fifty-shades-of-grey

They shake hands. I feel sick. Ray has no idea how Christian intends to look afterme. Christian takes my hand and raises it to his lips and kisses my knuckles tenderly, hisscorching eyes intent on mine.“Later, Miss Steele,” he breathes, his voice full of promise.My belly curls at the thought… oh my. Hang on… later?Ray takes my elbow and leads me toward the entrance to the tent.“Seems a solid young man. Well-off too. You could do a lot worse, Annie. Thoughwhy I had to hear about him from Katherine,” he scolds.I shrug apologetically.“Well, any man who likes and knows his fly-fishing is okay with me.”Holy cow – Ray approves. If only he knew.Ray drops me back at the house at dusk.“Call your mom,” he says.“I will. Thanks for coming, Dad.”“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world, Annie. You make me so proud.”Oh no. I’m not going to get emotional. A huge lump forms in my throat, and I hughim, hard. He puts his arms around me, bemused, and I can’t help it – tears pool in myeyes.“Hey, Annie, sweetheart,” Ray croons. “Big old day… eh? Want me to come in andmake you some tea?”I laugh, in spite of my tears. Tea is always the answer according to Ray. I remembermy mother complaining about him, saying that when it came to tea and sympathy, he wasalways good at the tea, not so hot on the sympathy.“No, Dad, I’m good. It’s been so great to see you. I’ll visit real soon once I’m settledin Seattle.”“Good luck with the interviews. Let me know how they go.”“Sure thing, Dad.”“Love you, Annie.”“Love you too, Dad.”He smiles, his brown eyes warm, glowing, and he climbs back into his car. I wave himoff as he drives into the dusk, and I wander listlessly back into the apartment.First thing I do is check my cell phone. It needs recharging, so I have to hunt downthe charger and plug it in before I can collect my messages. Four missed calls, one voicemessage, and two texts. Three missed calls from Christian… no messages. One missedcall from José and a voice mail from him wishing me all the best for graduation.I open the texts.*Are you home safe**Call me*They are both from Christian, why didn’t he call the house? I head into my bedroomand fire up the mean machine.