A/N:Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
"I can't believe the audacity of Bob." I grab a post it and mark my page in the nursery design magazine I'm reading. "I can't even concentrate on the baby furniture." I lay the magazine down and watch Christian who's massaging my feet. "That feels good, but you could put a little a more attention on my right foot? It seems to hurt more."
"Your wish is my command.", he grins, adding more pressure to the bottom of my right foot. "How does that feel?"
"Mmm.", I moan.
"I love making you moan any way I can.", he smirks. "And why Bob is acting like a grade A jackass is a question I can't answer. I may have never met the guy, but I feel like I know him after all I've been told."
"He wanted to divorce my mom because he said they had drifted apart, and now after being separated for months and on opposite sides of the country, he decides he wants her back. I'm not convinced of his sudden epiphany that they can work through their differences. No. There's more going on. He's hiding something. What? I don't know, but I need to find out."
"We need to find out. I agree with the notion of more to the story, but I'm not about to let you start playing detective. I'll have him checked out. I'm also going to assign security to your mom just to be on the safe side." Hearing this makes me fall in love with Christian even more. I move my feet from his lap and get on my knees, pulling his face to me. "I guess you like that idea?"
"My mom's stubborn and more than likely will try to argue against having security, but she'll come around. Now kiss me." He complies to my demand and braces his lips against mine.
"It's getting late so we should get to bed and get some sleep unless you want to do something else.", he whispers. I grin and get off the bed. "Ana, where are you going?"
"You suggested I might to do something else, and that something else is diving into the chocolate pudding I'm craving. Gail bought a few packs of pudding cups at the store, but I might eat all of them judging by the craving I've got."
"Those pudding cups aren't very big. Damn it. Now I'm wanting pudding too. Do you think there might be one left for me?" He's now on his feet and staring at eyes with desire although I'm not sure if it's for me or the pudding.
"There might be one left for you." I'm about to follow him out of the bedroom when my phone rings. "It may be my mom." I grab the phone from the top of the dresser and say it's Mia. "Nope. It's Mia." I nod for Christian to go on to the kitchen with me behind him as I answer the phone. "Hey Mia."
"Ana, hi. I'm sorry for calling so late, but I needed to tell you about the great night I had." I get into the kitchen and gleefully see Christian grab the pudding cups and two spoons. "My friend Morgan and I went to the movies to see A Day in the Life of Cecily Sinclair, a comedy about a woman whose life is the same routine every day until she meets a guy at the coffee shop she frequents. It's a comedy."
"The plot sounds interesting. Is the movie what caused your great night?" Sitting down at the table, I take a bite of one of the cups.
"Even though the movie was funny, the best part of the night happened at the snack bar. I went to get some popcorn, but as soon as I got the popcorn, a guy bumped into me. It was a complete accident. He immediately apologized and offered to buy me more popcorn."
"I think I know where this is headed. Where numbers exchanged?" Christian's eyes shoot up and narrow.
"Before I answer that question, I'll tell you his name is Nicholas Grant. He works in an auto repair shop with his dad. It's a business that's been in his family for thirty years. We talked for a few minutes before going back to our seats. He was watching the same movie as me along with his friend Jeff. Once the movie was over, Morgan and I went and talked with the guys some more. She seemed to hit it off with Jeff, and I did the same with Nicholas. He made me laugh more than the movie, and that's saying a lot since that movie had me in tears of laughter. Nicholas gave me his number although I told him I might not call him."
"Why did you tell him that?", I ask.
"I'm still leery after what happened with Will. I was sure Will was a good guy until he cheated."
"Mia, not all guys are Will. There are some good guys out there. I understand and advise you to be cautious, but you can't let what one guy did affect your future relationships." Christian sets his spoon down and leans forward.
"Ana's right, but I will be on even more alert when it comes to your dates.", Christian says loud enough so Mia can hear him.
"I was wondering where what my brother was up to.", Mia giggles. "Ana, will you put me on speaker?"
"Ok.", I reply as I put the call on speaker. "You're on."
"Christian, I'm not going to say anything about you being over protective because know you only want what's best for me. I also see Ana's point. I can't be worried about getting hurt. I may or may not call Nicholas, but if I do, I'll be careful."
"Fine.", Christian mutters. I think I hear a small gasp of shock on Mia's end.
"That's it? You're not going to give me a long lecture?"
"I could, but it's been a long day. Bottom line is I'm going to be unsure of every guy you date until I know he's worthy of you. I also trust you and your judgement and want you to be be happy."
"What time and where are you and Christian meeting Ethan for the rest of the maternity shots?" Kate and I are in her bedroom where we're packing some of her things. With all assignments turned in early, work was slow so I let everyone leave an hour early to get a jump start on the weekend.
"We were planning to meet tomorrow morning at Escala, but Ethan texted me about an hour ago and said he's got a cold and needs to reschedule." The photo shoot last weekend was fun and produced some good shots but was cut short due to rain. We were going to continue it tomorrow until I got Ethan's text.
"He didn't sound too good when we talked on the phone last night. I called to see how his week had been going. It's weird how he's on the floor above me and yet, we hardly see each other."
"You won't be a floor apart once you move in with Elliot."
"I know.", she murmurs, grabbing a red and black striped one shoulder blouse from the closet. "What the hell was I thinking when I bought this?"
"I remember that.", I laugh. "We were in the mall, and you saw that blouse on a mannequin. According to you it was the cutest blouse you had ever seen. I can't recall seeing you wear it though."
"I've never worn it.", she shrugs. "I almost did one day, but I decided against it. Come to think of it, I haven't worn many of these clothes and probably never will. I think I'm going to donate them."
"Kate, that's a good idea."
"Since your mom hasn't gotten home yet, I wanted to ask you about what's going on with her and Bob. All she's told me is he had called and said he wanted him back. Then he showed up at her work yesterday and was rejected again. She was seething when she started talking about your run in with him yesterday. There has to be a reason why he suddenly started acting like that, right?"
"Christian and I think so. In the meantime, Christian is getting security for my mom."
"I picked the worse time to move out.", Kate sighs. "I'm not officially moving out until next week, but I can even put that off a while." A rattling sounds echoes in the living room and roars our curiosity. Kate and I keep our eyes trained on the doorway, feeling relieved when we see it's my mom.
"I'm sorry for being loud. I dropped my keys on the floor.", she apologizes. "How's the packing going?"
"We've been in here for about an hour and have only a few things boxed up.", I reply. "I hope today was better than yesterday." She moves into the room and sits down in Kate's desk chair.
"Christian called me into his office today. I thought at first it was work related, but when I got in there, he informed me of his plan to assign a security guy to me."
"He and I both feel it's for the best considering we don't know what Bob's true intentions might be."
"I think I might be able to shed some light on that. He called me as I was getting in my car at work. Once again, he begged me for another chance. I've tried my best to be nice while saying no, but I found myself getting agitated after saying for what felt like the hundredth time. So, I raised my voice and told him he needs to leave me alone."
"That didn't go well, right?", Kate asks.
"He broke down in tears in tears and started rambling about his life taking a nosedive. First he let our marriage come to an end, and then he lost all his money. It seems after we split up, he started going out to bars at night and hanging out with a new group of people. He ended up losing his job after calling in so much. The house payment wasn't getting paid, and he was close to getting evicted. One of his new buddies, Brad, offered to lend Bob the money until he got back on his feet. They didn't get it in writing, only in a handshake, but Brad assured Bob he would have plenty of time to pay it back." I'm sensing where this conversation is going and what Bob is up to. "Brad lied. He called Bob a few weeks ago and said he needed the money as soon as possible. Bob promised he would pay it when he could, but that wasn't good enough for Brad. The guy had his cousin take a baseball bat to Bob's truck, telling him if he give him the money he would be the one on the other end of the bat the next time. He called Bob last Saturday and gave him two weeks which is longer than Bob figured he would have. The stipulation, instead of paying back the ten thousand he owes, he now has to pay...fifty thousand."
"Fifty thousand?", I murmur in disbelief. "He went from owing ten thousand to fifty thousand? That's absurd."
"Bob swore he was telling me the truth. He might have been lying, but there what sounded like fear in his voice. He admitted even though he loves me, the main reason he wants me back is so I can help him get that fifty thousand dollars. I scoffed at him. I don't have that kind of money, and his response was, "But your son-in-law does."
"He was only going to use you to help get money from Christian."
"I told him no. I refuse to take advantage of my relationships in order to help correct his mistakes.", she shrugs. "Am I being heartless?"
"I don't think so.", Kate answers.
"Me either. Bob put himself in the predicament, and Bob can get himself out.", I say.