Beyond Grace [ON INDEFINITE HOLD]

Beyond Grace: 3

“I promise.”

The scent of toast wafted through the door. Cash grimaced, but it was undeniable the lady would still be here. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, Cash pulled his boxers on and made his way out to the kitchen. May as well get this out of the way.

It was pancakes, not toast, he first noticed, stacked up on the tabletop, with the batter in a jug besides it. Then she stepped out from the cupboard.

Memories repeatedly fired at him over and over as he disjointedly pieced together fragments of last night. Ditching Keira's blonde friend. Drunkenly dancing to the beat of the music with Mariah. Collapsing into a taxi, with intense sex as they got home.

Her skin was coffee coloured compared to the rich chocolate brown he remembered; her hair an earthy chestnut rather than black. Her voluptuous hourglass figure, howbeit, was replica to the full glory of his drunken haze.

She sent him a circumspect smile, the corners of her lips weighed down by her hangover. Cash scanned his eyes up and down her body. One of his shirts hung of her toned frame, slight bags developing under her otherwise flawless skin.

Her eyes flickered to the batter, quickly returning to connect her golden brown eyes with his. Cash pulled himself out a chair from his dining table, sprawling diagonally across the seat. Dipping a finger in the pancake mix, he licked the sticky goop off his fingertips.

“You know, pancakes taste great if you put blueberries into them,” he began, laughing nervously in an attempt to ease the awkwardness.

Mariah laughed loudly with him, her eyes seeming to light up. A glow radiated from her as she subtly moved towards him on the chair. Tucking a wayward lock of hair behind her ears, she surveyed him, tracing his nearly naked body with a steady gaze.

“Mariah Santiago,” she offered, extending a hand.

He mimicked the wry smile playing her lips, “Cash Davies.”

“You got some blueberries, boy?” she inquired playfully.

“Only a few,” he laughed, sliding off the counter and meandering towards the fridge.

They burst out laughing; eventuating in an even worse headache, yet the pain seemed insignificant. His affair on Melody seemed irrelevant; her arm softly brushing against his. Charisma radiated from her core, the ‘look’ in her eyes that marked her spirit.

Dredging a frozen pack of blueberries from the freezer, Cash paused for a moment to revel in the soothing chill of the gelid air to numb his headache. He sighed, watching as his breath intricately danced in the air.

Returning to the kitchen counter, he could feel Mariah's gaze on his back. Quickly dumping the entire packet in, he stole a few for himself. Mariah's soft agreeing laugh permeated the air, engulfing his body in an alien sense of anticipation. Cash shrugged it off; she'll leave like his other friends did eventually.

Cash grabbed another pancake from the pile, savouring its sweet taste, “Mm, these are really good. You wanna coffee? It’s good for waking you up.”

Her eyes followed his to the coffee machine — his best investment so far — and lit up, “I'd love a coffee.”

He grabbed another pancake off the plate, devouring it again within seconds. Cash licked his lips, devouring the final crumbs. Mariah went to cook up the remaining pancake mixture, leaving Cash to make them coffee...

“I'm not always like this,” Cash stated over blueberry pancakes, coffee and panadol.

Mariah looked down, a tight-lipped smile of exasperation painting her lips, “Oh, I get it. So you have a girlfriend? I can leave now, if-”

“No; no girlfriend. My fiancé – she passed away five years ago in a fire,” a grim smile marred his face, “What I meant was I don’t usually go out clubbing all night.”

They lapsed into a silence, a pit of guilt re-emerging in his gut. A warm hand wrapped around his. Looking up, his eyes connected with the warm gold-speckled-brown irises of Mariah. Brimming to the edge with empathy; a nigh uncommon look denoted to him nowadays. Always the pity case.

Thinking of Melody again swamped him with regrets. Cash could remember putting off their marriage so she could cope with her cancer. Insisting on working late on that night. Not even knowing the gender of the tiny life force ripped from his arms too soon. Never telling her he loved her enough. The list seemed to continue for infinity, dizzying him with what he ‘could’ have done. What he should have done.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her palms warm against his hands

Hope resonated to him, as he gazed into Mariah mirrored eyes. Cash was suddenly aware of the pulses of life that were slowly sapping away like a waning flame to candle wax. The vapidities in the silence perpetually built up and up, screaming to be forgotten.

As he absorbed the image of a stunning exotic goddess before him, Cash found himself caught in a lust for change. The money he so arduously worked for seemed lacklustre; the once passion of his life now scarred by latent monotony.

Cash could have stared into her eyes forever; finding the exonerating power of her intense brown eyes. Softness, yet independence resonated through her features; her plump lips and long eyelashes. Killer long legs, large breasts, a tapered waist and a firm well-rounded ass rendered her as a weapon of mass sex appeal. If not Mariah, he was definitely finding someone before it was too long.

“It's hard,” he slowly admitted, sceptic of the right words to use, “but life goes on.”

Cash flickered his eyes down for a few seconds, unwilling to broach the subject of Melody. Because, intrinsically, he knew that life did not just merely 'go on.' Life sucked like that.

“Look I really would like to get to know you,” he began, purposely changing the topic. “Do you wanna meet up for dinner some time?”

Mariah blushed, a smile illuminating her face, “I'd love to.”

And hope; beautiful like an unfolding sunflower on a prospective early morn, blossomed forth to illuminate the future.

_________

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