Then Came You (Accidentally in Love Book 3)

by Nicole Falls

  After dinner, she and I sat down to enjoy more wine and sister time while PJ ran off to play whatever video game she brought over here with her for him.

  “You really gotta stop spoiling this lil joker, Cel,” I said, settling on the sofa and pulling my feet beneath me.

  She rested on the chaise, sipping the newly refreshed glass of Syrah I’d poured for her.

  “Nah, I really don’t. He’s a good kid, Patty. You’ve done well. And since anything you could ever want you already buy for you damn self, I choose to shower my nephew with gifts for his mother’s accomplishment.”

  “Girl you are a damn nut. So…seriously, how are you? After he who shall not be named.”

  “I’m…maintaining. It’s harder some days than it is on others. Today’s a good day, but yesterday? Not so much. And it’ll be the most innocuous things that set me off. I sat in Walgreens damn near in tears the other day because I saw they’d brought back Crystal Pepsi. Just seeing the label sparked a random memory of a night Jacob and I spent hours trying to figure out whether or not they were reviving other drinks from our childhood like New York Seltzer and I had a damn full on breakdown. I ran out the store before I even grabbed what I’d run in to get. It’s stupid shit like that that pisses me off.”

  “Okay, so I have a serious question for you. On a scale of “Pray You Catch Me” to “Freedom” where do you fall on the Lemonading your way through this shit spectrum?”

  Celena immediately screamed with laughter, which meant I’d successfully managed to maneuver her mind from going down that sad, bedraggled ass memory lane again tonight. I hated seeing her like this, her normal sunny disposition sullied by the presence of a fuckboy who never deserved to be with her in the first place. Hell even Patrick never liked him and my kid likes everybody.

  “I’m at a ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’ currently,” Celena responded after moments of thoughtful consideration, “Quickly careening towards ‘Sorry’ though. Gimme a couple weeks.”

  “Now that I can work with!”

  “How about you, though? I know it’s been a little minute since Tim has been out of commission. You still don’t feel a way about that?”

  “Hell no, girl. I told you these men are here to serve one purpose only. I held no false assumptions when it came to Tim and I moving beyond anything more than bed buddies. Now I’m moving on and trying to find someone else to move into his spot. It may be filled sooner rather than later, actually.”

  “Oh yeah?” Celena said, “The bounce back is that quick?”

  “Have you ever heard of a website called justonenight.com?”

  She shook her head and screwed up her face.

  “Don’t even make that face, sis. It’s a safe and discreet way for me to meet a man to scratch this itch. And I just so happened to link up with someone from there the other day and it could definitely be the start of a very mutually satisfying relationship.”

  “And you’re okay with that? Just being fuck buddies? You don’t ever crave anything more? Somebody to come home to. A partner to help you raise Peej. I know mama and daddy weren’t the ideal, but you don’t even want to try for a better version of what they had?”

  “You want some more wine? I’ma get us some more wine.”

  I got up, grabbed both of our glasses to refill them. Celena got up right behind me, belaboring the conversation. She got on my nerves when she got like this. She was relentless when it came to examining our parents’ relationship and its supposed effects on the two of us. I mean sure growing up with a father who was fucking damn every woman in a one mile square radius and a mother who turned into a combination of Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles every time another woman showed up on the doorstep with a baby she claimed belonged to my daddy was exhausting. And absolutely a huge reason why I refused to give these men a chance to ruin me. But I also didn’t see the point in dissecting it over and over and over again.

  “You know you can’t run away from me every time I bring this up?”

  “I’m not running, I’m just…this is a conversation I’m not willing to have right now. It’s pointless.”

  “You don’t remember any good times between the two of them though? Like you and them were together almost ten daggone years before I came on the scene? Was daddy always trash and mama always a doormat?”

  I just shrugged and handed her the newly filled wine glass.

  “Cheers!”

  DAMON

  “Yes, I’m still coming by,” Patricia said, giggling into the phone, “Mrs. Blakely had a previous engagement, but I’m working on alternate arrangements. You’re not opening in the morning, right?”

  “Nope, Ty’s got it. Don’t play me like you did last week though. Had my hopes and dick up only to let me down.”

  “Oh my god, you’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”

  “Nope!”

  Patricia and I had settled into a nice little rotation over the past six weeks, seeing each other a few times a week thanks to her very accommodating neighbor and our insatiable appetites for one another. It was refreshing to deal with a woman who really meant it when she said she was okay with no strings attached sex. It was also jarring because I also felt a little bit sad each time she left. She’d given up on the sneaking out like a thief in the night; at least waking me if she was taking off in the middle of the night—we’d managed a few afternoons of delight over the past few weeks as well. I would have preferred that she at least stayed until I had to get up to begin prepping for the patisserie, but that would never happen because it was a thing she didn’t do. Patricia had an entire list of dos and don’ts for our arrangement. Some made sense; others were completely ridiculous. It was part of her charm though.

  “I promise, I’ll be by later. Most likely after nine. So just leave the back door open. And be naked so I can just come right in and jump on that thang.”

  I gasped in fake shock, “Why Miss Payne do you presume me to be some thot that’s sitting around ready to be ridden on your command?”

  “You’re not? Oh…that’s what the contract specified, though,” she replied on a giggle.

  “Well I never!”

  “You are so silly. All right, I have to go. Tee’s giving me the wrap it up signal from the door. My appointment must be here. I’ll see you later.”

  “Alright, babe. See you later.”

  “Babe?” Patricia echoed.

  I closed my eyes as I recalled rule number four: no pet names. Pet names meant an attachment beyond sex was being formed and were a recipe for disaster according to her. I tried to reason with her about pet names being akin to a level of comfort reached, but she was adamant that I was wrong. I’d been good at curbing my tongue around her for the most part, but this was a costly slip up.

  “Don’t read too much into it, weirdo. I’ll see you later…Patricia.”

  “Goodbye, Damon,” she said in a tone that I could tell was accompanied with an eye roll.

  I was slipping; I definitely did not mean to call her babe out loud. And I would be sure to get an earful about that later…if she came by. Patricia had a way of retreating when things weren’t working in her favor and then blaming the circumstances of her life as justification. The last time she cancelled on me, I’d broached the idea of us doing more than getting together to fuck. I brought up the amazing time we had that first night we met and how I would like to recreate that sometime and she shut down on me, then disappeared for three days. When she reappeared, she gave some flimsy excuse about work being why she was incognegress for those days. It was cool though, I gave her space to be weird, but sooner or later that shit was going to have to come to an end.

  I wouldn’t force her hand, but I certainly wasn’t in the space to do this long term. I meant what I said to my brothers that first night that we met. Something about Patricia affected me on a chemical level and I knew that whether or not she wanted to accept it right now, we were in this for the long haul. All I had to do was be patient and let her get us
ed to the idea that I wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Boss Man, you got a minute?” Tyrel said, peeking his head into my office.

  I waved him in. “What’s up, Ty?”

  “We need to talk about Jami,” he sighed, while flopping into one of the chairs in front of my desk.

  I sighed, running a hand over my head before resting both palms on my desk. I had a feeling this was what he popped in to talk about. He had been dropping hints all week about replacing her, but I’d dodged them. She had been acting strange for a bit, but had managed to straighten up after I’d had a talk with her.

  “I thought she’s gotten better?”

  “Nah, Dame. She toed the line for about a week before she was back to her erratic behavior. Now, even though I should not have, I’d been covering for her because she claimed she was going to get her shit together. But it’s been over a month and it’s progressively getting worse. I can’t keep making sacrifices in order to pick up the slack for when she’s falling short.”

  “Look, I really appreciate you stepping up and covering when necessary, but you gotta stop enabling her, man. I’ll talk to her once again and try to get to the root of what’s going on. Otherwise, we’ll be looking for someone else to handle things up front. How are things going out there today?”

  “Other than Jami not showing up at ten like she was supposed to? Everything is everything.”

  “Wait…if she ain’t out there, who the hell is watching the front while we having this pow wow?”

  Tyrel smiled a bit sheepishly, “I made a we’ll be back in fifteen minutes sign. It’s usually dead around this time anyway.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle and I saw his shoulders fall in release once the sound left my mouth. I’d been so caught up in trying to find an additional pastry chef to help out in back that I’d pretty much left all front of house responsibilities up to Ty. My trust in him was high, but I still needed to make sure that I was aware of everything going on in my spot at all times. The last thing I needed was for this to fail and for me to be on the hook with Dorian and Reema yet again.

  “You’re all good, Ty. And hey…thank you for stepping up like you have, man. I know I’ve been leaning on you heavy, but you shoulder it with no complaints.”

  “Hey, I’m just grateful you took a chance on me, man.”

  “We took a chance on each other, bruh. You had no way of knowing whether or not this place would stay open past week one before taking this job. Now look at us, damn near six months in and flourishing. I owe a lot of that to you!”

  Ty bowed his head, shaking it briefly.

  “Aight, I’ma get back up front.”

  Before he got past the threshold I called out and let him know that he could leave at the scheduled time and to not stick around trying to cover for Jami if she never showed. I had no plans until way later in the evening, so it would be nothing for me to man the front of the house and get some face time with customers. When I first opened the patisserie, I thought I would get a lot more of that than I did currently. I was too consumed with a lot of the behind the scenes baking action that I rarely went up front. Today, I’d finally gotten some good leads on a couple of chefs I was going to be interviewing to come on and help out. I hoped they panned out and I wouldn’t have another Jami situation on my hands.

  ***

  I collapsed next to Patricia, a thin sheen of sweat across my brow evidence of the vigorous workout in which we’d just engaged. Rolling in her direction, I threw an arm around her waist, pressing a series of kisses to the back of her neck and silently counting down from five until she opened her mouth to say…

  “You know spooning is against the rules, right?”

  I rolled my eyes and dragged myself out of bed, heading toward the bathroom to rid myself of the condom and relieve myself.

  “You know, a man could really start to get a complex about how you treatin’ him out here,” I yelled to her from the bathroom.

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she replied, her voice awfully close.

  I looked over to see her leaned against the doorway, smiling.

  “You booking it already?” I asked, moving past, allowing her into the bathroom to take care of her business.

  She shook her head, “I got a little time. PJ’s spending the night with Cel and she’s gonna drop him off in the morning, so…”

  “So, you’re hanging out?”

  “Well right now I’m showering, but…we’ll see…”

  Patricia walked over to start the shower and just as she was hopping in, I doubled back, squeezing into the tiny stall with her, citing water conservation efforts.

  After a tiny bit of play, we did end up showering and now were sitting on my couch, munching on a new recipe I had tried out earlier in the evening. I’d been toying with the idea of having a Sweet Thang exclusive macaron, but couldn’t decide on the flavor. I’d gone through six different flavor combos until I decided on this one tonight—honey lavender. The pale purple coloring of the lavender buds used in the shells was a perfect complement to the color scheme of the logo for Sweet Thang. And if the sounds Patricia was making as she bit into the first one were any indication, it looked like I had a hit on my hands.

  “Oh my god,” she moaned, “You know it’s kind of unfair?”

  “What’s unfair?” I asked.

  “You look like that. Can do amazing things with your tongue and dick, and then have the nerve to be able to make decadent shit like this with no problem. You know…if I were the type of girl who wifed dudes? You might could get got,” she laughed.

  “I could get wifed? Wow, that’s hella problematic. I believe the proper term is husbanded. Respect my agency, Patricia.”

  She looked over at me trying to gauge my level of seriousness. I could barely hold in my laughter, as she looked a little contrite.

  “You ain’t shit, you know,” Patricia said, pouting.

  I reached over and tugged her bottom lip between my teeth before soothing the bite with my tongue and drawing her into a kiss.

  “But you like me anyway.”

  “Jury’s out on you. Your dick and these cookies though…”

  “You’re wild! I’m glad you liked them though. I could use a win after the hell that was today,” I said, leaning back and resting my head on the back of the couch. Jami never showed up so I ended up having to close the patisserie this evening. I called her home and cell phone numbers, but both were out of service. I drove past her place when I went to make the bank drop, but there were no lights on in her apartment and no one answered when I knocked on the door. I’d hoped like hell there was nothing wrong with her, but this erratic behavior couldn’t be tolerated anymore.

  “What happened today?” Patricia asked.

  I brought her up to speed about everything that had been going on with Jami and her odd behavior over the past few weeks. She listened, letting me get everything out before asking a few questions. Patricia offered keen insights about being in charge and having to make tough decisions. I loved hearing her speak about her job, her passion for helping kids was evident as she spoke about some of the obstacles she’d had to overcome to obtain her current position. Plus it was like another one of the bricks of that wall she had up was falling tonight.

  “So you think I should just act like she no longer works here and find someone to fill in? What if she shows back up?”

  “Not your responsibility, Damon. She went AWOL. No one has been able to get in contact with her and at this point? She’s a liability. I know you care about her wellbeing and I absolutely see no harm in you wanting to be sure that she is okay, but you also have to think about your business. You don’t want to overextend…what’s his name, again…Todd?”

  “Ty,” I replied, chuckling.

  “You know I’m bad with names. But yes, you don’t want Ty to feel like he’s being taken advantage of and eventually become resentful of you and Sweet Thang. It sounds like he’s a powerful asset and you don’t need to continually c
atch Ls unnecessarily,” she finished up.

  “I get that. It just seems…harsh, you know? Like I didn’t even give her a chance to get better before tossing her aside.”

  “Didn’t you tell me that you’d already spoken to her about these issues?”

  “Well yeah, but it wasn’t like a formal, sit down or anything. Just a chat,” I said.

  “But she was informed of her responsibilities and the consequences associated with not performing them in a satisfactory manner?”

  I shrugged. I hated this part of it all, honestly. It was one of the main reasons I hated that Dor and Reem refused to not be silent partners. I didn’t want to deal with human resources, but that all came along with being an entrepreneur. I had to get over my complex of always being mister nice guy and start making some tough decisions. I’d relied on my parents and siblings to bail me out far too often and it was time to boss up.

  “It isn’t easy,” Patricia said, “ Believe me…I’ve been here and it sucks, having to fire someone that you actually care about. But the bottom line is that she is harmful to your livelihood. So you have to ask yourself, how much are you willing to put yourself at risk just to ensure that someone has the opportunity to keep screwing you over?”

  “Well, when you put it like that…”

  Patricia smiled smugly, “Yeah, I’m usually right at least ninety-nine percent of the time?”

  “And the other one percent?”

  “I’m on the way to being right, just haven’t fully gotten there,” she smirked.

  Tired of talking about the nonsense with Jami, I picked Patricia up and took her back to my bedroom. We spent the rest of the night in various positions, some I’d never even thought to try before, but were pleasantly surprised by. The rest of the night was both exhilarating and exhausting…and it was also the first night I’d succeeded in getting Patricia to stay the whole night.