Chapter 10

Labor Day weekend has come fast upon us; Soren and I have developed beautiful tans, bordering on competition with the Adams and Green kids who are under strict rules today, their end of the season party is tonight and while I have yet to pack for Emerald Isle I’m pondering making an appearance before I go. I remember the black dress and stilettos I brought for such an occasion but I’m still unsure. After Soren’s lunch, he goes down for a nap and I take the opportunity to begin packing. Like clockwork, Justus is in my room, his face is downtrodden and he hasn’t shaved.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Are you really leaving?” He doesn’t look at me.

“You know I have to.” I reply.

“No you don’t.” He is still looking at his hands or the floor, I don’t know which, but he isn’t looking at me.

I walk over and stand in front of him; he rests the top of his head on my stomach. I can’t help but stroke his sandy blonde hair. He takes my waist in his hands before moving his head to spin me around landing me in his lap. He is clutching me and nuzzles into the back of my neck, I let out a sigh as desire resonates inside me, and the tingling down low is persistent. I begin to feel something move below me a hardening beneath my legs.

I’m uncomfortable, but I don’t want to move because I need this closeness, I know it’s not Cian; but the body needs what it needs. Justus is moving his lips across my shoulders and the tingling magnifies. I let out another sigh that ends with a groan.

“Babet.” Justus says my name and he pronounces the T, like Cian.

I can’t speak, “Hmm?” Is all that hums through my lips.

“Stay. Please. Don’t. Leave.” Each word brushes my skin, giving me goose bumps.

I wriggle away from his grip, “I’m sorry Justus, I must.”

He huffs and gets to his feet causing me to step back. He walks over to my easel and stares at the painting I started of Soren. His is complete and in his father’s possession.

“Where is mine?” He asks looking down at the Burgwin-Wright house and the blue downtown building I realized on my second trip down there, was a restaurant.

“Your father has it.” I reply watching him cautiously.

“What are you doing with these?” He points at the two unclaimed paintings.

“I suppose I’ll take them with me.”

He turns to face me, “How much?”

“Excuse me?”

“How much do you want for them?” He has both hands on his sculpted hips.

I’m speechless; I never imagined he liked them that much. My eyes are wide but thoughtful, “Justus; I don’t have a number, you can just have them.”

“I won’t hear that, let me pay for them.”

“Not necessary, they’re a gift.”

He shakes his head and closes his eyes, “How much?”

Exacerbated I reach into my purse and fish out the receipts for the canvas, “Here, if you must pay for them, here is the cost of the canvas.”

He stuffs the piece of paper in his pocket before he says, “So will you finish Soren’s in Emerald Isle?”

“No, when I return I’ll finish his. Your father said while he’s in Sweden I could leave it here.”

“Well, I will be here. I’ll keep an eye on it.”

“Wait, you’re not going back with them?”

“No, they will be going home to see Vilma; the next season of my show starts filming in October, so I will stay here until then. Besides you promised to take me out for my birthday.”

“September 30th, right?”

He winks at me, “And we’ll celebrate yours too, it’s only what, six days after mine?”

“Yep and you will be in LA by then.”

“Please stop reminding me.” He says like a sad child. I notice he is clutching something in his hand.

“What’s in your hand?”

“Oh, yes speaking of LA. This is for you, it’s a cheesy shirt from my show, but I thought it would remind you of me.” He hands me the t-shirt.

I open it and it says, “TEAM BANE” with a scrolled black wolf on it. The shirt is soft cotton and has a v-neck, my favorite. I reach up and hug Justus. He takes it to the extreme and picks me up.

I’m safely on the floor when I say, “Thanks Justus, but I could never forget you.” I smile.

“I won’t forget you either,” He says and tilts his head toward my paintings but I can tell he wants to say something more; “Will you accompany me to the Adams/Green Labor day party?” He seems embarrassed.

“Justus…I…” But he cuts me off.

“I will take you shopping; I don’t suppose you brought a nice dress with you.”

“It’s not that, I brought a dress; better safe than sorry, ya know? It’s just…” he is leering deviously at me, I relent, “yes, I will accompany you.” I say sweetly, “Besides, we can give them something to talk about.”

He laughs, “Now you’re talking! Show me your dress.”

“Why?” I ask offensively.

He rolls his eyes, “Just show me the dress.”

I flit over to the closet; the only thing hanging is the dress Estella provided me for Molly’s show. I grab the hanger and dip down to gather up my heels. I hold my dress out away from me in one hand and my shoes in the other. I watch Justus; smiling.

“What?” I ask.

“You will look exquisite in that. Love the heels.” He is looking at me like he could go for seeing me sans dress. “You may be a little over dressed, but I can match you. We will definitely give them something to talk about.”

I smile and shake my head, “Fine…”

“BAAAAAABE!” Soren calls from his room.

Justus heads to the door, “I got him.” He opens Soren’s door and is hit with cries, “No Broder! BAAAAAABE!”

I rush past Justus into Soren’s room, “Hey. Hey, it’s okay Soren. Babe’s here.”

“Babe…Moder…” He slips back to sleep; I’m holding him as he does so. I gently lay him back down before looking at Justus. He is standing in the doorway watching me.

I whisper, “Bad dream.” We leave Soren’s room and close the door. “Henri has them a lot.”

“You’re a good mother.” Justus says out of the blue.

“Thanks.” My tone is surprised. “I’ve been at it for a long time.”

“How old is your daughter?”

“Thirteen.”

“You have been a mother for a long time.” He laughs. “Listen, I’ve got some running around to do before we go to this shindig. I’ll see you later.” He kisses my head.

“See ya.” I return to my room. I have Soren duties soon, so I continue to pack until he really wakes.

In the kitchen, Henley gets Soren going on his dinner; Teriyaki chicken with rice and broccoli. He’s eyeing me.

“What is it Henley?”

“I don’t know if you know what you’re getting into with him.”

“I leave tonight, what is a little party going to hurt?”

“I just hope you get away without a scratch.”

I smile but it diminishes when I hear the door open, “Jus!” Lars is home.

“Hi Lars.” I say as the elder Gunnar enters the kitchen.

“Hello Babet; have you seen Justus?”

“He said he had some errands to run before the party.”

“Yes; speaking of, Soren and I will let you and Justus represent us. I’m not up for it and I have been missing this little guy,” He tousles Soren’s hair. “Will you tell Justus?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.” He directs his attention to Henley, “Henley, I’ll be in the shower.”

“Yes sir.” Henley says smiling.

The door opens and closes again, “Dad?!” Justus is calling from the foyer.

I round the kitchen, “He went to take a shower, everything okay?”

Justus looks flustered and doesn’t answer my question. He goes into the dark hall of the master area; I have yet to see that room. I shrug off Justus’s reaction and look out the front window; the back hatch door of the Jeep is wide open. I start to open the door to go outside when Justus closes it from behind me. I look back at him frustrated.

“Uh uh, not yet.”

“Not yet, what?” I ask.

“You’ll see when my father gets out of the shower, until then, stay away from the door.” He is cutting his eyes at me in a humorous way. I look past him at the wall clock; it’s almost 6:00. I leave Justus and go back into the kitchen to see if Soren is ready for his bath. I clean his hands and take him upstairs; my bedroom door is open, I specifically closed it when I came down earlier. I have Soren secured to my hip as I walk in my room, “Babe room.” Soren says.

“Yeah…” but there is something missing, the two portraits I told Justus he could have are gone. I guess he took my offer for gift after all. I shrug it off and get Soren in the bath. Lars comes up to relieve me; he lets Soren play extra which puts me off my ready time, but I don’t care; the man is enjoying his son. I piddle around in my room until they vacate the bathroom. I don’t take long to shower and since my hair is shorter it takes much less time to dry and fix. I put on moderate makeup and leave the bathroom to dress. I slide on the black dress and sit to apply my heels. I take a moment to walk around in them since I typically wear flip flops or no shoes at all. Click, clack, and clop I’m watching my feet when I see my door open and the Adonis before me.

Justus is debonair in a pair of flat front black dress pants and jacket, underneath the jacket a white cotton v-neck shirt peeks through. His skin is bronzed and the silver chain from his necklace sits atop it gloriously. His shoes are square-toed loafers. I meet his eyes; he is gawking at me in my heels.

“Are you ready?” He asks.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I confess.

He turns away from me and juts his arm out for me to take it. I slide my arm inside his as he leads me out of my bedroom, down the hall and stairs.

Lars is standing at the bottom with Soren attached to his hip, “You two look great.” He beams.

“Broder! Babe!” Soren shrieks in his father’s ear.

“See you later, yeah?” Lars asks. “Babet, if I don’t see you before you leave, we look forward to seeing you when you return. Right Soren?”

“Right!”

I hug Lars and kiss Soren on his little cheek before I step out the door. Justus assists me down the driveway and up the neighbor’s drive. The Adams/Green house is nearly identical to The Gunnar’s, massive, except it’s constructed from a white stucco material. This house looks like it belongs in an episode of Miami Vice. We ring the bell; an attendant greets us at the door. He invites us in and closes the heavy door behind us.

Instantly we’re inundated by Autumn Green and her best friend, “This is Summer. Weird right, best friends with seasonal names?” she’s flustered in Justus’s presence.

I shake Summer’s hand and introduce myself and Justus, since I know the girls aren’t really here to talk to me.

“Hi.” The girls say; dreamily in unison.

“Ladies.” Justus says and shakes both their hands. They giggle. He smiles politely and when the two girls turn to leave his smile fades.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here, I’ve been waiting to meet Babet all night! Hey, I’m Brooke Green, Autumn and Aaron’s mother.” Brooke is a tan petite blonde woman.

“Nice to meet you, your kids have great talent.”

“Oh, thank you, you’re sweet. They love it, that’s for sure. Good evening Justus.” She says politely.

“Mrs. Green.” Justus has a limited vocabulary at the moment.

“Babet, I hear you are leaving tonight?”

“Yes, ma’am. Emerald Isle bound.” I say smiling, I honestly can’t wait. I’m giddy until I look up at Justus who seems as though he’s been stabbed in the heart. My smile falters but I recover it.

After Brooke introduces me to various single men with Justus in tow and this person and that, she is distracted by a food mishap. As soon as her back is turned Justus grabs my hand and leads me out to the screened in porch, it’s packed. There are people everywhere; except the beach. Justus makes a path through the bodies to the screen door. I head down the steep staircase in my heels when I stop, grab Justus’s hand and remove the torture devices from my feet. I take a deep breath and sigh when they are both off. I let go of Justus and bound down the less than difficult staircase; jumping the last three steps. I turn waiting for Justus; he is taking his sweet time. I brush the hair from my face expectantly.

He stops on the step I jumped from, “You know; I wish you would paint your own portrait. You look so…beautiful right now.”

I take a deep breath and smile, “Well, the joy of being an artist is I never have to paint my own portrait.” I laugh.

He wraps his arm around my shoulders and bends his head to mine, “I saw your panties when you jumped.” He smiles when I look up at him.

“You mean you saw my ass.” I say, because I’m wearing a thong. I push off of him and run toward the beach in front of our house, he catches me and spins me around. He pushes the hair from my face and leans in, I want to stop him because I’m leaving in a couple of hours, but because I am leaving I want this last moment with him. I tilt my head up, receptive.

“You sure?” He asks as I open my eyes.

“Kiss me Justus, just kiss me.” I say and reach up to his lips. We connect and the world around me is gone, I have escaped into his mouth. His tongue swims against mine and it deepens, like we can’t get any closer to one another. He reaches down and grabs the underside of my thighs, hoisting me to him. He stops and pulls away, we are both breathless and words I cannot believe I uttered leave my mouth, “Make love to me, Justus.”
He takes a deep breath and trails his lips up my neck to my ear, “No.” And then back down to my neck. I pull away while he is still holding me, we are face to face, “You know you really don’t want that.” He kisses my breastplate before placing me back on the sand. “Listen, if after you have reunited with your “boyfriend” you still feel this for me, maybe. But I respect you; and I hope I know you well enough to judge for myself that you miss him and are reflecting these feelings for him onto me.” I begin to feel like a villain, “Which normally I would jump at; but I like you Babe.”

I step back from the “new” Justus and say, “That is officially the most gentlemanly thing you’ve said to me. And you’re right; I apologize…I do miss him.” I begin to fidget with my dress.

Justus takes my hand from the hem of my dress, “Come on; you’ve had your fill of these folks right?”

“Absolutely.” I sigh.

“I’ll help you finish packing.”

I smile at him and halt his stride, from inside the cleavage of my dress I pull out a joint, “One last time.”

Justus pulls me over to the base of our staircase; we hunker down and smoke before going back in the house, a little gigglier than before. We are quiet up the stairs, except when Justus insists on getting tangerines out of the refrigerator. He crests my doorframe with three in each hand. He drops them on the bed before removing his jacket, awkwardly I might add. By this time I have already gotten out of the dress and into my damask shorts and white boat-neck shirt. He sees this and jokes that he missed the show.

I smile while stacking the tubs of all my supplies by the door along with my duffle bags piled on top of each other. All my electronics are in my linen sack and there is barely a hint of my ever being here. The only remnant is Soren’s half finished portrait leaning against the far wall away from daylight. My easel is already in the set aside items. I have my hands on my hips looking around at the room while Justus peels tangerines I ask, “Where are the paintings I gave you?”

“Uh uh, I bought those.”

“I have yet to see a penny from them.” I joke.

“Yeah, yeah. You can collect when you get back for my birthday; besides it’s not like my father isn’t paying you for mine already, plus your wages.”

“But I didn’t get anything from him before we left for the party.”

“I know; I have it.” He says reaching into his pocket; he pulls out a personal check. He dangles it in front of me, waving it around just so it misses my grasp, “Oh, and it’s a rather large too!”

I snatch it from him, “Give it.” My mouth drops, “Oh, no this is way too much!”

“Is it?!” Justus cranes his body to peek at the check, “No its right and it’s local, you can cash it before you leave, but then you would have to wait until morning.” He smiles slyly.

“You did this on purpose!” He cuts his eyes down and then back up at me.

I jump on the bed and punch him in the arm, he falls over and I topple onto him. I instantly jump off, “Shit!”

“What?” Justus watches me.

I dip down into my bag and retrieve my cell, two missed calls from my Daddy and one missed text from Scarlet. I hit the voicemail button and hear my Daddy voice, “Babe, honey; sorry I missed you. I hope you’re having fun while you’re there. Lots going on here, call when you can. I love you baby girl.” The text from Scarlet says, “Big surprise for you when you get home, luv.” While I have my cell in hand I program an alarm for 6:00 am and a reminder to call Mrs. Hilliard, my former landlord. My greatest hope is I can rent my old house.

“What?” Justus repeats.

“I missed my Daddy’s call and Scarlet text me.”

His eyes are wide and expectant, “And?”

“Apparently they are extremely busy right now, surprises and what not.”

“When do you head home?”

“After Halloween, your father will be leaving with Soren back to Sweden. I will make my trek home then.”

Justus hops up from the bed, putting his orange peels on the dresser; I make a face at this. He rolls his eyes, “Come.” He takes my hand and practically drags me into the hall.

“Where are we going?” He stops me in front of his bedroom door, the first room on the left. We’ve shared a wall this whole time.

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Babet's Epiphany


Augusta Fern

See who I pictured when I wrote Babet's Epiphany on Pinterest.com
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