Title: It's Complicated
Characters: Lacey Porter, Danny Desai
Category: Romance, humour, angst
Rating: T/M
"I want my rubber ducky!" Emma screamed and stomped her little feet on the bathroom floor.
"I will pack your rubber duck as soon as we dry you up, honey" exasperated, Lacey heaved a deep sigh and towelled her dry. Gently, she wiped beads of water from her daughter's forehead, tucking wet strands of black hair behind her reddened ears.
"Now mommy, now!" she cried, jumping up and down eliciting a scowl from Lacey.
"Stop it, Emma" she chastised her and grabbed her by her shoulders before taking a deep breath. Gathering her three year old in her arms, she smoothed back her hair and calmed her tantrum before carrying her into the bedroom to dress up. She was tired, it had been a long week at the office and the three mid-week book parties had taken a toll on her. Danny was running late to pick up Emma but then again so was she. She had a dinner date in less than an hour with some architect that Sarita had set up. It was yet another first date with a total stranger but she was hopeful that Sarita knew her better than some dating website. She was growing tired of dating, tired of her work and tired of New York.
The doorbell jolted her up from her thoughts and she quickly pulled a ladybug print dress over Emma's head before dashing downstairs. Someone was already plying the doorknocker and when she peered through the stained glass panels she could see Danny with the collar of his coat turned up and his hands tucked in his pocket. Balancing Emma on her left hip, Lacey opened the door with her right hand.
"You're late" she said coolly, dragging her gaze over Danny's lean form.
"And you're not ready, "he gave her a once over, his toffee brown eyes flitting from her white t-shirt to her fitted jeans before he brushed past her.
"Emma was taking a nap and I was working" she shrugged as Danny kissed his daughter's reddened cheek before inching closer to kiss Lacey's forehead.
"Working, always working" he clicked his tongue and took Emma from her so that she could lead him to the cavernous kitchen where the scent of freshly brewed coffee was wafting through the air. Danny examined his daughter's wet hair and bare feet before straightening out her dress.
"I live in two worlds, one is a world of imagination" Lacey said, her dark curls swinging over her shoulders. She put aside the pile of manuscripts littering the wood top kitchen island and set down two ceramic mugs for a round of coffee.
"No wine?" Danny cocked an eyebrow and set Emma down in her feeding chair before pulling out a wicker bar-stool for him.
"Am I suddenly mandated to drink wine before every single date?" she asked, feeling his gaze on her as she filled up both their cups.
"It helps you loosen up, you wouldn't want him to meet the real you so early on would you?" Danny toyed with her, a smirk curling the edge of his mouth. They stared at each other for a moment and then he smiled and she chuckled. When she handed him his coffee, she caught Emma undressing out of the corner of her eye.
"Look at that, its girls gone wild" Lacey shook her head, raising her cup to her lips.
They both laughed, eyes trailing back to each other before she asked, "You're glowing. Why are you glowing?"
"I have a date" he shrugged and raised his mug to look at her over its rim.
Her heart jolted at the words but she smiled and rolled her big brown eyes, "I have no words" she finally said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Actually it's a play date" Danny rubbed the back of his neck, a warm flush seeping into his cheeks.
"As in you have a playdate with my daughter?" her eyebrows shot up but the hint of a smile didn't leave her face.
"Our daughter" he corrected.
Narrowing her eyes at him, she bit the corner of her bottom lip and said, "I'm not sure I agree with this"
"It's my weekend so I have Vito power"
"No. All weekend schedules need to be cleared with me first" she pointed, leaning over the counter to grab a glass jar full of store-bought cookies. She recalled how much he liked to have his coffee with cookies in the evenings, hot chocolate during the winter months.
"How did you get to be so self centred?" he tapered his eyes, lips edging upward.
"Years of dedicated practice" she leaned against the island, arms crossed against her chest and stole a glance at the white gold ring on his left hand.
Chuckling, she raised an eyebrow and asked "You ever gonna take that thing off?"
"Why, I wear it well" taking a bite from his cookie, he looked down at his finger and twirled the ring around with his thumb.
"Because it's been two years since our divorce, that's why"
"It's my security blanket"
Shaking her head and taking another sip from her cup, she asked "How did you manage to swing a date anyway?"
"This is the new Danny Desai, man of action"
"That's going on your headstone" she pushed off the island and picked up Emma again. Motioning with her head, she made Danny follow her up the stairs to their daughter's bedroom. He picked up their mugs, quietly watching the sway of her hips as they climbed up the steps.
"You doing anything special tomorrow night?" he asked once in the room, his eyes flitting to Emma's butterfly bedside lamp and the curious butterfly images it was casting on the wall.
"Either than emotionally eating my stress away?" Lacey laughed over her shoulder as she searched Emma's drawer for a different dress.
"Great, I'll bring the scrabble" Danny offered as he played with Emma's stuffed toys.
"I'll dig up a bottle of wine" she sighed and held up a garden print tiered dress. Danny shook his head and she went back to her mission of hunting for a change of clothes.
"Better make that two" he added.
"Worried about your playdate prospects?" she inquired, fighting back a smile.
"Hello, have we met?" he laughed, helping her dress their daughter.
Once Emma was dressed and ready to go, Danny waited downstairs for Lacey's customary pre-date fashion show. When she came down the stairs in her first outfit, his eyebrows shot up. She was clad in a knee length red dress with a boned bodice and underwired demi-cups. After purchasing it on a whim last Christmas, she hadn't had a chance to wear it yet and feared that it might collect dust in the back of her closet.
"Too much?" she asked, opening her arms.
"Too much might not be the correct choice of words" he chuckled, taking a sip from his fresh cup of coffee. She turned around, looked at him over her shoulder and placed her hands on her hips so that she could give him a full picture. Danny's gaze coasted over her curves and he grinned with a nod.
"It doesn't make my ass look fat right?" she tossed her hair back and exposed her glittering gold earrings.
Raising an eyebrow, he asked "Is a fat ass a bad thing?"
"Danny!"
"Your ass always looked great. It still does." He licked his lips, took another sip and swallowed past the knot in his throat.
"You look exquisite" he added softly.
"Since when did you start using exquisite in your vocabulary?" she laughed watching him rise to his feet. He picked up Emma, balancing her on his back for a piggy-back ride and then he grabbed her overnight bag.
"Say goodnight to mommy, sweetheart" he told his daughter and Lacey leaned in to kiss her daughter before smoothing her curls back. Danny swung an arm around her slender waist and drew her closer to him, "Gotta run" he smiled, kissing the top of Lacey's head.
"Hey, "she called and he paused, looking back over his shoulder, "don't do anything slutty" she told him with a generous smile.
"It's a kid's play date" he countered as he opened the door. Pausing momentarily to meet her gaze, he smiled warmly and prompted his daughter to wave at mommy one last time.
Wagging her manicured finger at him, Lacey winked and laughed "My judgement still stands"
"Right back at you!" he laughed and closed the door behind them.
..
Lacey's date was late and her gut was telling her that he wasn't going to show. Picking up a bread stick from the basket on the centre of the table, she glared at it and willed herself to not take a big hearty bite. Then she consulted her watch again, this was bordering on ridiculous and she needed a big drink. She took her last sip of sparkling water and beckoned for the waiter.
"A glass of merlot, please" she ordered, holding up a menu set between thick black leather covers.
"The house wine, "the young man noted with an air that displeased Lacey, "anything to eat?" he scribbled down on his pad, not bothering to look up at her.
"I…uh...I'm still waiting for someone" she stammered as if a woman had to make excuses for dining alone. He nodded before gliding off to waltz between tables of diners. She sighed wishing she had the foresight to bring a few manuscripts with her so that she could squeeze in some work. Having just completed contract negotiations for one of her writers, she was on the lookout for the next great novelist. Sarita always teased that she was looking for the next Hemmingway to not only represent as an agent but to also bed as a lover. Little did Sarita know that it was actually Charles Bukowski she had her sights set on. Who could resist a crazy beatnik who rejected everything society represented, never mind the fact that he was a hedonistic alcoholic, he had always been the one.
A cool breeze pricked her skin and she swung her head to look out the wall of windows opening onto a busy street. It was a snug little restaurant with red bricked walls sprinkled with oil paintings and a piano tinkling in the background. She bolted up in her seat every time the kitchen door swung open and a rush of kitchen noise infiltrated the calm of the dining room. The place was elegant which had suggested that her date might be a cultured man, something she liked in a man but now after waiting an hour for him she wasn't quite so sure.
Finally giving in, Lacey selected a breadstick and snapped it in half. New York was the city of rejection and she might as well die in a sea of wine and pastry. She was going to be single forever. She was going to have to spend her weekends playing bridge with her ex-husband and his new wife because the odds were Danny would remarry. He was a man, a Manhattan man and they were as valuable as phoenix feathers. She drummed her nails on the white table cloth and jerked up when the waiter brought her wine.
It looked beautiful sparkling under the candlelight and for a moment she merely observed the burgundy and the crystal glass holding it. Taking a sip she felt her limbs loosen and her mind drift to distant places.
"Lacey Porter?"
Her head snapped up to attend to the owner of the voice. He was about medium height, tousled brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. The sight of him made her lose focus momentarily and she had to take another sip of wine for liquid courage.
"Charlie McBride?" she asked, her gaze sliding over his suit clad shoulders. It looked Italian, nothing that the architects she was acquainted with owned.
"I'm sorry I'm late" he flexed his dimples as he took a seat opposite her, "crazy day at the office, we're working on some project in Las Vegas"
"Nevada?"
"Yeah, I'm flying up there next week to oversee a few things, maybe you could join me?"
"I...uh…" she stumbled on her words, her mind reeling on the things to say to him. Firstly, she was still upset that he had the nerve to show up an hour late for their date then he had the guts to behave as if it was irrelevant. He was too suave and calculating for her taste, quite like Danny's father, Vikram Desai.
"Sir, can I offer you a drink?" the waiter interrupted and Lacey was grateful, she needed time to regroup.
"Yeah, I'll take a scotch on the rocks" Charlie flung the words, his brown eyes fixed on Lacey like a calculating predator.
She lumbered through dinner listening to Charlie's tales about some Egyptian adventures and about his projects. She soon discovered that Charlie liked hearing himself talk and so she sat back and pretended to listen. The ravioli was good and the wine was even better. She had stopped counting after the fourth glass and was quite content to listen to his droning voice over the clank of cutlery and a fading piano.
When they eventually stepped outside into the sweet evening air Charlie made an attempt to kiss her. Lacey froze, the wine making her stagger a little before she slapped his chest with her hand.
"Well, this was fun!" she declared, her cheeks flush from the liquor.
"You wanna share a cab?" he asked. He sure was persistent, she thought as a yellow taxi pulled up in front of them.
"I'm going to Brooklyn, remember?"
"Oh yeah, Williamsburg. Sarita told me you stayed all the way in Brooklyn."
"Yeah and this all-the-way-from-Brooklyn-girl took a cab to Manhattan to meet you"
"You're awesome" he reached for her chin and she casually swatted his hand away and slid into the back of the cab.
"Gotta run" she yelled over the hooting cars and slammed the door behind her. Leaning her head against the headrest, she sighed and closed her eyes. She was going to kill Sarita for setting her up with another Manhattan narcissist.
..
The following day she listened to Sarah Vaughn while she leafed through piles of manuscripts from science fiction to paranormal romance. She curled a strand of hair around her finger and read aloud. Taking a slow sip of coffee, she tried to focus on the words printed on the pages but it was futile. There was no concentrating in New York, between the hipsters swarming the book markets a few blocks from her apartment, Emma's nanny and her student timetable, Danny and his dating crisis and her need for a new client, she was in over her head. Perhaps she should have given into Charlie's false charm and let him to seduce her. She needed a man to loosen the knots in her body.
By the time Danny showed up with their daughter, she was slouched on the couch, a bowl of popcorn on her lap and a romantic movie playing on the TV screen. Pushing pause on Michael Ealy's dimples, she opened the door for her family and took Emma in her arms. Seeing the two of them warmed her heart.
"How was the play date?" she asked Danny as he set Emma's toys and packets of candy on the coffee table.
"Meh, "he shrugged, unzipping his hoodie.
"What she wasn't up to your standards?" Lacey smoothed her daughter's hair, stroking her face but she could tell that Emma was sleepy.
"I have no more standards left. I take what I can get" Danny offered as he threw himself on the couch, he grabbed the remote control and studied it.
"You have literarily turned into a neurotic New Yorker" she shook her head and made her way toward the stairs, Emma cradled in her arms.
"Hi, my name is Danny Desai and I'm a writer"
"Not all writers suffer from the Woody Allen disease" she yelled, ascending the stairs.
"You keep telling yourself that, Dorothy" Danny called back, "I brought the scrabble"
"Why don't you open some wine?" she told him, then added "I'll put this little party monster to bed"
..
They were cuddled on the couch, her head resting on Danny's shoulder as their hands dug into a fresh bowl of popcorn. They had given up on scrabble and were fairly content in watching a Nia Long movie over a bottle of wine. She was rising to her feet for a bathroom break when the oddest thing happened, her lips brushed across his chin and then his lips. She heard Danny take in a hitched breath before his hand reached to cup her chin. Lacey caught his lower lip between her teeth, her tongue sweeping over them before it slipped into his mouth. When he moaned into her mouth, her eyes sprang open and she broke the kiss.
"Well, this is certainly a new chapter in our relationship" Danny breathed, his eyes darting around her face, not quite settling.
"We don't have chapters anymore, this is an epilogue" she teased but her mouth felt dry and she was still shocked. She had just kissed her ex-husband like it was something she did any given day.
"Then it's a very long epilogue" he murmured, his eyes finally resting on hers.
"Maybe you should…" she began.
"I'll go" Danny whispered, his thumb brushing across her parted lips. Shivering at the brush of his fingers, Lacey took a deep breath, her eyes fluttering closed. Danny waited, his lips barely an inch from hers, his gaze still locked onto her lips. He didn't want her to think that kissing her had been a mistake. Honestly he didn't know why he'd done it but it certainly wasn't a mistake.
"Is this you trying to be the bigger person?" she asked breathlessly, her voice stirring a twitch in his groin. He swallowed, silently reprimanding his cock and willing it to behave. She smelled so good and her body felt so right pressed up against his from her rounded hips to her plump breasts. She fit like she was made for him but this was wrong.
"This is me trying to honor your request, even though I'd be much happier kissing the shit out of you" he smiled sheepishly and pushed her hair behind her ear. Puffing out her flushed cheeks, Lacey stared at him long and hard before expelling a long breath. Danny watched as she got up from the couch, brushing popcorn dust off her sweatpants. He threw his head back with a sigh and stared at the ceiling.
"Well…"
"Mind giving me a hand?" he extended his hand to her, his mouth crooking in the corner. With a sigh she rolled her eyes and helped him to his feet.
"Do you want some help cleaning up?" he asked, his fingers tightening around hers. Lifting their interlocked hands to her lips, she touched her lips to his knuckles and looked up at him.
"Danny…" she smiled, shaking her head and without releasing his hand, moved toward the front door. Following her lead, he shoved his free hand in his back pocket and allowed her to usher him out into the warm night. When he was fully over the threshold, Lacey freed his hand and stuck her hands under her armpits. He swallowed thickly, watching the way her hair caught the light.
"Things are not gonna get weird…are they?" he chuckled, motioning between the two of them.
"Nope." She smiled, resting her head against the doorframe.
"Good" Danny said with a nod. He lingered on the porch; raking a hand through his curls and looked at her steadily.
"I love you." He said earnestly because truly she did mean a lot to him. She was not only his ex wife and the mother of his child but she was also his best friend.
"I love you more." Lacey responded, cheek pressed against the door. Watching him walk down to his parked car, she swallowed and heaved a deep sigh.
..
As soon as she shut the door, she leaned against it, closed her eyes and took a big inhale. She had no intention of screwing up her relationship with Danny. The sex had always been great but then so were the problems. She switched off the TV, cleared their glasses from the living room, carried them to the kitchen and ran hot water over them. Leaning against the kitchen island, she stared at Emma's drawings on the front of the fridge while she sipped a cup of chamomile tea to help her relax. When she touched her lips she felt the phantom tingle of Danny's kiss.