Chapter 21: Greg's POV
It had been a long day and I felt a little tired, but I also felt happy.
After I finished tidying up, I went back to inspecting the pictures that were in the room. Meghan was featured in all the photos, she was different ages in each of them. I found myself smiling as I looked at her. There was one where she must have been between 8 and 11 years old, she was wearing a bathing suit and had a medal around her neck, there was another one, it should be the day of her graduation, there was her father and Flo next to her. Then my smile evaporated when I saw a picture of her and the guy in the hospital, she was wearing a green dress and he was holding her by the waist. They seemed super close, and I don't know why but I felt jealousy rising in me again. I felt stupid at that time. But when I took the next picture my smile came back, on this one, she was smaller than on all the others. She was disguised as a beast, it should have been Halloween day because she was standing among pumpkins.
"I see boyscout is doing very well" I turned around when I heard her come back to the living room.
I gasped again. How was it possible that I find her so beautiful even now coming out of the shower with wet hair. She was wearing a large oversized sweater and small shorts, she was holding a towel in her hands and wiping her hair.
"Honestly, I don't even know how to thank you." she said looking around the room.
"Maybe by making me the tea if you're not too tired." I did not at all want to leave and go back to the hotel.
"So Go for tea!" she exclaimed as she walked towards the kitchen. And I put down the photo that I still had in my hands and continued my inspection. I find myself thinking of the house I've grown into. There were no such photos, the only photos that appeared in our living room were photos taken during family photo shoots and there were not many. Other decoration was some work of art. I noticed that in no photo was her mother, and thinking back I realized that she never talked about her. Maybe she died when she was very young. I kept this question in the back of my mind.
I looked at the pile of albums that were in the book cabinet. And I saw that next to the TV there was a vintage turntable, looking at it closely I saw that it was identical to the one I had at home, it had been given to me by my grandfather , he had bought it when he was studying at Yale. I usually used when the desire took me to listen to music . Passing the eyes on the albums I noticed that I knew most of them, I must have listened to each title at least once.
I heard the water boiling in the kitchen and then a few minutes later she came back with two cups in her hands. She had rolled the towel over her head.
She sat down on the couch and I joined her.
"That's some good music you have there."
"They're all my dad's, I only know a few. The ones he kept playing on repeat." She answered me by taking her cup of tea.
"He doesn't listen to it anymore because his turntable no longer works. "
"You know I have an identical one at home?"
"How old are you ?" she said grinning.
"Don't laugh at me, it's one of the things my grandfather left me."
"Ah that explains everything, my father was very attached to this one, it's the third on his list of things he loves the most in the world." I laughed at the way she said that.
"So he has a list of things he loves most in the world."
"Yes, I'm the first, the second is a car, an 87 Tatra that sits in the garage, he has it since before I was born, and the third is the turntable. He's had it for ages too, he refused to put it away even now that it doesn't work anymore."
"Your dad's really something." I said taking a sip of tea.
"I know it." she answered and we were silent for a while. The silence was interrupted by a ringing telephone. It was hers that she had left on a table at the entrance. She got up and went to answer, she came back a few minutes later.
"It was Flo, he's with your sister at Skylight." I finished my cup of tea while she came back to sit down.
"She was afraid that you would resent her for telling me about your father."
"That's what she just told me, but I have to admit I'm glad she did, I don't know what I would do to thank you both for all you do for me." she said looking at me.
"I remind you that you paid me to eat earlier as a thank you,which no one had done before you. So stop thinking about that because we are even now, and I remind you that it is with great pleasure that we do it." I smiled at her and stood up.
"I think I should let you sleep." I took my jacket that I had taken off and put it back on.
She took the towel off her head before leading me to the door.
"Thanks again for…" she started to say but I cut her off.
"Stop with your thanks, I told you we were even." I looked at her, she held back a smile, biting her lower lip. And then I felt a sudden urge to kiss her. My eyes remained glued to her lips. She must have seen it because she started to blush and there I walked towards her , she didn't move an inch then I leaned and put my lips on hers. I felt the same feeling as the last time . The difference is that there she was immediately receptive, our mouths move slowly. She tasted like the tea we had just had. I felt a knot in my stomach when she moaned, opening her mouth to give access to my tongue, it passed over the ivory of her teeth before seeking hers. She put her hand on my chest and I slid my left hand to her hips to pull her even closer to me while my right hand stroked her hair which was starting to get dry before it ended on her cheek. I kissed her like my life depended on it.
She broke off the kiss after a few seconds, and I frowned in confusion.
"Would you like to..." She hesitated a while and said. "Stay?" I was surprised by her question and looked her in the eye. She was embarassed and looked away
"Well I mean not staying to really stay, but staying to... well you know what I mean" I started to smile seeing how uneasy she was. I slide my hand under her chin to lift her face up and placed a kiss on her lips.
"I would love to stay for not really stay." then she smiled and I kissed her again.