True Blue

Chapter Thirty Seven

Norma raced home, intent on confronting Norman for what he said to Alex, only to find when she walks in that Dylan and Emma were there. With everything that had happened recently, she had completely forgotten about how Dylan and Emma were coming with them to pick out a Christmas tree.
The ride into town was tense as Norma was stuck in her thoughts, thinking of how she was going to get through this without lashing out on Norman. She couldn't believe he would go behind her back and say such things to Alex.
And she hated how he was already negatively affecting her relationship with Alex.
As soon as Dylan's truck comes to a stop, Norma is out of the car, already walking towards the entrance to the maze of trees.
"Well, let's go find a tree." she says, walking briskly away from them. She needed some time to calm herself down enough to be able to think rationally.
As she strolled through the maze of trees, not really looking at any of them, her thoughts drifted to Alex. She hated the hurt look she saw on his face during their conversation earlier, and she hated that Norman was able to place seeds of doubt into his head about their relationship.
How could he not see how in love with him she was? How could he doubt what they had even for a second?
She chewed gently on her bottom lip as she felt the hole start to grow in her chest again. She wishes he could be here with her, holding her hand as they pick out a tree together. She hated how they left things earlier and she hated that she barely got to kiss him. It felt like a wasted visit and it was her fault.
"Mother." Norman says through two trees from the aisle next to the one she was in.
"Jeez, Norman." she gasps, nearly jumping out of her skin. "Don't jump out from a bunch of trees and sneak up on people."
"I didn't jump out from a bunch of trees. You're just on edge. What's going on?" he asks firmly, making her anger rise all over again.
"I don't know, Norman. I don't know what's going on. You know why? Because no one tells me anything. Things that you do. Things that affect my life. I mean, but why talk to me about anything?" she says, going to leave but turning back to him, not finished with her rant.
"I mean, what am I? Like a doll? And the menfolk are gonna hash out who gets the woman and the homestead?" she adds, finally turning to continue down the rest of the aisle.
"Oh, I see. So he told you." Norman says bitterly, meeting her at the end of her row of trees.
"Yeah, he told me, because he respects me enough to tell me!" she snaps back at him before moving down the next row of trees, quickly walking away from him.
"Okay, maybe this just isn't the place to have this discussion, Mother-" he says, quickly following after her before she turns back to him to cut him off.
"I tried to talk to you about it at the house, but Dylan and Emma were already there. I am so upset with you. And I don't want to get into it. So stop provoking me! Stop it!" she shouts at him, her anger finally boiling over as she turned and stomped away from him again.
He quickly followed after her, saying nothing but keeping close to her. It put her even more on edge. She tried to quicken her speed, but he matched it effortlessly.
"Norman, stop it." she spits back at him as she continues to try to get some space.
"You might as well tell me what's wrong, I know you're angry. It's not like I can pretend you're not, and go have a glass of cider and a candy cane. You're ruining everything." he says firmly, making her spin to face him as he finally pushes her to her breaking point.
"Fine! I cannot believe that you went behind my back to tell Alex that he and I should get a divorce." she hisses at him before turning around to walk away. He grabs her arm tightly and pulls her back to face him.
"Mother? You don't have to lie to me. I know you've been sleeping with him. That you had to do it to get insurance for me. But that sort of thing is horrible, and you shouldn't have to live life like that. No one should. But if I learned one thing at Pineview, it is that sometimes you have to let other people help in order to alleviate your burdens." he tells her gently, as if he was helping her somehow. And he probably thought he was if that was what he thought of her relationship with Alex. She should've been honest with him from the start like Alex had said. She hated that he was always right.
"But that's not what happened. He's a good man. And....And I like him." she finally tells him, carefully watching his face to gauge his reaction.
"You like him?" Norman asks softly after a moment.
"Yes." she whispers back, still watching him with worry. She watches as he tries to force a smile but instead ends up doubling over to vomit onto the gravel lot. She quickly begins rubbing his back, not knowing what to think of this reaction that she certainly didn't expect.
"Norman. I'm so sorry, honey." she says gently as he finally stops throwing up.
"Oh, I knew we shouldn't have come here. You know, you're still acclimating to the meds." she says, convincing herself it was that and not the news she just broke to him.
"Come on, let's go home." she says, guiding him towards the car.
Once they got home, Norman immediately ran to his room while Norma said goodbye to Dylan and Emma, making them promise to come by one last time before they leave. As soon as they're out the front door, Norma is climbing the stairs to Norman's room.
"It's too cold to sleep in the house, let's go down to the motel." she tells him gently, not wanting to have to sleep in her bed without Alex another night. It didn't feel right anymore. She would rather stay in a motel room.
"That's fine." Norman says simply, slipping right past her without so much as a glance in her direction.
As soon as they enter the motel office, Norma can feel the heat seep through her coat, warming her already.
"Oh, it feels so much better in here. Why didn't we think of this last night?" she asks rhetorically as she moves to the keys that are hanging on the wall.
"What room do you want, honey?" she asks as she grabs the key to room one. She glances over to see him snatch the key to room twelve, sending her a look before turning to leave.
"Norman." she says tiredly, making him turn back to her as he reaches the front door.
"Do you want to talk?" she asks gently, hating when he got like this and shut her out.
"No." he says simply, still staring at her with an icy look.
"I know it's probably hard to accept-"
"Goodnight, Mother." he says, cutting her off to turn and leave without another word.
With a soft sigh, she flips the lights of the office off and locks it up before retreating into her temporary new room. As soon as the door shuts behind her, she's dialing Alex's number, smiling as he answers on the second ring.
"Hey." he says softly into her ear.
"Hi, honey." she says sweetly as she sits down on the bed, chewing on her lip as she tries to contain her smile.
"I missed you." he says, his voice just above a whisper.
"Can you come over?" she asks, knowing it was risky but she needed to see him.
"Now? Isn't Norman there?" he asks with confusion, though he was already slipping his jacket and shoes on.
"We're sleeping in the motel tonight. Our heating went out last night. But I need to see you. So, please? Please, Alex?" she pleads, though she didn't need to as he was already on his way.
"Alright, yeah. I'll be there soon." he tells her, smiling at the thought of getting to see her again.
"Okay. I'm in room one." she tells him happily.
"Room eleven wasn't available?" he teases, recalling how familiar he was to room eleven after living there for three months.
"Well, Norman's in room twelve, so-"
"Room one is perfect." he says, making her laugh.
"I can't wait to see you." she breathes out.
"I'll see you soon." he tells her, now only about five minutes away.
"Okay. I love you." she says.
"I love you too."
She hangs up the phone and waits patiently as time seemed to drag. She sat there on the edge of the bed, staring off into space as she waited, her mind all over the place. She was sad about losing Dylan, sad about her crumbling relationship with Norman, the only thing in her life she had hope for was Alex.
As long as she had him, everything seemed to be okay. She couldn't bear to be without him, but Norman seemed intent on not letting that happen.
The opening of her door pulled her from her thoughts and she looked back to see Alex closing the door behind him. She didn't have the energy left in her to greet him with a hug and a kiss like she usually did, so she went back to staring at the wall in front of her.
As soon as he steps into her line of view, she looks up at him with a worried gaze.
"I told him." she finally says softly, already feeling calmer just looking into his warm eyes.
"How do you feel?" he asks, taking her off guard as she looks away for a moment. She hasn't thought about how she felt about it all. She was too busy worrying about how Norman might feel about it and how Alex might feel about her. It never occurred to her to stop and analyze how she felt about it all.
She shrugs softly as she looks back at him, the sight breaking his heart as he looked into her teary eyes.
"It was hard." she says shakily as a tear escapes her eye and begins sliding down her cheek. He slowly wipes her tear with his thumb before reaching to grab her arm and pull her to him. He begins to rub her back gently as they slowly swayed slightly, both breathing each other in.
"Why do you have this magical ability to make me feel calm?" she whispers into his ear after a moment, still holding onto him tightly.
"There's something I got to tell you." he begins seriously, making her frown with confusion.
"I'm, uh...I'm actually magical. I'm a unicorn." he teases softly, though he kept his voice serious. She leans back to look at him with a confused smile.
"You're a unicorn?" she asks, making sure she heard him correctly as she begins to laugh.
"What?" he asks, using every ounce of strength to keep his expression serious, though the corners of his mouth began to pull up at the sound of her beautiful laugh.
"Y-Is that what you said?" she asks, her eyes staring at his lips before giggling again.
"I don't know what you're talking about." he says seriously, looking at her with mock concern.
"You did!" she says through her laughs, making him finally break into a smile at the sound.
"I've missed your laugh." he says, brushing the tip of his nose against hers.
"I've missed you." she whispers as she leans in to kiss him.
"And thank you, for being whatever it is that you said. That you say you are." she says with a soft laugh.
"Okay. Yeah." he says, leaning in to kiss her again.
"You're very welcome." he says against her lips as his hands slide up her sides.
"I've been thinking about you all day. I hate how we left things." he whispers softly as his mouth moves to her neck.
"We'll talk about it later. I need you right now." she says softly as she pushes his jacket off of his shoulders, making him moan softly against her skin. He quickly pushes her cardigan off, throwing it to the side as she begins on the buttons of his uniform.
"We need to stop wearing things with buttons." she mumbles against his lips, making him laugh as he begins unbuttoning her blouse.
"I agree." he says, shrugging off his uniform before going back to working on her buttons.
"How much do you like this shirt?" he asks breathlessly, still struggling.
"I hate it." she tells him, gasping as he rips it the rest of the way open, making buttons fly everywhere. She quickly pulls his shirt over his head before pressing her chest to his, needing to feel him against her skin.
"So beautiful." he whispers as he kisses down her neck to her chest. His hand slips into the waistband of her pants, teasing her as his fingers trail along her bare waist.
"Alex." she breathes out as his other hand gently massages her breast through her bra as he places sloppy kisses along her chest.
"I need you." she says again, unbuckling his belt and slipping it off in one quick move. They stumble towards the bed, their mouths never leaving each other as they quickly shed the rest of their clothes and underwear.
As soon as her back hits the mattress, he is sliding inside of her, making her stifle her moan into the pillow beside her as her back arches to accommodate the length of him.
"You okay?" he asks, realizing he had let his desire consume him.
"So good." she breathes out, pulling his neck down to kiss him passionately as he begins to move in and out of her slowly.
"Oh, I've missed you." she whispers as his lips travel down to her right nipple as he massages her left breast in his hand.
She switches positions as she felt the pit in her stomach form, pushing him onto the bed as she straddles him. Not that he minded. He enjoyed the view from this position as she rode him, her breasts bouncing effervescently.
"God, Norma." he breathes out as he feels her walls begin to twitch around him. His thumb begins to brush over her clit, watching as she throws her head back with a gasp, her nails digging into his chest as her movements falter.
This was her pinacle.
He took over, thrusting up into her quickly as she tightened around him, bringing him to his own climax. He felt his movements slow as he slowly came down from his high. Norma began moving on him again, slowly rolling her hips on him as she looks down into his eyes, mouth still slightly open. He grabs her waist, massaging her skin gently as she rode out the aftershocks of her orgasm.
"I love you." she breathes out, finally collapsing onto his chest as he traces lazily on the skin of her back, giving her chills. He places a soft kiss on her forehead before whispering against her skin.
"I love you too. Always."