by Sylvia Fox
“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.
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.
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, especially 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.
Ayla put on her wrap and gathered her things, and they walked out to meet Mick.
He was dressed in white boxer-style swim trunks with a red shark on them, and a red t-shirt that clung to his chest.
“Who’s ready to go to the library?” Mick as
ked when he saw Preston, who stopped in his tracks, confused. Ayla waved and smiled from the doorway.
“Don’t look so glum, big man, they just got a bunch of new Barbie books in. Aren’t you excited?”
“No! Waveworks!” Preston announced.
Ayla went to get the booster out of her backseat, but she looked over and Mick was already strapping Preston into the brand-new booster he’d installed in the back of his Navigator.
“Aren’t you the perfect Boy Scout?” Ayla asked. “Always prepared. Are you trying to impress me? Because if you are, mission accomplished.”
“I don’t want there to be any mistaking my intentions, love,” Mick explained. “I’m in this all the way. Whatever you need from me, whatever Preston needs from me, I want to be there.”
Ayla leaned in close. “I need something from you. Very badly.”
Mick cocked his head and grinned. “Yeah?”
“That sweet mouth of yours, for starters.”
“And where would you like it, Ayla?”
“Everywhere,” Ayla replied, biting her bottom lip.
Mick’s nostrils flared and he had to adjust the hardening cock in his trunks, lest it pitch too obvious a tent. Before he could reply, Preston was banging on the window from inside Mick’s SUV. “It’s going to close! We have to go!”
“Is this typical?” Mick asked with a smile.
“Entirely, exhaustingly so,” Ayla answered.
“Excellent,” Mick answered with a wink. He fist-bumped the glass next to Preston, who did the same from his side, and within minutes they were Waveworks-bound.
21
“Amy, you don’t understand. They were inseparable. Preston would not leave Mick’s side. I might as well have not been there.”
When they got home from the water park, Preston was exhausted, and for the first time in years, asked if he could take a nap. Ayla took the opportunity to catch up with her sister regarding the events of the day.
“How cool is that?” Amy asked.
“Oh, beyond cool. Way past cool. I never even dreamed anything like this. They just laughed and played the entire time. It was amazing.”
“And the important question— how does he look in a swimsuit?”
“Well, come on Amy, I already know what pretty much every part of him looks like,” Ayla laughed. “But he was the sexiest dad there. By about a million miles. It’s like even his scars were strategically placed for maximum hotness. Preston asked Mick about one on his arm and he told him he got it fighting an orc. And he asked him if he knew what an orc was, and he didn’t, which Mick said was a tragedy and he said he wants to read the entire Lord of the Rings series with him and teach him about orcs and hobbits and elves.”
“When’s the big day?” Amy asked.
“It’s not like that,” Ayla insisted. “I mean, someday, maybe, hopefully, who knows? But it’s premature.”
“But if he proposed today?”
“You’re so weird,” a blushing Ayla replied.
“That’s a yes!”
“It’s not a no,” Ayla conceded.
Across town, Mick pulled into valet parking at Arroyo Place. A day in the blazing Las Vegas sun trying to keep up with the boundless energy of a six-year-old had left him exhausted.
Preston’s smile and laughter were like a drug, addictive sights and sounds he didn’t know how he’d ever lived without. They’d explored every inch of the park, riding all four waterslides, climbing all over the water-cannon-shooting pirate ship, ridden the lazy river, and battled the breakers in the wave pool. Mick knew he was in good shape, but Preston had tested the limits of his endurance. No matter how many times they plummeted down a slide, Preston always begged for “One more!” It was endless. And more fun than Mick Merryweather had had in ages. He made Ayla promise not to go again without checking with him to see if he was available.
And speaking of Ayla, Mick found her irresistible and mouth-watering in her blue one-piece.
When she first removed her wrap and he watched her move clad in just the curve-hugging blue Lycra, he shook his head in disbelief.
This was the woman he got to make love to? To fuck? Fortune had indeed smiled on him.
Seeing Ayla in a bathing suit for the first time moved Mick to recall a favorite piece of poetry, which he shared with her.
“Do you know Basho? He was a Japanese poet; he wrote a lot about Mount Fuji.”
“I… don’t think so. Should I?” Ayla asked.
“No, frankly I’d be surprised if you did. Sorry to ruin whatever impression you may have had of me, but I’m a secret nerd. Matsuo Basho is from the 1600s.”
Ayla watched Preston climb up the netting on the side of the pirate ship, braving water cannon fire as he did so.
“So what brings him to mind?”
Mick leaned in close. “Your ass.”
“You’re so bad!”
Mick recited his favorite Basho piece, from memory:
“Shrouded in the dense fog of late autumn rains –
Fuji is unseen for the day.
Intriguing!”
“You’re comparing my ass to a mountain?” Ayla asked.
“To the most beautiful mountain in the world!” Mick insisted. “What Basho is saying is that as majestic as Mount Fuji is, there’s something beautiful, and, to use his word, ‘intriguing’, about seeing it concealed by fog. Seeing only the fog, but knowing what lies beneath it. Your ass— your entire body, actually— strikes me the exact same way seeing you in that swimsuit. Not that I don’t want you completely naked again as soon as humanly possible, but you’re just so incredibly sexy like this. I don’t know why any other women bother.”
“You’re so silly,” Ayla replied. How was he even real?
Before long, Preston was screaming for Mick to join him in the assault on the pirate ship, bringing a temporary end to Mick and Ayla’s flirting, but not to their fun in the sun.
22
Bev Merryweather arrived late-morning Thursday, grumpy and complaining. Mick wouldn’t recognize his mother any other way.
“Bloody hell this place is even more awful than I expected.”
“It’s nice to see you, too, Mum,” Mick replied, leaving the airport and pulling out into Las Vegas traffic.
“Isn’t there anything green here?”
“Sure. Palm trees and cactus. And golf courses.”
“How can people live here?” Bev demanded.
“Air conditioning, Mum.”
“It’s just… this place is uncivilized. No wonder the Crown let the colonists keep it.”
“Well, there was actually a war, you know. The King didn’t exactly just walk away and leave the keys with the new tenants.”
“Feh. Where’s my grandson? You promised me a grandson.”
“I figured you might want to rest first. Maybe we’ll meet them for dinner. Before that we can talk about it. He doesn’t yet know I’m his father,” Mick explained.
“Well that’s complete rubbish,” Bev complained. “I came all this way, poked, prodded, and herded, to spend time with that boy. I’ve seen enough of you. Take me to him now.”
Mick tried to protest. “Let’s get you settled at my condo first.”
But his mother was having none of it. “I’m an old woman. Why do you want to break my heart? Just take me back to the airport if you don’t intend to let me see my grandson.”
Mick relented. “I’ll call Ayla and see what they’re doing. But mom, we talked about this, Preston doesn’t know yet. You can’t tell him. Ayla is his mother, and she wants to ease him into this transition. It’s a lot for a six-year-old.”
“Will her parents be there? I’ll need to meet them as well, if they’re going to be your in-laws.”
“Mum. Mum! We talked about this. No, you won’t be meeting her parents. Not today, anyway, or any day in the immediate future. And you get in-laws when you become married. Ayla and I are going slowly; there’s been no talk of marriage.”
Be
v fished around in her handbag, and produced a small box. She handed it to Mick as he drove.
“You’re a father. In my day, it was customary to be married to the mother of your child.” Mick flipped open the box, revealing a diamond ring. “It’s the ring your grandfather proposed to my mother with. You’ll use it with Ayla,” Bev commanded.
“When the time’s right,” Mick said. “We’ll see. Now, are you hungry?”
“What do you think?” Bev snapped. “On a plane for what seemed like bloody weeks on end with nothing to eat but pretzels?”
“Fine,” Mick surrendered. “I’ll call Ayla, maybe they’ll meet us for an early lunch.”
Ayla had just been hanging out with Preston, thinking of going to Mojave Pointe Park. When Ayla mentioned meeting up with Mick at the Green Valley Ranch Station buffet, however, Preston forgot all about the splash pad.
Twenty-five minutes later, the three of them converged in line at the buffet. Preston swung from Mick’s forearm like it was a jungle gym. Bev had gone off “to the loo.”
Bev was returning from the bathroom when she spotted Preston for the first time. She stopped dead in her tracks as if she’d seen a ghost.
Mick noticed her standing with a hand covering her open mouth, eyes wide.
“Mum!” Mick called out to her. “Over here.”
Ayla put a hand over her mouth and fought back tears. The raw emotion on Bev’s face hit Ayla like a gut punch. Preston, blissfully unaware of what was transpiring around him, imitated a monkey as he swung from one of Mick’s powerful arms to the other.
Ayla moved first, walking the short distance to where Mick’s mother stood. She offered a hand. “Hello, Mrs. Merryweather? I’m delighted to meet you, I’m Ayla.”
Bev made no move to shake Ayla’s hand, but she spoke, quietly. “It’s just like seeing Mickey as a little boy. Saints preserve us.” She turned to make brief eye contact with Ayla, then returned her gaze to monkey boy Preston.