Jennifer Greene - Blame It On Paris

"Good and watered in," he announced, and walked over to turn off the water. And just like that, the fun was over and her worst fear began.

"Kel," he said lazily, "we're not going to Paris."

"I knew you didn't come over here to hang, much less to mulch. Believe me, I knew, Will."

"Huh?" Momentarily he looked confused, then motioned toward the house. "Let's go in and clean up, okay?"

"No." He looked at her in confusion. "I can't go in the house for a few more minutes. Just let it go, all right? There's something in there I can't face for a while. Can we sit out on the steps?"

Naturally, Will, being Will, had to amend the plan. After rinsing their hands under the hose, she sat on the steps while he went into the kitchen, emerged with two dripping-cold cans of pop and a damp towel to wipe off their faces and necks. They both hunkered down on the front step, watching some neighborhood kids play kick ball at the end of the road.

"I had a long conversation with my dad." Will said. He was next to her. hip-touching close-but not. Not touching anywhere.

"Your dad?" She'd been so certain a breakup conversation was coming that she had to struggle to change mental gears.

"You were right, Kelly. It was on me to figure it out, not him. And you had the key, not me." Will sighed, stretched out his long legs. "I hate it when a woman is right."

"What is this humor? Tell me what happened!"

"Wellll." He told her. about taking his dad to the doctor's, hearing the doc's prognosis, then cornering his dad. "You told me I loved the company, Kel. But I've been so busy hating it for so many years that I never opened my stubborn eyes and looked. My whole life. I've actually been into business."

"I didn't think you'd ever see it."

"Well, that was the thing. Separating what I hated from what I loved, and figuring out how I could fit into it. So I told Dad I'd take it on, but on certain terms. I'm not supporting my sisters, not like he does, treating them like princesses with no brains of their own. So I told him I wanted a salary and stock in the company, a formal payback plan. My sisters can either take a job or a minor share of stock-not enough to give them voting rights over me. Anything else Dad wants to settle on them is fine, just as long as it isn't on me."

"How'd he take that plan?"

"He poured the whiskey. You can probably smell it on my breath." He leaned forward, close enough to kiss her, but he didn't.

"No smell of whiskey." she murmured, seeing his blond chin stubble, the tired lines around his eyes now. A dog barked in the middle of the street. She didn't look up.

"Well, we only had a sip. Dad shouldn't have had any, and I knew I was driving. Here." He scooped a curl off her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. "I also told Dad he'd never make it as a retired layabout, and we needed to face reality, because we'll never be able to work together. So I offered him a job doing PR if he wanted it. He knows everybody in the business. They love him. He could do that totally separate from me so we wouldn't clash. If he doesn't want to, that's fine, too."

"How'd he take that?"

"He wanted more whiskey." He sighed. "Then we went out and told Mom. And she wanted to have a bunch of toasts, too. Mostly they both wanted to call you so you could have toasts with us, because they knew perfectly well you were the one who brought me on board."

"It wasn't me," Kelly began.

"Yeah. It was. It always was. My sisters may not be terribly thrilled with the deal, but it's not hurting them. And actually, they might like the chance to be involved-or to have their own nest egg to invest or spend their own way, instead of always having to ask for it. And that's enough on this. My family issues have dominated our time way more than enough. It's time to get back to us."

She was just lifting the cold pop to her lips. Now she set it down again. Her fingertips were suddenly frozen, and not because of the temperature of the can. "Okay," she said carefully.

"I needed to find a way to resolve the deal with my dad. But the motivation was you, when I realized that you really didn't want to live in Paris."

"I told you I would-"

"Yeah, I know you did. But I also heard you talking to my sister about how much this was home for you. It wasn't what you said, it was the tone in your voice. How much it means to you. I didn't realize, I swear, Kel. I thought you'd love it in Paris."

"I'd love anywhere we were together. I told you. I meant it." Love ached in her voice. "It was you. I wanted you to be happy. And at first, I thought you were so dumb, Will. You couldn't see it, how hard you were working in Paris, how readily you found business work there, because that's so who you are. Maybe you wanted to think of yourself as not driven or ambitious, but I have news-"

"Well, maybe I am. Just a little."

"But en route, I got so confused. Because when we got back home here. I saw how it was with your sisters, your dad. They never let up. So then I thought maybe you were better off in Paris, and I'd just thrown an apple in the orange bin by pushing you so hard to settle things with your dad."

"Apple in the orange bin?"

"Whatever, I can't do metaphors right now. I'm having a major blond moment, and never mind that I'm brunette. Anyway. I'm just trying to say I didn't think you'd be happy until you figured it out. It wasn't even about your dad or about where you lived. You can live anywhere. You can do anything. But I really believed you needed to know the kind of work, the kind of life, that would make you happy. You needed to know vow."

"Hey. You were the one who lost her identity."

"I did. I did. But maybe that was when I recognized the lost soul in you, Maguire."

"Nah. I wasn't a lost soul. The minute I found you, I was never a lost soul again. Just because it took me a while to put the pieces together. I knew what the finished picture had to be. Kel. You. With me. Forever."

Oh, for God's sake. She thought she'd lost him. Her pop spilled and so did his when she hurled herself at him. Her mouth found his like a bee finds honey, knowing what she needed, knowing where exactly to find it. He tasted…oh, yeah. Just like her magical Will, the lips smooth and tender, that tongue of his wily and wet.

His shirt crinkled when he wrapped his arms around her. taking her in, holding her close, rocking her. "I never wanted you to give up anything for me, Kel. It made me feel good that you loved me enough to do that. But it made me feel awful as hell to think you'd leave something that really, really mattered to you to cater to me."

"I'd be happy to cater to you." She stopped to kiss him again, on the throat, on his cheek. "I just didn't believe you'd be happy, which meant that I didn't believe we could be happy as a pair unless both of us were very clear about who we are. What we need. From each other. From ourselves. I was afraid."

"I don't want you ever afraid again."

"I was afraid you'd always feel dissatisfied. Kind of trapped if all that stuff about your father was hanging over your head."

"Well, it's not hanging now." He stood, pulled her up and leveled a slow, hard kiss on her lips until they were both out of breath. "I've got something in my pocket for you."

"I know."

"Not there. My real pocket. The right one. Feel?"

Since he asked, she voluntarily groped and probed. "I'm finding two hard things. One is harder than the other. But one definitely seems to feel like a small square box."

"Yeah, that's the one I was trying to tell you about. The other thing's for you, too, but I think we'd better go inside first, don't you?"

She did. but suddenly remembered what was inside the front door, and froze.

"WHAT'S WRONG? What's in the house?"