by Jess Bentley
He was left sitting on a small fortune.
Mick left the bank with an envelope containing a cashier’s check he intended to give to Ayla the next time they were face to face.
He knew she was at work, but he sent her a text anyway, figuring she’d get it when she took her break.
“I can’t begin to describe how difficult it was to take you home this morning. Wish I could spend the day with you.”
Ayla received the text sitting on her sofa staring at, but not really watching, The Real Housewives of Somewhere-She-Didn’t- Give-a-Shit-About.
When she’d gotten upset after leaving work, she’d wanted to run straight to Mick. Back into his arms. He’d make her feel safe, let her know everything would be okay.
But the last thing she wanted to do was dump her crazy into his lap. She worried so much about scaring him away, making him reconsider getting involved with the mixed-up, surviving-on-a-shoestring life she’d created for herself and Preston.
She wanted to at least appear to sort of, kind of have things under control. A little bit.
So, Ayla drove home, found half a pint of Ben and Jerry’s chocolate chip she’d bought on sale, and she moped on her couch and tried to come up with a game plan to pay the rent once she received her final check and the payout for the week of vacation she had left.
She’d resisted becoming a driver for NPE, despite the money being good, since the hours were long and unpredictable. She couldn’t bear the thought of Preston waking up in the morning to a babysitter and going to bed at night with Desiree, while she was out delivering packages.
She stared at Mick’s text and wondered how to reply.
He beat her to it.
“Good news, Mum will be here the day after tomorrow. Had to tell her about Preston to get her to agree to it.”
Ayla’s mind raced. Her obsession with Mick was overwhelming, but she had to proceed cautiously with Preston. He was at a fragile age and the last thing she wanted was to mess him up.
Her phone buzzed again.
“There’s something I need to give you. Can we have dinner tonight? Maybe with Preston? You can just tell him I’m a friend. Let me know.”
Ayla couldn’t stand it any longer. She replied.
“Hey Mick, I’d love to have dinner tonight. I got to come home early from work, I’m just hanging out at home now. I left Preston at daycare until later this afternoon. He was excited to see his friends.”
“Can I come by? I’m out and about. Can be there in fifteen minutes,” he replied.
Ayla was too excited to see Mick to say no, despite what she considered her haggard appearance and messy house.
“I can’t wait,” Ayla replied.
Twenty minutes later, after navigating around an accident on the freeway, Mick pulled into Ayla’s driveway. She’d scrambled to put way Preston’s Matchbox cars and action figures, toss the unfolded laundry into a closet, and load the dishwasher. When the doorbell rang, she was in the middle of changing from the sweats she’d put on after work and into something nicer.
“Shit!” Ayla abandoned her plans to put herself back together and shimmied into a form-fitting green and white maxi dress. It would have to do.
Ayla opened the door, and Mick said “Whew! How do you get prettier every time I see you?”
Waving off the compliment, Ayla blushed and hugged Mick. She gave him a quick tour of her home and they settled on the couch. Ayla’s eyes were drawn to Mick’s rippling forearms. She couldn’t keep her eyes off them. Every last inch of him was sexy.
“I was thinking about you and Preston,” Mick began. “And how you’ve done this all by yourself. How unfair that is. How hard it’s been. I know nothing can make up for that lost time, for the struggle, but I hope this helps.”
Mick handed Ayla an envelope with First Nevada Bank’s insignia on the corner.
“Mick, this isn’t necessary. You didn’t even know—”
“It’s completely necessary. It’s the least I can do. Absolutely the least. I want the two of you to have… everything. Please, open it. Use it for whatever the two of you need.”
With shaking hands, Ayla opened the envelope, and saw her name on a cashier’s check. She glanced at Mick and found warmth there, a genuine smile. She turned back to the check, pulling it out far enough to see the amount.
$100,000.00.
“Mick…” Ayla’s tears filled in the gaps, but when they were finished hugging and Ayla found her voice again, she told Mick the truth about her morning.
She couldn’t read him at first when she’d finished the story, but then he threw his head back and laughed.
“You really did that?”
“I did,” Ayla affirmed. “I honestly did. Not my best moment.”
“You’re ruthless!” Mick exclaimed. “That’s my girl!” He high fived her.
Ayla and Mick drove to her bank together, where her $36.14 balance suddenly ballooned to six figures.
The first thing she did after catching up on all her utilities and paying the following month’s rent, in full, covering her share and Desiree’s, was to go on-line and purchase a season pass to the largest water park in Las Vegas, Waveworks.
“Preston is going to lose it,” Ayla told Mick. “We went once last summer, and he’s been begging to go again ever since. We just couldn’t afford it.”
“Can we go tomorrow? The three of us? I’ve never been. Introduce me as your friend Mick. It might be a fun, zero-pressure way for me to get to know Preston a little bit. Yeah?”
And I get to stare at you in a swimsuit all day? Ayla thought, at the same moment Mick pondered what Ayla’s gorgeous ass must look like dressed for the pool.
“That would be amazing,” Ayla agreed.
For the remainder of the afternoon, Mick and Ayla drove around Las Vegas, chatting about what it was like growing up in Sin City.
Ayla showed Mick her old schools, the neighborhood library where she won several grade and middle school reading contests, and various other places that held special meaning for her.
As they drove away from her high school alma mater, Mick broached a subject he knew might be difficult, but he longed to know more.
“Do your parents still live near here?”
Ayla was taken aback, but did her best to respond. “As far as I know. Yeah, I think so. But it’s been almost seven years now. I saw my Mom in Target once, from a distance. I hid so she wouldn’t see me. I haven’t seen my Dad except in pictures Amy, my sister, shows me sometimes.”
“I can’t help but feel responsible,” Mick replied. Ayla began to interject, but Mick was determined to finish his thought. “Please let me explain. It’s just so hard for me to see anyone estranged from their parents, you know? I don’t deny that you have every right to never want to speak to them again. Especially your mom.
“But I just know how much I miss my dad. And my brother. And how I’d do anything to have one more conversation with either one of them; to hear them laugh again. To hug them. And I’ll never get that chance. Never. No matter what. And despite you having all the reason you do to not want to speak to your parents, and I understand, it’s a two-way street, and they’ve slammed the door in your face, I get all that, just the fact that they live right here, right in this neighborhood, and you could visit with them anytime you want to, but that none of you can make it happen… it’s just heartbreaking. I know it’s none of my business, I just—”
Ayla had to speak up.
“Mick, it’s totally ‘your business’. They’re your son’s grandparents. But they’ve chosen this. I never wanted this sort of relationship with them. They picked their own weird ideas of right and wrong over the love of their own daughter and grandson. I spent so many sleepless nights, while I was pregnant, crying, praying, and wishing that they’d change their minds. That I’d wake up and it would have all been some awful nightmare.
“But it wasn’t. It isn’t. I don’t regret for a second what we did, what we have. Because we
have Preston, and he’s basically perfect. The only thing I regret is not getting your name and number that first night. Or giving you mine.”
Mick lay his hand across Ayla’s lap, and she took it in both of hers.
“I’m sorry, Ayla. I respect your decision, and I applaud everything you’ve done for Preston and for yourself. You’re a fighter. You’re tough as nails. I just wish things could be different, that’s all. You deserve it.”
Ayla lifted Mick’s hand to her face and kissed it. “Thank you. We should head back, I need to get my car, it has Preston’s booster seat in it.”
They returned to Ayla’s house, where Mick offered to move the booster from Ayla’s car into his SUV.
After struggling for several minutes, while Ayla stifled a laugh, Ayla expertly installed the seat in front of a dumbfounded Mick Merryweather.
“I can field strip, clean, and reassemble an assault rifle, pack my own parachute and jump out of a plane, and—”
“But you’re stymied by a booster seat!” Ayla exclaimed, gleefully. “I’d love to watch you change a diaper.”
Mick appeared startled. “Wait— we’re beyond diapers now, right?”
Ayla doubled over in laughter. “Yes. Well past diapers.”
Mick wiped his brow in relief.
Ayla and Mick arrived at daycare to pick up Preston, who skipped out into the parking lot and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Mick leaning against his large, black SUV.
“Wow! I get to ride in that?”
“Sure do, buckaroo,” Ayla responded. “We put your seat in back and everything. Do you remember Mr. Mick?”
Preston reached out his fist and bumped Mick’s. “Yep. From the gas station.”
“That’s right,” Ayla said, strapping Preston into his seat. “He’s our new friend. Is it ok if he comes to dinner with us? And we have a surprise for tomorrow if you eat well.”
“Cool!” Preston shouted. “Fausto’s?”
Ayla climbed into the passenger seat and made eye contact with Mick. She shrugged her shoulders, and Mick nodded.
“Fausto’s it is, big man,” Mick said to Preston. “I’ve never eaten there, is it good?”
“It’s awesome possum!” Preston yelled, giggling.
“Preston, we’re right here,” Ayla said. “Turn your volume down, baby.”
“But this car is so big! I just have to shout!”
“Onward to Fausto’s!” Mick yelled, to Preston’s delight.
Dinner was a happy occasion all the way around. Preston ate his favorite cheese quesadilla, while Mick and Ayla went with burritos. Preston insisted they bring home carne asada tacos for Desiree, “Her favorite,” according to Preston.
At the conclusion of the meal, Preston demanded to know what surprise his mom had planned for the next day.
“Well, I’m taking the day off work tomorrow. I’m going to my night job, but when I get home, that’s it. No daycare tomorrow. Mr. Mick has bought us season passes to… are you ready for this?”
Preston was bouncing in his seat like his pants were on fire. “What? What? Where?”
“Waveworks,” Ayla announced.
Preston gasped, then stood up on his chair and threw his hands in the air, a symbol of his victory in the game of life. “Yes! Waveworks!” He promptly leapt through the air, landing in Mick’s lap and giving him a bear hug.
Ayla’s heart grew eight sizes, completely filling her with a warm, rosy glow. She watched Mick and Preston hug, taking a mental snapshot of the moment, one she knew she’d be replaying in her mind for the rest of her life.
Chapter 19
Ayla had an extra bounce in her step when she arrived at NPE the following morning. The fans conspired only to blow the hot desert air around, providing little relief, but she didn’t care. Even Jeff at his nastiest couldn’t wipe the smile off Ayla’s face.
They’d arrived home with Desiree’s tacos the night before, and after Ayla and Mick snuck in a good night kiss on the front porch, the roommates caught up on the day’s events in Desiree’s room while Preston watched cartoons in the living room.
Between bites of her carne asada, Desiree confirmed what Ayala already knew. “He is H. O. T. Good Lord.”
“Des, Preston hugged him tonight. Like straight up, legit jumped into his arms and hugged him. I thought I would die.”
“Oh my God! Have you decided what you’re going to tell Preston? Or when?”
Ayla fell back on the bed, clutching a pillow to her chest. She searched the ceiling for an answer. “I don’t know. It’s so tricky. I want this all to work out more than I think I’ve ever wanted anything.
“His whole life I’ve skirted around the issue of why he doesn’t have a daddy or grandparents. I’ve been able to change the subject or tell him ‘that’s just the way it is, but I love you and we love each other, so isn’t that great?’ And that’s always worked. But I know he’s at an age now where he’ll want some definitive answers.”
“You know the Beatles, right?” Desiree asked.
“Of course,” Ayla answered.
“I was listening to some podcast and they played part of an interview with George Harrison, the ex-Beatle.”
Ayla nodded.
“They asked him what it was like being this world famous star at just seventeen years old, how did he handle it. Do you know what he said?”
Ayla shook her head.
“He turned the question around. He asked the interviewer ‘what’s it like not being world famous at seventeen?’ Preston has never had a dad before. He doesn’t know what he’s missing, because all he’s ever known, his entire life, is you. And you’re the best mom ever!”
Ayla hugged her friend.
“If, and when, you feel like Mick will be good for Preston, you’ll know how to make it work. You know Preston better than anybody. He’s tough and resilient,” Desiree observed. “You tell me Mick is enthusiastic about being a dad, and isn’t that half the battle?”
“More than half,” Ayla replied. “Kids know if you’re interested, if you’re genuine, if you really care. They can sense it. If you’re all those things, no matter if you know how to cut the crusts off a PB&J or not, you can do the job and do it well. It’s how I know you’ll be a terrific mom one day.”
“I just hope I can tap into that endless reservoir of patience you seem to have. I fear my supply is very limited,” Desiree confessed.
“I hadn’t noticed, and neither has Preston,” Ayla admitted. “More than once, when I’ve gotten on his case about something, he’s asked me ‘why can’t you be nice all the time like Mommy Desi?’”
“Well, clearly Preston and I are destined to get married one day, because none of my past boyfriends have ever accused me of being ‘too nice’,” Desiree answered with a laugh.
The friends chatted until it was bath and bedtime for Preston. Ayla collapsed into her own bed shortly thereafter, exhausted from the frequency and intensity of the orgasms Mick had given her over the past twenty-four hours. Her call center job was history, but she still needed to report for duty at NPE for a 3:45 AM start time.
Mick had a light workout and early bedtime himself, physically and emotionally drained by Ayla. He wanted to be well-rested in order to keep up with his six-year-old dynamo of a son at Waveworks.
Chapter 20
Ayla’s Wednesday morning shift at NPE seemed like it would never end. Jeff told the crew to expect to process six trailers full of packages, which would ordinarily be a bad enough day, but two more full loads showed up late in the day, prompting Jeff to turn his screaming and tantrums up to maximum. He got into a shouting match with Ayla’s work neighbor, J.R.
It was intense, with Jeff telling J.R. he “wasn’t NPE material,” and that he ought to quit if he couldn’t handle the workload.
Ayla was tempted to jump in on J.R.’s side and give Jeff the same piece of her mind she’d given Teri Palermo, but she bit her tongue, deciding losing both her jobs within twenty-four hours, es
pecially the one that provided insurance for Preston, probably wasn’t the most prudent course of action.
When the last box rolled slowly down the conveyor belt, Ayla ran it into her truck, giving J.R. a high five on her way out the door. The sun shone brightly outside, the temperature was already approaching triple digits, and if Ayla knew her son, he was already in his swim trunks and goggles, ready to go.
Ayla was only partially right. When she pulled into the driveway, not only was Preston already dressed for Waveworks, he was sitting on the front porch atop a pile of folded towels.
“When is Mr. Mick picking us up? Soon?”
“Whoa, bubba, can I get a hug first?”
“I don’t think so, you’re all sweaty and smelly!” Preston ran away laughing when Ayla reached for him.
“Desiree said he woke up and immediately put on his swimsuit and goggles. He ate breakfast in them,” Lupe, Preston’s babysitter reported.
Ayla laughed and went inside. Preston followed her. “Hurry up, Mommy, it’s time to go! He’ll be here soon!”
“Preston. Chill. I need a shower. Remember how ‘sweaty and smelly’ I am?”
“Ugh! Can you just meet us there later? We have to go!”
Ayla was inwardly overjoyed that he was so excited to spend a day with his father, despite the fact that he didn’t know it. But she was also tired, hungry, and wished Preston had been born with the elusive “off” button that moms of little boys have been searching for since the first little boys appeared.
After a banana and a shower, Ayla put on her blue one-piece. She wished she’d been able to spend more time outside getting a darker tan, but the suit looked good on her, playing off her blue eyes perfectly, and the manual labor at NPE had given her more definition in her arms and legs than she’d ever before seen in her mirror. Mick was still way out of what she perceived as her league, but he seemed plenty attracted to her, so she figured she ought to abandon the self-criticism and embrace being “the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.”
“Mom! Mommy! He’s here! We have to go!” Preston was bouncing on the couch by the front window as if he were on a pogo stick.