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“I’ll get it!” I said, hopping up off my chair when the knock on the finally came.
“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Derek said, standing on the stoop, looking somewhat pathetic.
“That’s fine, come right in,” I said, buzzing him in.
I had thought about being a vindictive prick. Of course I did. Had I been younger and a bit less mature I may well have said something clever before closing the door and going back to the table, or even ignored the knock entirely. Thanks in no small part to Reece’s influence though, not to mention Sally, both of whom have been nothing but positive elements in my life and on my personality, I decided the best way to show Derek the error of his ways was to do the opposite. To lead by example as the kids like to say.
“Who was that?” Ava asked, as I returned to the table.
“Derek, he’ll be up in a moment,” I said.
“Oh, that’s nice,” Simon said.
“Sarcasm?” I asked.
“Not a bit of it,” Simon said, sarcastically
We welcomed Derek to our number, his reaction at least seeming to be one of abject sheepishness. When the food was eaten and the table cleared of both dishes and eventually guests, some remaining around the then bare wood to talk and commiserate, others, at least among those who remained, Reece, Gia, Derek and Maya needing to leave early for various reasons, finding far more comfortable seating in Ava’s rather large and lushly furnished sitting room.
“Hey,” Ava said, sitting down next to me on the brown leather couch, her wine buzz already apparent.
“Hey,” I said.
“Sally is something, hey?” Ava said, sounding genuinely surprised.
“Are you surprised?” I asked.
“A bit yeah. Not that you like her, I can definitely see that. I’ve been watching.”
“Of course you have.”
“And she’s great,” Ava finished.
“I’m glad you agree,” I said.
“And I’m glad that you’re happy,” she countered.
“You have no idea,” I said.
“Enlighten me,” she said.
“I love her, for real.”
“I know,” Ava said.
“You do?”
“Sure. It has been a while but I still remember what it looks like when you are in love brother mine.”
“Could you tell that she loves me too?”
“I got the distinct impression,” Ava confirmed.
“She’s pregnant,” I said.
“Serious?” Ava asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Deadly,” I said.
“I’m going to be an aunt?”
“Indeed.”
Ava hugged me again. Not the usual attack hug when she was enthusiastic but the one she did when she was genuinely overcome with emotion.
“Happy?” I asked.
“Yes!” she exclaimed, wiping away literal tears of joy, “I always knew it was meant to be.”
“Gia said the same thing,” Sally said, sitting down on my other side, giving me a gentle kiss.
There came another knock at the door. Gia, Ava and I looked at each other, trying to figure out who it could be.
“Another of your friends?” Ava asked.
“I don’t think so, they’ve all come and gone as far as I know,” I said.
Sally thanked the person at the door and returned with a regulation sized cake box, tied closed with a pink and a blue ribbon.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“My people call it a cake box,” Ava said.
“Your people are my people,” I said.
“Oh, right,” she said.
Sally masterfully untied the ribbons, which made sense considering how many of them she would have tied.
“What’s you’re guess?” I asked.
“Well, a cake would be the obvious answer, so I’ll say a helicopter,” Ava replied.
Sally lifted the lid of the box revealing a tort cake with a smiley face on it, strikingly similar to the one I had Ava order from her so I could see her again that had gone on to play such a wonderful part in our sexy time.
“You made that,” I said, making it a statement.
“Yup,” Sally said proudly.
“And had it delivered?” Ava asked.
“By my assistant,” Sally said.
“This seem familiar somehow,” Ava observed.
“Yeah, I know,” I said, Sally and I grinning a each other.
“It represents how I feel finally being with you, properly I mean and how happy you make me,” Sally said.
“I know the feeling,” I said, “especially now that we are having a baby.”
We kissed and Ava hugged me from behind she was so moved.
Chapter Eighteen
Sally
Mike called a limo. Of course he did. I used to think that people who did that were showing off or trying to raise themselves above other people and some of them probably are. Though I hadn’t seen much of that with Mike. I came to think that he did that because he always had. He didn’t really come from a family who called cabs or, heaven forehand, take public transit. He used limos because it was what he had always done and it likely didn’t occur to him to do anything else.
The soft leather creaked quietly under us as we sat in the back seat. I put my head on his shoulder and he held me all the way back to his condo, which we had decided not long before that night would also be my condo. He certainly had the space and the building was a short walk to my bakery so it was a win-win.
