“Okay,” she said, then motioned with two fingers at her eyes then at him. “But I’m watching things.”
“Of course, totally understandable,” Colorado said.
Simon moved then, offering an arm to Natalie, all gentlemanly, and she took it, throwing a look back at Colorado that would have frozen lesser men.
“I want to apologize,” I began.
He put his hand on my shoulder. “Never apologize for family that love you. Now, let’s swim.”
Abruptly, I was the only one in the kitchen and I could see my sister covering Emma in lotion as she hopped up and down, Simon crouched next to them being all kinds of helpful, and Colorado moved a playpen right back in the shade before gently lowering Maddie inside after kissing her head. I should’ve gone out there and joined in, but I felt wrong in my own skin. I loved that Natalie cared enough to worry and that Simon appeared to have taken a shine to her. I adored the way Colorado was with Maddie, and the care in his expression as he explained that everything was my choice.
I’d never had a choice whether or not I kissed a man before, and unless I could think of a formula to lead me in the right direction, I wasn’t sure what I would do with the concept of deciding. One variable was that kissing Colorado was awesome. Another was my inbuilt fear that I would mess everything up. After all, attraction was one thing but earning money for my family by working here was important to me. So how did I reconcile those two things?
I couldn’t exactly stand in the kitchen like an idiot, so I padded to my room, pulled on my swim trunks and a T-shirt, and headed out.
I don’t know where the time went but I know there was laughter, and music, and hugs, and Emma-time, and by the time Natalie and Emma were ready to leave, Simon was obviously smitten with my sister. I saw them exchanging numbers, and the way he acted with her, as if she was something fragile that could break in the next moment, was endearing. They looked good together. Only I realized, I’d never thought to ask Simon about his family, and that I’d assumed he had one, so maybe it was my turn to ask some questions for once. My first would be if he was married, and how he had to be forty and my sister was just twenty-nine. Maybe I’d said something out loud, because Colorado knocked my elbow and lowered his voice.
“Simon was married, but his wife and unborn child passed away eight years ago when she was in labor, he told me that in the interview when I invited his family to move in as well.”
“God, that’s terrible.” I couldn’t imagine losing Natalie when she was bringing Emma into the world. Then it hit me what he’d said. “You asked for Simon to bring over any family he had.”
Colorado sighed, then he adjusted his hold on a sleeping Maddie and reached out to grasp my hand.
“It’s a big empty house that needs to be filled with family, and maybe I thought with Simon bringing his family then the place might feel less lonely, or that I wouldn’t feel so lonely.”
I squeezed his hand. This professional hockey player and rock god was lonely? How desperately sad was that?
“You’ve got me,” I murmured. Although I wasn’t sure that would ever be enough for him, at least not when I could leave at the drop of a hat.
“I’m never letting you leave.” He leered, and waggled his eyebrows before pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Bwahahaha,” he added theatrically.
“Who said I wanted to go anywhere,” I murmured, and kissed him right on the lips, a chaste peck when I wanted more, but now wasn’t the time. I thought maybe I’d start doing that a lot, until it was familiar to me, and then maybe I could form an equation in my head that made sense.
I could only hope.
Eleven
Colorado
Two days later I was in the pool, doing laps after taking my after morning-skate nap. Alchemy appeared from the house, wrapped in a purple and gold sari. Her hair was down, blowing in the hot wind, and her feet were sandaled.
“Hey, old woman, you headed off to Katmandu in that sari?”
“Katmandu is in Nepal, not India. I was there once, back in the late sixties. I was following this prophet named Samuel Sky around the world. He was a shitty prophet, always talking about elephants and dung. He had a massive dick though, so at least he had that going for him.”
I laughed aloud then made my way to the edge of the pool. “Trollop,” I said as I hoisted myself out of the water then shook like a dog.
“Like you got room to talk.” She whipped a towel at me. “Cover your ass. I need to talk to you.” I wrapped the towel around my middle then padded over to a small chaise and table sitting in the shade of the mansion. “I want to build a sweat lodge. I think your friend Joe has some toxins he needs to steam away. Also, my chi has been off since I got here.”
“Joe’s toxins are probably fine.”
She thumbed a strand of kinky gray hair from her face. “No, he’s got toxins. His aura has a lot of red in it, lots of anger and hunger seeping from his inner well. Steam will free that and give him nice skin and happy pores.”
“He already has nice skin.” I flopped down beside her on the chaise, water beading then drying on my chest and arms. “I think he’s just trying to sort his shit. He’s really shy around men, unsure, almost like he doesn’t like sex. Maybe he’s asexual?”
She pulled her hair around to her shoulder and began braiding it. “No, I don’t see that in his aura. He has passion. It
