23
The Vernal Equinox
Xeni stood in her bedroom, looking at herself in the mirror. It was a little cool out for the short sundress. Also, it was night time, but whatever. The yellow floral pattern looked amazing against her dark skin and the cut of the dress made her ass look amazing. She leaned forward and adjusted her tits in her bra. She wasn’t panicking. Nope, she was totally cool and calm. And who wouldn’t want to look good for a house guest and potential gentleman caller?
She’d spent the week discovering which breathing exercises worked best and she’d spent the afternoon trying to figure out how many bouquets of fresh flowers telegraphed “I’m trying to pretend I’m happy, healthy and completely balanced. Everything is fine”.
The doorbell rang.
“Let him talk. Just let him talk and then you can say whatever unhinged shit that wants to come flying out of your mouth.” She breathed. “Coming!” Xeni power walked through her new Spanish style home. Rounding the corner to the front entrance, she could see Mason’s towering shape through the stained glass transom in the front door. She opened the door and let fate in.
“Hey!” she said a little too loud. He looked better than she’d remembered. Tall, thicc as hell, and that beard. He looked comfortable in his cool weather clothes, the dark jeans hugging his thighs just right and a light Henley under a dark blue Carhartt jacket. And of course, his green McInroy Farm hat. He had a small potted succulent in his hand and a bag hanging off one shoulder. Xeni hoped it was filled with condoms.
“Come in. Do you mind taking off your shoes?”
“Oh sure.”
“Here, I’ll take that for you,” she said, taking the plant from him.
He was still wearing his ring.
“That’s for you. A little housewarming gift.”
“Thank you.” Xeni stepped back and gave him room to set his bag on the bench. He shed his boots and tucked them under the bench next to her shoes. She wasn’t thinking anything weird like how his boots belonged there or anything. She didn’t take note of how he looked shrugging out of his jacket either or how it looked good suddenly hanging next to her raincoat. These were not things that crossed her mind. Not at all.
“This is a lovely neighborhood,” he said, closing the door behind him. “Seems very cozy.”
“Thanks. The area is called Leimert Park, mostly Black and Brown people live over here. My parents are just a five-minute drive away. Close, but too far for my mom to walk over here. Boundaries and shit, you know.”
“I do. Been living with my mum the last few months. Been great to reconnect, but—”
“You’re a grown man and you’d love your own space.”
“Something like that.”
“Well, come all the way in and I’ll give you the tour and then we can talk about calmly and rationally about our future. Aahahahah!” Xeni laughed.
Mason shook his head, not bothering to hide his smile, and followed her farther into the house.
“I was in a nice one-bedroom closer to the school before, but I’ve always wanted to live over here. This place popped up, nearly remodeled and I had to grab it,” Xeni beamed, adoring the painted tile that covered her backsplash. She set the plant on the island so she didn’t drop it by accident.
“I wanted to bring you a St. John’s Wort plant, but I didn’t realize it was basically a bush. The woman at the gardening store suggested a succulent might be more practical.”
“I appreciate that. I don’t have much of a green thumb. Don’t let the roses fool you, I just bought them. Um, my friend Shae made us these amazing tarts.” She motioned to the spread she’d set out on the counter. “And I figured we could order in. There are a bunch of great places nearby we could have delivered.”
“If you have any suggestions for Mexican food, my friend said I needed to try more real tacos. He also suggested we go to a Korean BBQ place.”
“We can do both of those things.” The idea of doing a whole culinary tour of L.A. with Mason made her ridiculously happy. So did the idea of him sticking around long enough that she could take him to the beach and Disneyland and… “There’s a place nearby called World of Tacos. Why don’t I show you around and then we’ll order?”
“Perfect plan.”
“So, this is the kitchen slash dining room. You saw the living room on the way in. Bedrooms are this way.” She led him to the back of the house and pointed out the guest bedroom and her office. She could feel him as he walked behind into her master bedroom, ignoring the way just being around him caused her body to ignite.
“Bathroom’s through there and the French doors lead out to the back yard. It took about three months for me to stop being afraid of someone just busting through here while I’m sleeping, but I have an alarm system and the fences are pretty high. I might get a dog, though. Everyone in this neighborhood has a dog. The barking works.”
Mason looked around the room.“That’s a big bed for one person.”
Xeni nodded slowly. “I have noticed that.”
