Kristen Blooming (2 page)

“Are you sure about this, sweetheart?” Marissa Harold looked around the small room Gwen had offered Kristen and frowned, her thoughts clear on her face.

Kristen couldn’t blame her mother for them. Marissa Harold was a proper kind of lady. Her skirts never stopped above the knee. Her makeup was always discreet. Her hair came from the 1970s. The only problem with that was it was twenty-first century, and Kristen wanted to wear a mini.

She’d be able to get away with that at Gwen’s. Her cousin, Gwen, was a free spirit, living in the moment. She was the rebel in the family, living on her own as single woman, dating more than one man at a time. Most horrifying, she didn’t even go to church on Sunday.

Kristen had always sort of admired her for that. She’d been raised with so many rules that she felt stifled by them, but not any longer. She was twenty-two and starting her first real job as a clerk in the City of Pittsview’s accounting office. It was a good choice. She’d make enough money to either move out on her own or, maybe, even go to the college over in Troy.

The one place she was certainly not moving back to was Dothan.

“It’s going to be all right, Mom,” Kristen assured her mother as she offered Marissa a quick hug. “You’ll see.”

“I don’t know.” Marissa remained unconvinced, but then she didn’t want to be comforted.

Kristen knew what her mother really wanted. How could she not when her mother mentioned it constantly?

“It’s just not right, a young lady living outside her parents’ house.” Marissa glanced around the room. “And, really, look at this room, sweetheart. It’s small…and the furniture, I have feeling it came
used
.”

Her mother imparted that bit of criticism in a whisper that left no doubt of her thoughts about second-hand goods and had Kristen rolling her eyes.

“There is nothing wrong with this room,” Kristen insisted, though, truthfully, it was a little small.

Back at home, her father had converted half the attic into a large bedroom for her. The other half had been her playroom growing up and evolved into her rec room as a teenager and her living room as an adult, and adult women really should be allowed to have a man in their living room, but her parents had a no-men rule.

Hell, they even still had a curfew for Kristen, which probably explained why she’d never had a real boyfriend. Worse, Kristen began to realize that she was boring. That was what had prompted her to finally take that step and apply for a job. She was going on an adventure. Good or bad, it had to be better than boring.

“It’ll be all right, Mom. You’ll see.” Kristen didn’t have anything else to offer her mother. There was nothing else, nothing else but listening to her complain.

“What I see is shabby sheets, and not the chic kind you see in the magazines.” Marissa froze, her eyes widening. “I bet there are roaches and spiders, and you know how much you hate bugs.”

“That’s why I have Gwen here, to help me take care of them.”

“And that’s why I need Kristen here.” Gwen stepped into the doorway, obviously having heard her aunt’s comment about her house. “Maybe she’ll teach me to live bug free.”

That obnoxious retort drew a quick frown across Marissa’s brow as she turned to offer her niece a look Kristen knew well. Manners, though, had to be maintained. So instead of correcting Gwen for her rudeness, Marissa tried in vain to correct her own.

“I’m sorry, Gwen.” Her mother actually apologized, not that it sounded anything but strained. “I didn’t mean anything by that. You have a lovely home.”

“Yeah, I know.” Gwen’s smile assured everybody that she knew more than that. “But don’t worry, Aunt Marissa. I’m going to take good care of your girl, and we’re going to have some fun, isn’t that right, Kristen?”

She didn’t dare say yes, a little afraid of Gwen’s smile and her definition of fun. So, Kristen smiled and allowed that to speak for her as her mother tried to salvage the moment without revealing just how horrified she was by what Gwen would define as fun. They all knew it involved men.

Kristen’s mother had always said Gwen’s skirt was a little light…and a little short, which was just her way of saying she thought her niece was a slut. While Kristen didn’t want to be a slut, she did wonder what women like Gwen found so addictive about sex.

She’d never had sex before, and the few kisses she had shared with men hadn’t left her tempted at all. It made her wonder if maybe she wasn’t gay, not that she found women appealing in that way, but who knew what she’d enjoy. Kristen was ready to find out. She couldn’t do that at home.

“I’m sure everything will work out,” Kristen said, interrupting her mother’s inane babbling. Her mom was just digging her hole bigger anyway. “Besides, Mom, I’m going to be too busy working to get into any trouble.”

“I don’t know why you need a job in the first place,” her mother muttered, sounding sore and put out by the argument they’d been having for nearly three weeks now. At least her dad wasn’t there. He was less polite and more opinionated than her mother.

“Because I need the money to afford school.” Kristen recited her line, knowing exactly what her mother would say to that.

“I don’t know why you need to go to school.”

“Because I can’t live the rest of my life in your attic!” Just the idea panicked Kristen, but not more than her mother’s suggestion did.

“Oh, sweetheart, you won’t live there forever. You’ll find yourself a nice man to take care of you and move out.” Her mother moved in close to fluff Kristen’s hair and smile at her as though she was some kind of doll. “You’re so pretty, and there is that nice Kevin O’Leary who has been showing such polite interest in you. I don’t know why you always have to be so rude to him.”

“Because he’s like forty.” And bald and fat and he reminded her of her father, which was just disgusting.

“He owns four businesses and a car dealership,” Marissa retorted, sounding appalled that Kristen wouldn’t take that into consideration.

“I don’t need his money because I’m going to make my own.” Kristen repeated her position like a mantra.

It had sort of grown into one over the past couple of weeks. Her parents were not adjusting to her plans. They were hell-bent on forcing her into their view of the direction her life should take, which was just why her father wasn’t there.

He was boycotting helping her move. Of course her mother hadn’t been of any great assistance, but fortunately, Kristen didn’t have much to move. It wasn’t as if she was going to take all her stuffed animals with her. There was no need. Kristen knew her parents would keep her room as a shrine.

“Hear, hear.” Gwen raised her tea in salute to Kristen’s determination for independence as she tacked on a political statement that had Marissa’s brow furling once again. “It’s about time women rose up and took care of themselves. You want to join us, Aunt Marissa? I got an extra bedroom. You can kick my uncle to the curb. God knows, he doesn’t treat you right.”

“That’s enough!” Marissa’s mother snapped, showing a rare flare of temper as she turned on her niece. “You will not talk about your uncle that way. He’s a good man. He’s taken good care of his family, and you should apologize immediately for being so rude.”

Gwen didn’t respond to that for a moment, just stared down her aunt, and Kristen sensed that something deeper was passing between them. It left her curious, as it always did, just what it was that Gwen knew about her father. There was something there, but Kristen doubted it was anything serious.

Her dad was a good man. A religious man. Devout and loyal to his family. Surely whatever he’d done it couldn’t have been that bad. After all, why would Gwen finally apologize if it was?

“Sorry, Aunt Marissa. I was just teasing.”

That was a lie. That much was clear from Gwen’s tone and the bitter turn of her smile. It would have been rude, though, for her mother not to accept that apology, and Marissa Harold was never rude.

“Of course, Gwen.” Marissa heaved a heavy sigh and took one last forlorn look at her daughter. “Are you sure about this, sweetheart?”

Kristen was. This was her future. One day she’d be like her cousin Gwen, with a house of her own and a job that afforded her security and the luxury to do the things she loved, like competing in some of the national quilting competitions. Kristen knew she could. She was good, but she never had the money to attend the quilting conventions. Not to mention her parents didn’t approve of her traveling alone.

“Yes, Mom. I’m sure.”

Kristen smiled as she began to shepherd her mother back out of the room and past Gwen. Her cousin stepped out of the way, but her smirk didn’t dip a bit as Kristen continued to head her mother toward the front door.

“Now you better get back on the road before the sun starts to set. You know how Dad worries about you driving at night,” Kristen reminded her, as if that were necessary, but it did help get her mother moving.

“Oh, sweetheart, I thought I might take you out to an early dinner before I left.” Marissa stalled out near the door to turn a pleading gaze on Kristen.

Her mother knew how that affected Kristen, knew it made her feel guilty and obliged. Just as she knew that her mother had every intention of using the dinner to nag her and wage one last-ditch campaign to get Kristen to change her mind.

“I’ve really wanted to try the local bakery. I hear they have excellent sweets.” Marissa tempted her with a hopeful smile.

“Fine.” Kristen sighed and caved. “Just let me go get my purse.”

Five minutes later the two women were packed into her mother’s twenty-year-old Buick, which still had less than thirty thousand miles on it. They headed into town, going exactly five miles below the speed limit. That turned a two-minute drive into ten with another three dedicated to parking.

By the time they pushed in through the bakery’s front door, Kristen was just glad to have made it there without having anybody shooting them the bird. Her mother tended to get flipped off a lot, which contributed to her view that the world was generally rude.

Manners were a thing of the past, her mother liked to say. Kristen kind of thought that her mother was a thing of the past, but would never have said that. Instead, she turned her attention to taking in the Bread Box.

It smelled heavenly and had a cuteness about it that made Kristen feel at home. Even the woman who came out from behind the counter to welcome them made Kristen feel as though she’d made the right choice. This was the kind of place she could see herself coming to study and get a piece of cake. More importantly, there was nothing her mother could complain about.

Nothing that is but the fight that broke out in the middle of their meal. It built, as most of these thing tended to, with two women at the center and the men who clearly were fighting over them. It started when the deputy sheriff entered and stormed up on the booth the two women were sharing with two men to order one of them to stay away from his woman. It ended when another belted out the most humiliating of all revelations.

“You fucked Hailey Mathews, and
you didn’t even share
!”

Kristen’s face went up in flames at that language while her mother turned as white as her napkin. Then all hell broke lose, and the two women ran for the door. Kristen envied them the ability to flee. She and her mother still had to pay the check, and that took a little longer than it should have, especially once more deputies started to arrive.

Kristen watched the drama play out as they arrested the first two men, unable to tear her eyes away from the spectacle they were all making. She shook her head, knowing that she was going to be hearing about this once her mother got home and told her dad about what had happened.

It was hard enough to resist the pressure her mother put on her. It was doubly hard to resist her father’s lectures. Kristen wouldn’t give in, though. She was fighting for her freedom, freedom to do what she wanted, and Kristen kind of thought she’d found what she wanted as she glanced over to find a deputy picking himself off the floor.

He was tall and broad but giant sized. Just the right size to fill out his uniform in a way that made Kristen’s blush deepen as she felt the first stirrings of desire. It was a sweet thrill that she savored as she took in the guy’s country-boy good looks. He had a little shag to his dark hair and a slightly rounded face that made his smile seem bigger, brighter, and so carefree that Kristen’s heart just ached to share that kind of joy in the world, but when he caught her staring, she quickly looked away.

Focusing back on her mother, Kristen was just about to suggest she go wait in the car and let Kristen handle the bill when a shadow fell across their table. It was followed by a deep-toned Southern accent that made each word drawl out in a caress to her senses.

“You ladies doing all right this afternoon?”

Kristen’s stomach quivered as she glanced up to find the dark gaze of the deputy twinkling down at her. He might have been good looking at a distance, but he was devastating up close. Up close it was clear that his body was rock hard, flexing with a gracefulness that could have made her sigh with longing if Kristen wasn’t already being consumed by a sudden flush of embarrassment she couldn’t explain.

Thankfully, she had her mother there to help.

“Oh, Deputy
⎯
”