Live-In Position

by V. S. Tice

  I set the tray down and stepped back. Victoria thought I was leaving again.

  “Don’t leave me, Mommy,” she cried out and wrapped her arms around my legs. Her cast bit into the side of my thigh.

  “Mommy?!” Grace stood from the chair with an anger-flushed face. “You are not her mother. I am!”

  I opened my mouth, but Victoria unburied her head from my body and turned on Grace.

  “No, you aren’t!” she cried. “Sophia is the best mommy I could ever ask for! Why don’t you just go be with your new baby and leave me alone?”

  In a flash of red hair, Victoria ran from the room. The slam of her bedroom door floated down around us. Grace cleared her throat, bringing my attention back to her.

  “I suppose I should go.” She walked to the closet and retrieved her coat. She was slipping into it when she spoke again. “Tell Collin I’ll call him to discuss visiting our daughter next Friday.”

  “Next Friday will be fine.” I forced a smile.

  “Hmm, yes, well I would much rather discuss it with Collin. You know, parent to parent,” she sneered.

  “Yes, well I can assure you that Collin will agree with my approval for next Friday.” I pulled open the door for her to leave.

  Just when I thought I was rid of her, she turned back around in the doorway.

  “Tell Collin I’ll call him later.” She smiled wide and then finally left.

  I slammed the door and screamed before climbing the stairs to check on Victoria.

  Collin called five times while he was away. I couldn’t stomach talking about Grace so I told him the edited version with a promise to discuss it in more detail when he came back.

  Tuesday afternoon, as I drove Victoria to her dance class, my phone rang. Victoria pulled it out of my purse for me and answered.

  “Mommy’s phone,” she giggled. I laughed and shook my head. “Hi, Daddy,” she squealed happily. “Uh-huh, yep, we’re on our way to dance class,” she groaned the last two words. “Okay, hold on.” She extended her arm with the phone in her hand. “Daddy wants to talk to you.”

  I brought the phone to my ear and held it with my shoulder.

  “Hello?”

  “I’ve missed the sound of your voice.”

  “You just spoke with me last night.”

  “So?” he challenged. “When will the two of you be home?”

  “We’re just pulling up to the studio and her lesson lasts about an hour so I would say no longer than an hour and a half.”

  He groaned.

  “What?”

  “That’s too long. I miss you.” His voice dropped to a husky whisper.

  “I missed you too.” Victoria made gagging sounds from behind me and I had to fight from laughing. “We’ll have time together after dinner and—”

  “After dinner?” he grumbled. “I don’t want to wait that long.”

  “Sorry, but dinner is sort of necessary.” I pulled into a spot and parked the car. “Hey, we’re here so I need to get her inside. I will let you know when we are leaving, okay?”

  “Okay. Sophia?”

  “Yes?”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” We hung up. I scrambled to get Victoria out of the car. Once inside the dressing room, I had to fight with her leotard sleeve to get it over her cast.

  “My arm is itchy,” she whined.

  “I know, I’m sorry. You won’t have the cast for too much longer.”

  She groaned and hurried off to the studio room. I took a seat in the waiting area and read over the book contract for the third time. I only had two more days before it had to be returned to the publisher. My nerves felt like there were firecrackers exploding at the ends.

  Victoria’s lesson seemed to go by quickly, having been distracted by all the legal terminology in the contract. Even with the help of the legal dictionary I bought, I was still unclear about a few things. I shoved the contract into my purse after deciding to call Mr. Stark for clarification.

  “My arm is still itchy,” Victoria whined from the back seat.

  “We’ll try to figure something out, okay?”

  She nodded and blew out a frustrated sigh. For the rest of the drive, she stared out the window at the passing scenery. When we arrived home, she hopped down from the car and ran to the door.

  “Slow down, you’ll slip!” I grabbed her bags and my purse from the car before following her.

  Upon entering the house, the smell of Italian food filled the air. I furrowed my brow and walked toward the kitchen, dropping the bags next to the stairs along the way. Multiple silver foil containers were spread out on the counters.

  “Dinner’s ready.” Collin sat with his newspaper at the table already set for three. I raised a brow at him.

  “Now you don’t have to cook.” He winked and stood from his seat.

  I shook my head. “You’re that impatient?” I teased.

  “I prefer the word…anxious.” His arms wrapped around my waist and his lips met mine. I embraced his broad shoulders and kissed him back. A small giggle pulled us from our musings.

  “Go wash your hands, okay?”

  She ran off as I pulled myself from Collin’s embrace. He reluctantly let go. Opening some containers, I began to serve the food. Victoria returned with freshly washed hands, and the three of us sat eating linguini, meatballs, salad, and fresh baked Italian rolls.

  Our conversation revolved around Victoria’s classes and extracurricular activities. I was pleased at the effort Collin made in the past months to learn about Victoria and to take an active role in her life. After we finished eating, Victoria went to take a shower, while I cleaned up the dishes. Collin appeared next to me with a dishtowel in his hand.

  “Are you ready to tell me about Grace’s visit?”

  I shrugged. “Sure.”

  “Well?”

  “Oh, um, well…there was a little tension, of course.”

  “Tension?” He began drying the dishes and putting them in the cabinets.

  “Yeah, Victoria isn’t too happy about being a big sister. I kind of thought she would be since she was asking for—”

  “A what?!” Collin choked.

  Oh crap!

  “Ooh, I guess I should’ve started with – Grace is pregnant.” I frowned at his ghostly facial expression. I knew it was irrational, but a part of me was hurt that he was so affected by this discovery. Was he completely over Grace?

  “To whom?” he croaked and cleared his throat. He seemed to be acting a little too nonchalant all of a sudden.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged, “though she did throw out a jab about it being yours.” I awaited his reaction.

  “She what?” he exclaimed and looked at me.

  I nodded and shrugged.

  “You realize that’s impossible, right?” He set the plate in his hand on the counter and wrapped his arms around my waist.

  I nodded again.

  “Sophia?” He eyed me. “You don’t look like you believe me.”

  “I do, but you seem awfully affected by the fact that she’s pregnant,” I blurted out without thinking.

  He smiled slyly. “Are you jealous?” His eyes went from pleading to amusement.

  “No,” I spat and tried to pull away to rinse more dishes. He wouldn’t let go.

  “I like that you’re jealous.”

  “I’m not jealous,” I grumbled the lie.

  He chuckled and kissed me deeply, which caught me off guard. Too soon, his lips left mine.

  “Please tell me you understand how much you mean to me?” He cupped my face keeping me from looking away.

  “I know,” I whispered, still attempting to twist my head from his hold.

  “No.” His sternness fixed my blue eyes to his green. “There is no other person, besides Victoria, that has ever meant to me what you do. You are more than I ever knew was out there and I’ll never give you up, at least not without one hell of a fight.”

  My heart fluttered rapidly a
nd butterflies filled my stomach at his words. I had never felt like this. To know how much he loved me, as I did him, was breathtakingly beautiful.

  I covered his hands, which were still on the sides of my face, with my own and leaned up to kiss him. His phone rang and I hesitated, but he pulled me in the rest of the way. The kisses we shared in the past had ranged from sweet, passionate, intense, even urgently raw. This kiss was fulfilling.

  Pulling apart was difficult to do, but I needed to check on Victoria and get her ready for bed. With a promise to hurry back to him, I left the kitchen. He finished the dishes for me.

  Victoria was already in her pajamas when I arrived with her backpack and dance bag. Her hair was brushed and she had a ruler stuck down inside her cast.

  “Hey, hey, no way.” I grabbed the ruler and pulled it away.

  “But it’s so itchy!” She threw herself back onto the bed.

  I thought about the time when I was twelve and had broken my leg during a dare to climb a tree at the park. Quickly, I remembered the trick my nurse had given to me. I retrieved the hair dryer from under Victoria’s sink and brought it near her bed. She looked at me curiously when I plugged it in.

  “Are you going to blow dry my hair?” She was still shoving her fingers inside the cast, trying to ease the irritation. I shook my head.

  “Come here. We are going to use a trick that worked for me.”

  She stood slowly and then picked up the pace to get closer.

  “You broke your arm too?” Her eyes looked to me with curiosity.

  “Not my arm, my leg. I fell out of tree.” I crinkled up my face at the memory.

  I set the hair dryer on the cool setting and flipped it on with my thumb. Once I was sure it was cool enough, I used my index finger to pull the cast from her skin to allow the air to get inside.

  “I don’t think it’s going to—” She stopped suddenly, her eyes widening. “Oh my gosh, it feels better already!” Her bright white smile met mine.

  Following her sweet relief, we climbed onto her bed and began reading. We were midway through a chapter when Collin entered her room. I paused, but he motioned for me to continue. He slipped onto the bed next to us. Victoria yawned once at the end of the chapter and was asleep by the end of the next. Collin and I quietly stepped from her room and walked to ours.

  THE NEXT MORNING I was exiting the bathroom when I was stopped in my tracks by the sight before me.

  Collin lay face down on the bed with only a light gray sheet covering his waist and thighs. My eyes took in the pale-toned planes of his back and followed his sculpted arms that disappeared under the pillow where his mussed-up head lay. My body shivered with want. I bit back a groan and used all the willpower I had to go to Victoria. Thankfully she didn’t fight too much with the morning routine and we managed to get to school without having to rush around. On the way back, I stopped and grabbed some groceries.

  Back at the house, I put the groceries away and then went upstairs to shower. I entered the bedroom and was surprised to find Collin sitting at the small desk he had moved into the room for me.

  He glanced up from some papers when I walked in. His brow wrinkled and then he sighed. I tensed up for a moment because he didn’t look pleased.

  “What are you doing?” I eyed the papers to try to get a glimpse of them.

  “Waiting for you to tell me about this.” He held up the contract for my book.

  I remembered the last time this was brought up and cringed at the thought of another argument. And dear Lord, not that you’re listening to me anymore, please do not let him ask if I told my father about us.

  Chapter Thirty

  “I WAS GOING to tell you about it,” I spoke carefully. There was something that was bothering me though. Approaching slowly, I built up the nerve to ask.

  “Did you go through my stuff?” My eyes narrowed a little in accusation.

  “I saw the papers on your desk when I walked toward my closet. They caught my attention. I wasn’t purposely prying.” He took a deep breath.

  I nodded slowly, unsure if I should believe him or not. I decided it was time for a leap of faith.

  “Any chance you understand all the legal mumbo-jumbo in there? I’m still not completely clear on the whole thing.”

  He perked up immediately. “I get the gist of the document, but I could fax a copy to my attorney to have it looked over.” His eyes looked to mine wearily. “If you would like?”

  “That would be very helpful. Thank you.”

  A couple of strides and he had me in his arms. “No, thank you, Sophia.” His kiss was filled with a mixture of relief and love. During the kiss, I realized we had conquered one hurdle. It was a small one, but it was an accomplishment for us.

  Collin’s lawyer contacted me later that day since it was “a basic contract.” I wanted to blow a raspberry into the receiver at him. Not all of us spent years studying and working with legal crap.

  He told me, in summary, the contract gave them the rights to publish and market the book; it contracted me to participate in marketing and physical appearances; it included a clause promising the second installment of the book within two years. I would receive eight thousand dollars for the book, sign over ninety percent of the royalties to the publisher, and would be compensated for travel.

  The lawyer instructed me not to sign without negotiating the royalty portion. Another lawyer in his office, Janet Marcum, handled actor contracts and stated that the percentage I was receiving was too low, even for a first novel. He offered to have Janet give me a call to discuss marking up the contract and making mutually agreed upon changes. I thanked him and was surprised to receive a call from her just a few hours later.

  She wanted to push for twenty percent of the royalties, but we compromised at fifteen percent figuring I would still only get around ten. Janet also suggested I request they add a clause that allows for renegotiation of contractual terms for the second book.

  I asked her to send me the revised contract, but instead, she asked for Fine Print Publishing’s information so she could send them a fax and a letter directly from her office. Janet had serious skills and I wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity. I was also pretty sure she would be my lawyer going forward.

  The remainder of the week went by without a word from Fine Print Publishing. Worried that my contractual changes had deterred their interest, my stomach twisted when an unknown phone number flashed on my cell.

  “Hello?” Nervousness cracked my voice.

  “Soph?” My father’s voice was filled with concern.

  “Oh, Dad, it’s you.”

  “Jeesh, way to make your dear old dad feel loved, kid,” he chuckled.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way, I swear.”

  He laughed. “I know.”

  “How are you?”

  “I’m doing well. How are you? Who were you so anxious to hear from?”

  I told him all about the publisher and the book and felt a twinge of guilt for not mentioning Collin. When the conversation switched to him and Carla, I didn’t interject. Instead, I jumped off the couch when he said they were getting married this weekend.

  “This weekend?” I choked out.

  “I know it’s soon, but I think we both just feel like—” he sounded worried by my reaction.

  “No, no, it’s wonderful Dad. I, well, it’s just that I want to be there.” I whined, I’ll admit it.

  “Oh, well, we’re just going to go to the JP to do the civil ceremony thing. It’s not a—”

  “If you say it’s not a big deal I’ll kick your butt the next time I see you! This is huge, Dad.” Then I finally grew a pair. “Besides, I wanted to tell you some news of my own and this will be a great way to—”

  “You aren’t pregnant, are you?”

  “No!” I shrieked. “But I, um, I am engaged.”

  “What? When? To whom? How long have you been seeing someone without me knowing him?”

  “Calm down.” I took
a deep breath. “This is going to be slightly awkward, but just wait till I’m finished. Okay?”

  Silence.

  “Dad?”

  “I’m waiting till you’re finished, but you better hurry up.”

  I laughed, shook my head, and then began my tale of “The Nanny Who Was Seduced by the Antichrist.” Okay, I didn’t really tell that tale, but I gave him the run down on my current relationship. He remained silent after I finished.

  “You didn’t have a heart attack, did you?” I forced a chuckle, an attempt to kill the silence.

  “Sophia, are you sure about this? I mean, does he love you?”

  “Yes, Dad. I’m sure.” His concern warmed me.

  “You aren’t just playing along to keep your job, to make Victoria happy, or something like that, right?”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” I defended.

  He sighed heavily. “As long as you’re happy and he treats you well, then I’m happy for you. Just remember that if he messes up, I have a gun.”

  They would have to be silver bullets filled with holy water to kill the Antichrist, I thought, and then started laughing hysterically.

  Before we hung up, he questioned me two more times about Collin and made plans for me to drive to Tacoma Saturday morning so I could be with them when they got married. I left to pick up Victoria and prepared to tell Collin I would be leaving this weekend. Since he still had issues about me leaving for any reason, I wasn’t looking forward to the conversation. I told Victoria about my upcoming trip on the ride home from school.

  “Who is going to take care of me?” Her brow creased.

  “You’re kidding, right?” I asked her in disbelief. She shrugged. “Why in the world would you think you aren’t going with me?”

  “I get to see Pawpaw and Carla?” I smiled at her excitement.

  “Well, I have to talk with your dad, but I think he’ll be okay with it.” Glancing into the rearview mirror, I watched Victoria grin widely.