by Aiden Frost
“Do you think I could meet your wife sometime?” Amanda blurted this out. She really had no idea what made her say it, but she had a sudden desire to meet the woman and find out all her secrets. When Carter’s lip curled, she half expected him to laugh at her. To tell her there was no way he’d ever allow her around his wife. But, he didn’t.
“How about tomorrow night?” he asked.
“Oh, I...”
“Please,” he said. “My wife and I have tickets to the new gallery opening down on King Arthur Street.” Carter spoke fast. “You could come over for dinner, meet the family, and then stay with the kids for a couple hours while the wife and I go out. Do you like kids?” He paused, and Amanda looked at him with wide eyes and shrugged. “Our regular sitter canceled. By the time we finish dinner, all that will really be left is to make sure the kids get off to bed okay. We’d be home by eleven.”
“Tomorrow night?” Amanda croaked.
“What’s tomorrow night?” They both turned to see Shandra towering over them. “You’re not making plans without me, are you?” She puffed out her bottom lip, drawing a longing look from a passing employee.
“I’m not quite sure it’d be your cup of tea,” said Carter.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“I think,” said Amanda, “I just signed myself up to have dinner at Carter’s house and then watch his kids while he goes out with his wife.”
“Oohh,” squealed Shandra in delight. “I want to come too!”
“You want to come to my house? And watch my kids?”
“Sure!” said Shandra. “I love kids.”
Both Carter and Amanda turned to her, surprised looks on their faces.
“What?” she said, innocently.
“Um, nothing. That would be great. I think.” He looked at both of the women, Shandra with her nine-foot legs and Amanda in her snug sweater. Both women could stop traffic. “But please, dress down. This will be a casual dinner. I can’t have the two of you showing up at the house dressed like you are now. My wife would never let me go back to work again.”
Shandra looked at Amanda, shrugging her shoulders. “I have pants,” she said turning to Carter.
“Pants!” he said. “Pants would be good. You too,” he said to Amanda, looking at her milky white legs. “You own pants too?”
She smiled and nodded.
“Okay,” he said, a bit unsure. And then, “Okay. Be there at six?” Both women nodded. “Okay,” he said again, not certain in the slightest.
Chapter Five
A BEAUTIFUL MIDDLE-aged woman flung open the door, a broad smile on her face. She wore a stained apron over her clothes, but even it couldn’t hide the fact she had a figure Amanda would kill to have at fifty. “You must be Amanda,” she said, moving to her and enveloping her in a hug.
Her voice held a very faint Spanish accent, and her hair appeared to want to be curly from the look of the stray strand of hair running down the side of her face.
“You’re just as adorable as Carter described,” she said as she led her through the house and into the kitchen, where smells of sweet and spice enveloped her senses.
Amanda had dressed down at Carter’s request. She wore a casual pair of jeans and a teal sweatshirt. Although her hair was still done from work, she’d wiped her face clean from makeup. Her freckles showed through on her light skin, making her appear younger than she actually was.
Carter stood at the stove in the kitchen, a spoon of sauce poised before his lips. His wife approached him, swatting him away with the kitchen towel. Carter was still dressed in work clothes, and Amanda wondered if his wife didn’t allow him to dress in his going out clothes until after dinner. The thought made her smile. She wondered if once you have kids you couldn’t help mothering everyone around you.
“Sit down, honey,” she said, indicating a stool at the end of the kitchen island.
Amanda slid onto the seat, wishing Shandra would show up soon. She was uncomfortable in this family environment, unsure if she should speak or be silent. Carter patted her shoulder as he walked by, giving her a wink as he left the room.
“It smells delicious, Mrs Williams.”
“Oh, please, call me Celeste. And thank you.”
Celeste turned to her, eyeing her. “Not to be presumptuous, but I’m guessing you’re not much for spices?”
Amanda wrinkled her nose and then the amusement lit her eyes. “Is it that obvious?” she laughed.
Celeste gave off a throaty chuckle. “I’m thinking you don’t do spices, the sun, or any skin care product that isn’t natural. You’re not wearing perfume, but you haven’t taken a shower since work.” Amanda nodded, and she continued. “I can imagine you’ve yet to find a fragrance that doesn’t irritate your skin.” Amanda nodded again. “You’ve been blessed with perfect, alabaster skin, but it has its downfalls. Hence, the second pot of sauce with no spices.”
Amanda smiled; she liked this woman already. “You knew that about me before I came here? About my skin I mean?” Amanda was suddenly self-conscious. She always felt like her skin held her back. She always looked younger than all the kids growing up. None of the boys would give her a chance in school. Once her mother and her myriad of boyfriends left town, Amanda was able to discover makeup, and dressing beyond her age. No one took you seriously when you looked like you still belonged in high school.
“Certainly,” said Celeste as she took to pouring the sauce across a pile of noodles and chicken. She moved the pan aside and poured the second sauce into another dish.
“You really didn’t need to make me a separate meal.”
Celeste turned her head back over her shoulder, smiling. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Amanda believed her. She tried to settle her nerves, to just enjoy being around the easy conversation, even if it was with a woman who seemed to know a lot more about Amanda than she did about her. “So, umm, Carter talks about me to you?”
“Oh sure,” said Celeste. “We really make a point of leaving out the mundane details of our day and finding something interesting to discuss.”
“Most of our day is boring,” said Amanda. “I’d run out of things to talk about in less than five minutes.”
“So, you have nothing you did today that you’d tell me about if I asked?”
Amanda shook her head, thinking back to her day. Shandra had been more distant from her than normal. “I think I upset my friend,” Amanda said suddenly.
“What happened?”
“She took me to this rooftop escape the other day. It was at an office down the street. They have the entire rooftop set up as a sort of lounge area for their employees.”
“That sounds nice,” she said. Her back was to Amanda, as she set to arranging the dishes in the oven.
“Yeah,” Amanda agreed. “It was amazing. I’ve been complaining since I started working in the office that there’s nowhere to go and relax. I feel like Shandra expects me to figure out what to do about it, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. It’s not like I have the money to build one. Things like that take special engineering to measure the weight load on the structure, plus there’s the wind to contend to that high up.”
Celeste turned around, removing her apron and hanging it on a hook. “Sounds like you’ve looked into it.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t help myself.”
“The outdoors, peace and quiet, that’s something you’re passionate about?”
“Yeah,” said Amanda, her voice quiet.
“You’ll figure it out then.”
A chime sounded and Celeste wiped her hands, heading to the front door.
Amanda could hear Shandra’s voice, loud and jubilant. After a moment, Celeste walked back into the room, with Shandra in tow. Amanda laughed to herself as she caught sight of her. Shanda was wearing pants all right, but they were a pair of skin-tight jogging pants. They showed off every inch of her curves. She figured the t-shirt and sneakers was Shandra’s
way of dressing down.
“We meet again,” she said, reaching down to embrace Amanda.
AMANDA STARTED FIDDLING with the TV as Shandra settled down on the couch. She had to admit, unless the kids started suddenly rampaging through the house, the night had gone really well. But to her disappointment, Carter and Celeste didn’t seem to have cable. “How does a family with four kids not have cable?” chuckled Amanda. She tried again to bring one of the channels in clear on the TV antennae, but it was windy outside, and she guessed it just wasn’t going to happen. Carter’s family did have an elaborate movie system, but after staring at it for a few moments, she realized she didn’t have a clue how to use it. “And ideas?” she asked Shandra.
Shandra shook her head. “Don’t look at me. I’m terrible with that kind of stuff.”
Dejected, Amanda plopped onto the couch next to Shandra. “Wanna talk?” she asked.
“Sure!” said Shandra. She opened her mouth to speak but her phone rang in her purse, interrupting them. “Hold on!” she said, jumping to her feet. She hurriedly dug through her bag, trying to locate her phone. Amanda was a bit disappointed, wondering if Shandra was going to get a call that kept her occupied for the rest of the night. But when she looked back at Shandra, she realized she’d already dropped her phone back into her bag.
“Nobody important?” asked Amanda.
Shandra looked at her with a glazed look in her eyes. “Huh?” she asked.
“I asked if it was anybody important?”
“Oh... no. Well, it was my mom, or my sister. But... no.”
Shandra moved back to the couch, her mood deflated. She sat, silent.
“Want to talk about it?” Amanda asked her.
Shandra shook her head no, but within a moment, she found herself speaking. “My mother, my sister, they expect me to do something about my brother. They think because things are different here, in America, that I somehow have some pull with the government who also has some sort of effect on the militant operations in my country.”
Amanda wanted to chuckle, the thought of it seemed so outrageous, but she saw that Shandra was serious. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”
“I don’t,” said Shandra, her voice harsh. “He left our family when he was nine years old. He joined the Otswana militant group. They raise and train child soldiers. My brother, he followed in my father’s footsteps. I haven’t seen him since the day he left, but he visits my mother and sister at times. They think even after all these years he will change. They think that after he’s had his own children, he will change. But he won’t. No one can force a man away from violence with hope and tears...”
Amanda sat there, aghast. As an only child, and as someone who grew up in America, she couldn’t even comprehend what Shandra was speaking about.
“How did you get away?” Amanda asked her.
“A modeling agent.” She stopped, silent, then said, “I’ve stopped taking their calls. It probably makes me a bad person, but I can’t do it anymore. I can’t hear the accusations in their voice. The guilt is too much. I have offered them to come here, many times, but still, they stay. They don’t understand my life, and I don’t understand theirs.”
“I’m...” Amanda stopped, uncertain. “I mean, my situations is nothing like yours, but I feel that way about my mother too. I don’t know how you can share the same blood with someone but seem to come from two different planets.”
“I lose myself in their self-deprecation.”
Amanda nodded. “I feel the same way. I wallow in this self-doubt every time I think about my mother. It’s like she’s branded me with this self-loathing I can’t rise above.” Amanda was silent. She felt like she’d said too much. “I’m sorry,” she said. “This wasn’t about me.”
Shandra shook her head, placing her hand over Amanda’s. “No,” she said. “This is good. I need a friend. I’ve forced myself to be alone too much.” Shandra thought a moment. “Can I say something to you and have you not get mad?”
Amanda gave her a half-smile. “I can try.”
“I think you have all of these random men in your life because you’re lonely like me. It’s not healthy.” Shandra waved her off when she started to speak. “I’m not telling you to give up your life. I’m...well, I think maybe together we need to evaluate what’s really best for us. I’m tired of pushing people away.”
Amanda nodded, too ashamed to speak. Then she turned to Shandra. “What do you want us to do to change it?”
“How about a pact of sorts?”
Amanda laughed. “You’re not planning to stab me in the finger and use my blood in a ritual are you?”
Shandra’s lip curled. “Okay, so maybe pact is not the best choice of words, but I couldn’t think of anything else to call it.”
Amanda thought a moment, then laughed. “Yeah,” she said, “me neither. What do we need to do for our pact?”
“Whatever we want to do. But, you need to pick something that would benefit you in some way. Something that you need to push yourself to do. The thing is, we’ll force each other to stick to whatever it is we decide.”
“Yeah,” said Amanda. “Okay. A pact.”
Chapter Six
THE NIGHT BEFORE AT Carter’s house left Amanda with more questions than answers. While her and Shandra’s relationship seemed stronger than ever, it left Amanda with this empty hole. The atmosphere in Carter’s house was chaotic and passionate, yet warm and easygoing. It set Amanda on edge and soothed her all at the same time. She knew growing up that she was missing something that the other kids had. When she saw them with their mothers and fathers at their sporting events or school plays, she knew they had something which she coveted. But you couldn’t exactly go out and find yourself another set of parents. Amanda’s mother had been gone since she graduated high school. She hadn’t seen her in five years. Her father was a fuzzy memory in the back of her head.
“Alright,” said Shandra, sidling up to Amanda’s office desk. “What’ll it be?”
Amanda looked up at her. Part of her thought come morning, their pact would be dissolved, that they’d go back to their mundane relationship. “I hate this cheerful Christmas music,” she grumbled, trying to stall. “Tell me yours first.”
Shandra tipped her nose up, assessing her. “You’re not chickening out, are you?”
Amanda shook her head, afraid if she spoke her voice would give away her emotion.
Shandra looked both ways down the hall, then leaned forward, her soft, spicy scent floating over Amanda. “I’m telling Max I want the position as his assistant.” She straightened, sure of herself.
“But Janice has been the boss’s assistant for years. I think she was fresh out of high school when she started for Andrew Avery. At least that’s what I heard.”
“So?” said Shandra, staring down at her. “She’s terrible at her job. She has an obvious distaste for Max, and I could do that job a thousand times better than her. I want to be Max someday. She doesn't want anything more than to complain about her job, do as little of it as possible, and get a paycheck. He could move her into the mailroom if her pay was the same. She wouldn’t care.”
Amanda lowered her voice. “When will you ask him?”
“I won’t be asking him. I’ll be telling him. That positions should be mine.” She thought, silent for a moment. “I’ll wait until after the Christmas party though. I don’t want to stir things up before that.”
“No,” said Amanda, surprised at the firmness in her voice. “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it now. No chickening out.”
Shandra stared at her. “I don’t chicken out of anything.”
“Good,” said Amanda, “then you won’t have a problem talking to him about it by tomorrow.”
Shandra narrowed her eyes at her. “Where’d this bossiness come from all of a sudden?” Her lip curled. “I like it. But tell me what you’re going to do first. Then we may have ourselves a deal.”
“I’m going to call—”
Shandra suddenly spoke, interrupting her. “Thank you for that insight,” she said, and walked away.
Amanda opened her mouth, confused, when she heard Shandra greet two men. Carter and Max, she thought as she heard them respond. Shandra had slunk away, back to work.
Carter beamed at her as he came into view. Max barely glanced at her. Her chest flared with heat. She wanted to tell herself it was because she was mad at his indifference to her, but she could tell he was trying a bit too hard not to look at her. He was mad, and she didn’t have any idea why. Plus she couldn’t help it, she kind of liked the look on him. He stood straighter, the deep line between his brows pronounced. She found herself wishing she was pressing her breasts against it, as he kissed the tender skin of her stomach. She mentally shook herself free. There was nothing about this man that suited her. He was an arrogant ass. But she found herself heating in places that should not be heating at work. A lock of too long hair floated down over his eyes. She wanted to grab it and pull it back. She wanted to hear the harsh puff of air that would escape his lips when she startled him with her roughness.
“Hmmm?” she questioned when Carter addressed her for the second time. Max was turned, talking to someone beyond her line of sight from the divider. Carter cleared his throat. He gave her a knowing smile when she finally turned her eyes to him. He shook his head at her, and mouthed, no. Normally Amanda wouldn’t shy away from being caught checking out a man, but now, she felt like someone had just tapped into a secret part of her brain.
“Thank you for last night,” Carter said. Max’s ears perked up, turning his head to catch the conversation between Carter and Amanda. “The kids said you and Shandra were great. And the missus really appreciated coming home to a spotless kitchen.” He laughed. “She said you two are welcome over any time you want.”
Amanda smiled. “Thanks, Carter. I actually really enjoyed it.”
“Good,” he said, jubilant. “We’re sending the kids over to her sister’s for a sleepover next Friday. We’ll have another couple over and it’ll just be us adults. I expect you and Shandra to be there.”
