Chapter 4 – Money, Money, Money-4
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“Dana, honey, I’m not going to tell you what to do.” Mel was at the sink taking care of the dinner dishes while I sat at the table sipping the one Diet Pepsi I allow myself a day.
“I want my leg back to normal...”
She turned from her task and looked at me, “I know baby but we both know that’s not going to happen. You’ll eventually have to come to terms with that. What you’ve got to do is you have to decide what the next best option for you is.”
“So, you’re saying I should take the money?”
“No, that’s not what I said. I said you should weigh all of your options. We’ve talked about this though. I know that you really don’t want a desk job or a screener job or whatever it is that they’re calling it.”
“If it were you in my position, would you take the disability and the settlement?”
“It’s not me Dana, it’s you, and so it does no good to speculate like that.”
“You just aren’t going to budge off of that stance, are you?” It was my turn to give her the evil eye. “Mel, think about what that money could do for us.”
“Us? Dana, if you decide to go for the settlement, great. I support you; but I don’t want your money. You take that to start a business and to put back for medical bills and...”
I waved my hand and interrupted her, “My medical bills will be paid...at least as far as my leg is concerned. Frankly, that’s more money than I’ll ever need. And I’m just not sure about the whole starting a business idea. No matter what I would want to do in the fields where I’ve been the happiest, I’d have to be pretty mobile. I don’t want to be the owner sitting behind a desk. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, of course.”
“If I decide to go for the money, I’d like to share it with the woman that I love. Am I missing something there?”
Mel stopped what she was doing and walked over to stand behind my chair. She looped her arms over my shoulders and pulled me back into her. Bending and laying her cheek against mine, she whispered, “I love you Dana and I’m sorry.” She pulled back up and away and then took the seat adjacent to mine.
Taking one of my hands in hers, she said, “I’m a Crane. The Cranes are a long line of self-sufficient people. We accept help for things that we aren’t capable of doing for ourselves and we help our neighbors when we can.”
“It sounds like that’s been drilled into you over a lifetime!”
“That was Grandpa Crane at his finest; may he forever rest in peace. I was raised that way by my dad who was raised that way by Grandpa. It’s hard for me to deviate from that.”
“I see. What about in this case? What about us if I accept the settlement offer?”
She stared at me for several long seconds. “Well, I suppose when we’re talking about an ‘us’ instead of a ‘me’ it isn’t just a Crane thing.”
“So, there’d be an exception to the Crane rule of living then?” I grinned my brightest at her.
She shook her head and grinned back at me, “I guess!”
“And you’re sure?”
Mel leaned toward me and kissed me. Putting my hands on her shoulders, I hauled her closer. This wasn’t a simple kiss, a loving kiss. I attacked her with a full-blown cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die kiss. I rubbed my lips across hers building an incredible tingling friction. My tongue peeked from my lips and I tasted her seam. She hummed in response, the vibration only adding to the intensity of our closed-mouth kiss.
I dipped and opened up just enough to suck her bottom lip between my teeth. Nibbling and biting, I teased her resolve. She was a woman of depth, loving the bits of pain along with her pleasure. I nipped harder and she finally relented. She grasped the side of my head in both palms and tilted my head up to take my mouth more fully.
She swiped her tongue through my mouth tasting me. She completely took over and sealing her lips to mine, had me moaning and sighing down her throat.
When she finally pulled back and eased her hands around my neck, I gasped for air. A Cheshire cat grin spread my lips. My cheeks warm with the blush of desire.
“I’m absolutely sure!”
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