AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She sighs, and hangs her head. Then she squares her shoulders, brings her chin up, and looks me in the eyes.
“The other day, you were acting weird at work. Matthew said something about adopting your nephew, and I was curious, but of course I couldn’t ask you since we’re not exactly on speaking terms. So, when I had the chance to see what’s what for myself, I couldn’t resist and I offered to drop these off.
“I am sorry I invaded your privacy. I swear I didn’t intend to stay. I didn’t know your nanny was just going to leave me here with the baby.”
She stoops to pick up the bag she dropped on the ground. “Look, I’ll leave you to your evening.” She doesn’t drop her chin as she heads for the door and all I know in that moment is I don’t want her to go.
This woman is a conundrum. She represents everything I want, and everything that is unattainable.
“Addie… wait,” I say, my hand outstretched in her direction. “Thank you for bringing the documents. You don’t have to go. I… don’t want you to go. I was just about to eat dinner. Mercy always makes plenty. Do you want to join me?” I try to say this as casually as possible. I don’t know why I am asking, I wait for her response, half of me hopeful, the other half dreading her response.
I scoop Henry up from his perch on the floor and walk into the kitchen without looking back to see if Addie’s putting her bag down. I don’t hear anything for a full minute, but then she says, quietly, but clearly, “Yes, I’ll stay.”
I still don’t turn around because I don’t want her to see my smile. “Cool, let me see what’s for dinner.”
“Oh!” Addie says, suddenly animated as she rushes into the kitchen after me. “The nanny—Mercy—said to tell you Henry had eaten thirty minutes ago, well now it’s been more like forty-five, and that he would probably go to bed soon.”
I look at Henry whose head has popped up to follow the sound of Addie’s voice and is now wiggling in protest in my arms. “Whoa, there, little buddy.” I coo at him, as I use my free arm to check what’s under the pot Mercy left warming on the stove.
Most nannies don’t cook, but Mercy is actually my father’s sister. His family has always felt very guilty about the way he ran out on us and left us with our rarely sober mother. So, when Henry came home with me, Mercy, who had gone into early retirement from her career as teacher due to an injury in her hand, stepped in to take care of him. And she also takes care of Kyle and me whenever she can.
My cooing only seems to agitate Henry more and his wiggling turns fierce. Addie giggles behind me, and I look up to see her watching us in amusement.
“What’s funny?” I snap. This only makes her laugh harder and makes Henry wiggle so hard, I need to use both arms to hold him.
Addie steps closer to me, still grinning. “Nothing, it’s just seeing you here, holding a baby, checking a pot on the stove, it’s really something I couldn’t have imagined if someone had asked me to use my wildest imagination.”
I scowl at her as Henry adds annoyed cries to his wiggling. I look at him. “What’s up little man?” It’s then I realize he’s looking at Addie, moving his body in her direction. “Here, take him,” I say as I lift him in her direction.
Her eyes widen at she stares at me comically. She looks like she wants to say no, but then her gaze moves to Henry and her eyes soften. She reaches for him and he nearly leaps into her arms.
Color me surprised. He’s not an antisocial baby, but besides his time with Sharon next door and Mercy, I guess he hasn’t really had much interaction with anyone.
I watch as his fist immediately closes around Addie’s nose. Her eyes flutter shut and she smiles when he does it again. I am struck at how right I feel whenever I am near her. Her eyes start to open, and I turn around before she catches me staring.
I feel her come and stand beside me and say softly, “What’s for dinner?”
September 17, 2014
I’m standing in Simon’s kitchen, holding his nephew, and he’s about to serve me dinner that his nephew’s nanny cooked. We are about to eat it together in his kitchen. Alone.
These turn of events are not what I expected from my evening. In fact, I am so surprised by how the evening is progressing I am not sure what to do next. Henry, this delightful little ball of delicious smelling snuggly goodness, is exploring my face with his hands like it’s something he’s never seen before.
I wonder if this is safe. Should I wash my face? I think about my nephew Anthony and when he was little, even though I wasn’t around much, Milly basically made me go through a full body cleanse before I could hold him. But Henry seems content with his exploration and I am content to let him.
Simon’s back is to us as he fiddles with whatever is on the stove and it’s given me a nice view of his sweet, firm ass and long muscular legs.
I sidle up next to him. “What’s for dinner?”
He startles a little, and his shoulders tense for the briefest moment before they relax again.
“It looks like she stewed some chicken and boiled us some rice. You hungry?”
He glances over his shoulder at me. When our eyes meet, I feel a flare of warmth. Our gazes hold while I nod my head in response. I am saying yes to so much more than his question about food. I am hungry for him. I am hungry for answers.
I step back to break our eye contact. I need to leave. I can’t stay and eat. This was such a bad idea. The last time I was with this man, he got me so tweaked on his kisses and then blew me off with barely a second thought. How did my reconnaissance mission turn into me staying for dinner?
I start to say I’m leaving when I feel a warm slide of liquid down the front of my sweater. I look down to see what looks like mashed yellow lentils dripping out of Henry’s diaper and onto my sweater. The smell emanating from both of us tells me Henry is not, in fact, some miraculous producer of lentil soup, but has actually taken a shit all over me.
