Enchant Me by Anne Violet

already told my mother this much
already. 
    “It’s strange with you living so close by
we’ve never seen you.” 
    Oh lord--here we go. She was staring
Christian down like he was a felon and her arms were crossed over
her chest in an aggressive sort of way. I belatedly realized mom’s
distrust towards men was now being directed at my man.  I felt
my temper start to rise; Christian didn’t deserve to be
interrogated and she definitely didn’t need to know Christian had
been in rehab. I knew she wouldn’t understand. I was about to shake
Christian’s arm off so I could have us both storm out of the house
but he tightened it around me holding me in place. “My grandparents
and I travel a lot to see family; many of our relatives are old and
sick so we try to see them as much as possible.”
    “Oh, I am sorry to hear that,” she said
stiltedly. 
    I turned my head to hide my smile, without
being rude or unnecessarily truthful he had gotten my mom to back
off.
    Grabbing Christian’s arm I headed to the
door, “Mom, I’ll be home at 10:00.”
    “Have a good time,” she mumbled as she headed
back to her room. 
    Once outside, we both breathed a sigh of
relief, and holding hands headed to the beach. I could feel him
glancing at me questioningly.
    “What?” I asked, perplexed by the expression
on his face.
    His dark eyes almost looked hurt. “I just
wondered why your mom didn’t seem to know anything about me.”
    I felt bad that he had taken it that way and
hoped that he could see in my eyes all that I felt for him. “God,
Christian it isn’t you. My mom and I…we aren’t close.”
    “Why?”
    Taking a deep breath in, I tried to think of
the best way to explain. “Ever since I was young, especially after
my parents’ divorce, I learned quickly to rely on myself. My mom is
slightly… self-involved. I never feel that I come first with her.
So I guess in a way I don’t trust her. So no I don’t tell her much.
And likewise she doesn’t tell me much.”
    He now looked at me in such a pitying way
that it really bothered me. “Don’t worry I talk endlessly about you
to Tina and Becca. I have actually had to start paying them to
listen.”
    My ploy to change both our moods worked. He
smiled and laughed, dropping my hand and wrapping his arm around my
waist. He bent down as we walked over the trestle and brushed a
warm kiss against my brow. His friends were at the little
stone and wooden structure that housed the barbeque pit and by the
smell in the air the food was cooking already, loud rock music
blaring away, but I noticed I seemed to still be the only girl
here.
    I looked up at Christian
questioningly. “Christian, how come there aren’t any other
girlfriends here?”
    He looked down at me, his smile gentle, like
I was something precious. “I am the only one that actually wanted
to hang out with his girlfriend. All the rest, look at this as
their excuse to escape.” 
    I smiled, feeling a little bashful. “Oh. You
know you never told me where you knew these guys from.”
    His glance considered me for a moment before
he replied, “I know them from rehab.”
    I glanced up at him, traveling his face with
my eyes. “Did you think I would have a problem with that?”
    “No,” he smiled gently, “I just don’t want
you to feel uncomfortable.”
    As we walked up to the shelter I hugged his
side tighter to me, “I’m with you so why would I be uncomfortable?”
I murmured before we were in earshot of anyone else. 
    Once under the shelter, the guys all ranging
in age and nationality came up to greet us. They were just regular
guys. Passing them on the street you would never think that they
had a drug or alcohol problem. Even though I was the lone
female intruding on their all male bonding party, their friendly
faces said I was more than welcome and I smiled in response. I
noticed Christian still kept a tight arm around my waist, his head
tilted toward me as he introduced me to everyone. After