Enigma of the Heart

by Wynette Davis

  “Trisha Vivienne Thibodeaux, it’s about damn time,” Nina said with relief. “It’s hotter than a gnat in a frying pan out in this sun.”

  Taffy stood, frowning over at Nina. “It’s a saying,” Nina said to her. “Now.”

  Taffy and Nina had been the best of friends since they had met in college at UCLA. They were sorority sisters and had quickly bonded since they were also the only sisters that were more on the plumper side of life. And while Nina shared Taffy’s body type, they were like night and day in other ways. Nina had beautiful, creamy, chocolate skin and full, pouty lips. Her dark, brown eyes were intense, yet kind. Nina’s personality was a complete contrast of her own. Nina was brash, open, and honest. It was far from what Taffy had been used to in her small group of friends in high school.

  After graduation, Nina had helped Taffy get a job at her father’s Los Angeles-based advertisement firm. It was great to have connections, since having a degree in art didn’t open up too many opportunities in the job field. But after working at the firm for a year, she had been offered a plum position with another company where she could basically work from her home anywhere in the world. And it all came about because of the girl that had befriended her at college.

  Of course, professionally she was known as Trisha Thibodeaux. Only her close friends called her Taffy. It was a nickname that had been given to her by her mother as a baby and had stuck. Her mother always told her that she had the complexion of the butter taffy she used to eat as a child. Her skin was light cream with just a hint of coffee. When Taffy was born, she had no hair. She was as bald as a ninety year old man. Her mother told her that she didn’t start to grow hair until she was almost one. When it came in, it surprised everyone to see that it was dark blonde and curly, curly, curly. It only made her nickname much more meaningful.

  Nina constantly told her that she was pretty, but Taffy saw the flaws in her appearance. Her cheeks were too chubby. Just a tad. She had slight freckles along her nose and over her cheeks. Just enough for her to notice. Her bottom lip pooched out just a little too much. But only a little bit. And of course, she was what most would call chubby, curvy, plus-size, or plump. She didn’t hate her body, though. She loved it. She was not a size six, but had nothing against those that were. She was more like an eighteen. Her body was never going to fit into the mold of a supermodel, and she didn’t want it to. And as Nina always said to her, there’s nothing wrong with a double digit.

  They stepped onto the porch tentatively, eyes cast upward, watching to make sure the balcony above didn’t decide to fall down onto their heads. The home was over a hundred years old, as were many of the homes on the street. It was built in the part of town where many of the Mandeville rich used to live.

  In the late eighteen hundreds, Mandeville was just starting to spread out. It had originally been a small stop-over for the railroad. But it was set in a perfect location to ship goods out to the west. A lazy river meandered through the center of town, with the railroad crisscrossing at two pivotal junctions. It was a perfect place for many companies to build their factories. First came the textile industry. Textiles were still one of the major businesses in Mandeville. Thibodeaux Textiles was a known name in most of the area. Of course, it was no longer as big as it had been back in the heyday of manufacturing, but they still employed enough of the town. But as times changed, many of the townspeople found work in Charleston fifty miles away. The choice came down to either making minimum wage at Thibodeaux Mill, or making a decent wage in Charleston. And so, the mill began to suffer.

  But in its prime, Mandeville’s upper class built their homes in one part of the town. Thoroughgood Street. Named after the town founder, Debaxter Mandevoss Thoroughgood. The homes on that street reeked of regality. Large structures with wraparound porches and wrought iron balconies. The design of the homes had separate rooms for the maids and butlers on the ground floors, and opulent interiors befitting those that lived there. Separate carriage houses were in the back of the house, where the help could bring in supplies to the kitchen without being noticed. Long windows stared out to the street, giving those who wanted to know only a glimpse into the interior. Those that lived on Thoroughgood Street back then had only the best. And they made sure their homes showed their lavish lifestyle.

  But that was not what Taffy and Nina were looking at. The home they were about to enter had seen its better days thirty years before. The shutters were falling down from the windows. The front porch was somewhat sagging in places, making Nina hold onto Taffy’s arm protectively. The house looked as though it was about to give up and just collapse.

  “Are you sure about this, girl?” Nina asked her.

  “No,” Taffy said, glancing over to her. “But I have to at least see if salvage is possible.”

  Taffy took the key out of her shorts pocket and unlocked the front door. It took a few tries before the door finally unleashed its hold on whatever kind of rust was jammed into the locking mechanism.

  But once the door was open, she was pleasantly surprised. “Oh, oh! Oh, Nina!” she said, smiling back at her friend. “This isn’t that bad.”

  The exterior seemed to have been a clever ruse for what lay inside. It was old and dated, but not the nightmare that she had envisioned it to be from looking at the outside. There was no giant hole in the ceiling or floors. There were no inhabitants scurrying around the edges of the walls, four-legged or more. There were no cobwebs hanging in ominous strings like in some horror movie. She was relieved.

  “Taffy, this isn’t too bad,” Nina said to her. “This is doable.”

  Taffy nodded to Nina. “Yeah. Look at the floors. They aren’t that bad. I think they can be refinished.”

  They walked further into the house. There was a center hallway with a staircase square in the middle. The staircase had seen better days with many of the spindles missing or broken. She finally saw the hole she had been expecting to see in the floors and ceiling on the stairs. Not a large hole, but it looked as though someone had taken a sledgehammer to a few of the steps.

  The hallway was dark with dated wallpaper and doors closed to other rooms to the left and the right. They opened the doors to the left and walked into what could have been a study or the formal living room. A massive fireplace was positioned on the far wall with a large wooden mantel above it. As they roamed the rooms they saw an identical room was directly across the hall. It was adjacent to the kitchen which was where most of the renovation was needed.

  They continued to walk through the house discovering compartmentalized rooms, and a beautiful if not dusty and dirty sunroom on the back of the house. There was also a small bedroom off the back of the house. She knew that room had been used for the live-in help in years before. A small half bath was next to the bedroom. It had a toilet and sink, but no bath or shower. They climbed the stairs warily, where there were five bedrooms including what could have been the master since it was the largest. But on the down side, there was only one bathroom on the entire second floor.

  “Well, that’s not going to work,” Taffy said, as they carefully made their way back downstairs. “One single bathroom for all of those bedrooms?”

  “Maybe people back then didn’t shit a lot.” Nina said smiling.

  Taffy couldn’t help but laugh. Nina always made her laugh. “Imagine how much they saved on toilet paper.” They both started laughing then.

  “’Ello?” A man’s voice said from the entryway. Whoever spoke didn’t pronounce the H. The voice had a distinctive accent, but it was definitely male.

  It all came back to her suddenly. Taffy heard that voice and a flood of memories streaked through her mind of that night with the unknown man.

  “’Ello?” he called out again.

  “Oh my god,” Taffy whispered, as she suddenly remembered him. His hands on her body. She remembered his lips, kissing, and sucking her nipples into his mouth. She remembered what she had done to him. He was well-endowed. It was vague, but she remembered greedily sucking
on his large cock, as if it were the lifeblood of her entire being. And she vaguely remembered him whispering softly to her in some kind of accent, and how much it turned her on.

  He was her one-night stand. He was the one she had been grinding on at the club. He was the one whose sculpted ass had been under the sheet next to her. She couldn’t remember much about that night, tequila had a way of doing that to her, but she remembered enough.

  Nina looked over to see him walking through the foyer. Taffy stared at her friend’s expression. Nina looked as though she had just noticed what men were, as she licked her lips. But Taffy couldn’t face him. She quickly turned her back around, as he came closer.

  “’Ello. I’m Jean-Michel Batiste. The contractor,” she heard him say to Nina. “Hi,” Nina said finally. “Nina Young. Me. I–I–I’m Nina. Her Taffy. She’s!” Nina took a deep breath. “She’s Taffy Thibodeaux! Trisha. Trisha Thibodeaux.”

  Taffy slowly turned to face him, as Nina rambled on. Taffy knew she was beet red with embarrassment. But he might not remember her. She hoped.

  “Hello,” she said to him hoarsely.

  He smiled knowingly at her, stepping closer to where she stood. “’Ello, again,” he said in that sexy accent that she remembered all too well. “You are a very hard woman to find.”

  Nina stood staring between them, as if she were watching a Wimbledon match. “You know each other?” asked Nina.

  Taffy nodded to her slightly. Nina stood behind Jean-Michel mouthing to her if he was Mr. Big Dick, garnering a glare from Taffy.

  It was as though Nina had disappeared from the room. His eyes stayed riveted on Taffy. “You left. I woke up and you were gone.”

  “I–I–I don’t do that,” she said stammering.

  “Okay,” Nina said aloud. “I’m just going to go over there somewhere and stare at the floor.” She walked over to another room to give them privacy to talk.

  “You don’t do what?” he asked. “Spend a beautiful night making love?”

  “I don’t even know you,” Taffy said.

  He closed the small gap between them. “Yes,” he said softly to her. “I believe we were becoming more acquainted that night. I had hoped to be very well acquainted that morning.”

  Damn, she thought. “Um… I…” she stammered, as she looked up into his eyes. The way he was looking at her was so intimate, so smoldering. He took coherent thought away from her.

  “Why don’t we look at the house, yes?” he said staring at her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, as if they were caught between the colors of blue and green. “Later, we can talk.”

  She only nodded, agreeing with him and whatever he said. “Yeah. Okay.”

  They began to walk through the house, showing Jean-Michel the rooms and telling him the plans that she had for the renovation. Nina continued to stare over at her, as if she creamed her panties each time Jean-Michel spoke. His accent wasn’t so pronounced to be unintelligible, but just it enough to…cream panties.

  Taffy understood what Nina was going through. He was man with a capital M. He was tall and muscled. Evidence clearly seen in his arms, as his biceps bulged involuntarily with each movement he made. His dark hair curled around his neck with a few rebellious locks playing on his forehead. He shook his head to clear them from his eyesight. It was an innocent motion, but he made it look so sexy. He had facial hair along his jawline and around his full lips. Not a beard, but just enough hair to make it seem as though he hadn’t shaved in a few days and just didn’t give a fuck. But it was his eyes that caught her attention. He had bedroom eyes. Sultry eyes with that half-lidded look, as if he’d only just awakened from having some of the best sex in his life. What? It was enough that he was standing so close to her, as he measured and spoke to her, but each time she looked at him, all she could think of was why in the hell couldn’t she remember being with him that night, damn it!

  Taffy showed him around the house, and then out to the back yard that she and Nina hadn’t seen yet. It was overgrown with weeds and shrubbery, but Jean-Michel assured her it was all salvageable. Each time he spoke, Nina would giggle as if he’d just told the funniest joke. It made Taffy give her a warning glare to stop acting like a fourteen year old talking to her secret pop star crush.

  “There is a lot to be done, but it is not impossible.” He smiled at Taffy. “Do you mind if I call you Taffy?”

  The way he spoke her name sent tingles down her back. She had to admit that she liked the way he said Taffy, like Taf-fee with an emphasis on the last syllable. Damn could the man say her name.

  “Umm… Uh, Taffy is fine,” she said finally. “I uh…” She fumbled in her pocket for her cell. “I suppose I should put your number into my contacts.”

  “So, you would like me for the job?” he asked staring at her intently.

  Good Lord, yes, she thought. “Um, yes.”

  “But you don’t know how much I charge. I might be too much for you,” he said with a slight smile.

  Nina coughed softly, still wearing her goofy girl grin. That elicited another stern look from Taffy. “How much would it be to do all of the work we talked about?” she asked him.

  He took out a small calculator and started punching in numbers. “It will take some time, but I can do it all for $150,000. Maybe a little more. Maybe a little less.”

  “Holy shit!” Nina said aloud. “Sweet Mary, mercy me!”

  “Yes, it is a lot of money,” said Jean-Michel, addressing Nina, yet his attention stayed on Taffy. “But there is a lot to be done. You want a new roof, kitchen, three new bathrooms, yes?”

  “No, you’re right,” Taffy agreed. “I want this house put back together. It’s going to cost. Let’s do it.”

  “Taffy? That’s not going to leave you much,” Nina said with a worried expression. “Are you sure you want to use all of the insurance money?”

  “It’s what my mom and dad would have wanted me to do with the money, Nina.” She nodded back at Jean-Michel. “Let’s do it.”

  “Okay,” said Jean-Michel. “I will make up the contract, and bring it to you… Where? Here, or do you have another place?”

  “Right now I’m staying at the Blue Ridge Motel. Not the best,” she said with a smile. “Would it be possible to stay here?”

  “Taffy? Here?” asked Nina.

  “The plumbing is sound.” Jean-Michel said walking closer to Taffy and all but excluding Nina from the conversation. “The electrical is working for now until the work starts, but then we can work around you. But, there is no central air conditioning in this home. Only the window units, but they seem to be operable. We will be adding your central heat and air. Eventually,” he said again with that sexy smile he had.

  He was standing so close to her. That bubble that people were supposed to stay outside of. That personal space that surrounded you, he had breached and she had freely let him inside. He was gazing down at her, as he’d invaded her bubble, speaking in his deep voice with that sexy French accent. All she could think of in that moment with him so close to her inside of her bubble space was “Pop it! Pop it! Pop it!”

  “I could keep staying at the motel,” she said quietly.

  “Maybe for only… two, three weeks? Then I won’t feel so bad with you staying in the home. We will work upstairs first and complete the master and build the master bathroom for you. Is that okay?” He asked softly.

  “Sounds good,” Nina said loudly, breaking the intimacy that was developing between Taffy and him.

  Jean-Michel turned to face Nina, running a hand through his hair, as Taffy visibly took a deep breath. “It has been a pleasure to meet you, Nina.” He held his hand out to her to shake. “I hope you don’t mind if I speak to Taffy alone for a moment?”

  “Oh, no,” said Nina, still grinning like a goofy school girl. “I’ll just wait outside by the car.” She started to leave.

  “Nina!” Taffy yelled to her retreating back, but it was useless since Jean-Michel led her into one of the other ro
oms.

  She stood staring at him, as he closed the distance between them. “Why did you leave?” he asked.

  “Oh,” she said swallowing harder than she had wanted to. “That. Um… I’ve never done that before.”

  He smiled slightly, as he gazed over at her. “You’ve never had a night full of passion making love?”

  She swallowed hard again. “I’ve never gone home with someone I don’t know. I’m not a slut.”

  “I never thought you were.” His gaze was unwavering. “Why would you think that because you wanted pleasure, I would think you were a slut? Never. Why is a woman that knows what she wants called a slut? Why is it so wrong to give in to what you want?”

  “Um… It’s just not something I do,” she said to him. “I was drinking tequila. Tequila makes me very uninhibited. I was drinking a lot of tequila that night. It was my birthday.”

  “Yes, I know,” he said to her with a small smile.

  “You know?”

  “Yes, I noticed you and your friend Nina when you came into the club that night.” He walked closer to where she was standing by a dusty kitchen cabinet. He leaned in close to her with his arms braced next to her body.

  “You came up to me and said, ‘Kiss me, it’s my birthday.’” He smiled slyly. “What could I do but kiss you?”

  “Oh my god, I didn’t,” Taffy said in shock.

  “Then, you kept pulling me onto the dance floor.” He laughed softly. “I didn’t mind. You are a wonderful dancer. Even with all of the tequila.”

  “How… How did I end up in—?”

  “My bed?” he finished for her. “You told me that I was your birthday present.”

  “Oh shit,” she said closing her eyes.

  “You started singing to me. Um, you sang something like…” He closed his eyes trying to remember. “Do you want to ride it, my pony? Come and jump on it? I think. And another, it was…Birthday sex? Yes?”

  Taffy nodded knowing those were her favorite “I’m drunk” songs. “I’m so sorry, Jean-Michel.”

  “I’m not,” he said. “I loved it when you began to sing, ‘Let me lick you up and down until you say stop’,” he said with a sexy smile. “It was my favorite.”