A Step to Love

The next morning I couldn’t live with myself. I couldn’t live with the fact that by that simple kiss I had received last night, a great amount of feelings started coming back. God, I was the weakest wimp in history. How could I have fallen so fast through the infinitive and mysterious hole that is called love? Yes, I was going to call it like that—no matter how much I knew it was wrong…

What the hell was I going to do? Obviously, I was not mentioning a word to Brody even though I felt like it was my responsibly. But I also didn’t want to be one of those girls that have to go running towards their boyfriends just to tell them the slightest detail about life.

I didn’t say a word as I went to the bathroom and got ready for the day. I just couldn’t. I was afraid the wrong words would slip and that because of it, I would be looked as a little naive girl that didn’t know how things worked.

By looking at my cell phone’s screen, I realized my secret thoughts could be in danger.

“Sweetie, I think we need to talk. Can you come over to my place tomorrow?”

It was a message from Brody sent last night at midnight. My heart started going crazy as I thought of a reason why he needed to talk. I texted back saying I would be there as soon as possible.

I prayed and I hoped that this had nothing to do with the party—that whatever he had to say to me didn’t have to do with the kiss. I sighed in relief when I remembered that nobody was there besides the gang to see it, but then I thought of the possibility that some of his friends could have been spying on us the whole time… Fuck.

I walked out of the bathroom, grabbed a coat and headed toward the door without saying anything to my friends that were staring curiously at me.

Guess I was skipping the whole going to the movies...

~*~*~*~*~

Finally, after knocking five times and ringing the door bell twice, Brody opened his door, looking restless. He was only wearing his red and blue boxers, which caused me to blush a little. He studied my face and scanned over my body before speaking.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming so early?” he asked.

I took my cell phone out of my pocket and flipped it open. “It’s noon, Brody. What’s wrong?”

“Give me a second,” he replied and closed the door on my face. I waited several minutes before he came back, now fully dressed. “Ok, now.” He smiled and I had no choice but to smile back. Slowly, he leaned to me, placing a soft kiss on my lips. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I greeted back in a whisper. “You’re not going to let me in?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, my parents are in, so you can meet them today, I suppose.”

Oooh, so this was the reason he wanted me to come. My smile got even wider (if that was possible) as I realized a big step we were taking. I mean, for some people it wasn’t a big deal, but for me it simply was; especially when we had been together an amount of six months and a half.

My first impression when I saw Brody’s parents, unfortunately, was that they were a couple of snotty rich people that didn’t give a fuck about the rest of the world, but it wasn’t until they greeted me that I decided to change my mind. Even though they dressed in fine fabrics and pricey jewelry, they spoke with the kindness a grandmother would speak when she asked if you wanted baked cookies. They both had blonde hair, just like I had imagined at first.

“Would you like something to drink, Lilly?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you, Mrs. Evans, I’m fine.”

She smiled, but didn’t pressure me further. Brody seemed to be scared I would do something because not once did he move from my side as his parents showed me a little bit around the house. When we finished, they excused themselves and went upstairs. Just when we heard a door being closed upstairs, I felt warm lips brush my neck in a sweet way, sending immediate shivers through every part of my body.

“I’m sorry, Lilly.”

“Hmm?” I turned to face him, titling my head in the process.

“About what happened last night. A friend called me this morning to tell me what happened,” he explained.

“A friend? Who might be this ‘friend’ of yours?”

He laughed awkwardly. “Just Rein. We were hanging a bit earlier with a bunch of other guys and some of us kind of got…you know…”

I responded in understanding with a “yeah.”

He took a hold of my cheek with his right hand and leaned over for a kiss. “I’m really sorry I missed your birthday party without really missing it.”

I laughed. “It’s all right, I suppose. The party wasn’t exactly a big deal,” I lied. My throat felt as if it was being sliced whenever I thought of not being with my boyfriend the day of my birthday because he was trashed. Even though it was a simple get together celebrating my birth, it was still very much important. As masochist as this might sound, I sort of enjoyed the constant reminder of the previous ones. Maybe it had to with the fact that I liked to compare them at times.

Not only that, but the fact that I had sort of…cheated…on him was a big deal itself. I still kept fighting the idea of talking to him about it as he took a hold of my hand and led me to his car.

“I have a surprise for you,” he whispered as he set the keys into the ignition and we drove off somewhere.

Why do I get so many surprises in my life?

We stopped after fifteen minutes in front of a yellow ranch house; its beautiful squared structure standing out from the rest of the green grassed space. Brody didn’t waste any time getting out of the car and turning to the other side of it to open my door. I stepped out still mesmerized by the largeness and by the calm atmosphere that surrounded it.

“Wow,” I breathed.

He chuckled and took my hand leading me inside the gates that wrapped the property.

“Welcome to my granddad’s ranch,” he announced proudly, taking my attention completely.

“This belongs to you grandfather?”

He nodded. “I’m the next to inherit it—you know, being his oldest grandson and all.” He looked at his wrist watch for a second before speaking. “No one is in at the moment because we only come here on Thanksgiving and New Year’s, but, I asked for permission to come here.” He showed me a set of keys before opening the front door.

I gasped at the wonderfulness inside. Walls, covered in old photographs of what I guessed would be Brody’s family. The floor was wooded while the ceiling appeared to be covered with cement. From the middle of the place, a beautiful crystal chandelier hung—probably bigger than the average size of a chair.

On the left side of the house, the dinner table stood and next to it was a glass double door that showed a great view of the newly discovered spring and the end of March with it. I noticed that not too far away from the house, there was another structure.

“You have horses?” Brody was only a few feet behind me, but it felt as if he was much further away, so I had to turn my heel just to check for myself.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Do you want to see them?” I nodded. “Great, let me just finish showing you here first.” He took three steps backwards and pointed to a black and white photo that was framed, before speaking. The young man in the pictured look like he had light hair, and his facial features seemed to match perfectly with Brody’s. “That’s my granddad, Walter Talley. The family was originally from Saint Petersburg. That was until his grandfather moved here, making the original Russian surname disappear when he met Isabel, my great great grandmother.

"She had girl; Theresa, which became my great grandmother later on. She got married to Thomas in the late 1800’s. He was from West Virginia and gave ‘Talley’ as a last name to my grandfather. All Thomas Valley did was work in the harvest day and night, he passed the legacy to my granddad, when he was just seven years old.

"My granddad met my grandma, Louise, in that time and when they were just thirteen years old, they got married. He built this along with his dad who came to visit him everyone once in a while at the first house he had. When the place was finished being constructed, the four of them—being his father, Theresa, Louise and my grandfather—decided to move here.” He paused to take a deep breath. “He never left this place. Not even after everyone was dead and all he had left was my mother. If it weren’t for the fact that he was a cancer survivor, he would’ve stayed. My mom bought him a house near a hospital, but that’s just how hypochondriac she is.

"I wouldn’t have left either. I mean, he always worked around the farm up until he was seventy seven, when they diagnosed him with cancer, twelve years ago.

"Now, he just laughs at the ‘wild memories’ he can hardly remember.” Below the big picture, there was a small table bellow with smaller frames that showed other people. Some were in black and white, others in color… He pointed one of an old couple kissing on a bench with their hands entwined. “Ah, that’s him and my grandmother.”

“How adorable.” I smiled.

He chuckled. “There's a small chance you wouldn't be saying that at this moment if you had seen them when my grandma was alive. According to my mom, it was smooches and butt-grabbing everywhere.”

I laughed along with him. Fifteen minutes passed as he showed me the entire house. We didn’t see the rooms, though. He just said they had changed a lot since then because now his dad’s side of the family took over, occupying every space possible of the house during New Year’s. He said I would have liked it, though. Everything used to look vintage and old, now the place was slowly being modernized.

“Do you want to see the horses now? I still haven’t given you my surprise.”

He didn’t wait for me to answer. He just took me by the elbow and we ran off to the stables, almost collapsing to a stop.

“Close your eyes,” he whispered and I did. I only heard him whistle a happy tune and a couple of steps being taken. “Now.”

I opened them slowly, only to widen them seconds later. “You—you got me a horse?”

“A mare,” he corrected, smiling, but I didn’t smile back. “What? I thought you’d like it…”

“I do! I do! I’m surprised, that’s all.” I sighed as I approached the white mare slowly. I caressed her nose slowly while speaking. “But I don’t think I can accept it. You should not have spent so much money on me, Brody.”

He took my hand from the mare’s head to link it with mine. “Love, she’s actually Tara’s and Cookie’s kid. You don’t have to worry.” I raised my eyebrow. “My mother’s mare and my horse,” he explained.

“Oh.” I shrugged. “I still don’t know what to say.” Where was I going to keep her anyway? And I hated the fact that these people I knew didn’t seem to care about the cost of things and the fact that I didn’t have anything to give back to them.

He smiled. “It’s okay. A simple ‘thank you’ will do.”

“Thank you.”

He pressed his lips against my hand, earning a giggle from me. Then, he took my face and kissed me passionately. He traced the tip of his tongue slowly against my bottom lip before pushing past it and linking it with mine. When we broke away from the kiss, he just smiled.

“Why don't we take her for a ride? You can keep her here and visit.”