"That's a lot of kids, your parents must have been busy," Adam laughed. There was a twinkle of laughter in his green eyes which made me smile.
"I'm still not sure how Mom managed to keep us all in line. Don't you have any siblings?" I zipped my leather jacket up and watched hungrily as Adam did the same, hiding his sexy, t-shirt clad chest from view.
"Just one sister; Kat's a tattoo artist in Montreal."
"Well that explains a lot," I said brightly, leaning in to kiss Adam quickly before I pulled my helmet on. "You can just drop me off at the end of the lane if you want and I'll get Matt to drive me back to the city. My family can be a little much and that's not fair to you."
"And it's not fair to you if I just abandon you," Adam said with a grim expression. "I'd like to meet your family, unless you don't want me to meet them."
He looked so hurt it damn near broke my heart. "It's not you Adam, trust me. It's just; well... they can be a little over-whelming. I stopped bringing guys home years ago. You're liable to get the third-degree and God knows what else."
Adam slid his own helmet on, obscuring most of his handsome face; I could still see his eyes though and they were laughing at me. "I think I can handle it, Lil. Can't be any worse than meeting Joe." He climbed on the bike and waited expectantly as I did the same before starting it up with a roar.
"You're just saying that because you haven't met my Dad yet," I said, but I don't think he heard me over the sound of the bike.
********
Mom was waiting on the porch of the little, yellow farmhouse when we pulled in. She eyed the bike with thinly veiled trepidation, but smiled welcomingly as we dismounted, shedding our helmets.
I couldn't have stopped her from rushing forward and hugging me tightly even if I wanted to. She enveloped me in a hug which smelled wonderfully of freshly baked pie and good, clean Island air. I smiled widely and hugged her back, just as hard.
"Lilly," she crooned, stepping back and holding me at arms' length. She studied me intently for a moment. "You're getting too skinny."
I laughed loudly, hugging her motherly form again. "You always say that." Mom thought anyone who didn't weigh 200 pounds was skinny, and although I didn't weigh that much, I was certainly far from what I would consider to be skinny.
"And it's always true. Good thing I've a mind to fatten you up today. Now who's your young man?" Mom looked over my shoulder and gave Adam her biggest smile. His face lit up in return. I couldn't help but wonder what he thought of my short, stout, red-haired mother. I'm sure his mother was perfectly manicured and coiffed and in my mind she was a glamorous 'desperate housewife' type with which my own farm-wife Mom could never compete.
Adam stepped forward and I watched in shock as Mom hugged him too, just as hard as she'd hugged me. She didn't even come up to his shoulder. Adam looked surprised for a moment and then laughed heartily. "I'm Adam Brooks, Mrs. Tanner."
Mom held Adam out at arms length just the same as she had me and studied him too, just as intently. I was blushing furiously and Adam shot me a sheepish look. "You're too skinny too," Mom concluded. "Cute as hell, but too skinny. Looks like I'll have to fatten this one up too."
"Mom!" I cried in disbelief, my ears were burning. Adam patted my shoulder, still laughing.
"And now you know why she never brings any of her fellows home," Mom said with a conspiratorial wink in Adam's direction. "You must be special."
"I hope so," Adam said gruffly, smiling down at my Mother. She positively beamed back up at him and I knew that despite her embarrassing me, she liked him.
"Well I'm sure you are," Mom said, taking Adam's arm. "Come in and I'll get you fixed up with a cold drink." She opened the door and Adam held it for her, motioning her through with a broad gesture. Mom laughed and giggled like a teenager. I stood speechless on the bottom step of the porch as Adam laughed right back.
Was he flirting with her?
"Violet!" Mom screeched when the screen-door slammed shut behind me. "Violet! Lilly's here!"
From upstairs the booming music ceased and then there was a clatter of footsteps as my kid sister gamboled gracefully down the stairs. I smiled up at her, knowing my grin was identical to hers, only ten years older. Adam watched the two of us, smiling broadly. Lilly's jaw dropped when she saw him.
Adam cocked his pierced eyebrow and grinned. "Lilly and Violet? That's sweet."
Adam introduced himself to her and Vi stared at him with all the brazenness only a teenager can possess before she shot him her most winning smile. "Yeah, Mom has a thing for flowers, she's a gardening nut," she explained with a coy giggle. I rolled my eyes.
"And your gardens are beautiful, Mrs. Tanner," Adam turned to smile again at my Mom. I hadn't even noticed the state of my mother's flowerbeds when we'd pulled in, but obviously Adam had; every line on his handsome face was sincere.
She waved a hand dismissively. "They're nothing right now, Adam dear. You'll have to come back in June and July and see them when they're properly in bloom. And call me Pat, please." She took Adam's arm again and led him towards the kitchen in the back of the house. I made a move to follow them, but Vi grasped my arm tightly and held me back.
"Omigod," she squealed under her breath as Mom's chattering voice faded away. I could her Adam's deep rumble of a reply but couldn't make out what he was saying. "Where the hell did you find him Lil? He's
gorgeous
!"
A little guiltily, I told my little sister the clean, slightly abbreviated version of how I met Adam, and if I failed to mention that I'd only met him the night before, it was only because she was still a little young to know those things.
"He's so hot!" Vi squealed quietly. "Dad's gonna flip when he sees him. Joe too."
"He's already met Joe," I said with a wry laugh, explaining briefly what had happened earlier at the beach. I left out the details of what Adam and I had been doing at the beach.
"So you wouldn't have brought him if Joe hadn't told you too?" Vi asked, sounding hurt. She pouted like a petulant child and I had to remind myself that she was only eighteen.
"No, that's not true," I replied quickly. "It's just a little soon, that's all."
Vi brushed me off with a dramatic gesture. "If ya love him it's never too soon for him to meet your crazy family."
Love him?
I opened my mouth to argue but wasn't sure what to say. I settled for shrugging off my jacket instead, but only succeeded in getting half-way there when Vi grabbed my arm hard and squealed.
"What?" I asked, eying her excited bobbing up and down with anxiety.
"You have a
hickey
," she hissed with glee. "Dad's gonna die when he sees that."
"What?" I gasped, rushing to hall mirror and throwing off my jacket. I tilted my chin and studied the evidence of Adam's earlier enthusiasm emblazoned on the pale skin of my neck. "Oh my god," I Mombled, leaning my heated forehead against the cool surface of the mirror. I was blushing from head to toe.
Vi giggled with delight. "Come on," she said, suddenly sounding much wiser than her eighteen years. "It's not that bad. I must have something you can wear to hide it."
She pulled me up the stairs and into her bedroom under the sloping eaves; it was a cluttered, busy, teenager-like mess. At one time we'd shared the room and my old twin bed still rested in the corner, covered in a jumble of clothing. I sank into with numbly. "I have a hickey? I've never had a hickey before in my life."
"Well don't be embarrassed," Vi said dismissively, rooting through her closet. "I've had tons." I tried not to look shocked as she threw a high-collared blouse at me. "Well, I have," Vi sighed, sitting beside me as I eyed her skeptically. "Mind you, none from a guy as cute as that. Put that on," she said with a smile, motioning towards the silky blouse. I followed orders, still trying to comprehend having this sort of conversation with my kid sister.
I shook my head as laughter bubbled from my lips. The whole thing was suddenly very ridiculous: the night before with Adam, being so worried I'd never see him again, and then the happiness when he'd shown up at my door with flowers, the amazing motorcycle ride and making love at the beach, and now bringing him home to my family and getting love advice from my teenaged sister. I lay back on the mountain of clothes and laughed until my sides ached while Vi watched me warily.
"You're losin' it, Hon," she said with a giggle. "He's got ya completely freaked out, huh?"
I nodded through my tears, hiccuping as the laughter subsided.
"Well I don't blame ya," Vi confessed. "He's freakin' hot. You gotta marry this one."
Marry
? I laughed again, this time a little nervously. Everything is so black and white when you're eighteen.
"I think I've probably left him alone with Mom long enough," I admitted, hoping fervently that she hadn't broken out the baby pictures yet. Vi agreed and I followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen, a little uneasy of what I'd find when I got there.
Adam and Mom were standing side-by-side behind the kitchen island, both clad in identical flowered aprons and Adam was patiently showing her the best way to effectively chop an onion.
My jaw dropped; Vi giggled and plopped herself down on a stool at the island and watched the proceedings with delight.
"He's quite handy in the kitchen, Lilly dear," Mom said, beaming as she noticed my presence. "Isn't that nice?"
I sat beside Vi and smiled weakly at my mother. "That's because he's a chef, Mom."
My mother turned to Adam and swatted his arm playfully, joining in with his laughter. "Are you really, you rogue?" she asked flirtatiously. "You should have said something earlier."
Adam shrugged, taking over the chopping of the remaining vegetables from my Mom. His hands worked deftly and I was mesmerized by his movements. The dark lines of his tattoos snaked sexily over his arms and looked so out of place next to the flowered apron that I couldn't help but laugh. I looked up and caught Adam's sheepish grin only to be struck again by how devastatingly handsome he was. He winked at me and then turned his attention to my Mom as she asked him a question about garlic.
Vi and I sat quietly as Mom and Adam discussed cooking until there was a slam of the screen-door and the rapid thump of many sneakers in the hall.
"Who the hell owns that amazing freakin' bike out there?" My middle brother's voice carried loudly from the front of the house. Matt burst into the kitchen, followed immediately by Chuck, both of whom were wearing big grins to match their curiosity.
"That would be mine," Adam admitted with pride.
Mom, Vi, and I all laughed in unison as Matt and Chuck took in Adam's appearance with identical looks of awe. There might be two years separating my brothers, but they looked like twins and seeing the disbelief echoed on both their faces as they stared at Adam was pretty funny.
"Vi," Chuck said with a grin as he slapped her shoulder roughly. "I didn't know you had a new boyfriend. What happened to that Pete guy?"
My younger sister scowled at him and hit him back, just as hard. "He's not mine, you ass. He's Lilly's."
"Lilly's?" Matt and Chuck asked together. Both red heads shot up and they grinned together as they noticed me for the first time. I was hugged by both at once. I introduced Adam quickly to my brothers and all three men grinned easily at each other.
I'd bumped into Matt in town only a week earlier, but Chuck I hadn't seen since his Christmas break. "How were exams?" I asked as he slid onto the stool next to me and stretched out his long legs.
Chuck shrugged, putting on the pretended nonchalance I knew and loved. "Alright. I guess I passed, they gave me my degree."
I patted his arm, smiling. None of my younger siblings would admit to being as smart as they are. Chuck had just graduated with an engineering degree from one of Canada's most prestigious universities and yet he made it sound like it was no big deal; Violet had been accepted to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and would be leaving in the fall. Only Matt and Joe had been content to forgo post-secondary education. Joe had always wanted to continue with the family farm and Matt had apprenticed to a mechanic after high school and earned his working papers three years ago.
"Man," said Matt, digging around in the fridge and coming out with a handful of beer bottles; he passed one to me, one to Chuck, and one to Adam before sitting down beside Chuck. "That bike must have cost you a fortune."
Adam shrugged. "Actually, I inherited it from my Dad; I just had to fix it up a bit." We all watched as he quickly diced potatoes, completely at ease with an audience watching his every move. I smiled quietly to myself.
Matt started firing questions about the motorcycle at him, but only Chuck knew enough about bikes to follow along with Adam's answers. Vi and I just watched the proceedings quietly both apparently content to watch Adam work as Mom bustled about in the background with a big smile on her pretty face. Every once and a while she'd take whatever Adam had finished chopping and silently give him another job. He moved with a grace in her kitchen that was quite something to see. Never once did he slip up, bump into her, or get in her way.