Her eyes slid to me, I held my breath then they went back to Sam and she admonished, “Language, Sammy, there are ladies in your midst.”
Sam stepped away from his Mom, still grinning and muttered, “Right, Ma this is –”
“Kia,” she breathed.
Yes.
Breathed.
What did I do with that?
Then she moved into me and gave me a tight hug.
At first, I was a little shocked. Then I was a little relieved. Then I pulled myself together and hugged her back.
“Hey, Mrs. Cooper,” I said into her ear. “I’m so pleased to meet you.”
She gave me a squeeze but didn’t take her arms from around me as she leaned back and smiled warmly in my face. “Maris, honey. Mrs. Cooper is my ex’s mother and she wasn’t all that nice.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
She kept smiling at me then her head turned to Sam and she noted, “No Burberry, thank God.”
I pressed my lips together.
Sam sighed.
Maris looked back at me. “Sam told me about you after he met you in Italy.”
Uh… wait.
Really? Italy?
Whoa.
Maris cut into my freak out by continuing to speak. “Then Luci told me about you and keeps telling me about you every time she calls. You’ve won Luci’s heart, Kia, an impossible feat.”
Thank God. Luci laid the road for me. I just had to travel it.
“Everyone keeps saying that but knowing Luci I find it hard to believe.”
She gave me a squeezy-hug-shake and another smile then released me.
“Right!” she said sharply and I jumped. “I will die if I do not have a chai which needs to be seen to prior to getting my bags. Let’s go.”
And it was then she hooked her arm through mine, leaned into me and commenced us walking with Sam trailing and her talking.
“Sam said he met a beautiful girl in Italy but until I saw the pictures, honey, I didn’t believe him. He has good taste but he finally found a true winner. You’re even better in the flesh. I love your shoes.”
She said the word “love” on another squeezy-hug-shake, this one of my arm and I had to admit, I was feeling all-over happy that Sam told his mother about me after he met me and that he included the word “beautiful”.
“Thanks,” I replied softly then I looked over at my shoulder to see Sam grinning at me.
Then his voice rumbled at me, “Told you.”
Maris looked over her shoulder too and demanded to know, “Told her what?”
“That you’d love her,” Sam answered, I gave him big eyes then quickly rearranged my face when Maris looked at me.
“Were you nervous?” she asked.
“Uh… yeah,” I answered.
She gave my arm another squeezy-hug-shake at the same time waving her other hand in front of her, looking forward and declaring, “I’m harmless.”
“I see that now,” I murmured.
“Unless you break his heart,” she went on. “Then I’ll find you, rip yours out and feed it to my dog.”
Yikes!
“I think, if that happens, Sam will likely be the heartbreaker,” I whispered and I felt her eyes on me so my eyes moved to her.
And there it was again. Just like her son, her eyes were intense, burning into me, saying something I did not get.
“I did not raise a stupid man,” she whispered back and this time she just gave my arm a squeezy-hug without the shake.
I smiled tentatively at her.
Her smile wasn’t tentative at all.
She looked forward again and cried, “Thank God! Chai!”
Then she steered us quickly to the line in the coffee place at the airport.
Right. That went well.
And I owed Luci. Big time.
I ordered an iced latte.
And when the girl handed me my plastic cup, I finally relaxed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Never Use It Just to Breathe
“Look at all these beautiful flowers!” Maris called out.
Since Sam was bringing up her bags, he was trailing me. I was trailing Maris therefore she’d hit the first floor before both of us.
I was learning that Maris making note of something I’d done with her in mind was pure Maris. She was just like her son, talkative, friendly, warm, demonstrative, decisive and totally bossy. It was super cute how she ordered her tall, powerfully-built, definitely adult son around. It was even cuter how Sam put up with it with affectionate patience and indulgent grins.
We took the Cherokee up to Raleigh because it was more comfortable for passengers and meant her bags wouldn’t be exposed to the elements. During the ride home, twisted in my seat most of the time to gab with Maris, I had learned that Sam told his mother about me after he had breakfast with me.
Yes, that’s what I said. After he had breakfast with me.
She’d called him that very day and he’d shared he’d met, as Maris recounted, “a beautiful woman who also manages to be cute.”
At his mother imparting this information on me, with affectionate patience and an indulgent grin, Sam had muttered, “Jesus.”
“Is that not what you said?” Maris retorted.
Patiently and indulgently, Sam muttered, “Yeah, Ma, that’s what I said.”
She grinned at me. I grinned back but I suspected, learning Sam said shared this with his mother after we had breakfast, my grin was a whole lot brighter.
Luci and the news reported widely that Cooter and Vanessa planned to off me filled in the rest. Therefore she wasted no time in finding the opportunity to meet me.
“I hope you don’t find it offensive that we talk, Kia,” she said quietly, studying my face. “We’re family, that’s what families do.”
I liked it that she corralled Luci in her family. I liked that a lot. It said everything about her.
“I have a family, Maris, so I get that,” I replied quietly in return.
She grinned at me again. And again, I grinned back.
Sam was right; I had nothing to be nervous about. Then again, it was good that I was nervous because, clearly, Maris was just as pleased as Sam that I cared.
Now we were home, she liked the flowers and it was all good.
I made sure I was out of his way at the top of the stairs then turned and smiled at Sam to communicate my relief. He caught my smile, stopped, his hand shot out, hooked the back of my neck and he pulled me to him, leaning down to kiss me even as he smiled back.
“Luci!” Maris cried.
Sam’s mouth still on mine, I opened my eyes to see he had too and my surprise was reflected in his.
His head moved away just as Maris exclaimed, “Oh my God! What a lovely surprise!”
Sam released my neck, left the bag where it was and we both moved into the kitchen to see Maris already out the front door and hurrying through the screened porch.
My eyes went beyond her to see Luci on the deck.
She wasn’t alone.
Celeste was rising gracefully from one of Sam’s Adirondack chairs.
“Celeste!” I cried happily, running on my high heels through Sam’s house and out to the deck (Memphis yapping and following at my heels) where I made a bee-line to my friend and threw my arms around her.
“Ma chérie,” she whispered in my ear, holding tight.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I whispered back.
“Surprise,” she replied softly.
I felt tears sting my eyes as I straightened but didn’t drop my arms.
“Best one I think I’ve ever had.”
She smiled at me, took one arm from around me and laid her hand lightly on the side of my face. Her eyes moved over my features, they got soft and I knew from her look that she liked what she saw. Then they moved over my shoulder.
“Sam,” she said in her rich, cultured voice and moved out of my arms to Sam.
“Kia!” Luci cried and I turned to her just i
n time to catch her in my arms. We gave each other deep hugs then she pulled back. “Maris told me she was coming to meet you, I told Celeste and we both decided it would be fun to make it a surprise party.” She let me go and threw out her arms. “So we’re here. Surprise!”
“Awesome,” I whispered.
She grinned at me, her head turned then she cried out, “Sam!” like he wasn’t two feet away from her but down on the beach during a hurricane and she threw herself in his arms so hard I saw his body lock so they both didn’t go down.
Celeste and Maris were smiling at them and I let Sam and Luci have their moment by introducing the two women.
“Maris, this is my friend Celeste Masterson. We met in Lake Como. Celeste, sweetie, this is Sam’s Mom, Marisela Cooper.”
“Maris,” Maris stated, lifting her hand that Celeste took, she leaned in, they did the cheek to cheek to cheek business then pulled apart.
“We brought champagne!” Luci announced, moving to a table, lifting a sweating bottle of Cristal and I noted it was one of three.
Yep, Luci and Celeste had decided it was time to party.
So it was time to party.
“I’ll get glasses,” I offered and began to move.
“No, baby, I got it,” Sam murmured and moved faster than me so I settled.
“I love this!” Luci cried, clapping her hands together. “Everyone together! We need to call Hap!”
I grinned at her even as I studied her.
It was still there, the sorrow, not even a little faded. My grin faltered and my eyes moved to Celeste. She tipped her head slightly to the side and shook it once almost imperceptibly. I nodded mine once, hopefully the same. I knew from conversations with both of them that Celeste and Luci spent a lot of time together in Lake Como and Celeste and I had several conversations about Luci. Celeste saw the same thing I did. And Celeste was at the same loss as Sam and I were as to what to do about it.
Then my gaze slid to Maris who I saw was looking between me and Celeste knowingly. She saw it too, she knew what Celeste and I were communicating and this was confirmed when she reached out her fingers and lightly touched the back of mine.
I quickly filled the loaded silence with, “I love it too, Luci, sweetie. So pleased you both are here.” My eyes moved to Maris and I added, “All of you. So pleased all of you are here.”
Luci shot me a half-fake, half-genuinely-bright smile.
Then she hurried to her purse, declaring, “I’m calling Hap right now.”
She dug in her purse.
Maris cried, “What an adorable dog!” and bent down to pick up a bouncing, delighted beyond reason to have company Memphis.
Sam arrived with five champagne glasses turned down, their stems tucked between his fingers.
Luci called Hap.
And the surprise party began.
* * * * *
In my nightie, ready for bed, I exited Sam’s bathroom to find Sam standing by the bed, emptying his jeans pockets, dropping stuff on the nightstand.
I also heard, distant but definitely there, Hap’s snores coming from where he was passed out on the couch. Another indication of why he had not nailed down his own “fine piece of ass.” Those snores would drive the most devoted woman either to kill him in his sleep or avoid a jail sentence and leave him.
Hap showed about four hours after Luci called him, he didn’t have to go back until Sunday and he didn’t drink champagne. Hap drank beer intermingled with shots of bourbon, a lot of both and Hap was even more happy as well as hilarious when he was loaded.
Once he’d passed out, Maris announced she was calling it a night and Sam had loaded a very tipsy (but still cultured) Celeste and Luci into the Cherokee and taken them to Luci’s house.
Now, obviously, he was back.
Sam had finished with his pockets and was pulling his shirt over his head when I asked, “Everyone settled?”
He tossed his shirt on the floor as I watched, tearing my eyes from the vision of his chest to his shirt lying on the floor.
Sam always tossed his clothes on the floor but in the morning he picked them up and took them to a plastic hamper in his walk-in closet. I knew Kyle didn’t do this because I heard Gitte bitch about it. I also knew Dad didn’t do it because I had a lifetime of Mom bitching about it (as well as bitching about Kyle not doing it when he lived at home). And I also knew Rudy didn’t do it because Paula bitched about it to me on more than one occasion. Cooter definitely didn’t do it.
Sam did.
It was another thing I loved about him.
I suspected I had Maris to thank for that and luckily now I had the opportunity.
“Yep,” he answered my question.
I mounted the bed on a knee and when I got both of them in I sat back on my calves and softly noted something I’d observed as the afternoon wore into the evening and then into the night, “I think she’s worse.”
Even as his hands worked the buttons on his fly, his eyes came to me, locked on mine and I knew he knew I meant Luci when he repeated a weighty, “Yep.”
“Sam –” I started but he interrupted me.
“I’ll call Vitale tomorrow. He told me he was going to sit down with her but he hasn’t reported in. I’ll see how that went.”
“Obviously not well,” I remarked.
Sam’s jaw clenched. Then he removed his jeans. Then all thoughts of Luci swept from my mind.
He pulled the covers back, climbed in, flicked them over his body then did an ab curl, his long arm reaching out toward me. He tagged me around the waist and yanked so I fell chest to chest into him as he settled on his back.
His arm stayed around my waist and his other hand sifted into the hair at the side of my head, pulling it back, his fingers curling around my skull. I left one hand pressed between us on the warm, silk skin of his chest and curled the fingers of my other one around his neck.
“Your Mom sees it and she’s worried too,” I told him.
“I know,” he told me.
“I’m at a loss, Sam.”
“Me too.”
I thought about it and shared, “Missy never snapped out of it. She breathes but she doesn’t live. Do you know what I mean?”
He nodded. “You tellin’ me her story, I watched her. Switched off. Existing. Wrapping herself in other people’s problems so she won’t have to face her own.”
There it was. He’d also figured out Missy.
“Seeing Luci, now I think something should be done about the both of them,” I said quietly.
“Yep,” Sam agreed.
I sighed.
Sam was done talking about sad, worrisome things and I knew this when he started to pull my face to his.
I resisted, whispering, “Sam, your Mom’s on California time. When I came up, the light was on under her door.”
“We’ll be quiet,” he muttered, his eyes dropping to my mouth at the same time they heated, them doing both making my nipples tingle and he put more pressure on my head.
“Sam –”
Suddenly, he rolled me and when he was on top and I got a good look at his face, I knew instantly something profound had changed.
“Learn from them, baby,” he whispered. “You got one life, never use it just to breathe.”
I stared in his face, his intensity seared into me and it hit me that he was so right.
I had one life and I lived it for seven years doing nothing but focusing on each day, each breath, not living my dreams, not seeking excitement, not pursuing happiness, not searching for my slice of heaven.
I was done just breathing.
“We’ll be quiet,” I whispered back, Sam grinned his approval then he kissed me.
* * * * *
I woke up in a bed that didn’t include Sam or Memphis.
Then I looked at the alarm clock and saw I’d slept in. Sam was either out walking Memphis or he was already at the gym.
I rolled out of bed, did my bathroom thing, grabbed my fabulous robe and shrugged it
on.
I was tying the belt, my bare feet silent on Sam’s wood floors, just about to round the railing to hit the stairs when I heard it.
“I did not raise an idle son.”
I stopped dead.
That was Maris and she sounded pissed.
I was more than mildly shocked. I knew from what Sam told me and what I’d seen of her that she was not a weak woman. I had no idea how she was before Sam and Ben ousted their father. I just knew from Sam’s stories that she blossomed after that and everything about her was proof. She was happy. She dressed well. She lived well. She had a great sense of humor and an easy smile. She worked and enjoyed what she did. She was her own boss. And she raised two boys who turned into fine men.
But she was like Sam, albeit with a bit of feminine drama, she was mostly laidback, good-humored and easygoing.
At her tone I learned she was just like her son. In other words, she could get pissed.
“Ma, Kia’s up,” Sam returned on a low growl I still heard from my position on the stairs.
“So?” Maris replied and I started backing up.
“I’d say we’d talk about this later but we’re not fuckin’ talkin’ about this later. We’re not talkin’ about this at all,” Sam declared.
“Do not use that tone and language with me, Sampson August Cooper,” she snapped.
“You’re standin’ in my kitchen, in my home talkin’ about my life with my woman awake upstairs. Do not fuckin’ tell me how to behave in my own goddamned home,” Sam shot back on a continued, infuriated growl.
Now I was even more shocked. Shocked stone-still. Sam loved his mother. I couldn’t believe he was speaking to her like that.
“Of the many things I’d like to know, now I’d like to know why you’re so concerned Kia is going to hear us,” Maris stated.
“That’s none of your business either,” Sam returned.
Ohmigod.
“I don’t like that, Sam. Kia is –” she started.
He cut her off, “My woman and my business. Not yours.”
Yikes.
“I cannot believe you just said that to me,” Maris whispered, sounding hurt.
“I did.” Sam didn’t hesitate to confirm.
Ohmigod!