Atonement(62)
“Oh…wow. I didn’t realize…” she trailed off.
“You didn’t realize what?” I wondered back.
“I didn’t know you’d fallen in love with Colin.”
I sat up, took the phone off speaker and walked to the open picture window. “So? What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that I don’t want you to get hurt and what you fail to realize is this will break Drew. You know he’s still in love with you, right? I mean, he would do anything for you and then to find out you’re in love with one of his best friends? How the hell did it happen so fast? You two barely know one another. I mean, one minute, you’re staying at his condo because you rented your room out to Aubrey and then you two go on this vacation and—BAM!—you’re in love like that? Life isn’t a goddamn Emeril Lagasse recipe you know.”
“You don’t say? Hell, I thought it was.” I decided to really make my sister suffer. “I think we might get married before we come back to Seattle. We are really thinking about taking a side-trip to Las Vegas and just going through with it.”
My sister screamed so loud, I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “Don’t you dare do that, Deirdre! We promised one another we would plan our weddings like rational, normal human beings. We are not the Hilton sisters and there will be no tacky Vegas weddings unless we are all allowed to be there. You can’t do this to Mom and I. It isn’t fair!”
I laughed out loud. “It was a joke, sweetie. Calm down. I swear we wouldn’t do anything that tacky…though a Vegas wedding might not be out of the question. I was thinking something more stylish and sophisticated like at Caesars Palace or The Cosmopolitan. Not some little cheap ass chapel downtown with a drive-thru and greasy has-been Elvis marrying us.”
“Yeah, I know.” She breathed into the phone. “I know this hasn’t been easy for you but can I just say that you sound the happiest I have heard in a long time. You’re an inspiration and I am sorry I overreacted about the whole…incident between you and Liam. He got pissed at me because he thought I was acting immature about the whole situation and when I view it the way you two do, I can see I could have handled myself a lot better than I chose to.”
I was tired of talking about my relationship with Colin and the one night stand with Liam to my sister to be honest. I took this as the perfect opportunity to change the subject and inquire, “How are you and Liam doing? Has he asked you to go steady yet?”
Caitlyn laughed on the other end of the line. “Jesus, what are we? In high school? Liam and I are in a relationship but it’s hard on him because he’s obviously not used to taking anything slow. Everything has to be on his terms. He’s very much his way or the highway and it can get old at times but he’s learning slowly but surely if he wants to be with me, he’s going to have to go the extra mile. I am not going to make this work all by myself and I’m not going to f*ck him just so I can be another notch on his belt.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, that’s all we had together—do you get me? It was never going to be more than that one night. I wanted to feel like a woman and he made that possible but I always knew long-term, I would end up with someone like Colin. I don’t want some alpha male jerk to tell me what to do, what to think or how to act and he gets that about me. We’re good together because he naturally realizes what my boundaries are and he doesn’t try to push. Right now and in the future, that is what I need.”
“Well, we can’t all be superwoman, now can we?” I could practically feel Caitlyn’s smirk through the phone. “I like domineering men because I run a whole team at work. It’s nice being told what to do and how to behave. I just have to train my alpha that sometimes he needs to leash that shit and let me be the woman I am, you know? I desperately want the kind of relationship Mom and Dad had. I think it was beautiful and refreshing because she loved him…all the way to the end. I want a man to feel that passionately about me and me about him.”
I smiled as Colin circled his arms around my waist and nuzzled my neck. “Well, I’m here to let you know an alpha male isn’t the only type that can provide that kind of passion. I love my man with all my heart and I draw comfort in the knowledge that he will keep me safe. I don’t need an exciting relationship filled with highs and lows. I want something mellow and I know I can achieve all that in my present situation so stop worrying about me. We’ll see each other soon enough. Colin and I are only staying here in Paris for three days and then we’re coming home.”