by Falon Gold
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~Roland~
The next morning, I shook Anna awake gently. She was huddled under the sheet and face down in the pillow I had abandoned to go home, shower, and change my clothes. I tried to wake her when I got up, but I didn’t get so much as an oomph from her. Groggily, she turned over, then stretched before sitting up, letting the brown sheet fall to her lap.
“It’s morning already?” Her hair was sticking up in several places and there was a crease going down one side of her face, but she was adorable.
“Yes, babe. You were unconscious. You know I could wake to your bedhead and this wrinkle down one side of your face every morning.”
“It’s your fault I was unconscious, have bedhead, and a crease, and I’m paying you back for that tonight,” she grumped. “Plus, I’m sure I slept well because you were here. There was someone else to watch my back.” She was really into watching her back, and so was I.
“I hope you do pay me back because you seemed to find seventh heaven last night.” I was pushing for sending her to the eighth one though.
Anna blinked. “Seventh? Shit, I rose past God himself last night and he asked me where was I going as I passed him by?”
Sniggering, I sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling pretty damn satisfied with myself. “That is the shit a man likes to hear from his girl, and I would’ve let you sleep you in and slept in with you, but I have an appointment this morning. I couldn’t leave without telling you where I’m going and kissing you goodbye.”
She grimaced. “You might want to rethink that. I have morning breath.”
“As if I care.”. My eyes roved over her bare breasts. My mouth watered to suckle at her dusty rose-colored nipples again, but I knew better than to start what I couldn’t finish.
Her scowl grew deeper on her face. “An appointment on a Sunday morning? Who does that? This is the day to rest. Let’s rest.”
I loved the fact that she didn’t want me to leave. “I can’t rest, baby. Put a robe on or something to walk me to the door. How do you like your coffee?”
“Damn, you cater too? I’m never letting you go now. One sugar… please and where are you going by the way? ”
“I hope you don’t let me go and I’ll tell you where I’m going if you get up and meet me at the door. I’ll have your coffee. It’s already growing cold on your countertop. I brewed it in your kitchen while I went home.”
“Okay, I’ll get up,” she mumbled, then fell over sideways on the bed and stayed there.
“That’s not getting up, Anna. That’s going back down.”
“I’m not staying here,” she replied, muffled by the mattress she was face down in again. “This is where I start with rolling toward the edge of the bed until I hit the floor in the mornings. Then, I have no choice but to get up.”
“I hope you know that getting up from the floor depends on how you fall on it. Fall right and you won’t get up, and the faster you meet me at the door, the faster you can go back to sleep.”
“Well, when you put it that way.” She rolled over again until her ass coasted in the air in my face. Then, she stopped in that position.
She was definitely not a morning person. I leaned over and bit softly into her ass cheek. She yelped and flipped from the bed to her feet, standing on the other side of the bed.
“Well, I know how to get you out the bed now.”
She nodded her head vigorously. “Yeah, that worked real well. Remind not to put my ass where you can bite it anymore.”
“That, I cannot do for you, love, and you wasn’t saying that last night. Meet you at the door.” I got up and removed her sugar cubes from a low-standing cabinet beside her refrigerator that faced the front door.
I heard her fumbling around in her walk-in closet, cursing herself for having not finished unpacking yet and couldn’t find anything. Two minutes later, she walked out and found me at the door, holding a black mug with a slogan on it that attested to her dislike of mornings.
She trodded barefoot toward me with her arms out, making grabby fingers. “Gimme that.” She sounded even grumpier than before.
I extended the cup to her. She took a sip then exhaled as if I had gifted her a goblet of nirvana. Note to myself; don’t let her run out of coffee.
“Now, who are you leaving me for already, babe?” she asked while eyeballing me over the rim of the cup.
I opened the door, letting the bright morning light in. “My therapist.”
Anna’s eyes grew almost too big for their sockets. One hand flew to her neck and stroked it like she was wearing pearls. If she thought she was the only one with issues, well, I had just given her the proof that she wasn’t. Proof that I wasn’t in a position to judge anyone about their issues. Proof that it was okay to get help. She just had to ask for it, then do her part to get better, to not let life suck her under and keep her there.
I put my back to the outdoors to face her. “I’ve been through some other shit besides my childhood, baby girl.” You can’t kill a bunch of people and not be haunted by it if you have a soul. “If I don’t want to kill someone else or myself, I talk about what eats at me. Or, everything that bothers me will grow and fester until it turns into a time bomb inside me. I’m too efficient at being a sniper to not take a whole lot of folks out with me before I’m stopped. It would probably take a missile to get me out of my perch on a roof somewhere. Do you really want someone with my capabilities running around loose with a sniper’s rifle and a ticking time bomb inside them? And my therapist’s office hours conflict with my work hours, so he sees me on Sunday.”
“If you don’t mind, can I ask who you’re seeing? I… ah,” she cleared her throat, clearly embarrassed about something. “I need a therapist myself.”
“Who doesn’t?” I deadpanned. “I just switched to Dr. Arthur Blank in town. He’s in the plaza on Main Street.”
“I know it… and thanks.” She switched from playing with the invisible pearls at her neck to palming her hips. It wasn’t long before her hand was back at her neck.
I had never saw anyone more uncomfortable with this subject than her, but she wasn’t letting that stop her from forging her way into the life she wanted. I wanted to kiss her for that. She had no idea just how strong she was.
“No, thank you, Anna.”
“For what?”
“For stepping up and taking your own mental health in your hands. That’s the best place for it to be. Only you know what bothers you, and only you can do what it takes to stop you from hurting someone else.”
“I get it. Have a good session, babe.”
I brought her close for a slow kiss that made my toes curl in my shoes.
When she was moaning and about to climb my ass like a tree again, I backed off. “I’ll be back about eleven-ish.” I still had to meet Cade and Lara and entrench them in my house before coming back here with Nathan.
“Okay, I’ll try to be woke when you get back, but I’m not making any promises.” .
“Sleep. Call me when you wake up.”
“Promise.”
“Good girl.” I pecked her on the nose and went out the door.
Chapter Thirteen
~Roland~
My session was more about how Anna affected my life than what haunted me. The dreams of killing terrorists and killers sometimes woke me in a cold sweat hadn’t come to me last night. Dr. Blanks was sure that I had invested every bit of my consciousness in Anna. My troubles had nothing to feed off.
He was right; her stability was my only worry at the moment. He asked me how I slept last night. My reply was, ‘Like a baby.’ That had to be because I was next to her, but the military-ingrained habit of rising at the crack of dawn wouldn’t be denied.
When I left his office, got in my truck, and checked my phone, Cade had called twice. I called him back. He and his family were just driving into Dalton. I guided him to my house, where I instigated uncomfortable hugs on my driveway. I may not have felt the sting from being a
round him and Lara, but things were totally awkward.
I wasn’t the only one feeling the strain. Lara kept tucking her waist-length brown hair behind her ears that seemed too large for her head now, but they didn’t when we were together. Suddenly, I was comparing her to Anna, and Lara came up lacking. Cade didn’t know whether he wanted to rub the back of his neck or stick his free hand in his pocket. The other hand held the carrier with the sleeping baby.
I looked my brother over to make sure he was at least okay physically. That was the first time I’d deliberately looked him in the face in two years. He could’ve been me if I was a two inches shorter and a few muscles lighter. The Flynns came in supersize. When a bead of sweat rolled down Cade’s face, I realized we were standing in the heat though that might not be why he was sweating.
“Ah, guys, come in.” I unlocked the door, setting them up in the living room on my brown suede couch.
I moved to the loveseat, offering them something to drink. They declined. That was just as well since they’d have to hold their glasses the whole time. There were no coffee and end tables yet. I wasn’t in a rush to buy any since most of my time was spent outdoors or in the bedroom when I wasn’t at work. We sat in gauche silence until Nathan woke up from his nap, kicking and cooing in his car seat between his father and mother.
Lara unstrapped him, brought him to me while staring down at the baby’s head. “I didn’t unpack the baby bag. Just grab it when you go next door. Everything you’ll need is in it. He’ll want to eat in about two minutes. You’re lucky that I just changed his diaper before we hit Dalton.”
“Thank you,” I said hoarsely because I didn’t know what else to say.
“You’re welcome.” Her sundress flared out around her as she sat back down beside Cade, who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off me.
Every time I caught her looking forlornly at me, she looked away. I made a few attempts at chitchat, mostly asking things about the baby and if they still had the same jobs. Lara was a receptionist. Cade had his own construction business. The conversation was stilted at best. I wouldn’t be able to take much more of this. Please call, Anna. I wanted out of my own home.
When the phone didn’t ring, I stood up the chubby six-month-old dressed in a sailor short set and made ugly faces at him who was a Flynn through and through. He was huge. There was none of Lara in his features and he found me hysterical. At least, someone was enjoying themselves. And then, my phone did ring from the front pocket of my jeans.
I put Nathan in a football hold and extracted the phone from my pocket. He grabbed for the device immediately. There was no way he’d get it before I answered it because it was Anna. Thank God.
“Hey, love. Can I come over?” I couldn’t help the desperation in my tone, and I didn’t want to help it.
“Yeah, babe. I didn’t go back to sleep, but I lost track of time arranging my stuff in the closet. You really don’t know how much stuff you have until you’re moving.”
“That’s true. I’ll be there in a sec.” I hung up quickly, got up even faster, and practically ran out the front door with the baby only to have to go back and get his bag.
Lara was waiting in the center of the room with the bag dangling from her hand and a lopsided grin. Cade snorted, infecting me with his mirth, which broke the ice. The tenseness between us faded away. Things weren’t ever going to be the way they was between us, but they could always be better, and that was all up to me.
I took the bag from her. “I’ll be back. Make yourselves in home. There’s some really great places to get something to eat in town if you get hungry. Try the deli at the Jester’s Grocery Store. The food is really good and cheap, and it’s cooked by Anna’s best friend’s parents.”
“Go, Roland,” Cade bade, waving me off. “We’ll be fine.”
I left. The second I stood before Anna’s front door, Nathan let out a howl.
“What the hell?” Anna asked loud enough to be heard through the door.
She opened it, frowning. Then, her mouth dropped. She pointed at Nathan, who was verbalizing his needs loudly. “Is that yours?”
“No. Well, he’s sort of mine. Can we come in? I need your help.” Someone had to get the bottle out of the bag.
Anna didn’t move. “What do you mean sort of? Either he’s yours or he isn’t.” She didn’t have to say that she hadn’t signed up for stepmother duty this soon… and she never would if the scowl on her face was a sign.
“He’s my nephew. That makes him mine but not mine. Can we come in?”
“Oh, he’s Cade’s son Nathan. Sure, come in.” She sidestepped.
I trotted to her kitchen, placing the bag on the countertop beside the stove. She followed me then stood by and watched as I juggled Nathan to one arm to free up a hand for probing the guts of the bag for his bottle. When I didn’t find it right away, I cursed. There was a whole department store’s worth of things in the bag, just not what I was looking for. Nathan began to really put his lungs to work.
Anna snickered and reached over to pluck a full bottle from the side of the bag. She uncapped it and opened her hands. “Give him here before you both have a heart attack.”
I handed him over with the quickness before plopping my ass down on the floor, exhausted already and wondering who was more not ready for a baby, me or Anna. I needed a drink. She was doing fine, had started a one-sided conversation with Nathan while he fed himself and watched her like a hawk. Her eyes were bright as she held him to her heart and tickled his double chins. He took the bottle out his mouth to give her a toothless grin. Her whole face lit up.
She asked him when was the last time someone changed his diaper and got no answer, and she wasn’t expecting one as she felt the diaper up with her hand. “You’re dry and smell so good. Your parents take good care of you, don’t they? Are you a happy baby?” He replied with another grin, which got her to giggling.
Yep, she’d be a great mother if she let herself be one… and she might better pick another father. I couldn’t even locate the damn bottle. The kid would starve… and whoever besides me knocked her up would die. You better figure out to find bottles then, Roland.
“I thought you had no experience with kids, Anna.”
She made a silly face at Nathan. “I never said I didn’t know how to take care of a kid. I also babysat when I was teenager for money sometimes. I just don’t want to have a kid and ruin its life.”
“You wouldn’t. You’re already focused completely on him, asked all the right questions. The same questions someone should’ve asked when we were kids… and I didn’t even get a kiss hello when I came over,” I added when I thought about it.
“Then your uncle shouldn’t have brought you, Nathan, if he wanted some attention too. Isn’t that right, big boy?”
“If he answers you back, I’m leaving,” I stated.
“The best parts about babies is they don’t talk back, Roland, and I’m sure your brother and his wife would not appreciate you leaving their son with a stranger. The bed is probably more comfortable for sitting by the way. Let’s move in the bedroom. Bring the bag and take out the diapers and wipes. I’ll need them in a little bit.” I had been reduced to the help, and that was just fine by me if that was all she needed.
She headed to the bedroom. I obeyed her commands, trailing her who had sat down on the made-up bed and pointed a remote at the side wall where she had placed her television on a glass tv stand that she’d gotten from somewhere. Neither of us watched the show playing.
I observed her expertly taking care of Nathan like he was hers, burping and changing him, then giving his food time to settle on his stomach before playing with him. She didn’t take her eyes off Nathan for a second. It was a heady sight to watch her enjoy so much what she had taken off the table for herself. She and I both looked toward the window as a car drove into her driveway.
“Kay,” Anna declared. “I’d forgotten about her.”
“I’ll let her in,” I offered.
&nb
sp; Kay cheesed up at me as she walked inside. “Well, hey, Roland. I thought you’d be gone and should’ve called first before coming over, but I was already in this area showing a house. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”
“Nope,” I replied… unless she counted me calling myself exposing Anna to things she had already mastered. Anna would never stop surprising me.
“In here, Kay,” she called out.
Kay trodded past me to the bedroom then screeched, “A baby! Let me hold him. Whose is it? There’s no way you and Roland made this little guy that fast. He’s beautiful.”
Anna did a double take. “I hope we don’t make babies this fast and this big, or CPS will be visiting a lot and taking the kids as fast as we make them because we’d never be prepared to take care of them, and I’d be taking my own uterus out. Nathan is a big boy.” But she never said we wouldn’t be having kids in the future. I hadn’t touched Nathan since he and I got over here, and that was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned.
“He’s my nephew,” I supplied for Kay.
Anna continued to play with Nathan while he sat in Kay’s lap. I leaned against the doorway as my nephew commanded two women’s attention just by breathing. Lucky boy. The next four hours flew by. Kay was long gone, after leaving a list of therapists with Anna. At the top was Dr. Blank’s name.
When Nathan went down for a nap, we took him back over to my house where his parents were waiting. After introducing Anna to Cade and Lara, they got a little bit acquainted. Cade and Lara both promised to come back to get a tattoo done by Anna, and then they left but not before Anna gave Nathan like a hundred smooches. She offered our services to babysit, already in love with the little guy. Cade grinned while getting in the driver’s seat of his blue BMW. I knew that look; we’d be babysitting soon.
