“Because they love women,” Daniela said. “They can’t get enough of it at night, so they have to look at it and poke around in it all day long, too.”
“You two are disgusting,” Lisa said. “What about women gynecologists?”
“Okay, that’s another thing,” Daniela said. “Why? That’s even worse.”
“Stop it,” Lisa said. “You’re both nuts. If he hangs around long enough, you can ask him yourself.”
“How’s he look?” Valarie asked.
Lisa stopped for a moment, gazing off at the ocean. “You won’t believe this, but he’s nicer looking than Ryan.”
“No way,” they chorused. “Ryan is gorgeous.”
“Steve is dark, and he’s tall and muscular. He runs, but he’s not lanky. You’ll see him tonight. Look out the window at seven.”
“I’ll be looking,” Valarie said.
“I’d better get downstairs and put my groceries away,” Lisa said.
“After buying all this food, we’re going out to dinner as a family tonight,” Valarie said.
“That sounds serious,” Daniela replied. “I’m the only one who doesn’t have anyone now.”
She opened the door to snow falling. “Wow, this wasn’t supposed to happen until later tonight.”
“Daniela, go home,” Lisa said. “You’ll be stuck here all weekend.”
“I’ll help you put your food away, and then I’ll go. Snow doesn’t scare me.”
The school bus pulled up, and that was it for the peace of the house. Dan called shortly after to say he was coming early to try to beat the storm home. Then Lisa remembered Megan and quickly called Alison to see if she could keep her for the evening. Alison was excited for Lisa dating Dr. Lafferty; she’d seen him at the office but thank God had never gone to him for an exam.
“I’ll keep Megan for the night,” Alison said. “Fred will come down now and get her. You need to have complete concentration if he’s coming to the house.”
“No, there will be none of that,” she replied. “I have Tim upstairs listening, anyway. Uh-ha.”
With the children gone, Lisa had just enough time to take a shower and prepare for her evening. She put on skinny jeans thatwere getting tighter and a white angora sweater with a plunging neckline, just enough décolleté to hopefully get his full attention.
Looking out the front window, she had the floodlights on but could barely see the churning water, the snow falling so thick and heavy that it obscured the view. Then, a few minutes early, there was a knock on the door.
The door was at the side of the house, an old-fashioned wood door with a large window it in and an ineffectual café curtain hanging there. They made eye contact, and Lisa couldn’t help her ear-to-ear grin.
“Quick! You must be freezing,” she said, ushering him inside.
Stamping his feet on the little rug, he was already covered with snow from walking from his car. He handed her a large paper grocery bag, which she placed on the kitchen table.
“I might have to dig my car out,” he said. “We already have an inch, and it just started.”
“I love a good snowstorm! Look, a fire,” she said, pointing to the fireplace. A soft light was on next to the couch, but most of the light in the room was from the fire. “I brought a bunch of wood in, so we’ll be cozy. It’s in the porch.”
“This is nice,” he said, slipping his jacket off. “I love the old beach cottages.”
“This is definitely old,” she said, hanging his jacket on a hook next to the door.
They stood side by side, not saying anything. It wasn’t awkward though. Lisa felt totally at peace. Finally stirring, she moved to the bag.
“What did you bring?” she asked. “Flip that light switch on, please.”
“Just a few things that caught my eye,” he replied.
First, she pulled out a bottle of sparkling cider and started laughing. “Okay, no alcohol. Very good, Doctor. I did buy you wine, however.”
Then, a box of chocolate, the most expensive kind Organic Bonanza sold.
“Grocery store gifts,” he said. “The real candy store was closed by the time I left the office.”
Finally, a toothbrush. She held it up, laughing out loud.
“In case we get snowed in. I have clean clothes in the car, but I forgot my toothbrush. I don’t go out much.”
“Why do I find that hard to believe?” She gave him a sidelong glance, wondering if this nerd act he was putting on was, in fact, an act.
“When you get to know me better, you’ll see I really am a homebody. I find a place to nestle in and it takes a crowbar to get me out.”
She inadvertently sighed. “For lack of better judgment, I’m going to admit that really makes me happy. I hope we end up liking each other.”
“I think we will,” he said. “I know I like you already.” He looked down at her, his blue eyes boring into hers.
“Why does life have to be complicated?”
He grabbed her hand, not letting her move away from him. “What’s wrong? You won’t get complicated out of me, I promise you.”
“Steve, it’s not you. It’s me. I have a whole string of drama and baggage. It’s the kind of thing I should tell you about now because it could mean a whole lot to you. But it’s really personal stuff that I don’t want broadcast around town, if you know what I mean.”
“I won’t say a thing to anyone. You have my word. But now I’m concerned, so you’d better tell me what you need to tell me.”
“Do you want coffee first?”
“I’d love it,” he said.
She poured their coffee and took it to a small table by the fireplace. Two high-backed chairs that belonged to her landlord flanked the table, reminiscent of an inn.
“I always feel like I’m in an English TV series when I sit here,” she said. “So anyway, here’s the story. The baby’s father is my half-brother. We didn’t know it when we started to date. We fell in love soon after we met. At Christmas a year ago, he told his mother we were going to be engaged, and she confessed that his birth father was my father.”
She tried to gauge his reaction.
“Wow. This is the one time I can use the word heavy and really mean it.”
“Ha! Yes, it’s heavy. But it gets worse. We broke up, of course, and in that time, he and our half-sister from another relationship my dad had had got drunk and had sex, and she’s now pregnant with his child, too.”
“I might be getting confused,” Steve said.
“I didn’t get pregnant until after that. We decided we could try to be together because we were in love. I know it sounds terrible, and everyone was upset about it, but I was willing to give it a try. My ex, being a lawyer and all, was not happy about it. We weren’t going to have children, obviously, but because of more than our shared parentage. He’s also HIV positive.”
“Oh no.”
“Yes, so this might be the last straw for you and me,” she said, suddenly sad.
“No, not necessarily. I want to hear the rest of it.”
“We didn’t set out for this to happen. It was an accident. And so I was exposed. I get tested regularly and so far, so good.”
“Phew! That’s good. Not that I care if you were exposed, but I’m worried for your well-being. It’s not as grave as it used to be.”
Lifting her cup of coffee to sip, Lisa waited. Telling the story had taken all of her strength.
“I guess you’re waiting for my response,” he said. “I don’t really have anything to say except how sorry I am that you have to go through this. It’s great that your test is negative, and you’ll probably stay negative according to statistics.
“It’s really awful about the guy’s mother waiting so long to tell him who his father was. It would have definitely given him an edge to have that knowledge.”
“I know, right? All of this could have been avoided.”
“Today at coffee you said there was no competition with the baby’s father. But you j
ust told me you were in love with him. How’d that end?”
“Everything added up, and I couldn’t stand being around him any longer.”
She didn’t intend on telling him her fears of Ryan being around her children after hearing what Maggie had to say about his relationship with Jack. She’d never repeat that.
“What’s your relationship with him now?”
“Cordial, but cautious. Like I said, my half-sister is also carrying his baby.”
“Is she close by?”
“A few houses down that way,” she said, pointing south. “And my mother’s house is north.”
“It’ll take time for this to sink in, but I’m fine with your health issues. I’m a little concerned that he’ll find a way to get back in your life romantically.”
Lisa grabbed his hand. “Steve, please trust me. That is never going to happen. Never. If I could, I’d find a way to keep him away from this baby. I don’t trust him. So can we leave it at that? I’m getting upset.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said, standing up.
He offered her his hand, and when she took it, he pulled her up and took her in his arms.
“What are you doing?” she asked, giggling.
“I’m getting ready to dance with you, what do you think I’m doing?”
He began to lead her around the firelit room, his chin on top of her head, humming an old Karen Carpenter tune, then singing the words slightly off key, and Lisa’s heart melted. The way he held her, his arm wrapped around her back grasping her side, she felt so safe there against him. She could smell the soap he used, something piney and fresh smelling, and his shaving cream, and all the smells and his voice sent zingers in between her legs. He was going to be difficult to resist.
She could feel his heart beat against hers. It felt perfectly right; they belonged together after one day.
“Do you have any music?” he asked. “My singing is not the greatest.”
“I think your singing is just wonderful,” she said, but switched on the radio anyway, not wanting him to let go.
Back in his arms, dreamily with her eyes closed, she tipped her head up to him as they swayed slowly together, not grinding, but so close the heat from their bodies mingled.
Steve looked at her lips and longed to kiss them, but stopped himself, thinking it was a little soon. “Did we just meet today?”
“Just today,” she whispered.
“It’s too early to kiss you, isn’t it?”
She opened her eyes and saw the look of desire on his face. “Probably, but I want to kiss you, too. Maybe if we know we want to kiss each other, it will be enough. I’m not sure I’ll stop if you start kissing me now.”
“Wow.”
His embrace tightened around her, and he bent down to dance with her cheek to cheek. All he could think of was her breasts: they were big and soft, and he just wanted to bury his face in her cleavage.
“I like your sweater,” he said, loosening his grip and looking down at the V neckline of her fuzzy sweater.
They made eye contact and laughed, his meaning clear.
“Thank you. I won’t have many more opportunities to wear these jeans at the rate I’m gaining weight.”
“You’re a rail,” he said. “And I mean that in the kindest way. You look fantastic. How far along are you?”
“I’m due in June,” she said. “I’m just starting to show.”
“Let me see,” he said, taking a step back.
Without hesitating, she lifted her sweater a little bit and exposed the waist of her jeans. As she unzipped, blood surged to his penis, and he pulled his black sweater down, now covered with white fuzz from hers, to hide his erection.
Standing sideways, she stood up straight not to emphasize the little mound of belly, but he could see she was definitely pregnant.
“I’m into it,” he said, taking a deep breath. “This is really weird. I usually don’t like to get involved because I have a life that is self-absorbed.”
“Well, I understand, believe me,” she replied, zipping her pants. “I have three children and one on the way. I’m not exactly a good-time girl.”
“Let’s dance,” he said, pulling her back to him.
“I like to dance with you,” she said.
He held her arm up to turn her around, singing along with the radio, lyrics to a Dusty Springfield song. “See, I go way back. This is nineteen sixty-four. My music evolution stalled in the eighties.”
“You weren’t alive yet, were you?”
“Ha! I was born in eighty-six. My mother was a musician though. I’m sure I heard this tune in utero.”
They did a little salsa for a while, and Lisa did a few moves that had Steve sweating, her arms raised just enough so that her sweater hiked up, showing a narrow waist. Her eyes closed, she gyrated in a little circle in front of a frozen-in-place Steve.
“My God. Will you look at this?” Valarie whispered.
They were just back from their dinner out, the snowfall making them eager to get home. With Brent riding on his back, Tim looked over her shoulder. They stood on the stairway that led to his apartment, and looking through the window in the door of Lisa’s kitchen, they saw her with her arms in the air, moving her hips from side to side while an extremely attractive guy stood watching with his mouth hanging open.
“The white girl has some moves!”
“Aunt Lisa’s dancing!” Brent shouted.
“Shush,” Valarie said.
When Tim didn’t respond right away, Valarie gently elbowed him in the gut. “Pull your tongue in.”
“Who’s he?”
“I have no idea,” she said, lying, thinking that must be the obstetrician.
“Keep going,” he said, pushing her. “And tiptoe. I don’t want to interrupt them.”
Carefully unlocking the door, they tiptoed inside. “I could have stood there watching all night,” Valarie said. “It’s like watching porn. She’s so beautiful and he’s a hunk! Lord.”
“I don’t like to see other people having more fun than I am,” Tim said, unable to keep the whine out of his voice.
“If you’d let me, I could help you have more fun,” Valarie said gently. “I’ll get this little guy to sleep.”
“I don’t want to go to bed,” Brent said, rubbing his eyes.
“Too bad. You’ll go to bed, and then later Valarie is going to sneak into her own little closet. You’ll like that, won’t you?”
“Yes!”
After he was in bed, she went back out to the living room. Tim ignored her, like she was only the nanny. She had to find a way to change the dynamic.
“So how’s this going to work?”
He looked up from his phone. “What do you mean?”
“Are we going to get into bed and fuck, or pretend there’s nothing going on between us?”
Putting his phone down, he got up and went to her, laughing. “You don’t pull any punches, do you?”
“Tim Hornby, I’m crazy about you. We’ve known each other for almost two years now. I’m here, moved in. Why do we have to pretend we’re not interested?”
“Do you know what Lisa said when I told her you were moving in?”
“Let me guess,” Valarie said. “‘She’s not your class.’”
“God no, Lisa isn’t like that. She said if I screwed up, I’d lose my wonderful nanny, and that’s the worst thing I could do.”
“She said that, huh?”
Valarie walked away from him and started to sing softly in Spanish and then started to dance to her words, mimicking Lisa’s salsa, but putting more hip action into it, throwing her head back, her wild curly black hair whipping around her face.
When she finished, she smiled at Tim, who was mesmerized, his mouth open slightly, looking a little awestruck.
Lisa was wrong, they hadn’t been upstairs making love earlier that afternoon, but they were going to do it now. Grabbing Valarie around the waist, he lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his wais
t. She could feel his penis hard and ready, and all she wanted to do was get it inside her as soon as possible. But she’d discover he had foreplay in mind. For Tim, sex was all about making his partner feel good.
“Is Brent sleeping?”
“Yes, but keep it down.”
He carried her into the bedroom and stopped at the bed. “Valarie, you know I’m fucked up right now.”
“I don’t care,” she said. “Let me help you get through it.”
He kissed her, and she opened her mouth, their tongues touched, and for Valarie it was all she needed. She slipped down off him, with no other thought in her mind than that she wanted him. They took their clothes off, and Tim placed his hands on her shoulders and looked at her beautiful body. Thankfully, she was completely different than Sandra or Elizabeth, shorter and voluptuous, with a tiny waist and big hips. He was aching to look at her. Ready to go down on her, he went to push her back on the bed, but she had other ideas.
He was already hard, but she gave him a little extra boost with her mouth, and he almost lost it.
“Careful, Valarie,” he groaned. “It’s not going to take long if you keep that up.”
Pushing him down on the bed, she straddled his hips, angling so he’d slip into her effortlessly. She rose up just till the head was on the edge of sliding out of her, and then she sat back down on him slowly, up and down, biting her lip so he couldn’t see how much she was enjoying seeing Tim under her spell.
Then she forgot about him and started working it so it felt good to her until she lost control instead, wildly riding him, holding on to his waist, exploding with passion.
When it was finished, she climbed off, lying down next to him. They lay together silent for a while.
“Well, that’s out of the way…”
“Ha!” She laughed. “The ice is broken.”
“You don’t have to sleep in the closet.”
“Ah, yes, I do,” she said.
“I want you in my bed now,” he said.
“No. I like my own space,” she murmured, her head on his chest. “But I’ll visit you whenever you like.”
“I hope Elizabeth doesn’t pop in unannounced.”
“She is a nervy bitch,” Valarie said.
Rolling to face her, Tim slid his arms around Valarie again, pulling her close. “You said you were crazy about me,” he whispered. “I’m crazy about you, too. Now I want to prove it to you.”
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