by J B Heller
I swallowed. “Yeah, about that, I’m off the market Cindy. So that won’t be happening anymore, alright?”
Her jaw dropped, then the green-eyed monster appeared and jealousy filled her eyes. “You’re what?” she seethed.
“He’s in a relationship, got a problem, find another salon,” Tay spoke from beside me. I hadn’t even noticed her arrival.
“I got this, baby,” I winked at Tay, and then turned back to Cindy. I wasn’t fazed by Tay’s display of jealousy; she had the right to get territorial, what with us making a baby and all, but Cindy’s jealousy had no footing. “Cindy, I’d like you to meet my girl Tay.”
Cindy threw a hateful glare at Tay, then turned back to me. “Where’d you find this bitch? What’s she got that I don’t? Huh?”
I didn’t mean to, but I laughed. “Are you serious right now? When have I ever given you the impression I was offering anything more than random sex? I’m not trying to be a prick here, but seriously, where do you get off?”
Her eyes flared. “You’re not that good, Nate, and there are a hundred others like you out there who want a piece of this,” she gestured to her tits— which were fake, by the way.
I smiled back at her. “That’s great, I’m really happy for you, you should go bone them then.”
Her eye twitched as she stood. “I’m not paying you for these.” She flipped me off and stormed out of the Den. Wow, psycho.
Tay’s small hand landed on my shoulder and when I looked up at her, she was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. I stood up and placed my hands on her hips, “What’s wrong, Sugar?”
“If we do this, I’m going to have to get used to that, aren’t I?” she asked, but it was a rhetorical question.
She was right. I’d never promised anyone anything, but women didn’t like rejection, on any level. I ran my hand through my too long hair, “Yeah,” I mumbled.
Tay ran her fingers through my hair, following the path mine had just made. “It’s okay, I know you, Nate, and I know you have a string of women panting after you, but I don’t want to be one of many.” She tilted her head, watching me intently. “You understand?”
I nodded, “I do, and I don’t want you be one of many either, you’re better than that. I’ll deal with it, alright, it won’t be a problem. We agreed last night that there wouldn’t be anyone else while we figure this out, and I meant it, Tay.”
She smiled, one of her stunning dimpled smiles that I couldn’t help but fall into. “I know you did.” She got up on her tiptoes, even though she was wearing heels, and kissed my forehead.
“What. The. Shit?”
We both turned to see Piper and Tempi standing side by side, gaping at us and our, very public, display of affection. Albeit small, it was clearly more than a friendly gesture.
I looked to Tay to take this one, I didn’t know how she wanted to deal with the girls, so best leave girl shit, to girls.
“Ladies, I’d like you to meet my super sperm donor,” she said smiling at them and throwing me a wink at the mention of my sperm.
I waved at the girls as they continued to stare. “S’up?” I said, nodding to them.
Tempi spoke, which took me by surprise, she’s usually so quiet. “Nate, as in I’m-a-man-whore-and-proud-of-it, Nate? He’s going to be your baby daddy?”
I burst out laughing. “That’s the most you’ve ever said to me at once, Temp, and I’m a little hurt, you think I’m a man-whore?” I teased.
Her eyebrows lifted, and then they both sunk, as a frown came across her face. “But you are a man-whore.”
“I’m on a sabbatical. Thought I’d give the relationship thing a go.” I shrugged as if it was no big deal, when in fact, it was a very big freaking deal.
Now it was the boss lady’s turn, “Don’t screw this up. You’re both irreplaceable to me,” she eyed us both, one at a time, “I love you guys, but I hope you know what you’re doing.” She nodded once, then strutted back to the reception desk as the front door chimed.
Tempi was still looking at us like we were crazy.
“Anything you want to add?” I asked her sarcastically.
“Just, just don’t hurt her.” With that, she spun around, her chucks squeaking on the polished flooring and left us.
I looked back at Tay questioningly, she just shrugged and changed the subject. “So, I came in to cover for Pixie, she’s sick. Jake called me this morning to get me to do a swap. Looks like I’ll have Monday off now, so if you wanted to hang out, I’m sure we could think of something to do,” she grinned.
“I’ve got time Monday,” I played along.
“It’s a date,” she winked then wandered over to prep her station to prep for Pixie’s first client.
I took the opportunity in my lunchbreak to call up all my previous booty calls and let them know I’d no longer be servicing their needs. Most took it well, a couple, not so much.
When we knocked off, I took Tay out for dinner, I figured if I was about to knock her up, I should at least make a good impression. It wasn’t that I was incapable of dating, I just preferred not to. I had a lot of shit on my plate, trying to deal with mum’s cancer, that a relationship just seemed like another thing for me to worry about.
Tay had always been different though, I don’t just mean her style, but everything about her. She constantly had a smile on her beautiful face. She just radiated happiness. And her happiness rubbed off on everyone around her. She had a gift for seeing the positive in every situation and making the dullest of days seem beautiful. I sound like a mushy prick, but it’s true.
The more time I spent with her, the more I wanted to spend with her. She made me feel good, and never once gave me shit about my whorish past. She took me for who I was, and it felt pretty amazing.
It was Sunday afternoon and I had just arrived at my mum’s place, she was bedridden most days now, and it was breaking me. Each time I saw her, she looked a little more fragile.
I didn’t bother knocking, I let myself in and went straight to mum’s room. She had a medical style bed so we could adjust the tilt and things to make her more comfortable. She had refused to stay in care, and I didn’t blame her. She wanted to be home when she passed. My mum and aunts shared a big two-story, six bedroom, four bathroom home, in a fairly nice neighbourhood.
When mum found out she was pregnant with me—at the ripe old age of seventeen—her sisters had stepped up to the plate, since my dad skipped out the second the word pregnant left my mamma’s lips.
They all shared a small house for as long as it took to pool their money and have enough to open a nail spa. There weren’t any in the immediate area so the business took off, allowing them to buy this house when I was just four years old.
I passed Aunt Julia on my way down the hall to the main bedroom downstairs, mum’s room. “How is she today?” I asked.
Aunt Julia smiled, “She’s actually pretty good today, and she even ate her lunch without pitching a fit, so I’m counting that as a win.” She laughed softly.
Mum was as stubborn as they came and if she didn’t want to do something, she wouldn’t, that included eating. She was a difficult patient.
I nodded and kept heading to her room, I went straight in as the door was open. She was propped up, with her hands folded in her lap, while she watched reruns of The Bold and the Beautiful.
“You still watch this shit,” I teased as I pulled up a chair next to her.
“Language,” was her only response until the next ad. Then she turned her attention to me. “You look unusually happy,” she noted.
I kicked my legs out in front of me, crossed them at the ankles and laced my fingers behind my head. “I am happy. I’ve started seeing someone.”
Silence.
“You right, Ma?” I asked with humour in my voice, she was stunned into silence.
“You, Nathaniel Summers, you’re seeing someone. I don’t believe it. Bring her to me, proof son, I need proof,” she demanded.
“Geez
, Ma, a simple I’m happy for you would have been sufficient.”
“Ha! I will be, honey, when I meet the girl. She must be something pretty special for you to actually class it as seeing her. Who is she?” she probed.
I had her full attention, even though the ads had finished and her show was back on. “Taylor Jane Seymour, I work with her at the Den. She is pretty special. You’ll like her, she’s full of sass and attitude, just like you.” I rolled my eyes, realising in that moment that I had gone for someone like my mother.
Mum started laughing, and the sound was beautiful. I hadn’t heard it for so long. If I had known me dating would make her smile, I might have tried it a long time ago…
“T.J., I like it,” she said.
“She goes by Tay, actually,” I corrected.
“That’s nice too. So when did you start seeing each other?”
“It’s pretty new, and umm, it’s not your average relationship. I mean, I like her and all, and I’ve been interested in her for a while, since I met her, actually. But—” I rubbed the back of my neck, talking about women wasn’t something I ever did with my mum, but I wanted to tell her about Tay. I wanted her to like her.
“You really care about her, don’t you?”
I sat up and hunched forward, leaning my elbows on my knees and lacing my fingers together again. Then I looked into my mother’s eyes. “Yeah Ma, I really do.”
Her eyes glassed over, and a single tear slipped from the corner of her eye. “I’m so, so happy for you, baby.”
“Me to, Ma, me too,” I assured her.
“So, what’s so unusual about this relationship?”
“Tay wants a baby, and I’m going to help her with that. We’re going to date in the meantime, and before you say anything, yes, I have thought about this. I’ve thought about it a lot. I’ve never been so sure of anything before.”
Mum’s eyes were wide with shock. “You’re going to have a baby? And you’re going to date after she gets pregnant? You’re right, that is unusual. I won’t judge your choice, but I will admit that I don’t understand it.”
“She was going to get a sperm donor, and I couldn’t stand the thought of her pregnant with some random dude’s child. Seriously, I saw red, Ma.” I could feel my chest filling with the same heat as when I’d first heard Tay say she was getting a donor.
“Is there a reason she has to have a baby right now? Can’t she wait and see how things go with you first?”
“It’s something she’s been planning for a while, she’s a little older than me, and worried about her baby making clock or some shit like that,” I explained.
Mum reached out and smacked me upside the head. “Language,” she warned again, “so, how old is she?”
I shrugged because it really wasn’t a big deal to me how old she was. “Thirty-four next week, I think.”
“Five years your senior, huh. You always did gravitate to the more mature women when you were younger, so I’m not surprised you would be with an older woman now that you’ve decided to settle. Not that I’m saying she’s old, but oh god, this isn’t coming out right. Sorry, honey.”
“It’s okay Ma, I know what you’re saying. It’s all good.” I laughed.
“So is she pregnant yet? Am I going to be a grandma? Oh goodness, a grandma, you’re going to make me a grandma! Oh, baby, I’ll hold on for it, I promise. I’ll hold on, I’ll eat and I’ll take my meds, I want to meet your baby.” Tears filled her eyes.
And mine too. I wanted to get Tay pregnant even more than before, now that I saw how happy it would make my mum, and it would give her the strength to hold on for that little bit longer. “Not yet Ma, we’re doing the insemination thing tomorrow, actually.”
She wiped her tears and scrunched her nose up. “Insemination? I thought you said you were together?”
I smiled, “We are, but she didn’t want to complicate things with sex just yet, so we’re doing this the turkey baster method, that’s what she called it. She’s read up on it and whatever, it’s what she wants for now, so yeah.”
Mum nodded. “Yes, sex does complicate things, doesn’t it?” She yawned, and that was my cue to leave, she needed her rest.
“I’ll bring her by sometime soon, promise.” I got up and kissed mum on the head and hugged her. “I’ll see you on Wednesday, I’ve got inseminating to do tomorrow, and Tuesday too.” I winked then laughed when she screwed up her face.
“Just because I want a grandbaby doesn’t mean I want to know the intimate details, even if they don’t involve real sex,” she laughed and hugged me back.
I left after tucking her blankets in and refilling her glass of water. I blew a kiss to her on my way out the door.
This was the third time her cancer had come back, and this time would be the last.
She was first diagnosed when I was nineteen. She had still been young so the treatment had worked well and she went into remission quickly. During that time, she taught me how to do her nails for her. When she first got sick, my aunts covered her share of the workload at the spa and I looked after her.
Then three years later, it was back and she had to have a double mastectomy. Again, she went into remission. My mother was a fighter.
Now, it was back again with a vengeance. Her body couldn’t win the fight this time. She stopped responding to the chemo and now she’s refusing all treatment, except pain management.
At first, I was furious with her for turning down a new experimental treatment that the doctors offered her, but after I sat down and read through the information pack, I understood why she had refused it. It only had a 20% chance of success, and if it didn’t work, it would reduce the quality of life she had left.
Monday morning took forever to arrive, I hadn’t been able to sleep, but I wasn’t sure if it was because I was excited or terrified.
I arrived at Tay’s place at 7 AM. She answered the door in a silk robe with Japanese cherry blossoms all over it. Her hair was all dishevelled from sleep and her face was as bare as the day she’d been born.
She was stunning.
“You’re early,” she murmured as she stepped back to let me in.
“Couldn’t sleep,” I told her and walked in. I backed her up against the door after she closed it and blocked her in with my hands pressed to the wall on either side of her face. Her breathing picked up pace and I watched the lust haze fill her hazel eyes.
“Nate,” she whispered just before I crashed my lips to hers. She didn’t push me away or ask me to stop, she seemed to sense that I needed this, that I needed her body pressed against me right now. She kissed me back and tangled her fingers in my hair, tugging lightly as I grunted into her mouth, encouraging her.
My hands slipped under her robe and gripped her arse, I squeezed, then lifted her up and held her against the door as I kneaded her firm arse cheeks. I centred her so she would feel me, feel what being in close quarters with her did to me.
When she pushed herself down on me, I wanted to rip the offending robe from her body, but if I did that, there would be no stopping and that wasn’t the way she wanted to do this. I slowed the kiss and reluctantly lowered her now trembling body until her feet were steady on the ground.
“Well, that was one hell of a good morning,” she smiled.
“Missed you I guess,” I shrugged and followed her into her kitchen.
I watched her flit around the large area and asked if I could help her but she refused my offer. Ten minutes later, a plate of freshly cooked bacon and eggs sat in front of me, and one loaded as high as mine, in front of herself too. I was glad she wasn’t one of those women who ordered salad when they really wanted steak.
We ate in companionable silence for a few minutes until she asked what I had done the day before. “I went to see my mum. I told her about us, and about the baby making, she’s really happy for us.”
Her answering smile was blinding, “I’d love to meet her one day, when you’re ready of course.”
I nodded, “I
told her I’d bring you around soon, she wants to meet you too. I think you two will get along great, just promise you won’t gang up on me,” I laughed.
“Promise,” she winked and popped the last bit of bacon on her plate, into her mouth.
Tay went to her room to get dressed and came out in a pair of shiny black leggings, an electric green corset, and matching green heels. I have no idea how her and Piper wear those things, they look like deathtraps to me.
I sat on the couch and watched her gather her hair into a bun on the top of her head, then fasten a green and black scarf in a bow in front of it.
When she was done I asked, “So what are we doing today? Besides making a baby?”
She laughed. “I thought we could hit the markets this morning, then after lunch we can get to the fun part. How’s that sound?”
“I’m down with that.” I stood up and grabbed my keys off the small table beside the front door, I opened it for her and waited for her to exit, then locked up behind me.
It was a short drive to the local market that she wanted to go to, and it was packed. It took longer to find a parking spot than it took to drive the distance from her house.
We eventually got a spot, and I took her hand in mine as we made the five minute walk to the market grounds. She wriggled her fingers in my hand as we walked. “I like this,” she said.
I smiled and squeezed her hand in answer, it frightened me how much I liked this small amount of contact. It was also a display of possession, she was with me, and I wanted everyone to know it. I’d never held a chick’s hand in public before, this was all new, but I liked it.
As we pushed through the crowd at the entrance watching a performer, I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, pulling her into my side, I liked this even more.
She looked up into my eyes, and when I saw the longing there, I had to kiss her. It was longer than I intended, but once our lips met, I found it increasingly difficult to pry myself away.
She chuckled and shoved my chest softly. “Sorry, got carried away,” I mumbled as I pressed a quick kiss against her hair.
