“No, my parents live with me. Ironically, the neighborhood they lived in was riddled with drugs, meth houses, and unsavory elements, so I moved them in when I bought this house. I got this one for a steal.” He explained that he was also able to sneak in a cook and a housekeeper so his mother didn’t have to do as much.
“They are older now and so there is someone home with them to do the cooking. They still get to see me somewhat every day, and the house is big enough, my sister’s kids to run around like mini hooligans.” Your sister has kids with that body?
The second shock came when she found out his parents knew exactly who she was. “Ah, this is the blogger,” Mary Boehner said as she hugged her close.
Tom Boehner, a big burly man, and retired construction worker, also enclosed her in his giant arms and nearly squeezed the life out of her. “It’s nice to finally meet you after five years of torching our business.”
This was one thing that Ebony was not uncertain of, the perfect segue. “I am so sorry you feel that way, but since I am closing up the final pieces of the interviews, I wanted to get to know a little more about his family.”
Ebony mentioned his sister.
Mary responded, “Yes, she was our second blessing. We conceived her two years after we got Tino and moved from Atlanta to Raleigh.”
“I was born in Atlanta?” He asked, genuinely surprised.
“Yes, Jacqueline had you and another boy, I think she also has a girl as well,” Mary said matter of fact. Tom bobbed his head in agreement.
Tino was floored. “You know my mother?”
Tom got a beer from the fridge, “You do too.”
Ebony remained quiet as she watched it all unfold before her eyes. Tino seemed to be holding in a big gust of wind that was threatening to overtake him. “I have met my birth mother?”
Mary seemed to be surprised by his amazement, “yes, and your brother as well. When was the last time we saw them Tom?”
“About five years ago...I would say. Oh, yeah, she was at your graduation, you even have a picture with her,” his dad said as he went to the étagère and removed the photo album, flipping through pages. “Ah, here you all are,” he told him and handing the photo to Tino.
The color drained from his face. “Cousin Jackie is my mother?”
“Yes, and Tony is your brother. Again, I don’t remember what the girl’s name is...” Mary said as she poured herself another lemonade.
It befuddled Ebony to no end that his parents discussed it as if it were nothing more than last week’s news. Tino was fuming, “And no one ever thought to tell me?”
Mary patted his arm, “We figured when you wanted to know, you would ask. You asked, so we told you.” She reminded Ebony of the little old lady on Ace Ventura who wanted to hurt Dan Marino.
“Mom, this is nuts. What...why...I don’t understand?”
“Those are the questions and details you will have to ask and discuss with Jaqueline. She has been waiting for many years for the phone call from you. Five years ago when you seemed to care little about her or Tony, is when she stopped checking on you,” Tom told him.
Ebony rose from the table and wrapped her arms around him. This was a different kind of pain and realization that would take him a minute to get through. But Mary wasn’t done. She went to her purse and pulled out a mini notebook.
“I have been saving her number,” she handed him the slip of paper.
Tino stared at the paper with wonderment. He showed it to Ebony who still had her arms around him. Without thinking, he leaned up and kissed her on the lips. He looked up to see the shock on his parent’s face at him kissing Ebony. “Well, you two seem to like surprises, I have one for you. Ebony and I are dating.”
It was nearly two months before Tino went back to the scrap of paper his mother, Mary, had given him with Jacqueline’s phone number on it, and still he had not called. After several discussions with Ebony, he and she both agreed that some dogs really needed to sleep on their own porch; the moment you messed with it, was when you found yourself being bitten. He didn’t want to be bitten or get a gut full of rabies shots. What he did want was to get to know his brother.
On a late April afternoon, after some careful research, he picked up the phone and called his brother Tony Peay, whom he found out had a daughter. He ended the call with a smile as he looked at his beautiful Ebony sitting on the couch, tapping away at her laptop. “What are you writing there, lovely lady?”
Her eyebrow shot up as a coy smile came to her lips, “I was working on a new piece of poetry.”
That was all Tino Boehner needed to hear as he lifted her in his arms and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried her the bed. Some of his brutish ways he had changed, others, especially the ones his little blogger liked, he held tight to like his favorite hammer. And right now, he had some nailing to do.
-Fin-
This story originally featured in Call Me Valentino.
This is the prequel to Menu for Loving
About the Author
Olivia Gaines is the author of numerous bestselling novellas and books, including Two Nights in Vegas, A Few More Nights, and has had several number one best sellers with The Blakemore Files including Being Mrs. Blakemore and Shopping with Mrs. Blakemore.
She lives in Augusta, GA, with her husband, son and snotty cat, Katness Evermean.
Connect with Olivia on her Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1eorEAr or her website at http://oliviagaines.com.
About the Author
Olivia Gaines is the author of numerous best selling novellas and books including Two Nights in Vegas, A Few More Nights, and have had several number one best sellers with The Blakemore Files including Being Mrs. Blakemore and Shopping with Mrs. Blakemore.
She lives in Augusta, GA with her husband, son and snotty cat, Katness Evermean.
Connect with Olivia on her FB page at http://on.fb.me/1eorEAr or her website at http://oliviagaines.com
The Davonshire Series
Courting Guinevere
Loving Words
Vanity's Pleasure
The Blakemore Files
Being Mrs. Blakemore
Shopping with Mrs. Blakemore
Dancing with Mr. Blakemore
Cruising with the Blakemores (2015)
The Sizzling Nights Series
Two Nights in Vegas
A Few More Nights
A Few Nights with Vincent (2015)
The Slivers of Love Series
The Cost to Play
Thursdays in Savannah
Menu for Loving (2015)
Read more at Olivia Gaines’s site.
The Brute & The Blogger Page 7
