Popcorn Love (10 page)

Elena slipped the roses into a vase and carried the
arrangement to the living room. The roses got a new home on an end
table, and Lucas got a brand new imprint of his mother’s lips on
his cheek. Allison laughed when the boy grumbled and wiped at the
mark, only for Elena to press a fresh one in the smudged spot.

After a quick wave in Allison’s direction, Elena was
heading out the door. Allison watched her leave, shaking her head
for a good minute before going to play with Lucas. She had a
feeling this date, too, would end with a lot of complaining.

* * *

As Elena expected, Garrett whisked her away to yet
another fine-dining experience. She sat across from Garrett and
desperately tried to keep her gaze away from his hair. It was quite
distracting, though, considering the fact that every time the man
laughed a little too heartily or shook his head, it would move
rather unnaturally; and this was a man who liked to laugh at his
own jokes whether they were funny or not.

This was how Elena realized that Garrett was wearing
a rather unflattering toupee. It honestly made her feel a bit sorry
for the man, because he wasn’t that old, likely only a decade older
than her at most, yet obviously was already bald or balding beneath
his mop of a toupee. Elena would have wagered the man looked much
better without the thing. The toupee wasn’t the only issue Elena
took with the man, however.

When the waitress arrived to take their order,
Garrett thankfully made no attempts to order for Elena. However, he
turned to the waitress and asked, “How is the Cajun shrimp and
sirloin? Is it heavily spiced, because I’m afraid I suffer from a
bad case of irritable bowel syndrome and overly spicy foods tear
right through me?”

Elena nearly choked on a gasp that she covered with a
soft cough. She was completely appalled. She could certainly
sympathize with the man’s struggles, but to speak so bluntly of
such things at the dinner table was practically a form of
table-manners blasphemy as far as Elena was concerned.

“I do like a bit of heat, mind you,” Garrett
continued, “just not in the restroom!”

He laughed loudly at his own joke as he glanced back
and forth between the waitress and Elena, both of whom were
completely mortified. The waitress stuttered out a quick reply,
while Elena merely ducked her head and fought to choke down the
bile that had risen in her throat from the unfortunate imagery
Garrett’s confession had produced in her mind.

I will
kill
Vivian,
she vowed.
I
will kill her!

* * *

Music blasted from the television in the living room
as Allison danced around kitchen, cooking dinner. Thrilled to
discover that Elena had satellite music channels, she put on the
eighties pop channel and danced and sang for Lucas while he sat in
his chair. He clapped his hands, sang along with his own made-up
lyrics, and bounced and swayed around.

Allison loved eighties pop music. She had fallen in
love with it when she was really young, living with a foster mom
that had an obsession with Prince. It was one of her favorite
memories, riding in the car with one of the few foster mothers she
had actually really loved, and just dancing to Prince and Michael
Jackson. The eighties had quickly become her favorite musical
decade; it was so
free
. To Allison, eighties music
practically screamed fun.

Pouring the pasta sauce she had made onto a small
plate of spaghetti noodles, she whirled around to face Lucas and
brought the long wooden spoon up to her mouth, pretending the spoon
was a microphone as she danced around him and sang “Raspberry
Beret”.

Giggling, Lucas sang along with murmured random words
and sounds as he danced in his chair and clapped his hands on the
offbeats. Allison laughed with him as she cut his spaghetti into
tiny bites. When she set the plate in front of him, she leaned
forward and kissed his forehead.

“You’re such a cool kid,” she told him. “You know
that?”

Lucas grinned as he scooped up his spaghetti with a
spoon. “Mhm.” Within seconds his face was decorated with bright red
sauce.

* * *

“So, Elena, tell me a bit about yourself,” Garrett
said around a mouthful of shrimp. Elena cringed when he grabbed
another large shrimp with his fingers and popped it into his mouth
before he was even finished chewing. He pulled the tail from his
mouth with a loud slurping sound and dropped it onto the side of
his plate as he stared at her and waited for her to speak.

Elena, whose appetite had waned the instant the man
mentioned his unfortunate bowel issues, had ordered only a small
bowl of soup. She sipped daintily at it while attempting to avoid
looking at Garrett. She could feel his eyes on her now, though, and
she knew she couldn’t ignore him.

Her smile strained around clenched teeth. “What would
you like to know?”

“Well, for starters,” Garrett said with a smirk, “you
can tell me how a beautiful woman like yourself hasn’t gotten a
good man yet.”

Elena offered him another tight, strained smile when
he chuckled loudly. Clearing her throat roughly, she told him,
“Relationships have hardly been high on my list of priorities.”

“That’s a shame. But lucky me that you’ve decided to
make it a priority now, right? You deserve a good man, Elena.
You’re worth it.”

“I would never measure my own or any woman’s worth by
her relationship status,” she responded coolly as she subtly
signaled to the passing waitress that she was ready for the check.
“I would certainly never measure a woman’s worth by her ability to
garner a man’s attention or affections either. I am worth
much
more than that, Garrett, as are all women.”

A choking sound gurgled in Garrett’s throat as he
tried to speak before he swallowed. He coughed and spluttered, and
Elena merely stared at him uncomfortably while he cleared his
throat several times. “Of course, of course,” he choked out. “I
didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t.”

Elena did nothing more than hum in response. The
waitress thankfully arrived with the check, but Garrett snatched it
away before she could grab it. “I can take care of this.”

“As can I,” Elena said, arching a brow. She was
irritated, and every word from the man’s mouth grated on her
nerves. She relented, though, and let the man cover the check
simply because she was eager to get home. The sooner this date was
over, the better.

“But I’m not tired.” Lucas huffed as he squirmed
around in his bed and used his charming caramel eyes to his
advantage.

“All right, that’s enough with the eyes, Puss in
Boots.” Allison tickled his belly. “I’m not fallin’ for it. It’s
already ten minutes past your bedtime, so come on. Settle down.
It’s time for not-sleepy boys to get sleepy.”

Sheets twisted around Lucas’s body as he rolled and
kicked. “But
you
don’t have to go to sleep!”

“Yeah, well, that’s because I’m a grown-up. When
you’re a grown-up, you can go to bed whenever you want.”

“Why can’t I stay up with you?” His bottom lip poked
out far enough for Allison to see his bottom teeth. “I’ll be really
quiet. Swear.”

Sighing, she pushed his lip back in with her index
finger. “I’ll tell you what,” she said, climbing onto his small bed
and settling in beside him. He instantly curled into her side,
laying his head on her chest when she moved to put her arm around
him. “How about I just hang out in here with you for a bit, just
until you get sleepy, okay?”

Already the kid had been rubbing at his eyes and
yawning more than once in the last hour.

He nodded against her chest. “Okay,” he mumbled,
already falling asleep. She dug a hand down into the pocket of her
jeans and pulled her cell phone out. Holding it up above them, she
whispered, “Want to take some pictures?”

She felt him nod against her chest again.

“Okay, buddy, look up at the camera.”

He rubbed his eyes and turned his head. Allison
reached down and tickled his side to get him to smile. As soon as
he burst into laughter, she snapped the picture, hoping that the
light streaming in from the hallway would be enough to make their
faces visible.

She chuckled. “Okay, one more. Big smile.”

Pushing up off of her chest a little bit, Lucas
smiled one of the biggest, cheesiest smiles that Allison had ever
seen. She snapped the picture and laughed when Lucas instantly
snuggled back into her side. “Gettin’ sleepy now?” she
whispered.

“Mhm.” His breathing deepened and his little hand
twitched as it clung to Allison’s shirt.

The snap of the shutter sounded through the room as
Allison took a final picture. When she turned her phone around to
look at it, her heart melted at the image. Lucas’s puffy cheek was
squished against her chest, his hair a little unruly on top of his
head, and his fingers were curled tightly in her shirt right at the
neckline. Even with her giant, dorky smile, Allison thought it was
a great picture.

She set the picture as the background wallpaper on
her phone and then turned to press a kiss to the top of Lucas’s
head before slipping out from under him as carefully and quietly as
possible. When she pulled his hand from her shirt, Lucas let out a
tiny groan but then simply smacked his lips and rolled over. She
tucked him in once more before slipping out of the room.

* * *

Elena contemplated pulling a pen or two from her
purse, jamming them into her ears, and bursting her own eardrums
just so that she wouldn’t have to listen to her date continuously
talking throughout the entire drive back to her house. The man had
no filter, and he was also apparently oblivious to the innumerable
amount of hints she had provided to indicate that she would prefer
silence. One could only huff, scoff, disagree, or simply remain
quiet so many times to get a point across.

“There she was, right there in my office, being bent
over the desk by my secretary. I mean, can you believe the nerve?
Well, you can just imagine how quickly I sent her packing,
right?”

She merely rolled her eyes as she rubbed at her
temples and stared out the window.

“So, that’s how I ended up back on the dating scene.
I told myself, I said, ‘Garrett, don’t you spend a minute dwelling
on her,’ and I didn’t. I jumped right back into dating, because I
knew, you know? I knew that things could only get better for me
once I was out of that toxic relationship. I knew there was a good
woman out there who would appreciate all that I bring to the table.
And then look, here you are.”

He laughed again, and she let out a heavy sigh as she
tilted her head forward and pressed her forehead to the window.
When was this going to end?

“And I know we had that little upset at dinner. But,
of course, that was a mere misunderstanding. When we met, though,
Elena, when I saw you at your door, I felt something, you know? I
think there was a connection, a little spark.”

Rolling her eyes yet again, she softly banged her
forehead against the window.

I
wish
there was a spark. I
wish
there were flames. I
wish
I could set myself on
fire.

She nearly cheered when she saw Garrett turning onto
her road. As soon as he pulled into the driveway, Elena reached for
the door handle and was out of the car in seconds, not giving the
man the opportunity to open her door for her.

Any hopes that he would just leave were dashed when
Garrett met her as she came around the car to the small walkway
that led to the front door. She shuddered as he placed his hand on
the small of her back and led her toward the door.

“I think this could be a good thing, Elena.” She had
to look away because the slight breeze outside was catching just
under his toupee, pulling it up on one side. He smiled at her as he
carried on. “So, that spark. Didn’t you feel it?”

“No,” she sighed as she slipped her key into the
lock.

“I’m sorry?” Garrett responded. “I didn’t quite catch
that.”

She exhaled a heavy breath, realizing that she was
going to have to give up the subtleties, and whirled back around to
face him. “No, Garrett,” she said. “I said no, I did not, have not,
nor
will I
feel a connection.”

She turned back and opened the door, thinking that
would be the end of it, but then he spoke up again. “Well sometimes
it takes more than one date to really feel and build that
connection,” he told her. “Perhaps you and I could—”

“
No
.”

* * *

Allison stood staring at the microwave, listening to
her popcorn cooking, when she heard Elena’s voice echo softly into
the kitchen. Frowning, she checked the clock on the wall. It had
only been about twenty minutes since she put Lucas down to sleep,
so that meant that Elena had most likely had another dud date. She
started to make her way toward the foyer, toward Elena’s voice.

“Well sometimes it takes more than one date to really
feel and build that connection,” she heard Elena’s date say.
“Perhaps you and I could—”

“No.” That was Elena. It sounded like Garrett wasn’t
too keen on letting Elena go. It made all the alarms in her head go
off and she raced to the foyer.

“You never know until you try. Maybe a second date
would—”

“I am sorry to be so blunt,” Elena said, cutting him
off again, “but it is apparently the only way I can get you to hear
me. I feel
no
connection, and if I am being perfectly
honest, Garrett, this date was little more than sad. I truly do not
wish to see you again for a second date.”

“Are you sure?” Garrett asked just as Allison
appeared behind Elena in the doorway.