by Natalie Ann
“My family is pretty great, but they can be overbearing at times too. I guess we’ve all got horror stories we could share about family.”
She knew he was trying to make light of her comment. He’d seen right through her, she could tell. But she pretended that she didn’t notice, or that she wasn’t feeling any type of anxiety over the topic right now. Horror stories—he didn’t know the half of it.
Mother’s Soup
It’d been two days since his date with Carly. After he left, he called his mom. Well, not right after, because he needed time to get his body under control.
He was trying to go slow with Carly, but it was killing him to do it. She wasn’t making it easy on him, either.
She was just so reactive to him and his touch. Like petting a kitten, she always snuggled up to him for more, seeming to never get enough. He wouldn’t call her needy, not really. That seemed harsh to him. But it was more like she needed him. Which was better than needy, at least in his mind.
And he was fine with her needing him. He was more than willing to offer himself up to her at any point. All she had to do was give the sign. Only he wasn’t sure if she would, or if she had been and he was missing it.
Normally a good reader of people. He wouldn’t be doubting himself so much, but the few things he’d been able to read with Carly so far were when she was embarrassed over something silly she said, when she was holding on to him, and when she was trying to hide something.
He saw right through her when she was talking about her family, but he didn’t push. It wasn’t his place or the right time. She was nervous and clearly trying to hide something except he had no idea what. So what if she had a dysfunctional family? He sure the hell grew up in one. Most people did.
After he got his body under control enough, he called his mom. Because really, there was nothing worse than talking to your mother when you were thinking of taking another woman to bed.
“Hi, baby. How was my soup?”
Fighting the cringe over his mother’s endearment, he replied, “It was delicious as always.” Of course his mother knew he would eat it that day.
“There should be enough there for a few meals for you. How many cookies did you eat?”
She still wanted to know if he ate more sweets than his meal. “There are still plenty of cookies left, but not so much soup.”
“That’s a good boy. Save those cookies for later. How many beers did you drink?”
“Not one. I’m saving them for later too.”
“Oh really?” she asked slyly and he knew her mind was racing, quickly putting together the pieces. “Not a lot of soup left, and you didn’t touch the beer. So, did your date like my soup and cookies?”
“She did. Said it was the best she ever had, and I believed her.”
“I hope you fed her more than my soup and cookies. You better have done me proud and made a proper meal out of it,” she scolded him.
“You raised me well. I made her bread and a salad to go with it. She was duly impressed with me, just like I wanted.”
“So when do I get to meet her?”
“No time soon, so get that out of your head.” He was on to her. Not happening, not yet. Not until he had a better grasp on things.
“Can you tell me her name at the very least?”
“Why? So you can call the girls and then everyone can start sending me messages asking about her?”
“They’re going to anyway when I call them after we hang up. Don’t you think it would be easier if they referred to her by name, rather than ‘your date’?”
She had a point. “Carly. Carly Springfield. And before you ask, I’ll tell you she teaches fourth grade. That’s all you're getting out of me. It’s more than I planned on saying, but you always find a way to get information.”
“She sounds like a lovely young woman.”
“Just from her name and occupation you can say that? What if I said she pole dances at night and on the weekends?”
His mother laughed, just like he knew she would. She was used to him saying things like that. “If she did, then you wouldn’t have fed her your mother’s soup. You would have enjoyed her and pushed her along when you were done.”
Shit, he hated how she was always right. “Tell Dad thanks for the beer. I’m going to have one right now. I’ll talk to you later.”
She humored him, he knew, and just ignored the fact he blew off her statement. “I will. Have a good night. And tell Carly that I’ll send some of my minestrone next.”
***
At work, thoughts of Carly had Sean standing up from his desk and walking down the hall. Knock, knock, knock.
Brynn looked up from her computer at Sean standing in the doorway. “Hey, Sean. What’s up?”
“I have the contracts that you needed for the tenants.” He held his hand up with the five contracts that current tenants had renewed on their rental properties. He walked in and handed them to her.
“Thanks.” She reached forward and grabbed them, then placed her hands on her desk. “What else is on your mind?”
There was no use denying that he wanted to talk to her. He didn’t need to knock on her door and deliver the contracts. It was worth a shot talking to Brynn. “I think I might have upset Carly. Or maybe made her uncomfortable.”
“What did you do?”
“Whoa there, pit bull. Back down from the fight.” He had no idea what caused Brynn to almost jump out of her chair, but that was a first he’d seen her like that. Maybe coming in here wasn’t a good idea. She was ready for battle, just waiting to pounce.
“Then tell me what you did to upset her.”
“I don’t know for sure if she was. Maybe she was just uncomfortable, but she tried to hide it, only I kind of caught on. All I did was ask about her parents,” he said, trying to assure her.
“Oh,” Brynn said, then relaxed back in her chair. “What did she say?”
“Not much. We were talking about my mother, so I asked if she was close to her mom. She said she was, but it was the way she said it. Still nothing major, I just got a weird vibe from it. Then I asked about her father. That’s when she started to look uncomfortable.”
“And what did she say to that?” Brynn asked, tilting her head to the side.
He wasn’t sure he liked the way Brynn was looking at him. Now he knew there was something going on, he didn’t know what and didn’t know how to find out. Not without coming out and asking, which he knew wasn’t going to give him any answers. “I just asked if he had passed away since she’s never mentioned him. I knew she lived with her mother and grandmother and that was it. She said he didn’t and then joked about not having the same family dynamics as I did growing up.”
“So then what’s the problem?”
“I just don’t think she was being honest with me.”
“Does it matter right now? I can tell you she isn’t lying to you if that is what you’re worried about.”
“I didn’t really think she was. But I still feel like she was uneasy when I brought it up.”
“She probably was.” Brynn held her hand up when he went to talk again. “It’s not my place to tell you about Carly’s childhood. That’s for her. But her father has been out of her life since she was ten. She hasn’t seen him since then, and I’m pretty sure there has been no communication either. In her eyes, he probably is dead. Still, no worries, she is being honest about him in that respect.”
“Okay. I just don’t want to offend her or say something to upset her. I can’t be sure not to do that if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“That’s sweet that you’re concerned this early on. You’re a good guy, Sean. I know I bust on you, we all do, but I think you’re good for Carly.”
“Wow, did I just get your approval?” he asked, smirking.
“You had it, or you would have never gotten a second date once I found out about the first.”
“How’s that?” He was clueless as to why she was saying that to him, or how
she could have prevented it.
“Trust me. I know Carly well, and I could have said some things that would have changed her mind.”
He didn’t like the look she was giving him, and he wished he knew what she would have said. He was pretty sure she didn’t know anything bad about him in terms of women. Hell, he never did anything to warrant negative comments in regards to that. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
“So now that that is settled, how is everything else going? Four dates, right?”
“Does she tell you everything?”
“I wish,” Brynn said. “I haven’t been able to get any details out of her, nothing more than your drive on Sunday and dinner on Tuesday. Whatever secrets you two have are safe with her.”
No secrets to share. He wished he had something juicy to hide, but nope. Not yet. That did bring him to another thought though. Carly had said he could try out being a sensitive guy with her. He really wasn’t sure what that entailed, and he definitely didn’t want to ask his sisters. Since Brynn was Carly’s best friend, maybe she would help. “Tell me something about her I don’t know.”
“Excuse me? Didn’t I just say she doesn’t tell me anything about you two? Why would I share something about her?”
“Sorry. I want to do something different for a date. I just meant something she likes to do that maybe she wouldn’t think to bring up. Not a girlie thing, but something that maybe she wouldn’t mind doing, but would never think to ask.”
“Okay, now that is really sweet.”
He tried not to wince at the tender look Brynn just sent him. He guessed that was part of the sensitive side he was worried about showing to Carly the other night. Maybe there was something behind it, but he would rather think of it as considerate. “Don’t bust my balls. I just thought I would do something other than a typical night of going out to eat.”
He didn’t care for the smirk that just came to her face. “Well, she loves the theater. You could always take her to the Performing Arts Center for a play or something.”
He’d rather sit in a meeting with Phil and Alec all day long. On a day when it was raining out, and Alec was antsy and couldn’t sit still. Seriously, he should have never brought this up. “What else does she like?”
Brynn laughed at him. “Sorry, your face was priceless just now. Don’t worry, she’s asked me to go before and I’ve had the same reaction. She goes all the time so don’t think anything of it. There are a bunch of teachers in her school that are into that stuff. Me, I would rather work on the house than go to the theater.”
Sean knew that about Brynn. She was more basic. She wasn’t the type to get dressed up and do fancy dinners and parties and plays. That was a good thing because Alec was the furthest from that of all the men he knew. He should have known Carly would be into that though.
“She likes to do crafty things,” Brynn added. “All sorts of crafts. She is always knitting something, or painting a picture, making jewelry. She grew up doing those things with her mother and grandmother. I like to build things with wood and nails, but Carly likes to build things with softer materials. Maybe that will help.”
“Thanks. That does. I’ll figure something out.”
“Sean,” Brynn said when he turned to leave.
“Yeah.”
“I meant it earlier when I said you might be what she needs. So that means don’t mess her up either. Decide where you think you want to go or where you want to be if you haven’t already.”
He nodded and walked back to his office. He’d already decided. His mother was right—he would have never fed her his mother’s food if he hadn’t already decided. He’d dated women a lot longer and never even mentioned much of his family, let alone fed them his mom’s soup.
Something about Carly made him not even hesitate though. Her sweet nature, her kind soul, her tender side. All the things that he never knew he would find so attractive in a woman were now on the top of his list of things he couldn’t do without.
Daisy
“I’m so excited,” Carly said, bouncing in the front seat of Sean’s car. “I’ve always wanted to take a ceramics class, but this is even better. You know why?” she asked, her eyes wide as saucers. She’d bet if she looked in a mirror right now, she would look just like one of her students being told they were going on a field trip instead of taking a test. “Because we get to make something and then go back and finish it up with paints another day.” It was the excitement of another date that had her so giddy.
In the last eight days, they’d been to dinner together twice and also went to the movies last night. How she talked him into going to the movies on a Friday night was beyond her. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be as many kids around as she’d thought. And though he said he wasn’t into romantic comedies, he had laughed plenty during it. She even offered to watch an action flick, but he said, “Next time. It’s more fun to take turns picking movies.” She’d thought that was the best suggestion ever.
“I’m glad you’re excited. It’s hard to think of different things to do.”
Even sweeter. She would have never thought he would be this nice and accommodating, and was enjoying it immensely.
Brynn had told her before the guys all busted on Sean about being polished in the office, never really getting his hands dirty and sitting behind a desk all the time. She was fine with that; she didn’t need a man to swing a hammer to impress her. She liked everything about him so far.
Plus, she’d seen him getting dirty when he was helping out at Alec’s house. Just because he didn’t do it daily, didn’t mean he couldn’t. He just chose not to. “Working in the pub growing up was hard enough. I’ve seen the long hours and stress it put on my parents and decided I didn’t want that life. I’m happier sitting at a desk and looking at numbers all day,” he’d told her.
She could understand that to an extent. Not sitting behind a desk, because she couldn’t do that. The best part about being a teacher was moving all the time. Even during a lesson she was standing and walking around the room, helping the kids individually and as a group. It’s what she liked to do, so she understood spending your time making a living and enjoying it at the same time.
“You don’t have to always think of something new. We don’t have to go out to eat either. We can stay in for dinner at times. It’s nice to just relax and talk.” She’d liked the dinners together at her house more than going out. She was a homebody. She liked to cook and stay at home. She spent so much time out of the house volunteering that staying home was a treat to her.
“That’s nice. I like going out and doing things, but there are times it’s better to just relax at home.”
He looked sincere when he said that. That was another thing about him. He always seemed so honest and open. Nothing about him ever gave her the warning signals that had crept up with other men she’d dated. Even if nothing ever came about from those signals in the past, she still experienced them from time to time.
“Either way, I’m thrilled to do this. I can’t wait to tell my mother about it. If you don’t mind, I might ask the instructor a few questions on if they make appearances for this, maybe bringing the pieces back to bake later at the shop.”
He looked at her questioningly. “Why? Your mom wouldn’t like to go to the studio?”
“Oh, it’s not for her specifically. It’s her job. I think it’d be something her clients would love, not to mention she’s pretty crafty but has never really dabbled in ceramics.”
“What does your mom do?”
She was actually so relaxed she didn’t realize at first she was going into more specifics about her mother than normal. Sean did that to her, relaxed her enough to not put up any barriers or have any worries. She’d have to remember that in the future. For now, it didn’t hurt to talk about her mother a little.
She’d felt bad the other day when she cut him off talking about her family. She didn’t want to be secretive, but she couldn’t be too forthcoming either. “She is an events and a
ctivities coordinator at an assisted living facility.” No need to say it was the first job her mom had out of the house in more years than Carly could count.
“She schedules bingo nights for old women?” he asked, his eyes crinkling up at the side.
“Pretty much. But she does other things too. It’s not really a nursing home, but more like a country club of sorts. It’s for people who shouldn’t live alone or don’t want to be alone, but they don’t need hands-on care either.”
“That has to be an interesting job.”
“It is. The stories she tells me have me laughing out loud. Those old men are pretty feisty there.”
“Well, if she looks anything like you, then I bet they are always trying to cop a feel.”
It was a funny comment, but she knew her mother wouldn’t find it funny. Yes, the old men did do that from time to time, but it always made her mother uncomfortable and Carly knew why. Trisha had a personal space wall that was very high and very few people were allowed in. She had a good reason of course, but most didn’t know that. “She does look like me, only older, and a little taller. I got my shortness from my grandmother, who is shorter than I am.”
“Really? I wouldn’t have thought that was possible.”
“Ha, ha. Cute. But then again, you are allowed to be, because you know what? You are cute.”
He seemed startled that she said that, but she found she liked being bold with him, even flirty. She wasn’t used to flirting with men. Sean was the exception though. She’d put her foot in her mouth enough times and he always laughed it off. She’d decided days ago to try flirting. If she messed up, he would laugh anyway, so no harm.
To her surprise, she was good at flirting. At least she thought so. He always made her feel like he appreciated her bantering and little comments. If not by his looks, then by his mannerisms. He either flushed, or he grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze like he did just then. “Not nearly as cute as you.”