Escaping the Past

“Never mind,” he snapped, standing up quickly.

“Are you mad at me?” He rolled his eyes and groaned heavily. “I offered to share my cone.”

“You can’t be as innocent as you seem,” he mumbled. He took a deep breath. “I want to try the two flavors mixed.” His voice deepened as he moved to stand before her. Chocolate and sherbet glistened on her lips. She extended the cone again but he caught her wrist and deflected it. Instead, he moved closer to her knees and met her lips with his. His tongue gently and tenderly flicked against her closed lips, tasting the flavors of her cone. “Mmm…” he growled. “I think I like it.”

Her breath caught in her throat at the simple assault on her senses. “What-” Her words were smothered by his lips as they closed more fully over hers.

“Can I have some more?” he asked playfully against her mouth. He stepped back slightly and she unwittingly raised her cone back to her mouth, her wrist clasped in his large hand as he guided the cone back to her lips. She swirled her tongue around the cone again. His mouth once again descended and met hers. He groaned again.

“Mmm…that is good.” He dropped his own cup of ice cream on the sidewalk as his hand cupped her face, his fingers splayed toward her ear. His thumb touched her chin lightly, pressing insistently until her mouth opened under the pressure. She gasped softly, her indrawn breath bringing his tongue further into her mouth. He retreated slightly but did not remove his lips from hers. “You taste sweet,” he said against her mouth.

Her only answer was a small whimper, as his tongue touched her lips again and traced a circle from lower to upper lips. His hands touched her calves and ran up behind her jean-clad knees. He very slowly spread her knees so he could stand between them. He reached around to the back of her jeans and pulled her bottom toward him so that she sat on the edge of the table.

His mouth continued the slow assault on her senses. His tongue probed gently and moved around her teeth. “Kiss me back,” he whispered against her mouth. Her tongue rose to meet his and he made a rumbling little noise that skittered across her skin. He pulled her tighter against him. Her hand rose to touch his chest, the other still holding the ice cream cone.

Lou jumped when their kiss was cut short by the two-second peal of a siren. Brody broke the kiss, opened his eyes and noticed a police car parked ten feet from their perch on the table. Lou tucked her face against his neck in embarrassment.

“You kids want to move on out? It’s getting late,” t

he officer said through the open window. Lou smiled, trying to contain a giggle against his neck. A quick glance up showed her Brody was grinning too.

“Yes, sir. We’ll be moving on out,” he replied with a quick wave.

Brody lifted Lou’s free hand from his chest and held it as she climbed off the table. She was a little unsteady on her feet. “You okay?” he asked gently, pressing the back of her hand against his lips.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Her legs felt like water but she would never admit it. He opened the passenger side door of the Jeep and she slid in, still clutching the melting ice cream cone. She started to lick the dripping streams of ice cream from the cone.

Brody crossed to the driver’s side and slid into his seat. He started the Jeep and turned to look at Lou, her tongue once again swirling around the cone.

“Oh, Jesus,” he groaned. He took the ice cream cone from her hand and tossed it out the window.

“What did you do that for?” She probably sounded like a whiny brat. But that was her ice cream for goodness sake.

“Never mind,” he ground out as he again reached over and removed her sticky hand from her lap. He clasped it loosely in his own larger hand between them on the console.

The ride home was spent in companionable silence, the havoc of the day finally taking a toll on them both. Brody stopped the Jeep and turned off the ignition He squeezed her hand tightly. “Thanks again for sitting with me,” he said gently, removing his hand from hers. Her only response was a slight nod.

They walked up the back porch steps together. He held the door for her. Sadie and Jeb were waiting up, sharing a pot of coffee at the kitchen table.

Jeb rose from his chair and turned to Brody. “How is she?” At the same time, Lou went to Sadie and walked into the old woman’s arms. The stress of the day fell from Lou’s body like the slow rain of her tears. Sadie patted her back and cooed to her like she was a child again. Jeb held out a handkerchief that was always in his back pocket. She took it and dried her eyes, thoroughly mortified to have been caught crying by Brody.

“Where’s Sarah?” she asked softly.

“She’s in our bed,” Jeb said. “Do you want me to go and get her?”

“No. I can do it. You just stay here.”

Lou walked from the kitchen to the long hallway that led to Jeb and Sadie’s apartment on the lower level. She retrieved Sarah from atop the covers on their bed. The child did not wake as she lifted her but just wrapped her legs around Lou’s waist. Lou placed her hands beneath her bottom and boosted her a little higher. Like most old homes, the stairway was centered around the kitchen so she had to walk back to where the family was seated.

Brody looked up from his coffee where he sat at the table with Jeb and Sadie and smiled softly at her as she walked by with the sleeping child tucked against her.

“’Night,” she said softly as she turned to go up the stairs.

“’Night,” he said in response.

Lou hauled the sleeping child up the stairs and entered her room. Once she was safely stowed beneath the covers, Lou kissed her forehead and walked through the bathroom that connected the two bedrooms. She typically slept with the adjoining door open so she could hear Sarah in the night.

Lou shed the worries of the day as she shed her clothes and stepped beneath the spray of the shower. The warm water washed away her worries. Her fears for Mrs. Wester began to diminish as she reminded herself that her mentor and friend was in good hands at the hospital. She lathered her hair with a lavender shampoo and washed her body with a soap that smelled vaguely the same. It was revitalizing and yet helped to relax her at the same time.