Page 393 of His Hungry Wolf
“This is all a lot, you know? I can’t believe she’s gone. I hadn’t called her in weeks. I should have but I couldn’t imagine a time when she wouldn’t be here.”
“I get it. I can’t imagine a time when my mother wouldn’t be here. Just thinking about being without her…” I stopped when it became harder to breathe. “Have you found out what she passed away from yet?”
“Yeah. My mother says old age, but I wouldn’t put it past my family if they killed her.”
“Come on. Don’t say that. They might not be as warm and cuddly as they should be, but they’re not that bad.”
Lou looked at me with sadness in his eyes. “You’ve met them. What about them tells you that they wouldn’t be capable of something like that?”
“Because no matter how bad they are, they managed to raise someone like you. And you are pretty great.”
Lou stared at me. He didn’t smile but the pain in his eyes diminished.
“I miss my grandmother,” he said sincerely.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I told him before he got up and slipped into my arms.
I held him for a while. Afterward, we returned to the bedroom and lay silently on the bed. When it was time for dinner, he looked at what I was wearing.
“You didn’t bring anything more formal, did you?”
I looked down at my jeans, flannel, and t-shirt.
“You didn’t say that I should.”
“Because you didn’t have to. You don’t have to impress any of them,” he told me as if he were telling himself.
“Should I button my shirt and tuck it in?”
“If you want,” he said convincing me that I should. “When my family stays here they forget what century we’re in. They have outdated views on how we should dress for dinner.”
“Are you gonna change?”
Lou looked down at his jeans and what I always thought of as a dress shirt. He was torn.
“If you wanna dress up, don’t let me stop you. You’re the one who will have to deal with them if you don’t.”
“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable,” he admitted.
“They already think of me as the service man. How much worse can think of me than that? Lou, wear what makes you feel comfortable.”
Lou twisted his mouth, tortured.
“Lou, for me. Do what you need to do,” I said taking his hand and finding his eyes.
“Maybe I’ll change my pants,” he said giving in.
“You do that,” I said with an encouraging smile.
Lou opened a wardrobe that separated the bedroom space from the storage area. In it was formal wear. I didn’t own a single suit but Lou had everything from dinner jackets to tuxedos.
“So, how formal do they dress?” I asked feeling self-conscious.
“Formal enough to make them feel superior to everyone else.”
Lou retrieved a pair of dress pants from the nicest hanger I had ever seen and placed it on the bed. Reaching for the button of his pants, he paused. His eyes blinked up to mine. I was waiting for him to ask me to turn around but he didn’t. And since he didn’t ask, I kept watching.
When he pulled off his pants, I saw that he was wearing the cutest bikini briefs. He was a smaller guy so I wasn’t expecting much. But he had a bulge. It was impressive. No wonder he hadn’t asked me to turn around. I would show that off too if I was him.