“Yes, dear” Cori laughed. She leaned up and kissed him. “Thank you, Seth.”
“For what?” he asked.
“For being a good guy. For taking care of me. For listening to me.”
“Ahhh, shucks ma’am, that what us white knight do, don’t ya know?” he teased.
“Mr. Reynolds, you are my white knight.” Cori answered honestly. “Now sit, I have to dish it up.”
“Nope, you sit and instruct. I doubt that wrist feels really good.” Seth said gently pushing her to the table. Cori pointed and directed and soon Seth had their meal on the table. He took his first bite and moaned with pleasure.
“I’ll gain a hundred pounds if you cook for me all the time.”
Cori blushed “I’m glad you like it. It usually does well at the restaurant also.”
“I would imagine. It is delicious.”
“Thank you.”
“So, Beautiful, my company’s annual picnic is next weekend, will you come to Houston for the weekend and stay with me?”
“I’ll check my schedule. How’s Millie feeling?”
“The same I think. She’s enjoyed having Micah home and he is spoiling her and Mindy. Her next treatment is the week after next but it is supposed to be really intense and every day. It’s going to get bad then.”
“Any word on a donor?”
“Micah’s blood work was just done a few days ago. I apparently wasn’t a good match. Research and past history says that siblings are the best match but Mom didn’t have any.”
“Well, I’ve been on the donor registry for years but I doubt that I’m a match for her.”
“You never know. That would be interesting, wouldn’t it?”
“I’d donate in a flash, Seth. I’d do anything for your mother.”
“I know you would and she’d do anything for you. You know she wants you for a daughter, right?”
“I know. Before I ever saw you again, she told me that. I told her to forget it because it would never happen.”
“That day you gave me that list and told me I would need you for something someday, Micah told me to never say never. He’s right and so were you, I do need you for something.”
“Can we talk about that after we eat?”
“Definitely.” Seth answered. They talked about their week while they finished eating and she supervised the cleanup but he didn’t want her doing any of the work. After the kitchen met with her exacting standards, they walked into the living room to have a long talk.
“What’s on your mind, sweetheart?” Seth questioned as he faced her on the sofa. Cori curled her legs under her and faced him.
“Just let me say this without interruptions okay, it is going to sound all jumbled but I hope in the end it will make sense.”
“Okay, but kiss me first.” Seth stated. Cori smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. “Start talking, girlfriend.” He said good-naturedly.
“Did you talk to Micah this week?”
“Yes and he told me about your talk. And for future reference, stay out of bedrooms with my brother.” He teased. Cori smiled again.
“Here goes….I have issues sometimes Seth, I meet with my counselor and we will need to also if we progress.” Seth nodded but didn’t interrupt. “Any victim of spousal abuse will blame themselves and think that they don’t measure up and that no one would ever want them. It is what the abuser convinces you to believe to keep you around. I was there, I felt that way. Most days I don’t anymore but I do have setbacks. I’m smart, I have a successful business and friends and family. But I failed at the only relationship I ever had.”
“No, you didn’t” Seth interrupted. “Sorry to interrupt but I can’t let that one pass.”
“I learned that the failure was not my fault though and that is the difference. I want a successful relationship and you as part of said relationship. But I don’t know how to be a girlfriend. Roger and I “dated” on long distance telephone calls. He and I didn’t share things, we didn’t talk about important things, and I was “in love” and just wanted to hear his voice. He could have told me that the ocean had dried up and I would have believed him. See, he was a popular kid from high school and I had finally become a somebody because he loved me and I wouldn’t be picked on anymore. I was going to show you.”
Seth groaned and leaned over and hid his face in the couch. Cori gently touched his head with a gentle kiss and ran her fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how else to explain this.” She whispered after another kiss. Seth sat up and nodded at her. Cori kissed him again. “I’m sorry.”
“I know babe, go ahead with your story.”
“I don’t want that type of love again. I want to be able to talk about anything and I know I failed that last night about my day yesterday. I want to be comfortable talking to you about anything. Am I there yet? Not yet. I’m trying. Actually just talking to you is wonderful; I really didn’t talk to Roger much. He used flattery and promises to blindside me to his real personality. I didn’t tell you about yesterday because I was afraid you wouldn’t want to know. I knew in my heart that was false but past fears hit me hard. The whole experience hit me hard. He caught me off guard.”
“Come here” he motioned and Cori came closer and he hugged her tight.
Cori sat back and continued her talk. “I guess what I’m saying is that I want this” she motioned with her hands back and forth between them “me and you but I have a lot to learn. And one other thing…” she said looking down at her hands instead of him “I know it has only been a couple of weeks but I’m in love with you and it is nothing like what I thought in my past life. It doesn’t feel the same and it isn’t a heady experience like before. It isn’t being blindsided with the sound of your voice. It is joyful and fun and I like you and I want to hold your hand and I want to hug you and I want you to succeed at what you do and I want to succeed as what I do and I want you to have a good day and a good night’s sleep and I want the best for you. Is that really me?” she asked still without looking at him.
Seth reached over and gently cupped her chin to look at him. “It most definitely is you. Oh yeah, come here” he said pulling her towards him. He arranged her so that she sat facing him straddling his legs. Cori wrapped her arms around his neck when he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Seth’s lips captured hers with such passion. Their tongues met in a duel and Cori moaned against him again and again. Cori hid her face in his neck when they had to take a breath. Seth hugged her hard but Cori felt his strength but not any fear.
“Are you listening to me?” he asked. Cori sat back on his knees and nodded at him. “I’m in love with you. It snuck up on me before we were even speaking. That day in your craft shop when you helped Mindy paint that picture, I wanted to make the world stop so that you and I could just spend time talking and I could figure out how you had knocked me for a loop so fast. From the day I saw you again here in this living room, I didn’t think of you as high school Cori anymore you were just supposed to be Cori my former next door neighbor and friend of my mom’s. I had matured that much at least. I originally purchased tickets to the reunion so Isaac would have a reason to come see Faith that weekend but by the time it rolled around, I was so anxious to see you.”
“Stan’s horrid behavior gave me an opening to see if we could have that talk but you told me no. I walked the football field that night to think and figure out how I could have a broken heart over someone I barely knew. But I did have a broken heart. I didn’t know if you would accept my letters but the day you emailed me I soared on the clouds. Again, after our talk at the lake, I had a broken heart again. Nobody wanted to talk to me for that month. Mindy kept giving me hugs and I had to read that book over and over again. It was torture. I wanted you in my life but I couldn’t get through to you. I had to use desperate measures and it worked. When you appeared at my door last week
, I vowed that I would not lose you again. My heart is gone if I do.”
Cori didn’t wipe the tears away that flowed down her cheeks. She spoke from the heart “I love you Seth Reynolds.”
Just before Seth kissed her he said “I love you Cori Lewis.”
Seth moved around to lie flat on the couch and Cori stretched out over him. He pulled her as close as possible and captured her lips in a long, passionate kiss. When they finally separated, Cori drew in big gulps of air to replenish what he had taken from her. “I can’t breathe” she said happily. Seth grinned at her and kissed her quickly. “You are so bad, my dear.” She groaned.
“Tell me again…” he encouraged
“I love you.” Cori repeated without hesitation.
“I’m not dreaming, right?”
“Only if we are in the same dream.” Cori stated snuggling down on him. She lay with her head on his chest. “Am I squishing you?”
“Love of my life, you don’t weigh enough to squish me.”
“Don’t start on that weight thing again.” She laughed.
“Is there going to be birthday cake at John’s party tomorrow?”
“Yes, of course. It is a huge chocolate cake with chocolate syrup inside and chocolate buttercream frosting. It is magnificent and I don’t mind bragging about it.”
“Then you need to eat a half dozen pieces. Big pieces.”
“Hush” she grumbled.
“You own a restaurant and you make new recipes, why don’t you weigh more?”
She sat up on the edge of the couch to explain “I only sample small bites when I’m working in the kitchen. I have mom, Pearl, John, Nia, Faith or other staff do most of the tasting. I also run from the factory over here to John’s house three or four times a week and in the basement of Hannah’s house there is a gym. I lift weights there several times a week.”
Seth’s eye grew wider with each part of her explanation. “Are you crazy? I don’t even work out that much. Why do you do it?”
“I need too.” She answered standing to walk the floor. “It helps me think, it makes me stronger so I can defend myself if necessary. And I enjoy it. I’m not alone much during the day with the crisis facility and crisis line, the factory, the craft shop and the restaurant. It is my alone time. Sometimes when a new resident arrives, or recruit as John teasingly calls them, my memories resurface and I can push back or work out the anger on the road or the weights.”
“Did the slimeball sleeze hassle you about your weight?”
“Sometimes.” Cori answered “I never really understood that either. If he would have paraded me around on his arm, I might have understood it. You know, look at my wife, she’s skinnier than yours. But he didn’t do that, so I don’t know why he cared.”
“Control” Seth answered “I won’t mention your weight again. Ever”
“I know you are just teasing me. I know the difference.” She said coming back over to him. “It won’t bother me. Beside, you think I’m too skinny and he thought the opposite.”
“Did you gain weight in college or during your marriage?”
She shrugged “Maybe ten or fifteen pounds”
“Oh good grief. That guy was a slimeball sleeze.”
“I’ve heard that somewhere before.” Cori laughed. “He had issues, love. I had to come to realize that in counseling. I was never going to be perfect in his eyes because he never really saw me, he only saw that he was miserable and he needed to feel better.”
“But at your expense.”
“Yes. But I survived. I have a good life now and I can help others and do you know what is the most wonderful thing of all?”
“What?” he asked.
“You are” she answered leaning over to kiss him. “You definitely are!” she said wiggling her eyebrows tauntingly. “Have I mentioned that you are so handsome and well built?”
Seth laughed and pulled her over him again “Let’s just see how well you are built, love…” he said kissing her passionately. Cori felt her shirt rise as Seth pulled it up in the back. His strong hands worked underneath it to her bare skin. She moaned against his mouth as his hands caressed her gently. “Your skin is so soft. On our honeymoon, I’m going to spend one whole day just caressing you from head to toe.”
“Merciful heavens” she groaned as he continued to touch her. “I’ll internally combust.”
“No darling, I know the way to extinguish the flame too.”
“Stop that.” She laughed. Seth gave her another quick kiss then eased away from her.
“As much as I hate to send you home, I’m going too. You need to not drive this late and you have a big day tomorrow.”
“I know.” She said rising from the sofa with Seth’s help. “I’m so glad we had this time to talk together though.”
“Me too, love.” Seth returned. Cori gathered up her belongings and her cooking utensils and Seth carried them out to her car. “Call me when you get back to your apartment. I love you.”
“I love you.” They exchanged another kiss and then Cori drove to her house. When she arrived at her apartment, she checked in with him again and then went to bed.
Seth met Isaac on the stairs the next morning as they both wandered down to see what that fabulous smell was emanating from the kitchen. Neither one had even shaved or dressed other than some shorts. “What is that amazing smell?” Isaac asked.
“I would assume Joycelyn is cooking.” Seth answered. The followed the scent and entered the kitchen and stopped in surprise. Cori was standing in the kitchen spreading frosting over fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls while Joycelyn was cooking the bacon and eggs.
“Good morning, gentlemen” Cori greeted. “How was your night’s sleep?”
“Good” Seth answered coming over to her. Cori stretched up to kiss him. “Do you ever sleep?” he questioned as he sat down at the table with Isaac.
“Of course. I slept pretty good last night. Then I had a brainstorm. You get to be the guinea pigs this morning.”
“I’ll suffer through that if it tastes as good as it smells.” Isaac agreed.
Cori and Joycelyn dished up the food and delivered the juice and coffee to the table. “I’m not telling you anything. Just eat and tell me what you think.”
They passed the food around and began to eat. Seth assuming it was the cinnamon rolls that she was experimenting on ate those first. “It just melts in your mouth. It is fabulous.”
“Thank you” Cori answered but still didn’t tell her secret. Joycelyn and Isaac raved over the food also. Cori accepted their compliments graciously.
“What was your brainstorm, darling?” Seth asked when the meal was over.
“I’m not revealing my secret, sweetie. You might be trying to steal it.” She teased. Seth laughed as did Isaac.
“Cori, dear, Seth can’t cook. He has a cook.” Isaac teased. “In college, he nearly burned down the dorm with a hot plate.”
“I improved since then.” Seth defended. “I can open a can of soup and warm it up just fine now. I can even grill anything you request.”
“That’s okay, Isaac, I don’t like him for his cooking.” Cori commented. “I like him because he likes toys.”
“You two are a match made in stuffed animal land, I’ll agree with that.” Isaac agreed. “Thank you for a fabulous breakfast, ladies. I have places to go and Faith to see so if you will excuse me?”
“Hold it buster” Cori stated. “We cooked, you clean and Faith is coming here in thirty minutes anyway.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that.” Isaac smiled. “I thought I was going to her house to get her.”
“Nope, I recruited her this morning to help me cook next door.”
“Fabulous” Isaac agreed. “Seth, hop to it. We have dishes to wash. And….”
“And you have Faith to see….yes, I heard.” Seth said indulgently.
“Well, yours is alre
ady here so don’t mess with me.” Isaac grumbled. Cori and Joycelyn laughed but stayed seated at the table to watch and supervise the cleanup.
Chapter 15
Cori was drawing when she realized she was not alone any longer. She had come to Houston for the weekend to see Seth and his family. It was Saturday morning and she was up before the rest of the house so she took her sketch pad outside and was working at Seth’s patio table. Cori looked from her to drawing to see Mindy standing beside her. “Hi munchkin. How are you?”
“I good. Can I color with you?” Mindy asked.
“Of course.” Cori answered. Mindy raised her arms and Cori picked her up and sat her on her lap. “What shall we color?”
“I like your bear.”
“Thank you” Cori answered. “I need your help before we color.” Cori flipped back a few pages to her new drawing of a stuffed elephant. “My new elephant needs a name, I can’t think of one.”
Mindy thought about it for a few seconds. “Micah, like my daddy.”
“Isn’t that your bear’s name?”
“It can be both.”
“Alright then, my new elephant’s name is Micah.”
“Who this?” Mindy pointed to the lion right next to him.
“That’s Rory.”
“I don’t think elephants like lions.” Mindy explained. Cori’s picture had them walking down the road together.
“Well, true. In my story they start out not liking each other but by the end, they are good friends.”
“Okay. Let’s color.” Mindy stated. Cori smiled and turned back to her last page.
“Do you want to color in this bear or should we color something else?”
“Can you draw a horse and a bear?”
“I believe that I can.” Cori stated. Mindy leaned forward and propped her chin on her hand as Cori started drawing. It was interesting drawing while a little girl squirmed on her lap but she loved it and hoped that someday her own little girl would be sitting there doing the same thing.
Inside the house, Seth and Micah watched them from the sliding glass door. “I think Mindy got distracted. She was supposed to tell Cori it was time to eat.” Micah stated.
“Cori’s coloring, Micah, of course the munchkin got distracted.” Besides playing with the bears that Cori had given her, Mindy’s favorite activity was coloring pictures then asking Seth to send them to her Mommy and Daddy.