afternoon cancelation and could fit me in today if I was free.  I took her up on it, and after breakfast I went into town.  I went to the gym, then had lunch with Kinsley, then went to my appointment, then to the grocery store.  I absolutely loved having all my Fridays off.  It was so nice to be able to get errands done while most people were at work and places weren't as busy.

When I got home, I worked on wedding stuff a little more.  I set up appointments to meet with two officiants next Friday afternoon.  We were getting down to the wire and needed to find someone.  I figured if Brody couldn't go, I'd ask Thalia to come with me.  I spent a good portion of the late afternoon emailing back and forth with Leigh, the event coordinator at the restaurant.  I was having a hard time with the "details" (like linen color and table set up, place cards and table numbers, etc) because I deemed them unimportant.  She'd been kind enough to put some ideas together to give me some choices so I didn't have to start from scratch, and now I was ruling out the things I didn't like.  This was much easier.

I got most things narrowed down and saved everything to show Brody later.  I got up and started dinner, and Ken came home while I was cooking.  I invited him to join us, and he agreed and offered to help.  I politely turned down his offer to help, but was glad that he seemed to be feeling more comfortable in the house and around me.

Brody got home right as I was finishing up dinner.  "What wonderful timing you have," I teased him, laughing.  "Just in time to eat and not help, as usual."

"He did that all the time when we were growing up.  It's like he has an uncanny ability to sense when all the work is done and the food is ready, and he just appears," Ken said.

"It's a great ability to have," Brody said, grinning at us.  "It's okay to be jealous."  He grabbed some plates out of the cabinet and we sat down to eat.

"My apartment complex called today," Ken said, while we were eating.  "They said I can move in next weekend.  I'd much rather move on a weekend than a Tuesday, so I'm going to do it.  I'll be out of your hair in a week."

"That actually went really fast," I said.  "You've been an excellent guest."  Brody agreed.

He chuckled.  "Well I'm glad to hear it.  I've tried.  I didn't want to piss you guys off right when you decided to maybe give me a chance.  I really appreciate you both letting me stay here this month."

After we finished eating, Brody and Ken cleaned up, and I happily let them.  I filled Brody in on the appointments I'd made for next Friday, and he told me he'd take the afternoon off so we could go together.  It made it a little easier to not get as frustrated when I asked for his opinion on some of the ideas that Leigh had sent me.  "Whatever you want," he said, shrugging.

"But I want to know what you want," I insisted.

"I don't really care that much," he admitted.

"There are a few things that I'm having a hard time deciding, will you at least look at those?" I negotiated.  He agreed, but still wasn't very helpful.  I reminded myself that he had been pretty great so far and was taking off work next Friday to do wedding stuff, and I decided to ask Lauren for her opinion on Monday instead of trying to get Brody to decide.

The rest of the weekend was fairly low-key.  Brody worked all day Saturday, and I went out for a girl's night with Lauren, Kinsley, and Kendra.  We hadn't done that in ages, and it was nice to get out without our guys for awhile.  Brody was nervous about me going out after my recent run-ins with Jordan and we almost got into a fight about it minutes before I walked out the door.  It was only when I pointed out that his protectiveness was bordering on controlling that he realized how unreasonable he was being.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, rubbing his forehead.  "I just want you to be safe."

"I am going to be safe," I said.  "At this point, I'm reasonably certain that the only thing he wants to do is scare me and push your buttons.  And the chances of us running into him tonight are small.  It's going to be fine.  You're worrying too much."  

I considered spending the night with Lauren or Kinsley so we could take a cab and all drink, but decided I'd rather sleep at home, so I drove.  I sent Brody a text a couple hours in because I knew he'd be worried, but other than that I didn't think too much about our argument and just enjoyed myself.  I was home by 1 am, because apparently we're all getting too old to drink and dance like we used to.

The next week went by quickly and on Friday Brody came home from work around 1:30, and we headed down to Colorado Springs to meet with the two officiants I had scheduled.  Brody had worked long days the rest of the week to make up for being gone most of last week and leaving early today.  I'd told him that we could try to reschedule the appointments or that I'd go without him but he wanted to go and made it work.  I was grateful for that.

Luckily, we really liked the second officiant that we met with, and we booked her on the spot.  I was so relieved to have all the major things booked and out of the way finally...with just a little over a month to spare!

We were meeting Brody's mom and her mysterious (or not-so-mysterious, if my theory was correct) boyfriend for dinner, but we had over an hour to kill so we wandered around downtown, going in and out of shops and just meandering around the streets.  While we were wandering, my phone rang.  It was Nadine, my biological father's mom.  Brody and I found a bench to sit down on while I answered.

"We are just so excited for your wedding," she said, after we'd exchanged greetings.  "Our RSVP is in the mail!"

"That's great," I said.  "Thank you!  We're pretty excited too.  In fact, we just booked our officiant, so now we can actually get married at our wedding."

She laughed.  "Well, I know the timing is probably bad," she said, "but we're going to be in town to visit the kids' mother in two weeks.  We'd love to see you if you're not too crazy preparing.  I know it's just a few weeks until the wedding."

"I would love to see you guys," I said.  "I feel kind of terrible because I told Sarah that we'd try to plan a weekend for her to come visit before she went back to school, but things got so crazy in August.  Maybe she could come when she has a break from school or something."

"She would love that, I'm sure," Nadine replied.  "She had asked if she could spend one of the nights we're in town with you, but I told her you would probably be running around like crazy."

I considered this.  "Actually, I have most of the bigger stuff done and won't have a ton more to do until probably the week prior.  If she wants to stay one night that weekend, and you're okay with it, that would probably be fine.  I'd love to have her.  I'll just need to talk to Brody first."  Next to me, Brody tapped my arm and nodded, mouthing that it was fine.  "Never mind, he just said he's okay with it!"

"She'll be excited," Nadine said cheerfully.  "Is Saturday night okay?  I'm pulling them out of school at lunch on Friday, but we'll still probably not get there until after dinner time.  They'll be with their mom until about dinner time on Saturday.  Maybe we could all meet for dinner and you could bring her back with you?  Then we can pick her up Sunday on our way out of town?"

"That sounds perfect," I replied.

"Okay, we'll get in touch a little closer to make solid plans for dinner.  I hope you'll bring your fiancé as well.  We'd love to get to know him."  They'd only briefly met Brody the day they picked Sarah up when she had hopped a Greyhound into Denver without telling Nadine and Jon.

"Sure, I'll invite him," I answered.

We said goodbye and hung up and it was time to make our way to the restaurant where we were meeting Thalia and her mystery man.  "Should we take bets on whether or not it's Don?" Brody asked.

"No, because I'm confident that it is," I replied.  "You don't want to bet against that, do you?"

He laughed.  "Not really.  Though I do question it a little, because if it is Don, I'm surprised my mom didn't just tell me that.  At least before we met, because it's not like her to spring something like that on me."

I shrugged and considered this.  "You might be right," I said.  "I guess we'll find out soon."

As it turned out, Thalia was not dating Don.  The man she was standing just outside the restaurant with as we walked up looked considerably younger than Don.  I cringed a little internally, because he also looked much younger than Thalia.  Though Thalia looks quite a bit younger than she is and they didn't make a mismatched couple, I wondered how Brody was going to react.

"I know him," Brody muttered to me as we approached.  "But I can't place him..."  His brow was furrowed and he barely fixed his face in time for his mom to turn around and catch sight of us.  She waved, and we waved back as we closed the space between us and them.  The man looked vaguely familiar to me too, which was surprising.

"Hi," Thalia said with a smile as we approached.  "Brody, do you remember--"

"Tim!" Brody interrupted, suddenly realizing who it was.  I looked at him, still confused.  I had no idea who Tim was.

"Yes," Thalia said, chuckling.  "Tim."  Tim stuck his hand out to shake Brody's hand.  Then he turned towards me expectantly, but before I could introduce myself, Thalia took over.  "Tim, this is Brody's lovely fiancée, Olivia.  Olivia, this is Tim."  I shook his hand and greeted him, still trying to figure out why he looked familiar.  I didn't have to wrack my brain too much longer, because she continued, "You know Don, of course.  Tim is Don's youngest brother."  Ah!  That explains it.  He did look a bit like Don, which must have been where the familiarity came in.

"Of course," I replied, smiling.  I looked at Brody, whose face was neutral.  I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but he smiled back at me.  "Shall we go in?" I asked, nodding towards the door of the restaurant.  Thalia and Tim led the way and I looked at Brody again.  He just smiled back at me and put his arm around my shoulders as we followed them in.

By the end of dinner, Tim had won me over.  He was funny and cheerful and seemed kind.  He and Brody fought good-naturedly over who was going to pay, and Tim won only because the waitress set the bill down closer to him and he managed to snatch it out of Brody's reach.  Thalia smiled.  "I haven't had two handsome men fighting over me in ages," she said.  Brody scowled at her, which just made her laugh.

The service at the restaurant had been incredibly slow, and it was getting late by the time we walked out.  "If you'd like to stay with me, you're welcome to," Thalia said, raising her eyebrows at Brody in question.

"I'm helping Ken move tomorrow," he said.  "But I really don't feel like driving back tonight."

"If you want to head back, I can drive," I offered.  "But I don't mind staying either."

Brody debated silently for several more seconds, then decided we should stay and just get up and going right away in the morning.  We drove out to Thalia's house.  Tim joined us and we opened a bottle of wine and played cards until Brody and I were both yawning.  Tim stood up and said, "I guess I should get going."

"Mom, if your boyfriend wants to stay, it doesn't bother me," Brody said with a smirk, looking at Thalia.

Thalia regarded him coolly and said, "Thanks for your permission, though I don't much care if you're bothered by it or not."  I laughed at the look on Brody's face, and Thalia cracked a smile.  "He needs to be up early though," she continued, "And I'd rather not be.  So no, he can't stay."

"I'm right here," Tim joked.

We said goodbye to him and Thalia walked to him to the door.   When she returned to where Brody and I were picking up the cards and wine glasses, she stopped and said, "Well?"

Brody was silent for several seconds, then asked, "Are you happy?"

"I am," she said, nodding.  "Very happy."

"That's good enough for me, then," he replied.  He smiled and hugged her, and the relief on her face was clear.

"He, um, has a son," she said, after they'd parted.  "He's 12.  That's why he's getting up early tomorrow.  He's taking him fishing."

"Oh," Brody said.  His face was unreadable, but I saw a muscle in his jaw twitch.  "Well, that's good I guess."

She nodded.  "He's an excellent father, it seems like."  The muscle in Brody's jaw twitched again, but he just nodded in response.  Thalia recognized that she had pushed things far enough and shooed us off to bed.

Brody found us both toothbrushes in a drawer in the bathroom next to the bedroom we'd stayed in at Thanksgiving.  We both brushed our teeth silently, next to each other at the sink.  When Brody was done, he walked out of the bathroom, leaving me to wash my face.  When I got into the bedroom, he was already in bed, and I quickly stripped down to my tank top and underwear and got in bed next to him.  He pulled me towards him and settled next to him with my head on his chest, then reached up and pushed my fingers into hair, massaging his scalp.  "Are you okay?" I asked softly.

"Like I said, as long as she's happy, that's enough for me."  His tone was flat and a little cold.  I tried to push myself up on elbow to look at him, but he put gentle pressure on my shoulder, silently asking me to stay put.  I shifted and stayed where I was, respecting his silent request.  "I could have done without knowing about his son and that he's an 'excellent father', though.  I can wrap my head around my mom dating a guy that's probably at least 15 years younger than her.  I'm having a harder time with her being so flippantly cheerful about his parenting skills."

I didn't say anything, and he continued.  "I mean, I guess it's great that she chose someone better than my dad, right?  Because now she can be happy.  And I'm glad for his son's sake that he doesn't suck at being a dad.  Because it sucks to have a dad that does a shitty job of being a dad."  He stopped abruptly and took a deep breath, and I remained silent.  "He does seem like a decent guy, though," Brody admitted.  "And she did look happy."

"She did," I agreed quietly.

"Shit," Brody said, sighing.  "I don't know why I'm so worked up over this guy's kid.  I'm glad she picked a man that isn't anything like my dad.  It just wasn't something I was expecting to hear."

"Well, I imagine it's also hard to know that maybe your mom picked better this time around, because her first choice made aspects of your life really hard," I offered tentatively.

"Yeah," he agreed.  "Something like that."  He laughed drily.  "I'm almost 31 years old and I'm pissed because my mom is dating.  Aren't you impressed by me?"

"You're not pissed because your mom is dating," I said.  "She's been on her own for so long.  This is a big change, and it also happened to trigger some other stuff for you.  You acted perfectly appropriate all night.  It's not like you're throwing a 10 year old's tantrum over having to share your mom with a new guy."

Brody was silent for long enough that I thought maybe he was asleep.  Suddenly, he kissed my forehead and said, "I love you."

"I love you too," I replied.

"You make me feel normal when I'm convinced that I'm crazy.  It's an impressive talent that you have.  You did it for me when my dad died too."

"Normally I charge people to access that particular talent of mine.  For you, it's free."  I pushed myself up again, and this time he didn't try to stop me.  I kissed him, and his grip on my hip tightened slightly.

"What else can I get for free?" he asked, and even though I couldn't see his face well in the dark, I knew he was smirking at me.

I laughed.  "Ask nicely enough, and you can have just about anything you want."