Meet Me (6 page)

“One week.
And quit calling me that.
”

“How
bout
Charles Manson, you
psycho hairy asshole
!”
I
smashed the hang up button with a finger, wishing
I
could punch it.
I
s
tood there, staring out the
bedroom window. Gone for
a week
?
Well
, well, well,
d
iddn’t
that just solve
all
my
problems with meeting
Morgan.
Thank you
John
, you good for nothing
except
fatherhood son
-
of
-
a
-
bitch.

I
wouldn’t call it e
xciteme
nt
that
tickled
my
stomach
as
I
hurried to clean
my
temper tantrum mess, noticing the children’s wide eyed 
has mommy gone crazy
wonder. “I’m sorry guys, I shouldn’t have done this.”
I
stooped and swept the shattered pieces into a dustpan. “
Don’
t do like me, this was wrong. I handled it very wrong.”
Should’ve b
usted that vase
over his head.

Trevor gave one of his famous sweet smiles.
“It’s okay
.
Dad gets mad like that too sometimes.”

I raise
d my brows, unable to resist the kid’s gentle spirit.
“He sure does, doesn’t he
?
None of us are
perfect.”
Lord, don’t let us ruin the boy’s purity.

I
carefully made
my
way to the trash and dumped
the debris
, only to return two more times until all visible slivers were gone.
Fifteen
more
minutes and
I
had the kids busy
with appropriate activities
before
I
got
my
computer and plopped on the couch.

It was nearly lunch time but
Morgan
might not be there yet.
I
logged in and opened
my
BFF group chat box and
Morgan’s
.
I’d
talk to the girls first, whoever was available.

Tasha
:
Anybody there?

Tasha
:
I have news.

I
checked mail while waiting for an answer.

Gloria
:
I’m here.

Lois
:
me too for a bit, what
’
s up?

Tasha:
John
had to go out of town for business.
A week.

Lois
:
ohhhhhh
yessssss
!

Tasha
:
I know.
Solved a lot of my problems.
So, that means he’ll be back next Wednesday.

Lois
:
Perfect

Tasha
:
Now I have to get my mom to babysit and think about what the hell to wear
. My God,
I look like a beast.
Gonna
need a weed eater for the hair on
this
body
and
a hacksaw for my toenails, and
hedge trimmers
for
that impenetrable
thicket on my vagina. Not to mention a hair-cut and dye touch up, I look like I’m slowly turning into a skunk with the gray hair sprouting at my roots.
All this with no money.

Glori
a
: I’ll help
. W
hat do you
need.

I
sighed. That was Gloria, no matter what we did, she always had our back in the end.

Tasha
:
I can pay you back a little at a time. I think I have a dress. And heels I won’t break my neck in, oh my God, am I really doing this?

Lois
:
Yes! You are, and don’t try and get out of it.

Gloria
:
Just keep it friendly, Tasha, please?

Tasha
:
Yes, yes, friendly.

I
knew that was highly unlikely, what with the no bra and panty request
. P
robably wasn’t a good idea to
mention that bit to
Gloria at this time.

****

“Oh my God, how do I look?”

Sheri browsed the menu for the local food service providers.
“Fantastic, drop dead gorgeous, spectacular.”
This without looking up.

Couldn’t blame her, I’d only asked the damn question a dozen times. “What time is it?”

“6:35, I’m sure.” Sheri sighed and
came
stand on my right where I primped endlessly in the mirror. She smiled at my reflection, head tilted in sympathy.
“
Honey, t
ry to
relax
,
y
ou’re just meeting like friends, remember?”

I nodded.
“Yeah, right.”
I
hadn’t told Sheri about the no panty bra condition
I’d
agreed to.
But that
didn’t mean
I
had to
do anything, it’s not like
I
was entirely without self-control
.

I
smoothed
my
already flawless hair
,
cut in long layers like
I’d
always wanted. They’d given
me
light brown highlights where the gray had been.
I
had to admit,
I
did look pretty amazing.
I
admired the red perfect fake nails like a young girl playing dress up.
I
did
not
like the red lips, but Sheri swore it looked fantastic.
I
thought
I
resembled
a vampire. Or a dead clown.
Sheri said
my
blue eyes
popped
with
my
long lashes and the black eyeliner. Oh my God,
I
thought,
remembering m
y
braless breasts.
Small
braless breasts.
I
chewed the inside of
my
cheek not wanting to worry the lipstick from
my
lips. Surely he’d expect more in that department.
I
considered
my
other department, consciously aware of what work
I’d
undergone there. Worried about razor rash,
I’d
settled on a very close trim at the top and
bare
on
my
lips.
Took
me
thirty minutes to do the odd job.
At which time
I
wondered if anybody had thought to open a vagina pruning salon.

I
jumped and spun when the phone rang.
“
Ohhhh
God it’s him.”

“Well answer it.” Sheri prodded me forward with a gentle urgency.

I made my way to the phone.
This is
Morgan.
From the group.
We’re like best friends.
Could be the front desk too.
What if it was
John
?

I stared at Sheri who mouthed an incredulous
answer it!

John
had no clue
I
was there.
I
jerked up the receiver and swallowed, putting on
my
professional voice. “Hello?”

A relieved sigh.
“You’re there.”

My
lunch nearly
projectile
d
from
my
gut at the sound of
Morgan’s
deep voice.
Morgan’s
deep sexy voice in the very next room.
I
fought for nonchalant. “Hey.”

“I made it.”

I
barked a hillbilly laugh and followed it with an embarrassing, “Yep.
Me too.”
I smoothed my
perfect hair while shift
ing
my
weight on restless legs. A brief silence ushered in panic. What to say? Shit.

“Can you come?
Now?”

Oh God.
I
could come now. Listening to that voice
,
I
could come right where
I
stood.
I’d
never
ever
imagined he’d have such a sexy ass voice!

“Yes.”
I
bit
my
tongue to keep it from wagging stupidity.

Chapter Five

Two minutes later,
I was
knocking like a mouse on his door.
I
jumped when it opened right away,
then
froze, staring
.
A
t a
shirtless
Morgan.
W
ith
tanned
muscles everywhere.
A
nd
perfectly fitted
jeans.

At
realiz
ing h
e was
looking
me
over
,
I
held
my
midsection with both arms and
shift
ed
my
weight
side to side
while
twisting
my
foot at the ankle
.
I
was a damn
nervous teenager.

I
couldn’t bring
myself
to see the look on his face as he stepped aside to let
me
in. But
I
couldn’t bring
myself
to just walk in head down either, like an undignified mother of eight who had no life other than a
cyber one
.
I
smiled as
I
entered, making eye contact with his lips.
Oh lord…
delicious full lips
…
tilted
slightly with…appreciation?
I
prayed so.

I
locked
my
eyes on the closest chair in the little living room, hearing him lock the door. Shit, here we go, please don’t be a rapist.
I
made a conscious effort to walk gracefully without tripping or twisting
my
ankle in the medium high heels.

I
turned to seat
myself
like a lady and gasped at finding
Morgan
before
me
.
He was fast. There was no avoiding
looking
at him. Staring into his
face
seemed safest or else
I
might lose
my
mind and give in to the sudden urge to sniff, taste, and lick up all that edible masculinity he flooded
my
pores with.  Wow. He had
really green eyes.
Beautiful.

“Beautiful,” he whispered.

“What?”

His smile widened to show perfect teeth.
N
ot the denture kind of perfect,
but
the natural kind.
Perfectly imperfect.

I
smiled back for half a second then forgot all about not chewing the lipstick off
my
lower lip.

“Can I touch you?”