“Thank you” Jaime said crying gently.
“Hey, no tears.” Cori gently “You will be okay. This will be a memory someday. I’ve been there and I know.”
“My husband isn’t dead.”
“Doesn’t matter if he is or he isn’t. Your life with him is over and you’ll begin a new life. You’ll thrive and you’ll be confident again. You’ll learn from this experience and you may even love again. Now, go to sleep.”
“Thank you again for everything.”
“I’m sorry that you needed me but I’m glad I was here to help. Take care of yourself.” Cori said gently touching Jaime’s hand before leaving the room. After a few more issues with the police, Seth and Cori were returned to their hotel room.
“I’m glad to be back here. I’m sorry you were dragged into this.”
“I’m not.” Seth said “you did a wonderful job. Can I ask a question though?”
“Sure” she said as they sat down on the sofa again.
“Why the great need for your privacy? The slimeball sleeze is dead.”
“True. But his father isn’t.”
“What?” Seth asked aghast “Mr. Morgan threatened you?”
“He could. The Morgan’s are not thrilled with me. But he isn’t my biggest concern….a spouse doesn’t really care who is standing in their way. If my name isn’t public, I’m safer. Michelle is the same way. We are targets just by the business we have. I take the security of myself and my women seriously.”
“But you gave your name in front of a thousand people in Houston?”
“I only say that my name is Cori.”
Seth thought back to that night. “I guess that is true. Anyway, we need to go to sleep or we will have a tough time tomorrow.” He said looking at the clock saying it was midnight.
“Good night, Seth” Cori said standing. “I’ll see you in the morning? For breakfast?”
“No doubt about that.” He answered hugging her. Seth kissed Cori goodnight and they both went to their rooms.
Seth had gotten used to sleeping lighter since Mindy lived with him so he heard Cori’s shouts and ran to her room. She was thrashing and fighting off an invisible opponent when he gently caught her arms in his hands.
“Easy, sweetheart. You are okay.” He said calmly. “Cori, wake up.”
Cori stopped thrashing and woke up confused at why someone had her arms in their grasp. “Seth?”
“Yeah”
“What are you doing here?”
“You were having a nightmare. I came to help you.”
Cori let out a long sigh “I’m sorry. I knew better than to try to sleep tonight. Go back to bed, I’m fine.”
“I’ll stay. I’m just going to hold you for a while and we will talk about this another time. Get comfortable.”
“I can’t sleep with you. I am not used to someone sleeping with me.”
“You slept with the slimeball sleeze, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t. I don’t want to talk now but no, I didn’t. He didn’t want me too and I didn’t want too.”
“Cori, ummm, never mind. Just rest and I’ll hold you.”
“Seth, you’ll sleep better alone.”
“No, I actually won’t. I’ll be too worried about you. Close your eyes and snuggle with me.” Seth said gently as he wrapped her in close to his body. He tried to relax his breathing and go back to sleep and eventually he did.
Cori woke the next morning when her alarm went off and was surprised to find she had slept with Seth and that she had actually slept. She smacked the alarm clock and sat up leaning against the headboard. “Good morning” she greeted when Seth looked at her.
Seth sat up next to her after giving her a quick kiss “Good morning to you too. I enjoyed sleeping with you.”
“I guess I did too” she smiled “I didn’t expect to sleep but I did.”
“Good, I’m glad. Will you sleep with me again tonight?”
“Maybe. I’ll see tonight?”
“I’ll be persuasive.” He teased
“You’ll probably be exhausted from last night.”
“We’ll see. I’m going to go get dressed then we can go down to breakfast?”
“Sounds wonderful. I’m starving.”
“See you shortly.” He said climbing from the bed. He turned back to the bed and leaned over and kissed her again then left the room.
Oh my thought Cori I may be falling in love with that man. Cori rose from the bed and went to get ready for the day.
When Seth and Cori met in the living room a few minutes later, Seth pulled her close and kissed her for a long time. After releasing her, he spoke. “Will you sleep with me again?”
“Dog with a bone, Seth.”
“Will that get you to sleep with me again?”
“No, not necessarily. I’ll decide tonight, let’s go.” She said taking her purse and pulling him out the door. After breakfast and their arrival at the toy show, their day got extremely busy and other than Seth bringing her a quick lunch, they did not speak.
Chapter 12
Seth had a decision to make. Cori was asleep in his arms on the couch so he had to decide if they stayed there together for the night or if he carried her to his bed and slept with her there. He had been brushing her hair and she was out like a light, nothing had disturbed her. After careful consideration, Seth gently moved her off of him and rose from the couch. In his room, he turned down the covers then returned to tenderly pick her up in his arms and started for his room. Once inside his room, he laid her on the bed.
“Mmmm” she muttered in her sleep but did awaken. Seth finished his nighttime routine then slipped into bed beside her. He wanted to give her a kiss but was afraid she would wake up then leave him to move to her room and that was the last thing he wanted. Seth was tired also so after cuddling up to her, he fell asleep very quickly.
When Seth woke the next morning, Cori was still sleeping next to him. He wasn’t sure that she moved all night long. Gingerly rising from the bed, he went to freshen from the night and then returned to her in the bedroom. She looked so beautiful and he was glad that they had all day today to do whatever they wanted. As if she sensed him watching her, she jerked awake and looked around startled.
“Good morning, Beautiful.” Seth said gathering her in his arms. Cori rested her head on his chest. His voice was gentle as he spoke to her “I loved sleeping next to you last night.”
“How did that happen?” she questioned “I don’t remember.”
“I’ll admit that I took advantage of the situation and brought you too my bed instead of waking you up.”
“I’m still dressed so I’m guessing that we didn’t…?”
“That wasn’t exactly what I was talking about sweetheart. If we make love we are both going to be awake and aware of what is going on. Last night, I think I could have talked out loud and you wouldn’t have awakened.”
“I was a little tired. How long did I sleep?”
“You got a good night’s sleep. When was the last time that happened?”
“Do I have to answer that?”
“No, I can guess. Before your marriage?”
“Yeah” she answered sadly. Seth rolled over until she lay on top of him. Her eyes were sad as she looked at him.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he questioned as he moved her hair away from her face.
“No” she answered enthusiastically “the last thing you want to hear about is my marriage.”
“That isn’t entirely true. I want to hear what you want or need to tell me. Are there specific times that I won’t want to hear it? Yeah probably. We do need to talk about it sometimes though.”
“Not right now. Today, I’m relaxed and I don’t want stress messing that up.”
Seth smiled “Then what do you want to do today?”
“I have a couple of places that I could show you from my day
s here at NYU and then a quaint little restaurant for dinner.”
“I’m in your hands, babe. Take me wherever you wish to go.”
“There’s no reason to rush, I kind of like it right here.” She said smiling at him. “You are pretty comfy.”
“How about if I do this?” he said rolling her over under him. Cori squealed in surprise but was not scared. “I like this position too.” Seth lowered his head and kissed her longingly.
Cori had a puzzled look on her face when Seth backed away. “What?” he asked confused.
“Why did you hate me in high school? Did I do something to you that I didn’t know about?”
“You didn’t do anything to me which makes what I did even worse. You were just smarter than me and more talented and comfortable with who you were. I needed to prove I was this big jock with all these friends. Looking back it seems even more petty than I can imagine. And those friends aren’t even in my life at all. One of them was ….” Seth threw his hands up in defeat.
“Are you blaming yourself again for Roger?” Cori asked but Seth did not answer. “Don’t Seth, Roger is to blame and only Roger is to blame. You could have been nice to me in high school and my best friend and Roger would have still been the abuser that he was.”
“But maybe not to you. I might have protected you from him or found out earlier that I had feelings for you.”
“And maybe I wouldn’t have Hannah’s House or anyway to help women who need serious help. I’m sorry I brought it up. I still am surprised about us so I wanted to know what happened in high school.”
“It was because you were different than me and I felt inferior probably.”
“That’s almost funny. I always felt small and invisible. Do you know I didn’t tell anyone except my family that I was going to NYU to school? I didn’t even tell Faith and Nia and they were my closest friends. I wrote them after I arrived. I was so sure that it would be one more thing for you to taunt me about. I’m sorry I made up that list and presented it to you.”
“I’m sorry there was a list to make up. Micah will laugh his head off when he finds out about us.”
“I’ll give you a kiss to comfort you.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” Cori said confidently. Seth smiled and kissed her again. After a quick shower they met in the living room and left to sightsee around New York.
Cori took Seth to a street fair that she remembered from when she lived there. The neighborhood brought out their crafts and items to sell. It had become a little more commercial and new vendors had joined but she still recognized some of the people from her days there.
One of the new vendors was a jewelry stand and the jeweler was making a necklace as people gathered around to watch. It was the finest chain Cori had ever seen and the butterfly pendant was exquisite. He had one on display and Cori asked his assistant if she could see it. The assistant handed it to her and she held it in her hands. Cori had always dreamed of having the freedom of a butterfly to change from a cocoon to a beautiful creature and then gain the freedom to fly away. She looked it over and handed it back to the assistant. “It’s beautiful. He’s an artist.”
Seth had remained quiet during Cori’s perusal of the necklace. She wasn’t really paying attention to him so when she moved on to look at another booth, Seth stayed behind to talk about the necklace. Cori was still looking at the next booth when Seth joined her.
“Are you okay?” he asked
“I am. Can you do a butterfly as a stuffed animal?”
“I couldn’t” he laughed “but you could. I can’t draw a stick figure.”
Cori laughed “That’s pathetic. And I don’t believe you.”
“Someday I’ll draw you a picture and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”
“You are on. My sketch pad is in my room at the hotel.”
“You’ll see.” He laughed. Cori shook her head at his nonsense and they continue looking through the street fair.
For dinner that night, Cori took Seth to a cozy restaurant that smelled of homemade pies and comforting foods. She asked if a certain person was still the cook there and was told yes.
“How do you know this place?” Seth asked after their waitress had left them.
“I worked here in the kitchen with DJ. He taught me how to cook. Well, I mean restaurant cook. When I caught on, he gave me some leeway and I created a few soups and other entrees for them. In fact, you ordered one of my dishes.”
“Then I’m sure I’ll love it.”
“Are you buttering me up for something?” she teased
“Would I do that?” he teased right back at her. When she nodded, he leaned over and kissed her. “Oh, I haven’t done that enough today.”
“Done what?” she asked confused.
“Kissed you. I’ll rectify that later though. Will you sleep with me again tonight?”
“I shouldn’t. If I have nightmares, I’ll keep you awake too.”
“Sweetheart, I already told you that I want us to have a future together. I won’t sleep apart from my wife.”
“You might change your mind about that.” She said sadly.
“Cori, sweetheart, look at me” He said when she looked downcast. Seth reached over and cupped her chin to raise her head. “I won’t change my mind. If you have a nightmare, then you’ll have a nightmare. Losing sleep is minor thing. Honey, if I was the one who came to you with a past that caused nightmares, would you be upset if I had a nightmare and woke you up?”
“No, of course not.” She answered enthusiastically.
“Then I won’t either. Is that clear to you? You can’t run me away because you have nightmares. Now, will you sleep with me tonight?”
“Yes” she answered shyly. When Cori looked at Seth he was smiling gently and lovingly at her.
“Cori Lewis!” Seth heard before he could respond to her. He turned and saw a big man delivering their food. “It is about time you came to see me again.” He said enthusiastically as Cori rose from her chair and hugged him. He lifted her off the floor with his hug.
“DJ, this is my friend Seth Reynolds. Seth, this is DJ Fremont. He owns the place.”
“It is nice to meet you.” DJ and Seth stated almost simultaneously. DJ sat down with them and encouraged them to eat.
“Where have you been? Will you come back and work for me?”
“I live in Texas, DJ. I’m only here for the toy show that was this past week.”
“Move here.” DJ pleaded
“I can’t. I have a few businesses of my own in Texas. But if you ever get to Catesville, then stop and see my restaurant.”
“I will. What besides a restaurant? You said businesses?”
Cori looked to Seth. “I have a factory that makes stuffed animals and I also have a craft shop. And we, he and I, may start another line of stuffed animals.”
“You and those animals” DJ laughed and turned to Seth “when she worked for me, at every break I saw her drawing stuffed animals and placing them in a book she was writing. I knew that was her passion and I hoped that she would succeed with them.”
Seth nodded “She succeeded. Go to warmcomforts.com and look at her work.”
“I will.” DJ promised. “I have to get back to the kitchen but if you ever change your mind, I want to hear from you.”
“Thanks, DJ and I’m glad to see you again.”
“Me too, sweetie. Send me a couple of your recipes and I’ll try them out.”
“I will.” Cori agreed. DJ touched her shoulder as he passed by on his way back to the kitchen.
“I have some competition.” Seth stated as he continued to eat his meal.
“Excuse me?” she questioned. “What competition? For what?”
“For your affections, from DJ.” Seth answered.
Cori looked totally confused and her comment proved it. “I don’t know what you are
talking about.”
Seth paused and sat his fork down on the table “He is in love with you and he wants you.”
“Are you insane?” she questioned aghast. “He does not. He barely liked me when I first started here. I was yelled at on a nightly basis.”
“That was camouflage and a long time ago. If I wasn’t here, he’d be asking you to his place for the night.”
“First of all, you are so wrong. And secondly, I don’t sleep with men on a first date. Since I don’t date that would be impossible. You are seriously mistaken.”
Seth shook his head confidently. “I bet you that he calls you this next week and starts a conversation in hopes of finding out more about you. If I win, you cook me dinner and if I lose, I’ll do whatever you want.”
“I’ll take that bet and when you lose, I want a back massage.”
“You got it. And when I win, I want this meal cooked by the creator. It is very good.”
“Thank you.”
When the waitress delivered the ticket for their dinner, Seth opened the ticket packet and found DJ’s card inside. He handed it to Cori and smiled smugly. “I am so going to win this bet.”
“He only gave me this” she began waving the card “so I can send him the recipes.”
“And then call to discuss them together.” Seth said confidently. Cori gave up arguing with him and put the card in her wallet. She made a note on her PDA to send the recipes to DJ.
Back in their room, Seth was talking to his mom and Mindy again so Cori stretched out on the couch and was watching him. He smiled and waved to her and she winked at him. Cori could tell he was talking to Mindy and when he told her that he would see her tomorrow, Cori knew the conversation was ending. Seth went to his room and then returned a few seconds later. “Close your eyes and sit up.” He instructed as he returned to the room. Cori had a moment of panic then remembered that this was Seth and there was no reason to fear. Seth saw the quick panic pass over her face. “I won’t hurt you.”
“I do know that. Just a bad moment. They’ll happen and I’m sorry about that.”