Love Untold

Love Untold: Chapter 18

Love Untold: Chapter 18

Chrissie tossed and turned for hours, and just after midnight, she finally got up to pop a sleeping pill.  When she awoke the next morning, her sister was lying next to her, staring right at her.  After a quick glance around, she discovered that she was in her spare bedroom, rather than her own.  Dena smiled.  “You were sleeping walking last night,” she offered as an explanation to the quiet question hanging in the air.

“Sleeping walking?”

“Yeah.  You haven’t done that since you were a kid.  It must be a side effect of the sleeping pills...unless it’s the stress getting to you.  Race found you in the kitchen, stuffing your face with Twinkies.”

Chrissie just wanted to forget about the stress for a moment, but she needed to know if yesterday was just a dream. “Race?  So, I’m...”

Dena sighed and rolled over to look up at the ceiling.  “Still married?  Yup.  When you were adamant about not going back to bed, he came and got me.  We put you in here with me so I could keep an eye on you...in case you decided to dip raw bacon in mayonnaise or something.”  She glanced over at Chrissie and laughed.  “You’re smiling.”

Chrissie felt her lips.  Yeah, she was smiling.  

“So, is that smile for me...or for Race?”

Chrissie dropped her smile.  She’d admit that she was a little happy that nothing changed from yesterday, but she’d only admit that to herself, mainly because she wasn’t sure if she was glad that she didn’t have to wake up and face another uncertainty...or because she was still married.  Chrissie rotated her head on her pillow.

“Dena...I’m sorry for what I said to you last night.  I didn’t mean it, really, I didn’t.”

Dena said, “I know you didn’t...but it still hurt.”  She rolled back to prop up on an elbow.  “Is that how you really think of me?  That I’m capable of stealing someone’s husband...my own sister’s husband?”

“No,” Chrissie replied weakly.  Honestly, she thought Dena was capable of getting any man she wanted.  And if she wanted Race...Chrissie wouldn’t be able to stop her.  She didn’t have the same draw and beauty that Dena had.

Dena grunted.  She didn’t believe Chrissie any more than Chrissie believed herself.  “Dena, I really am sorry.  But you’ve got to admit that you’ve always been the pretty one, much more vivacious and loose.”

“Loose?!”  Dena rose up angrily.  “I’ll have you know I’ve only slept with five guys in my lifetime.”

Chrissie suppressed a giggle.  In her book, five men was pretty substantial.  “I didn’t mean it that way...I mean casual, down-to-earth, not so anal like me.”

“Yeah, uh huh.”

“Really, D...I don’t think you’re, um, slutty or anything, just zealous.”

“Keep digging,” Dena growled.  “Pretty soon, you’ll hit China.”

Chrisse sat up and crossed her legs under her.  “Listen, D.  This is what I think about you.  You’re out-going and so beautiful and energetic and fun to be around, and guys love that about you.  I did get jealous when I saw you and Race sitting on the couch together yesterday, but I was mostly mad at myself because I know I don’t really have any claim on him, despite the fact that we’re married.  And I don’t understand why you have so much trouble in your relationships, because frankly, I think you can have any man you want, Race included, and yet you continue to go after these jerks that treat you like crap.  You’re smarter than most people I know and sweeter than a flock of grandmothers, but the way you present yourself, no guy will ever see it because you don’t let them.  Sometimes, I wonder if you hide that side of you on purpose, and I don’t know why.”

Dena shuffled around and mirrored her sister’s position.  Her face frowned.  “You think I’m the pretty one?  I always thought you were the looker, that’s why I always had to be out-going.  Whenever I stand next to you, no one ever sees me unless I make them see me.”

“And that’s why you’re so much more beautiful than me.  You smile at the world, and all the beauty inside you and on the outside shines through.  I’m so uptight, no one wants to come near me.”

Dena giggled.  “You are uptight sometimes.  I always thought that if you stuck a lump of coal up your butt, you’d have your own diamond mine.”

Chrissie gasped and playfully slapped Dena’s shoulder.  “Shut up.  That’s just mean.”

“Consider it payback for last night,” Dena said blithely.  Chrissie fell back on the bed.

“I guess I deserve that.”  She glanced at the clock and jolted upright again.  “Oh, no!  I’m late for work!”

As she scrambled off the bed, Dena leaned over and grabbed a handful of her nightshirt.  “I think under the circumstances, you can take a personal day...a week of personal days.”

“No, I can’t do that.  I have responsibilities, clients...”

“There you go, being uptight again,” Dena scoffed, dragging her sister back to the bed.  “No one’s going to think less of you because you need some mental health days.  Your assistant can take care of things at the office for a while.  Lord knows, you’ve been training him for a year and never giving him a chance to prove himself.”

“I’ve given Brian plenty of responsibilities,” Chrissie argued, though she did wonder if he was really ready take up her slack for a few days.

Dena rolled her eyes.  “Yeah, like getting your coffee in the mornings and driving the van...really important stuff there, sis.”

Chrissie chewed on her lip for a moment.  She wasn’t eager to get back to work with all the problems on her mind right now, but she wasn’t keen on having nothing to do either.  “Maybe, I can just close the office...Brian could use some days off, too.”

“Just let the man do his job, Chris,” Dena huffed.  “He’s got a degree in business management, after all.  If you keep coddling him like you’ve been doing, you’ll loose him and end up having to train another Karen.”

Chrissie shuddered.  Oh, God!  Not another Karen.  That chit couldn’t even work a keyboard properly.  “Okay, fine.  I’ll give him a call.  But I just can’t sit around all day.  I need something to do to keep busy or I’ll go crazy for sure.”

“Got it covered,” Dena said with an evil smile.  “Mom called earlier.  She wants to take us shopping.”

“Shopping?” Chrissie asked, thinking her mother had finally lost her mind.  “I’m in the middle of a crisis and she wants to take me shopping?”

“You like to shop,” Dena said, a gleam in her eye.  “Consider it therapy.  And just your kind.  You can buy all the denim wedges you want and not spend a dime.  Mom said she’d take care of everything.”

“It doesn’t sound very sane, you realize that, don’t you?”

Dena sighed.  “Listen, it might not sound sane, but over the years I’ve kind of got Mom figured out.  You know she’s never been able to deal with things out of her control.  With Daddy’s death, and now this...this is Mom’s way of trying to help.  It’s her way of trying to get your mind off of it for a while and do something fun and pleasurable.  Think of it this way, if she starts to get bothersome, then we’ll loose her in the mall and hang out in the men’s department or somewhere.  You know she won’t go anywhere near those places.”

Chrissie smiled.  “Yeah, okay.  Let me make some calls and get a shower.”  She hopped off the bed, knowing that Dena would be with her all day, so she’d not have to suffer her mother’s unique personality alone.  But at the door, she hesitated, feeling anxious about seeing Race again after the hallway incident last night.

“Um, D?”

“Hmm?”

“Is...um, Race around?”

Dena had gotten up and was digging through her suitcase for some clothes.  She didn’t look up as she answered.  “No, it’s Monday.”

Chrissie turned.  “Monday?”

“Oh, right...you don’t know,” Dena said, holding a pair of skinny jeans and a sheer yellow top.  “He’s got his bike club ride on Mondays and Wednesdays.  He’s usually gone by seven, then he goes to the bike shop until they close at six.”

“Oh,” Chrissie said, disappointed that he had no problem resuming his regularly scheduled days.  It seemed today was just another for him.  That kind of hurt.

Dena grinned.  “Feeling a bit abandoned, are you?”

Chrissie snorted...the sound stuck in her throat.  “Of course, not.”

“Yeah, whatever.  If it makes you feel any better, he told me this morning before he left that he thought you might need some time apart from each other.  He said you were still a little skittish last night when you went to bed.”  Dena pulled off her tank top and pajama shorts, not the least bit ashamed of parading her nudity in front of her sister, and Chrissie wished she could be free like that.  “I can’t believe you asked him to kiss you again,” she went on as she hopped into her jeans.

Sputtering through a breath and flaming red, she replied, “I didn’t...I...Did he tell you that?”

Dena laid back on the bed to force the button of her jeans through the hole and tug up the zipper.  “No, I was listening through the door, stupid.”  Once she got her pants fastened, she lay there, panting.  “Modern fashion is going to kill me one of these days.”

“I don’t know why you wear those things.  You realize that skinny jeans were in style when we were like nine, don’t you?”

“Yeah, then came that grunge era,” Dena said, sitting up and shuddering.  “I hope that one doesn’t come back.  I detest plaid.”

Chrissie laughed and set off for her bathroom and a good long scrub.  After her shower, she called a very-ecstatic Brian, though he tried to hide it when she explained her absence with as little detail as she felt comfortable with, and let him know he was in charge for a few days, but to call her if anything happened that he couldn’t handle.  Then she made an appointment with the brain doctor who Dr. Malik recommended -- only to discover that Race had already done that.  The receptionist snickered over the phone.  “Oh, honey, don’t let that one go,” the woman said.  “Your husband put up quite a fuss when I told him our next opening wasn’t until Friday.  He grumped and complained and bargained until I squeezed him in for tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, well...” Chrissie commented only because the woman sounded like she wanted one.

“And all from the back of his bike,” she went on.

“He called while on his bike?”

“Oh, yes,” the receptionists said, laughing.  “I told him to call back when he could give me his complete attention -- I needed your contact information and all that, you know, dear? -- and so, he stopped in the middle of the street to answer my questions.  I could hear car horns blaring.  I’ve dealt with my fair share of worried spouses, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to lose an argument.  That husband of yours could charm the skirt off a nun.”

“Yes...I suppose so,” Chrissie replied, and hurriedly thanked the woman for her help.  She hung up the phone, wondering if she’d ever get to see this skirt-baring, charming side of Race.  So far, he’d been sweet or assertive or cantankerous, but not charming.  At least, not her definition of the word.  Gerard Butler from that movie The Ugly Truth popped into her head.  That was charming.

A man who teased and was helpful and looked at a woman with pure want in his eyes, yet tried to hide it behind boyish smiles and good-natured banter...oh, wait...maybe Race had been charming, and she hadn’t seen past her own enigmatic situation.  She sighed to herself, wondering what he was doing right now and if he would avoid her all day.  Something inside her wished he was here, but she left that thought at home as her and Dena drove to pick up their mother.

By eleven o’clock, the Hill women were on the last store of the upper deck of the mall, and Chrissie found herself sandwiched between her sister and her mother on a bench outside of Victoria’s Secret, waiting for a bunch of teenage girls to leave so Dolly -- the lingerie tornado -- can sweep through the store unhindered.

Chrissie groaned to herself.  She didn’t need any more underwear...especially the stringy kinds that were actually meant to go up her butt.  She liked pretty bras and panties, and after scouring her dresser that morning, she noticed that the married Chrissie liked pretty underwear a lot, but her mother would have her cinching her waist in a scratchy, lacy corset and wearing garter belts and all these extra pieces that just weren’t necessary.  Oh, she loved feeling sexy underneath the plain navy slacks and white boat-neck shirt that she chose for their shopping excursion, but not at the expense of her comfort.  

“Well, it’s about damn time,” Dolly scorned as she stood up, uncharacteristically cursing as the young girls finally departed the store.  Dena and Chrissie exchanged an amused look behind their mother’s back.  So, far they’d hit nearly every store on the upper deck of the mall, and this was the third curse word they’d heard Dolly say.  Chrissie had to wonder if her situation was causing more stress in her mother than she let on.

After twenty minutes of browsing, Chrissie found a really pretty a black-and-pink, polka-dot bra and panty set, and paid for it with her own money because she didn’t want to argue with her mother about it.  She was ready to move on to another store when her mother pushed her into a dressing room and threw babydoll nighties, lace teddies, and satin slips over the top of the door.  “Mom, I don’t need anymore nightgowns,” Chrissie called, suffering through a sigh.

“Yes, you do,” her mother said.  “Men like their wives to dress up for bed.  I don’t know why you keep wearing those horrible t-shirts at night.  Just because you’re married, that doesn’t mean you have to slack off on your appearance, even to sleep in.  How am I supposed to get some babies out of you if you can’t properly dress to seduce your husband?”

Chrissie covered her face with her hands and just breathed.  How was she supposed to tell her mother that she didn’t plan on seducing her “husband” at any time in the near -- and maybe not even the distant -- future?  She just couldn’t sleep with a man she didn’t know.  Why couldn’t anyone figure that out?  

Dolly’s presence left the dressing room area in search of more pregnant-inducing lingerie, and Dena shuffled up close to Chrissie’s door.  “Okay, she’s gone,” Dena whispered.  “Are you still dressed?”

Chrisse cracked opened the door and peeked out.  No, she hadn’t shed a single piece of clothing yet.  Dena grinned.  “Good, let’s get out of here.  If we’re lucky, she’ll think you’re still changing and won’t figure it out for at least ten minutes.”

Chrissie grinned back, snatched her purse and shopping bags from the hook and snuck out of the store behind her sister, dodging behind low shelves of panties and lotions to evade their mother.  As soon as they were clear, both took off running toward the escalators.  “Okay, where do we hide?”

Dena thought for a moment.  Her eyes lit up when she spotted a large sports store on the far side of the middle deck.  “There,” she pointed.  “We’ll be safe in there for a while.”

The two sisters dashed into the sports store and huddled in a back corner behind the baseball equipment.  The smell of leather and male-bonding drifted into Chrissie’s nose.  Dena giggled and flushed with excitement, reminding Chrissie of the many times Dena talked her into playing practical jokes on their mother in their childhood days.  A sense of comfort filled her.  This she remembered.

“Dare I ask what you two are up to?” a familiar voice asked behind them.  Dena bumped her head with Chrissie’s as they jerked in unison.  Chrissie dropped her bags.

“Ow,” Dena said, still laughing.  “Dang, you’ve got a hard head!”

“Yes, she does,” Race said, smiling down at them.  “Now, what are you two doing?”

“Hiding from the Snow Dragon,” Dena answered with her present grin.

Chrissie couldn’t speak.  Race stood before her, dressed in more of those bike shorts, a tight-fitting jersey shirt and holding a bike helmet from the straps.  His dark hair was mussed and sweaty, and there was a line around his eyes where the dust and grime from his ride failed to penetrate his sun glasses.  He looked delicious.

“Ah,” he commented dryly, swiveling his gaze to Chrissie.  He looked her up and down, just a sweeping glance, but she felt the heat from his eyes warm her to the bone.  He noticed her spilled shopping bags and bent to pick it up.  Chrissie’s eyes widened as he held up her new bra.  “This is...nice,” he said in a heavy voice.  She snatched it from him and hid it behind her back.  He grinned as he quirked an eyebrow and waved the panties at her.  “You forgot these.”

Please, ground, she prayed.  Swallow me up now.

Slowly and carefully -- there was a predatory glimmer in his blue eyes that she didn’t want to further provoke -- she took those away from him, too.  Dena had disappeared.  Traitor.

“I, uh, thought you were at work,” she said conversationally, feeling like a girl confronted with her first crush.  He was so handsome and she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.  Not bad for her first marriage, her mind said, and she groaned inwardly.

He unfolded his body, bringing the rest of her bags up with him.  “My ride took longer than normal.  I thought I’d stop by and say hi to Ava.”  He nodded toward a blonde behind the register, chatting politely with a customer.  She was pretty, in an athletic kind of way.  Chrissie blinked at that increasingly familiar surge of spite in her veins.  There were some loose baseballs in a bin next to her.  She wondered if she could hit Ava’s nose from this distance.

“Ava?” she choked out and cleared her throat to hide the implication that she might be a tad bit jealous.  She stilled her expression into one of boredom.  Race wasn’t fooled.  He grinned wider, enjoying her discomfort.  She’d have no problem hitting his nose from two feet away.

“Yeah, my cousin,” he explained, shifting to put his body between her and the baseballs as though he could read her mind.  No problem.  The bats were right behind her.

“She’s in my bike club, but she broke her leg last week and I wanted to see how she was doing,” he added.  Just then, Ava waved at them and hobbled out from behind the counter.  Her left leg from the knee down was encased in a hot pink shell.  Chrissie was ashamed of herself.  She’d never throw a baseball at an invalid.

“Hi, Chris!” the younger girl exclaimed in a cheerful voice.  Immediately, Chrissie thought that she and Dena would get along great.

“Um, hello,” Chrissie replied, quietly questioning Race if he told his cousin about her memory loss.  He shook his head, and leaned closer to whisper, “I didn't know if you wanted me to say anything to anyone.”

Ava came over and gave Chrissie a giant bear hug, which she returned half-heartily, not knowing what to do or say.  Luckily, Dena made a reappearance.  “Ava!”

“Dena!”

And just like that the two were giggling and hugging and chatting like old friends, leaving Chrissie to breathe a sigh of relief.  Race watched her carefully.  “You okay?” he asked softly.

“Fine,” she said.

“It won’t last,” he said dryly.  Chrissie shot him a surprised look, but he only smiled sadly.  “The Snow Dragon just found you.”  He nodded his head toward the entrance, and sure enough, there stood a pissed-off Dolly Hill.

“I should have known you two would desert me,” she scorned in a very mother-like voice.  Dena and Ava shut up quickly -- the whole store got eerily quiet -- and the two girls looked abashed, though Ava didn’t do anything wrong.  Chrissie wasn’t about to let her mother quell her.  Race was watching, after all.  She couldn’t allow herself to shrink away from her mother while he was around.  

“You deserved it,” Chrissie said, getting a good running start to straightening her backbone.  “I told you I didn’t want any new nightgowns.  You shouldn’t have been pushy about it.”

“Nightgowns?” Race asked, very interested.

Dolly smiled lovingly at her son-in-law.  “Yes, just for you, dear,” she said, handing him the pink Victoria’s Secret bag in her hand.  “Maybe you can convince Chrissie to wear them, my only married daughter,” she sighed woefully.

Race grinned as he peeked into the bag.  Chrissie leaned over to have a look, too, but he pulled away from her.  “Oh, no.  You apologize to your mother, and then you can look.”

Chrissie crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.  Race laughed and winked at her.  “Well, I have to get going.  You ladies have fun.”  And he turned to leave the store.  Chrissie really wanted to know what her mother bought for her and, yet, gave to him instead.

“So, you’re just going to walk through the mall with a pink shopping bag?” she asked belligerently.  “They’ll take away your Man Card for that.”

He peered into the bag one more time.  “Oh, it’ll be worth it,” he said with a devious chuckle and walked out proudly swinging the bag along with his helmet.

Chrissie stomped her feet in irritation.  That man!

Dolly gave Ava a hug.  “Ava, dear, what on earth happened to you leg?”

Ava laughed.  “Took a tumble down Chenal Mountain on my Kona.”

“You poor dear!”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Mrs. Hill.  I’m more upset that my bike got trashed.  It’ll take me six months to save up for another one, even with Race’s discount.”  She gave them each a wave as she was called back to work, and made Dena promise to come see her again soon.  It shamed Chrissie that there were so many people in her life that she didn’t remember.  Ava, being one of them, then there was that police officer and the 911 dispatcher...who else?

Dolly turned on her daughters.  Both took a step back.  “Now...I passed Carter’s on the way here, and I saw the cutest baby booties.  I think we need to go back and take a look...get an idea on how you’ll be decorating your nursery.”

“Mom...I’m not getting pregnant any time soon,” Chrissie told her mother as they were herded out of the sports store like two naughty, little girls.

“Wear the white lace teddy I bought for you tonight, and you will,” Dolly commented calmly, and Chrissie and Dena looked at each other.  Dena shrugged.

“Just go with it, sis.  You can’t win.”

“Fine,” Chrissie sighed, “but the second she starts recommending the best positions for fertilization, I’m out of here.”

Dena laughed.  “If that happens, I’ll hold her down myself so you can escape.”