Hand-Me-Down Love (9 page)

She put on oven
mitts and removed the chicken roaster from the oven.

“
You look like
Betty Crocker with that apron on,” Sean said.

“
Let’s hope this
meal is worthy of Betty Crocker,” Marla replied with a small laugh.
She cut the roast chicken into pieces and put it on a large serving
platter. Then she made plates with buttered rice, broccoli, and
chicken and put them on the table. Finally, she sat down.

“
Whew!” she
said. “It’s been a while since I cooked a whole meal.”

The overhead kitchen
light shone brightly on their meal. Marla spooned the citrus
vinaigrette over her salad and handed the bowl to Sean.

“
Are those pears?”
he said, a little suspiciously.

“
Yes. Don’t you
like pears?”

“
I love pears.
I’ve just never seen them in a salad before.”

“
I hope you like
it,” Marla said.

They started to eat
their salads.

“
Do we have any
candles?” Sean asked suddenly. “We need candles. This light is
too bright.”

“
I’ll get them,”
Marla said getting up. It did not pass her by that Sean had said
“we.” She went to the china cabinet in the living room and took
out two crystal candlesticks that had white tapers in them. She took
them back to the table and set them in the center. “I’ve got some
matches here somewhere,” she said rummaging through the kitchen
catch-all drawer. She found a book of matches from Steamboat Joe’s
and handed them to Sean. He struck a match and lit the candles while
she turned off the overhead light.

Sean was right. The
candlelight was much more pleasant than the harsh kitchen light. As
they finished their salad and moved on to the main meal, Sean began
to talk about his trip to Atlanta. He told her about staying in his
childhood room where nothing had changed since he left home for
college. He said it was both comforting and weird. His mother made a
full turkey dinner for the Christmas meal and he ate so much he
thought he was going to be sick. Marla told him about visiting her
parents, but she didn’t mention the undecorated tree.

The conversation
flowed easily between them as they ate the chicken dinner and kept
their wine glasses filled. Sean refilled his plate when he had
finished the first helping. “This is really good,” he said as he
sat back down. “Really good. Thanks for making it.”

When the meal was
over, Sean picked up their plates and put them in the sink. “How
about some music?” he asked. Marla nodded. “That sounds good,”
she said. He went into the living room and a few minutes later the
sounds of U2 streamed through the apartment. Marla decided to do the
dishes so they wouldn’t be waiting for her in the morning. When she
was finished, she turned off the kitchen light and walked out of the
room. Sean was coming back into the kitchen and they bumped into each
other.

“
Sorry,” he said
laughing. “Didn’t mean to knock you over.”

Marla was laughing,
too. The wine seemed to have gone to her head and she felt a little
unsteady on her feet. “You need some help there?” Sean said
taking her elbow. He led her to the couch and settled in beside her.
He had turned off the lamps in the room and the hall light was the
only illumination. He reached over and took her hand. “I missed you
while I was gone,” he said.

“
I missed you,
too,” Marla replied, wondering where this was going, what was
happening. “I guess we’ve gotten used to each other.”

“
Yes,” he said.
And the next thing she knew, Sean was pulling her toward him and he
turned his body to her. He turned her face to his and leaned down and
kissed her. She kissed him back. She knew it was wrong, but she
kissed him back.

Sean pushed her back
on the couch as he kissed her. He lay beside her and moved his hands
under her skirt. She let him. He rubbed her between her legs and she
felt his hardness on her thigh, pressing, pressing. He tugged on her
panties and she was glad she had put on her lacy pair. He began to
pull her panties down and she reached for the button on his jeans. It
released easily and she pulled his zipper down. He had no underwear
on and he was smooth and hard and pressing against her.

He pulled her
sweater over her head. She didn’t have a bra on and her breasts
were bare. Sean moved his mouth down her throat and to her breasts.
He caressed their fullness and put his mouth over her nipples, one,
then the other. She still had her skirt on, but it was around her
waist. No time to deal with that. Sean got fully on top of her and
she spread her knees, welcoming him. He entered her. They moved
together and found a rhythm that took them both to climax in a few
moments.

When it was over,
Sean pulled away from her and sat back on the couch. He still had his
shirt on but he was bare below that. Marla sat up and pulled her
skirt back down. She sat bare-chested on the couch beside Sean.

“
I’m sorry,
Marla,” he said.

“
Don’t be
sorry,” she replied.

“
Was that okay
that I did that?” he asked, looking at her.

“
Yes,” she said
decidedly, smiling at him. It was so okay, she thought. She knew it
would probably be considered inappropriate that they did that, but
she didn’t care.

Sean pulled Marla to
his chest and they sat that way for a few minutes listening to the
music. Marla finally got up and said it was late and they should go
to bed. Sean stood and wrapped her in his arms. “Can I come to bed
with you?” he asked. And she took his hand and led him to her
bedroom. Lucy was already asleep on top of the bedspread. Marla
pulled back the covers and Lucy woke up and jumped down to the floor.
“Sorry, girl,” Marla said. “You can get back up in a minute.”

Marla was still
bare-breasted and Sean still had no pants on. She stripped off her
skirt and he took off his shirt and they crawled nude into bed. Marla
turned off the bedside lamp and felt Lucy jump onto the end of the
bed. The cat seemed to know not to come up closer. She drew Sean to
her and they kissed deeply. Their hands were all over each other,
rubbing on each other, then rubbing with their full bodies. Sean
entered her again. They moved together, reaching a crescendo
simultaneously.

Afterward, Sean lay
back on his pillow and Marla lay back on hers. They didn’t talk,
and a few minutes later Marla heard Sean’s steady breathing and
knew he was asleep. She would leave the analysis of everything for
later, she thought as she fell asleep.

Chapter
Eleven

She woke up with
Lucy’s face right in front of her face. “Okay, girl,” she said.
She looked over to the other side of the bed, and Sean was still
asleep. He looked peaceful. Marla got up and went into the bathroom
for her robe. Lucy followed her to the bathroom and then to the
kitchen. The calico rubbed herself around Marla’s ankles as she
poured the food into her bowl. Marla went back to bed and crept
beneath the covers. But she couldn’t get back to sleep.

Is this what Merrie
meant? she asked herself. Is this how she wanted me to look after
Sean? Was what they had done last night okay? Marla wasn’t dumb.
She knew that most of the world would consider what they had done was
not okay. But it felt so right, she thought. How could it be wrong?

Sean began to move
around. Marla turned on her side to look at him as he stirred. He
opened his gray eyes and looked at her. She looked back. Was he
thinking what they had done was wrong? Would he get weird about it?

But he didn’t. He
reached out for her and touched her arm. She put her hand on his
hand. Neither one spoke. Marla broke the silence. “Do you want some
coffee? And breakfast?” she said.

“
That sounds
great,” he said sleepily. “But let me help you.”

“
Okay. I’ll
start the coffee and then we can figure the rest out. I’m not sure
what’s in there.”

She got up and went
into the kitchen to start the coffee. A few minutes later, Sean came
in wearing his robe. He opened the refrigerator. “I’ll make fried
eggs,” he said. “And we’ve got some bread for toast. Does that
sound good?”

She walked over to
him. “That sounds good,” she said. “I’m starving.”

He reached for her
and she put her head against his chest. It was warm and she wanted to
stay there forever.

“
Is everything
okay?” he asked over the top of her head.

“
Everything is
just fine,” she said. And she tilted her head up to look at him. He
bent down to kiss her. When they finally pulled away, she was almost
panting with desire for him. She wanted to go back to bed.

She walked over to
the coffee pot and poured him a cup. He breathed in the aroma and
took a sip. “You sit down and let me take care of breakfast,” he
said, leading her to the table. And she sat there drinking her coffee
and cream and watching Sean fry eggs and make toast. He rooted around
in the refrigerator and found a jar of homemade blackberry jam one of
Marla’s customers had given her for Christmas. He put butter on the
table, then brought her a plate with two fried eggs medium, as she
had requested, and toast. She buttered the toast and spread it with
jam. He brought his plate over and sat down. They ate and it was
good. Sean pushed his toast through the egg left on the plate and so
did she.

Sean put the dishes
in the sink when they were done and ran hot water and squirted
dishwashing liquid over the plates. He sat back down at the table.

“
Is this weird?”
he asked.

“
I guess a
little,” Marla admitted. “But I’m not sorry about it.”

“
Me either,”
Sean said. He looked at her and smiled. He sounded sure of himself
and Marla believed him.

“
Should we talk
about it?” Marla asked.

“
Probably,” he
said. “But let’s not.”

That was fine with
Marla.

The rest of the
week, Sean and Marla went on day trips. The visited Bellingrath
Gardens near Mobile one day, but it was the middle of winter and
there wasn’t much to see of the famous gardens. They drove to Fort
Morgan on the coast and watched a Civil War reenactment. Some days
they watched TV and decided their favorite show was “Two and a Half
Men.” Every evening, Sean took Marla to dinner. They drank wine and
talked and laughed together in the restaurants. Anyone looking at
them would have thought they were a couple in love.

And Marla was
falling in love, though she tried not to. Tried to reason everything
through. It crossed her mind more than once that Sean was looking at
her as a replacement for Meredith. But he seemed happy. They were
having such a good time together. Every night when they got home from
whichever restaurant they had visited, they fell into bed together,
holding on to each other, giving each other love and comfort. Lucy
had gotten used to sharing the bed with Sean and kept her distance.
She waited until they had made love to jump on the bed. Good girl,
Marla thought. Good girl.

On New Year’s Eve,
Sean left the apartment for a while and came back with two bottles of
champagne. They chilled them and uncorked one early in the evening
and the other one close to midnight. As the ball fell on Times
Square, they toasted each other.

The shop would open
the day after New Year’s and Marla was sorry she had to get back to
it. Not that she didn’t love what she did, but she wouldn’t be
spending every day with Sean anymore. Just thinking about it made her
miss him. When January 2
^nd
arrived, she forced herself out
of bed while Sean lay sleeping.

A few minutes before
ten, Jada opened the front door and they were open for business. It
would probably be a slow day since it was after the holidays and
everyone was shopped out. It was a good time of year to scope out
estate sales and yard sales. Sometimes, you could find something rare
at a yard sale, something that just the right customer was looking
for.

“
Did you have a
good holiday?” Marla asked Jada.

“
It was all
right,” she said. “I went to my aunt’s house in Mobile.”

Marla realized then
that she didn’t really know that much about Jada, even though they
had been working together for over three years. She felt bad about
that. She really should be more attentive.

Marla and Jada spent
the morning going through the shop and dusting and finally moving
things around to make them more attractive to the customers.

“
I think it might
be good if we set up more scenes,” Jada said. “You know, like
rooms in a house. Set stuff up on tables, put chairs around. Make a
scene.”