“Too much smelly stuff, eh?” He pulled her back to him and nuzzled at her neck, tickling her with his beard and mustache to make her scream with glee.
John was tall, dark, and handsome with hazel eyes and black hair. He’d run with open arms into the embrace of the hipster movement, which at thirty-five, I’d thought was more than a little weird.
He twirled Rikki in his arms, singing a song by some band that was probably inappropriate but Rikki loved it. John was a good singer, which is why he was in a band, famous in our area but not well known outside the state. We all had hope for them.
Eric called for the pizza, Tom went outside to smoke, and Steve went to stare out of the window.
“Hey, man, who’s the new piece next door?” Steve was the classic symbol of douchieness that set feminists off around the world. His thing was trolling feminist organizations on social media, seeing how many heads he could make explode. At heart, he was a good guy, but he did like to see people lose their shit. He knew just how to push the right buttons to do it.
I gave a rueful smile as John carried Rikki around on his shoulders, keeping her amused as he avoided paying for the pizza like a pro. I went over to the window to see that Steve was staring up into a window of the house next door.
“Dude, is she naked?” Steve went closer to the window before he moved away, disappointed. “Nah, she’s just got on clothes that blend in with her skin color. Damn!”
I looked up at the woman, staring out somewhere past my house. Still not my type.
“I don’t know. The house was empty yesterday so I guess she’s new. Probably a student or something. Not my type.” I turned away, looking over at John with Rikki, but Steve drew my attention back.
“Open season on white-tails then?” At that point, I had to wonder if Steve really was just trying to get a rise out of me or if he really was that much of a dick. I really wasn’t in the mood for Steve’s brand of humor tonight, but let it roll over me.
“That’s just wrong. But yeah, I don’t have any tabs on that one.”
“Maybe she could solve your problems? She’s a woman, she must be able to babysit, right? Isn’t that something they can all do? Instinct or something?” Steve was winding his arms around his chest, as though breasts gave women mothering instincts. I rolled my eyes.
“If she’s a student I doubt she’ll have time, but I could ask. Maybe.” I turned away, not really interested in continuing the conversation, or in hearing Steve’s opinions.
I took my daughter from John, fluffing her blond hair with my hand as I carried her to a high chair. The kitchen was large, decorated in stainless steel and dark wood with an open floor plan with a nook in the corner with a round table. I fed Rikki before the pizza arrived, something I wouldn’t feed her, and she was soon staring up at the ceiling sleepily. She’d be out in minutes.
The men talked quietly, a concession to my status as a single father. They’d been great since Kayla’s death, there to help me out in any way they could. John had done the most, often staying with Rikki when I couldn’t find a sitter. I couldn’t disagree that my friends were modern day douchebags, but they were my douchebags, and I loved them for it.
Eric went to the door to stop the delivery guy from ringing the bell and paid for our food while Steve set the table. I rocked Rikki in my arms, her eyes closed as she breathed evenly. She was so beautiful and had changed my world. I didn’t know what I’d do without her.
Having her in my life made me two men, the dad that would kill any man that treated her as I treated women, and the professor that probably deserved to be killed by more than a few fathers. My friends ate quietly as I took her up to her bedroom and put her in her bed. As I watched her I felt the split in my roles more keenly.
I loved women, don’t get me wrong, and I knew they deserved every single right a man has. I just couldn’t become attached to them. Kayla had taught me that.
I turned on Rikki’s nightlight and left the door open as I went downstairs. I couldn’t think about Kayla right now, that part of my life was too painful to investigate, even after two years. I walked down the stairs and took a seat.
“So, what’s these papers you got today?” Steve asked, a slice of pizza dripping oil on his plate.
“Rikki’s grandparents want custody of her.” The guys knew who I was talking about without me having to tell them.
“Fuck them, man! They weren’t here when you two needed them!” John was straight in, his ring-covered fingers formed into an obscene gesture as he pointed his hand into the air.
“Yeah, fuck them! Don’t worry about that shit, Galen. We got your back!” Eric concurred.
“What about the other thing? No babysitter?” Steve asked, his pizza now dripping down the front of his black t-shirt. Like John, Steve was a bit of hipster, but without the beard.
“I don’t know. I can take her into the school’s daycare, but we’re starting week two which will mean getting her a place is difficult.” The possibility I might end up taking her to class with me was becoming more likely the more I thought about it.
“I’ll watch her until you find somebody, Galen, no problem. I don’t have any gigs for a couple of weeks so it’s cool. I’ll try to find somebody too.” John, as always, was there and ready to help out.
“You need a new wife, Galen. Seriously. You get a babysitter, sex, and it might help get your in-laws off your back.” Tom, always the quiet one, spoke up from the dark side of the table, voicing his opinion for once. Tom hardly ever spoke, preferring to sit back and observe.
The ideas he felt deserved voicing were usually right, but this time I was dead against it. Nuh uh! It wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m not getting married again. Do we remember what happened the one and only time I tried that? No, that’s not an option.” I threw Tom a baleful glare, but let my face relax. “Besides, who would I ask?”
Steve raised his hand, bouncing in his seat with what I knew was going to be a stupid suggestion.
I squinted at him and glared again, waving my hand in his direction. “No, I don’t want to hear it. We need better ideas than this. Come on guys, who do we know?”
They all looked at each other and for the first time, the thought that maybe I really was screwed started to sink in. Damnit, I was going to have to interview babysitters. Great!
4. Tara
The next couple of weeks passed in a blur. Between catching up on my classes, unpacking, and finding my way around a new town, I was not only exhausted, I was lonely and overwhelmed. I’d made a friend of sorts, a girl I exchanged class notes with in one of the prerequisite science classes I was taking. She had a class with him and she was telling me how handsome he was.
Him being the professor next door, one of the most beautiful men I’d ever seen. That was the only reason I could think of as to why I thought about him so often. I was crushing hard for the first time in my life and instead of being happy about it, I was so embarrassed. Finding excuses to go outside when he arrived home from work or was outside with his daughter was pushing the boundaries of what I generally thought of as sane behavior.
Luckily, my new friend soon informed me I wasn’t the only sad case wandering around campus. We’d gone to the cafeteria to discuss our complicated final project over lunch, when our plan flew right off the tracks when I let slip that I lived next door to Professor Galen Elliot. Amanda stared at me from across the table, our hamburgers half-eaten and forgotten.
“Oh my God, Tara, you live next to Professor Hotstuff?” Amand gasped. “He’s so hot!”
I tried not to laugh at the way she wiggled her eyebrows, but couldn’t help a sputter. “Yeah, he’s my neighbor, though I don’t think he realizes it when we’re at school. I pass him in the hall sometimes but he never notices me.”
I tried to play off the small amount of hurt I felt over it. He’d wave at me sometimes as we crossed paths in our yards, once he’d even shouted over a hello as he’d played with his daughter in their
backyard while I broke down the unpacked boxes I’d tossed outside. Boxes I’d tossed outside on purpose in the hopes of striking up a conversation with him at some point. I couldn’t think of an excuse to talk to him and wasn’t sure I could speak if I did find an excuse. I had nightmares about standing there and drooling because I was just that awkward.
He was nice enough but he never really spoke to me other than a hello. He was always polite and respectful, which was a bonus in my book. But once we were at school I was just another faceless student in an ocean of clamoring students trying to get to their next class. Which meant he never saw me either.
“So what happens when he’s at home? I heard he has a daughter, but that he’s single. His wife died in a car accident, you know?” Amanda’s light blond hair and wide gray eyes were sparkling in the sunlight, the light showcasing just how flawless her skin was. She was beautiful, enchanting, everything I wasn’t. She was also an older student like me, twenty-two to my twenty-one.
“Wait, what? His wife died?” Her words finally penetrated the clouds in my brain and I stared over at her in shock. “That’s so terrible!”
“I know! It was just after the little girl was born too. There was some…” Amanda looked around before she scooted a little closer to me, her eyes even wider. “There’s a rumor that she killed herself, but nobody’s ever said why.”
“It was just after the baby was born?” I asked, my shock emptying my head for the moment. Amanda nodded but didn’t say anything else.
Then a thought crept in, a nugget of knowledge from my past. Maybe it was postpartum depression. I couldn’t help but wonder as I stared at Amanda. We all have social media now with its constant reminders and warnings about everything. I’d also written a research paper on it in high school. It could have been that.
“Wow. Just wow. How…tragic!” I pulled away from Amanda, feeling too close all of a sudden. I’d spent most of my life being a recluse, avoiding friendships, and enjoying being alone. The news reminded me of just how easy it was to lose people and not to get too close.
“It really is. Ever since, Professor Hotstuff has been the target of every available girl on campus. And the teachers!” Amanda tossed me another conspiratorial look, her full lips slightly pursed. “He’s got it all, the looks, the tragedy, the baby, what’s not to drool over?”
That last part was spoken with a whole bucketful of sarcasm, but I could see in her eyes that even she wasn’t immune to his charms.
“What do you mean, target?” I wasn’t sure, but I thought I knew. I might have been sheltered, I might have even been a recluse, but I’m not stupid! I grew up with the internet the same as everybody else I know. I’d heard whispers, seen movies, I wasn’t ignorant.
Just inexperienced.
Amanda looked at me as though I’d grown another head before she answered me.
“Girl, come on now, you can’t be serious? You’ve seen him! They want to get him into bed, make a nice little insta-family and live happily ever after! Or they just want to fuck the pain away, but I don’t think that’s possible, personally.” She sat back, taking a sip of her sweet tea.
The noise in the cafeteria increased as more hungry students came in and I leaned towards her again. Amanda was something new for me, a friend, a confidant, and someone that said bad words with ease. I don’t think I’ve ever said a swear word out loud, but Amanda let them fly like it was nothing.
“I can’t blame them. He is hot!” I grinned at her and she winked at me, her eyes dancing.
“You know it! I wouldn’t mind a turn at him myself, but I’d have to wade through a crowd ten women deep to even get near him.”
“Would you really sleep with a professor?” I gasped out, amazed. It was so forbidden! And naughty. I felt a flutter somewhere around my lower abdomen and shifted in my seat, the strange sensation new.
“In a heartbeat if it’s Professor Elliot. He’s so fucking gorgeous! Then there’s the experience. Have you ever slept with a boy our age? Ugh!” Amanda shivered, letting me know I wasn’t missing much in that department. “Professor Elliot is in his early thirties, he’d know what he was doing.”
Amanda stared off into space and I knew she must be imagining what it would be like, which gave me time not to answer her question without her noticing. I felt heat begin to rise up my spine and make my cheeks warms as I did a little fantasizing of my own. Those full lips pressed to mine, his hands sliding up my ribs to…
The thought was interrupted when cold liquid spilled down my hair and down my back. I shot up out of my seat, sputtering in shock. I turned to see a young African American woman staring at me with shocked eyes and an empty tray. I was wearing her lunch.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, my foot slipped!”
She looked terrified and I knew the poor girl was just like me—shy, reserved, and more than a little bit timid. She reached for the napkin holder on the table and began to pat me down, something Amanda was also doing.
“I think she needed cooling off anyway,” Amanda said reassuringly in between the other girl’s constant stream of apologies. I glared at my friend before I took the girl’s hand to stop her patting my head down with another handful of napkins.
“I’m fine, really. No big deal. Relax.” I waved to a chair on the other side of the table. “Join us if you’d like.”
“Oh, that’s so kind of you, but, oh, I guess I need to get myself some more lunch and get to my next class. Thank you for not killing me!” She scurried away before I could say anything else and I turned to Amanda.
“That woke me up. I guess I should go home and get a shower.” I didn’t have any more classes so it was as good an option as any. “Do you want to come over later? We can do some more work on that assignment?”
“Sure! Don’t get upset if I stare out of your windows at your neighbor the whole time, that man is irresistible!” Amanda gave me a goofy leer, wiggled her eyebrows once more, and we both laughed before I went out to my car.
Life had changed already, and I hadn’t even been at university a month. I had a friend in my life that I hoped would turn out to be a lifelong friend. She’d sat next to me on my first day of class and had not shut up since. There was no question of whether we would be friends, the cheerful chatterbox next to me had determined that we would be and that’s all there was to it. I smiled as I turned into my driveway, thinking about her.
The man I sometimes saw with Professor Elliot’s daughter had the little girl outside as I drove up, a blanket and toys protecting them from the grass as they played under a tree. They were playing with a soft ball and the little girl was screaming with laughter as I got out my car.
I waved at them before heading to the mailbox and I could feel the man’s gaze lingering on me. He was a handsome looking guy so the attention was nice, but I wasn’t interested. My heart was still throbbing for Professor Elliot after Amanda’s story.
“Hey, you wouldn’t be free tonight by any chance, would you?” I heard a rich voice calling to me from across the grass and looked over to see the professor standing beside of the other man with his little girl in his arms. I think my ovaries released a lifetime supply of eggs.
I stopped in my tracks, rooted to the ground by his question. Had he just asked me out?
“Uh, maybe, why?” I’d completely blanked his tall, dark, and handsome companion, but I couldn’t help it. Professor Elliot was about to ask me out!
“Well, I thought if you were free…” he paused, giving me time to yell yes, yes, yes, a million times silently in my head. “I thought maybe, if you don’t mind…” He paused again, looking over at his friend with a squinty look I couldn’t interpret. He even shuffled his foot on the ground a little before he continued.
“It’s just I notice you don’t party, you don’t go out much, and you seem like a grounded person.”
I am so grounded! Grounded to the spot where you’re about to ask me out! I was almost bouncing with glee, which would probably make me sick lat
er as I realized how silly I’d become over a man, but for now seemed like second nature. What happened to that stoic girl, the recluse, the one with few to no social skills? I’d chucked her under the bus the minute he called out to me!
Then I noticed he was staring at me awkwardly, as though he’d paused to wait for me to respond.
“What? No, I don’t have a lot of time for anything but unpacking and studying right now. I have a pretty big mountain to climb with one of my final assignments.” I thought it was a good way to slip in that I was going to the university he taught at.
He looked blank for a second and then seemed to realize what I was saying.
“Oh, you’re in my class?” His cheeks turned red as he spoke and then realization dawned that he’d just admitted he had no idea I’d ever been in his class. “I mean, it’s a big room.”
“No problem, and no, I’m not in your class. Although, if I was, I doubt you’d see me. Those rooms are huge. I just going to the same school is all.”
“Yes, they are big. So, listen. If you’re free tonight, I just wondered…” He looked at his friend again but turned back soon enough. “Would you mind watching Rikki for me for a few hours? John has to play tonight and I have an evening class I can’t miss. I’d pay you of course.”
My jaw started to drop before I stopped it, my own cheeks now turning red. Probably fire engine red, or the “look at the idiot turning red” kind of red. The kind that you could feel red.
“Oh! Uh, sure. I have a friend coming over to study later, but yeah. Oh. Um.” I turned away from his steady gaze, looking for an escape from the hell that had been my nightmares lately. I swiped at my mouth, relieved that I wasn’t drooling at least. “What time?”
I looked back at him, wanting to sink into the asphalt driveway. I am the idiot, the total-not-a-doubt-about-it idiot. I shot a glance at the sky, hoping for a freak bolt of lightning to strike me down. No such luck.
“Around six? Actually, I’ll come early, give you the rundown. Thanks, uh, what’s your name?” He gave me that charming, totally disarming grin of his and I lost myself in it for a moment.
Professor next Door Page 2
