I had also found out (to my immense relief) the club wasn’t behind the explosion at the Spiders’ clubhouse and therefore not responsible for the murder of a whole gang. Cade had told me they had more than a few enemies, which included the mob (yes the legit Sopranos type…ekk) who were responsible. I knew they were far from good men, but I was still firm on my belief that two wrongs didn’t make a right. Which seemed to differ from the club’s version of justice.
Another thing that happened was I finally told everyone in my life about Cade. A thing I had been putting off doing partly because I wanted to make sure things were solid with us before declaring my love for him to all my friends and family, but mostly because I was a wuss. It didn’t go exactly as I planned though as I discovered when I rang my mother a few days ago. I sat in my office working up my courage after I had been chatting to her about random things for about ten minutes.
“So did I tell you Nancy Goodwin, you know that girl Alice’s mother?”
She didn’t wait for me to reply, as usual.
“You know the girl you went to high school with? Quiet girl, nose always in a book, but a pretty wee thing?”
Again my mother didn’t wait for me to confirm I knew who she was talking about.
“Well it turns out she has been having an affair with a thirty year old man and is now pregnant with twins.” She whispered the last part as if it was the code to a radioactive bomb.
“Mum I’ve got a boyfriend,” I announced, not reacting to her earlier statement. Although I was shocked, Alice was only a couple of years younger than me, her mother was no spring chicken.
“Oh honey I’ve been waiting for you to tell me for weeks, I’m so glad we can finally talk about him,” she gushed sounding excited.
“What do you mean ‘you’ve been waiting for me to tell you’?” I asked quietly.
“Oh darn,” my mother whispered quietly back and I knew something was afoot.
“Mum!” I demanded with one word.
“Oh, it’s nothing, Amy just sent me a picture of you and your young man. He is smoking. I knew you might be hesitant to tell us, but I know what a man in love looks like and that boy is smitten. Not to mention Amy approves and I trust her judgment even though she did like that awful collection by Versace…”
“Mum!” I snapped, trying to erase hearing Mum calling Cade ‘smoking’ and plotting Amy’s murder at the same time. “Let’s go back to the part where Amy sent you a picture of me and Cade.”
“Like I said, I approve, even if he is a bit rough around the edges, he is one fine male specimen.”
I cringed at the thought of my mother checking out the ‘specimen.’
“Are you happy, Gwen?” my Mum asked, seriously now, with a bit of emotion in her voice.
I sighed. “Yeah, Mum, I love him.” I told her quietly. There was silence over the phone then a sob.
“Mum?”
“I’m fine dear, just happy to hear you’re happy. Oh no, the Stevenson’s have just turned up. They’re here an hour early, seriously these people. I haven’t even changed out of my gardening clothes! I hate to cut this short Gwen, but I’ll have to talk to you later. I’ll call when your father is around. Love you sweetie pie, I am so happy for you.” Her voice broke slightly at the end.
“Love you too Mum.”
I rang off quietly, seething at Amy, trying to think of ways to get away with her murder. I shelved that thought, deciding to cross someone else off the list.
“I am wearing fur underwear, I repeat, fur underwear. What the fuck do these stylists think they are doing? I will do almost anything in the name of fashion, but the matching booties are where I draw the line.” Ryan answered the phone without a hello, launching into conversation like always. I giggled.
“Well hello to you too my darling friend,” I greeted sarcastically.
“Did you not hear me, Gwennie? Fur underwear. It’s freaking a thousand degrees out here. I’m sweating my man parts off,” he complained.
“With great modeling prowess comes great responsibility,” I told him sagely.
I could almost see Ryan scowling down the phone.
“How’s the little town anyway? Been to any ho downs?” He quickly changed the subject, obviously over his tantrum.
“Ha ha Ryan, you do realize it is in California, by the beach right? Whatever. I’ve got something to tell you.”
“Oooh you’re finally getting a boob job?” he asked excitedly.
“No!” I exclaimed, looking down at my B cups self consciously. I actually had toyed with the idea of increasing my chest to a more substantial size, not Pamela Anderson, just more than a handful. But Cade had been showing me he more than appreciated my mere handful, I had been feeling good about them until now.
“Dammit,” he mumbled, “I was going to be your nursemaid, had the perfect outfit and everything.”
I scrunched up my nose at my gay friend nursing my boobs back to health.
“Well sorry Florence ain’t gonna happen.”
“Oh well, I’ll find another use for it,” he replied, mind obviously wandering.
“Ryan. Something to tell you, kind of important?” I probed.
“Oh, go ahead girl tell me the news,” he said, sounding less interested.
“I have a boyfriend,” I blurted, deciding to dive straight in, hoping Amy hadn’t beat me to the punch on this one as well.
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“Hello? Have I finally managed the mean feat of rendering Ryan Jackson speechless?” I asked sarcastically, hoping his response would be a happy one. I got my answer when I heard a squeal girlier than mine down the end of the phone. I held it away from my ear a second.
“Crap, Ryan, you promised you’d warn me when you do that, I don’t want to go prematurely deaf,” I whined, maybe understanding why people kept saying that to me.