by BJ Harvey
Daniel's father laughs as he steps forward to greet his son with a handshake. “Good to see you, son. Was it a nice drive out?”
“Yeah, it was. I had to calm down my girl a few times. She seems to think you're scary.” He turns around, holding his arm out to Mac who latches on to him tightly, wrapping her arm around his waist like he's her lifeline. She holds out the bouquet of flowers she bought for Daniel's mother.
“They're beautiful, Mac. Almost as pretty as you. And who might you be?” she asks, looking over at me.
“I'm Kate, Mac's best friend,” I reply cheerfully.
“Oh yes, Daniel has told me about you as well. I hope you're not too sad to be losing a roommate.”
“Ah, what?” Mac asks, looking up at Daniel questioningly.
I see him wince then rake his spare hand through his hair. He leans down and whispers something in Mac's ear. I see her whole body relax-whatever he's just told her, it has done the trick. I really need to talk to her about not stressing out so much.
“Now then, let's get inside so I can get to know my future daughter-in-law,” Daniel's mom says before turning toward the house and walking up the stairs again.
HOLY FUCKBALLS!
I look over at Daniel and Mac. Daniel's wide eyes are pointing back at me, and Mac's shoulders are tense again. Damage control round two required stat! I take a few large steps, and I'm immediately at Mac's side just as she turns to me and tries to wiggle out of Daniel's firm grip.
“Not letting you go so you can freak out again. You can thank me later with that blow job you promised. Until then, we'll try to deflect any long term commitment grenades my mother might throw our way. For the record,” he says, talking to both of us, “we've already talked about moving in together, Mac. And Kate, you know that we'd talk to you before any decisions were made. But if you can't tell, my mother is obviously trying to speed things up so that her youngest son is not living in sin and having a child out of wedlock. It's her deal, not mine. I don't have an issue with it, never will.”
Good god, that man is a miracle worker.
“Okay,” Mac says, burrowing herself deeper into his side just as Daniel's mom turns and looks down at us.
“Come now, we don't bite!”
“Much,” Daniel says under his breath, breaking the mood as he leads us up the stairs behind his dad.
“He's right, you know. She's all bark and no bite, and I should know,” Daniel's dad says with a wink. “Although, when she does bite, I don't complain either.”
Wow, Daniel and his dad are two peas in a pod. Handsome, funny, and dirty minded. Mac's giggle lets me know that she is thinking the same thing.
“After you, ladies,” Daniel says with a grin, smacking Mac's ass when we reach the door.
“Watch it Danny Boy, or all promises of previously aforementioned sexual relations will be retracted.” Mac turns to face Daniel, putting both hands on her hips.
“Low blow, Mac,” he whispers in her ear, wrapping one arm around her waist and resting his other hand on top of her baby bump. “You should be nice to the mini superhero's daddy. The baby's listening you know.”
“And our mini super heroine's daddy also knows that I never make a promise I won't keep. So daddy better help me get through today if he wants to get his daddy reward later on.”
“And that, my friends, is my cue to leave,” I say loudly, walking ahead into a large living room where Daniel's parents are waiting for us.
“You have a beautiful home, Mrs. Winters,” I remark, walking toward a wall of windows overlooking a private lake. “You have a lake?”
Mr. Winters chuckles. “We have access to the lake, but there are about six other properties that back onto it as well. And please, call us Will and Jenny. Mr. and Mrs. Winters makes us sound old.”
“Oh, okay, Will.” I feel myself blush. “But thank God it's not yours. I was starting to think I was in the presence of royalty or something. I mean who owns their own lake,” I explain, flailing my hand toward the lake as I turn back around. “Next you'll be telling me you own a country club or something too.”
Suddenly Daniel clears his throat, and I snap my head towards him. The smirk on his face tells me that I've just put my foot in my mouth again. “Oh no, don't tell me you do own the local country club as well?”
This time it's Jenny that corrects me. “Well, no dear. But we are members, and Will is on the board.”
“Wow, that's awesome. So are the other Winters children coming today?” I look over at the wall of the living room and see photo upon photo of Daniel and his brother and two sisters. Photos from high school, college graduation, family holidays...you name it, there was a photograph taken and displayed.
“No, not today. I didn't want to scare Mac with the whole family just yet. Daniel has just found her, I don't want her running off again.”
Sheesh, is there anything this woman doesn't know?
“Aww, look Superman, you were so cute!” Mac says excitedly, walking over to the photo wall to take a closer look. Surprisingly, she doesn't freak out over Jenny's comment.
“Superman?” Jenny asks inquisitively.
“Ah, yeah mom, Superman. It's Mac's nickname for me,” he replies sheepishly.
“I don't think I want to know why. I think we should move out onto the patio and start lunch. What do you think, Mac? Is my grandchild hungry?”
“Always, Jenny. I'm surprised I'm not the size of a house yet. Maybe even as big as this house,” she adds, fidgeting with her hands in a totally non Mac way. She's so nervous; it's almost cute.
I scoff at her, earning a scowl in my direction. I poke my tongue out at her, succeeding in making her grin.
“Oh rubbish. You're glowing. I swear, I didn't put on more than ten pounds when I was carrying Daniel, and I ate everything in sight. William can tell you all about that.”
I hear Daniel chuckle and see Mac look up at him incredulously. “And what are you laughing about?”
“Sorry, but I'm sure it was just last night you wanted to send me out for Tiramisu from that restaurant Kate was at, and I compromised by getting some Ben & Jerry's for you.”
“Shut it. Your parents don't need to know that about me,” she says in a low growl which just makes the rest of us laugh louder. I giggle when she crosses her arms across her chest, making sure that her displeasure is known to all, but it only serves to make Daniel laugh harder.
“Anything you want, any time you want it, gorgeous. Proved that quite a few times already.” He kisses her forehead and leads her outside to the patio, pulling out her seat and pushing it back in.
I follow behind them and sit down on the other side of Mac so that Daniel and I are flanking her, even though I'm confident that the chance of an epic level five Mac freak-out has greatly diminished.
Jenny follows us out on to the patio, taking a seat at the head of the table next to Daniel and pours herself a drink of iced tea. “Mac, that's nothing. You only sent him out for one thing? Darling, I clearly need to teach you some tricks. You need to get them to pick up a few options in the one trip. It covers all the bases.”
I see Mac smile and take Daniel's hand underneath the table. “Great idea, Jenny. I'll have to remember that for next time the mini super heroine demands something.” She looks over at Daniel when she says that, goading him.
“Mini super heroine?” William asks.
“Yeah, Dad. See, Mac here told me of a certain Superman fantasy and the nickname for me has kind of stuck. So now I'm sure we're having a mini superhero, but Mac is certain it's a super heroine.”
He chuckles. “Quite the character, Mac, aren't you?”
“That she is,” Daniel muses, lifting up Mac's hand and kissing it gently.
I shiver at the intimacy.
The only time I thought I was close to getting that was with Liam. He was gorgeous, kind, funny, thoughtful and so attentive...I thought I'd won the boyfriend lottery. In reality, six months of staying in and never going out in public
together soon got old. He always wanted to come to my place, and not once did I ever see his apartment that he told me was just off Madison Avenue. Whenever I suggested we go out, he'd distract me with mind-blowing sex and loving endearments.
One night, Mac and I went out to a new bar that had opened up near the salon I was working at, and stumbled across Liam and his gorgeous, equally smitten fiancé as they were celebrating their engagement with friends. A face slap, and a drink in the face later, I was single again and a little mortified that I'd wasted six months on a man who was nothing more than the slime at the bottom of a frog's pond.
This is why I'm having trouble even talking about my date with Spencer. I feel totally stupid for falling for that shit for a second time, even if he did hide it well right up until that phone call. If you wondered what started my three date rule, there's your sign! And unlike the many dates I've had since Liam, it hasn't let me down since.
After a delicious and event free lunch, Mac visibly relaxes and fully engages with both of Daniel's parents. They talk about their country club, the gated community where they lived, and Daniel's two sisters and brother who I discovered are all older than him. His sisters are married with children, and his brother is thirty, single, and living it up large in New York.
“Well now,” Jenny announces, standing up and walking toward Mac and I at the other end of the table. “How about us girls go look at all of the embarrassing baby photos I have of Daniel, and we leave the men to talk about manly things.”
“Now this I've got to see,” Mac says, rubbing her hands with glee before she stands and grabs my hand, pulling me behind her as we follow Jenny back inside. “Come with me. You're my protection if she tries any super mom tricks on me.”
Okay, so maybe there is still a chance of a freak-out. But seeing naked baby Superman photos will soon make up for it.
KATE
It's been a few days since Mac's successful and mainly incident-free meeting of Daniel's parents. I was actually very proud of her. For someone who has only recently opened her heart and her mind to a partner, she was herself. Albeit a little toned down, but she was still Mac, my funny, loving, and crazy best friend, and Daniel's parents clearly loved her.
I was sitting at the salon at lunch time, talking to my gay boyfriend, Nathan, about my weekend, when I get a text from Mac asking if we could have a girls' night tonight.
Kate: Sure. Everything okay?
Mac: Of course. Just wanted to catch up. Oh, and I figured a Suits marathon was in order since I have recently developed a penchant for hot men in suits.
Kate: Riiiiiiight. Well, sounds good. Shall we order in then? What will the little superhero be requesting?
Mac: Superheroine!!!! Get it right. I'm thinking pizza from that parlor around the corner, our normal place.
Kate: Awesome. Looking forward to it.
“Girls' night with Mac?” Nathan asks around a mouthful of his sandwich.
“Yep. Usually she's at Daniel's place, or they're at ours. We haven't had a girls' night in a long time.”
“Are handsome gay men with a love of rom coms and chocolate allowed at girls' nights?”
“Maybe, depends what the handsome gay man is willing to bring to the table,” I say with a cheeky grin.
“Normally it would be two out of the three important c's, cronuts and chardonnay, but lucky for you, it promises to be a very lucky night for me. I have a date with a six-foot tall, hard as rock body, Puerto Rican man who has expressed an interest in all things Nate. So it looks as if I might get a C of my own tonight.”
I clap my hands in glee like a barking seal at Sea World. “Nate, that's great. That's definitely a better offer than drinking with me while I gossip with my pregnant bestie.”
Nate is a man whore who seeks out fellow man whores. We bonded instantly over a love of hair and cronuts. Cronuts are the genius combination of a donut and a croissant, filled with vanilla cream. Seriously, he introduced me to the glorious pastry and my ass has been cursing him ever since. Of course, Nate says my ass has never looked so good, so I keep him around as my personal ass motivation coach. Every girl needs one of those.
“Yes, well one can only live in hope that the promise of him is just as good as the reality. You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?”
“Unfortunately yes, but in my experience, the promises are always full of crap,” I say despondently.
Nate leans over and wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his side. “He's out there, Kate. Your paths just haven't crossed at the right time. Just you wait, I bet he'll sweep you off your feet, and you won't even realize it's happening until you're head over heels.”
I sigh loudly. “If only.”
Zander
It's been three days of radio silence. Well, internet silence. Three days. She hasn't logged in or replied to my messages or anything.
Shit, when did I turn into a pussy? It's only been three days.
The thing is, when she logged off suddenly on Saturday night, our conversation was just starting to get interesting. I was already worried after I had to reject her when she suggested we meet up, but it's too soon. I need to build our connection a bit more, get to know each other more before we meet up and she realizes that it's me.
By Tuesday morning, I've had enough. So I decide to take action, even if it means outing myself as Kate's new internet admirer.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Mac, it's Zander.”
“Ah yep, kinda got that from my caller ID,” she replies with a giggle.
“Yeah, good point. So um, I wanted to ask you something.”
“Dude, you know I'm pregnant with a super baby right?”
I chuckle. I've definitely missed Mac's sass. “Yes, I'm very aware of that. No way I'm going up against a superhero. I'm actually calling about Kate.”
The line goes deathly quiet. If I thought I had radio silence before, that was nothing compared to the sudden hush in my ear.
“Okay, Zan, you've got about two minutes to tell me everything before I decide whether to kick your ass or not. Was it you that she went out with on Saturday?”
“What? No!” Then it hit me that Kate had mentioned that she'd had a horrific night. “Wait, what happened Saturday night?”
“I don't know, that's the point. She had a date with someone called Spencer. It was a last minute thing, and she kind of jumped into it head first without doing the normal chatting and finding out about him. It was as if she were feeling bad, so she took the first date offered. He asked her out after a few messages, and she agreed straight away, but then came home Saturday night, got drunk, and acted like everything was fine on Sunday when we met Dan's parents.”
“Wait up. You met Daniel's parents? Wow, Mac, that's awesome! How did it go? “
“Well there were no major freak-outs if that's what you're asking. It was great, his parents are lovely.”
“So next comes marriage…”
“What? Hell no! Take it back!” I can't hold back my laughter now. It's good to see that Mac hasn't totally changed. Then she corners me. “But hang on. Why are you suddenly so worried about Kate?”
I stutter for a bit before answering. “Ah, yeah, well, we've kind of been talking on Chicago Singles-“
“Oh my god! That's why you asked me about her internet dating? That's so cool! So why have you only been chatting? It's not as if you're strangers. You guys could be dating already, and then we could go on double dates. Holy shit, this is awesome.”
Like I expected, Mac is blowing this way out of proportion.
“Mac, babe, she doesn't know it's me.”
“What do you mean she doesn't know it's you?”
“She knows me as nightdancer23”
She suddenly starts laughing-insane, crazy woman laughing. “Oh. My. God. You call yourself nightdancer23?”
“Yes. What the hell, Mac?” I'm getting a little annoyed now. The internet dating part of the story is not important right now.
&nb
sp; “How has she not figured it out? It's so obvious! Night dancer, stripper?”
“I don't know. But that's not the point, Mac,” I reply tersely.
“No, not really,” she says with a sigh. “So why haven't you told her?”
“I've been wanting to tell her, but I wanted to get to know her first, give her a chance to get to know me without the baggage that is you and me,” I explain.
“Zan, I get it, I really do. And because it's Kate, it is actually a good play. But dude, she's my best friend. You've got to come clean with her, or else it's going to backfire on you and it won't be pretty. She's big on honesty and trust. Like HUGE. They're deal breakers for her.”
Fuck, I feel like an idiot now. Maybe I've screwed this whole thing up before getting a chance to be with Kate; without showing her the kind of man she deserves to be with.
“So am I, Mac. I just didn't think she'd give me a chance if she knew who I was.”
“You should also know that she wants her happily ever after. If you're looking for a quick lay, then you're going after the wrong girl.”
“I'm not looking for a quick lay,” I growl down the phone. “And I wouldn't use Kate for that. She's worth way more than a one night stand.”
“Eeeek. You like her!” she states, rather emphatically down the phone.
“What I've seen so far of her, yes, of course I do. What is not to like, Mac? And I want to find out more. Which is why I rang you. She told me she'd had a horrific night on Saturday night, which would be that date. I tried finding out what happened, but she wouldn't share. Then she got drunk, we played a question and answer game, and just when it started getting interesting, she bailed and hasn't been online since,” I explain. “And she's usually on at least once a day, and she isn't replying to my messages. Unfortunately, I've now got more pressing things to deal with, like finding a new place.”
“What? What happened?”
“Would you believe that Zach was entertaining and forgot about the dinner he was cooking to impress her? Left him with a burnt dinner and a burnt kitchen.” I have to laugh because if I don't, I'll go crazy. Only Zach could be so focused on getting laid that he'd forget about dinner and burn the kitchen down. Right now I'm staying at a motel until I can find something else.