by Aubrey Cara
“Aren’t you supposed to wear a hairnet or something? Not that I’m complaining. You look adorable with your short curls mussed and flour on your cheek and chin.”
She used an arm to wipe at her face. He chuckled deep in his throat, sending a pang of awareness straight to her feminine parts. He gently took her face and turned it toward him. He dabbed at her cheek and chin with a stray towel before slowly leaning in.
He made her wait a pulse before covering her mouth completely with a devastatingly hungry kiss. She didn’t even think about the flour or dough on her hands as she wrapped them around his neck. He lifted her by the waist, and her legs wrapped around his hips on their own accord as he backed her on to the work table. He leaned her partially back before he tore his mouth off hers, breathing hard. Leaning his forehead against hers, he placed his hands on the table next to her hips.
She lightly traced her fingers over his face and mouth. She didn’t know if she was trying to soothe him or herself. She was just making herself hungry for more of him. She felt slightly out of breath and she could hear her own heart beating.
He gave her a light kiss. “I don’t know how you do that to me,” he said. “I meant to come over here and ask you to dinner, maybe a stroll around the neighborhood afterward. Just you and me. Now, I would like to take off your clothes and take you with nothing but your little apron on.”
She thought the latter sounded like heaven, but latched on to the first part. “Dinner, really?”
“I warn you, Steven and I will be cooking, but yes it will be dinner. Meatloaf to be specific. It’s one of the few things I know how to cook in the oven.”
“Dinner sounds nice,” she said, but she was still staring at his mouth, fingering his stubble and the little indent on his chin.
“You’re going to kill me before the week is out. Be at my place at seven.” Gesturing his hands over her body he continued, “The kid will be there. Remember to cover all this with something PG. On second thought, wear something unrated and I’ll send Steven away for the night.”
She playfully pinched his arm. “I’ll wear jeans and a t-shirt, and I will see both of you at seven.”
He gave her one more mind numbing kiss before pulling away growling. “See you at seven,” he said as he untangled himself from her legs she hadn’t realized she had wrapped around his waist. She watched the play of his shoulders and butt as he walked toward the back exit. Only then did she notice the smears, smudges, and hand-prints of flour she had left behind on the butt and shoulders of his uniform, not to mention in the back of his hair. She called out, but it was too late he was already gone. She guessed he’d figure it out on his own.
She blew out a long breath. She sat on the table for a minute, finally able to get some much needed oxygen to her brain. Feeling a tingle of awareness, she slightly turned her head and was startled to see no less than six faces staring back at her. The window separating the back from the front was open, and guessing by their varying expressions, it had been all the while.
Kat was visibly shaking from suppressed laughter and shot Delia two thumbs up before Sally smacked her on the arm. Sally wore a reproachful frown, not that Delia could blame her. She had just been making out on Sally’s work space, in her bakery. Old Peg stood tearing chunks off a pastry, popping them into her mouth, and looked for the entire world to be eating popcorn, watching a show, eyebrows raised ready for the next act.
Next to Peg was her beau Ole Milburn, his wrinkly old face lit up from within like a jack-o-lantern with his toothy grin. Probably excited to go down to the station to recount, in exaggerated detail, why Captain Forrester was covered in flour. A lone customer stood next to Ole Milburn. Seemed he'd been waiting to be served but got held up while everyone watched her and Jake's impromptu performance. She groaned, turning three shades of red.
The desire to crawl under the table and hide the most came when she saw Steven's face. He wore an open mouthed look of shock and wonder. Steven broke the silence. “So does this mean you’re my dad’s girlfriend?”
She groaned again, slowly slinking down from the table. Steven sounded very hopeful and she didn’t know how she felt about that.
*** ***
Delia was nervous. She knew it was silly, but she couldn’t help it. She was pretty sure this was their first date. Plus she had been thinking about Steven’s question all day. Was she Jake's girlfriend? She hadn’t been anyone's girlfriend since high school. How was she supposed to know how adults made these things official? For all their kissing and naked kissing, they still hadn’t gotten to the 'getting to know each other' part. Thinking about it she figured they were kind of going at their relationship backwards, in which case she would be his girlfriend.
Still she didn’t feel like a girlfriend...not that she really knew what a twenty-nine-year-old woman dating a man with an eleven-year-old should feel like.
Taking one last look at herself in the mirror over the bathroom sink, she ran a hand over her curls and straightened her dress. Jeans and t-shirt had seemed too casual. She wanted to feel feminine and pretty so she had pulled out her one sundress. She had ordered it out of a catalog years ago and never worn it. She fell in love with it on sight. It was light and airy, with a skirt that almost came down to her knees, and swooshed around when she walked. There were buttons down the front to the waist, and it was covered in a multicolored print of tiny flowers. The neckline came down in a V, showing a hint of her small cleavage, but if she bent over just right you could see all the way down the front. Smearing on pale pink lip gloss she stepped into her flat sandals, ready as she was going to get.
The two steps it took to get from the bathroom to the front door she tripped over one of Kat’s shoes and groaned. She almost wished she could stay home and catch up on her sleep while Kat was at Macy and Sally’s eating dinner. She was not looking forward to another sleepless night. Locking the door, she headed out to walk the few blocks to Jake's.
One block away she nervously checked to make sure no one was around and sniffed her underarms to make sure she was still fresh. She couldn’t remember if she put on deodorant. She breathed into her hand, trying to sniff her own breath.
She stopped less half a block from his house, stalling. It wasn’t too late to turn back. She gave herself a mental shake and squared her shoulders. She made it all the way up his front steps repeating, “You can do this, you can do this, you can do this,” before turning and going back down the stairs.
She did this, going up the stairs and back down, three times before actually making it to the door. Wiping her sweaty palms down the front of her dress, she locked her feet in place. Willing herself not to run, she quickly knocked before she could chicken out.
*** ***
Steven and Jake watched through the window as Del went up the stairs and back down the stairs, muttering to herself the entire time.
“What she doin' Dad?”
“I think she’s working up her nerve.”
“Why?”
“It’s her process.”
She finally made it to the door and gave it a quick knock. The guys scrambled away from the window. Steven ran to open the door before Jake shooed him away. He gave a sigh of relief as she walked in, acknowledging the worry he felt after seeing her debate whether or not to stay or flee.
He tried to find his tongue as his mind processed and registered Del in a summer dress. She looked so damn innocent and sexy he had to will his blood back to his brain, wishing Steven was miles away.
*** ***
She had finally made it inside and couldn’t help but fidget under Jake's dumb stare. “Hi, um, it was too hot to walk here in jeans. I thought this would be cooler. Still PG13, but cooler,” she said, nervously fingering her skirt.
Jake grinned, seeming to come back to himself. Smiling his way too handsome grin, he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. Taking her hand, he gave her a little twirl before pulling her in for a quick hard kiss to the mouth.“I like PG-13. You look perfect,�
�� Jake said grinning down at her.
“Hey, break it up you two. Dinner’s ready.” Steven called this out from the kitchen, making Del laugh and Jake scowl. They walked into the kitchen as Steven set the table.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Jake said, gesturing to the plethora of food on the stove and counter. “I learned to cook at the ranch and haven’t really learned how to scale back on portion sizes. The good thing is I only have to cook once a week and Steven and I can live off the leftovers for a while.”
She was relieved to hear that, she was a bit overwhelmed at the sight of so much food. Her stomach was still in a knot, and she wasn’t sure how much she could eat, even though everything smelled delicious. Jake had outdone himself. He had cooked the meatloaf as earlier mentioned, but he also made mashed potatoes, butter beans, creamed corn, stewed tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and cornbread. There was enough food there for ten people.
Grabbing plates, they served themselves. They sat down with Jake at the head of the table, she to his right, and Steven across from her to Jake's left. She asked about the ranch, as way of starting conversation, as she nervously picked at her food.
Jake and Steven happily talked about the large spread in Texas. With love and pride in their voices, it was obvious they missed it.
Steven started a story he said was told better by his granddad. It involved Jake and his ‘Uncle’ Caleb coming home late one night, only to decide to try to ride one of the steers like they were in the rodeo. She would love to hear Jake's father’s recounting, sure that the boys had to have been drunk as skunks.
Jake just chuckled. “That heifer took two plodding steps and your Uncle Caleb fell over the side of it right into a pile of manure. My mama made us muck out the stalls in the stable for a month after that. The ranch hands that usually did it still got paid for it even though we were the ones doing it for them. They loved us! Happily bought us beer, trying to talk us into doing it again.”
From all of Jake and Steven’s stories growing up on a ranch sounded wonderful, even with all the work and chores. It made her think how sad and lonely her own childhood had been.
So how about you Del, what was your childhood like?” Steve asked innocently. He probably figured after talking so much it was now her turn, but she didn’t have anything exciting or particularly funny to recount from her childhood.
She said the first thing she could think of. “Quiet, my childhood was quiet. Nothing as exciting as growing up on a ranch in Texas.”
That was all true, but what she really remembered from her childhood was how lonely she had been. The lonely girl that had to pray everyday so she didn’t end up like her sinful mama. Southern Baptist had a way of drumming in the sins of the mother fell to her child to repent. She was a quiet helpful child that never got into mischief, which wasn’t much of a childhood at all. Sensing her discomfort, Jake quickly changed the subject and the conversation moved on.
She told the guys about Macy and Kat’s hair pulling sister fight, and Kat moving into the studio. By the end of the story Jake was laughing, but Steven's eyes were big.
“But your place is tiny!” exclaimed Steven.
“I know,” she said. “There’s no escaping the chipmunk sounds Kat makes in her sleep.” She went on to try to emulate the snore and snick, snick, snick sound Kat made every night, drawing laughter from both the guys.
*** ***
They cleared the table. Del helped put everything away. Steven getting put on dishes duty.
“Oh man.” Steven said.
“I expect everything to be done when we get back.”
“Whatever.”
Del wore a little smile as she stacked the last of the leftover containers in the fridge. She seemed to be enjoying the evening more now, and Jake hoped she was starting to feel less self conscious. He had seen the sad look that crossed her face when asked about her childhood. He hoped that a walk, just the two of them, would get her to open up so he could put a couple more of the puzzle pieces of Delia Myers together.
Walking down the front steps, he offered her his hand palm up. She hesitated, just looking at his out stretched hand for so long he almost took it back, but then she quickly took it. Her small hand was engulfed in his large one. The beaming smile she sent his way when she finally took his hand hit Jake, knocking the air out of him. She had a way of making him forget all thoughts or reasoning. He didn’t want to reflect too deeply on her effect on him or what it meant. He was sure it would scare the crap out of him if he did.
They strolled in silence for a full minute before he started talking. “Why are you so nervous Del?”
She whipped around, looking at him askance.“Nervous? I’m not nervous. Why would you think I was nervous?”
He chuckled. “My mistake. I don’t know what gave me that impression.” They started walking again, lightly swinging their arms, still linked at the hands.
“Okay, I was nervous. I still am a little.”
“At least now I know it wasn’t my cooking that kept you from eating.”
“I was hoping you didn’t notice that.” They were quiet another minute before she said, “After you left this morning I discovered a small crowd watching us kiss. Steven asked me if I was your girlfriend. I wasn’t even sure if this was a date. I don’t know how to date as an adult. I haven’t been a girlfriend, or out on a date, since I was a teenager Jake, and that feels like a million years ago.”
“I knew about the crowd. Ole Milburn came by the station. I didn’t realize why all the guys were chuckling all afternoon until I went to the bathroom to take a leak and caught my reflection in the mirror over the sink.”
She winced, “Sorry about that. I hope they didn’t razz you too bad over it.”
“Wasn’t so bad. Not after Milburn came in and gave a rather flattering accounting of me almost ripping your clothes off and taking you on the worktable at the bakery. After that I got more than a few ‘atta boys’ and pats on the back. I think if anything, it raised my manly credibility.” He puffed out his chest, putting a swagger in his walk when he said “manly credibility” and was rewarded by her laughing.
He gave some thought to what he was going to say next. He wanted her to know he cared without scaring her off. “I think this is a date of sorts, and I’ve always considered you my own wily fox to catch. Calling you my girlfriend would only make it official.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Now he was the one feeling like a teenager. “You don’t plan on dating anyone else, do you?”
She giggled shaking her head ‘no,' making him smile. “Good, I know we’ve been going about all this a little backwards.”
“I had been thinking the same thing!”
“You’ve already been naked underneath me and I don’t know much of anything about you. Not that I’m complaining, but I do want to know you Del. The woman behind that cute little birthmark on your belly.” She put her free hand to her stomach to self-consciously touch the little spot in question. “I saw you clam up about your childhood. Was it really so bad?”
She seemed to contemplate that for a minute before answering. “No, not that bad, it just wasn’t that good either. It could have been worse. And wouldn't have taken much to be better. I was in and out of foster homes for most of my life. That wasn’t the best experience. Where we lived, it was pretty rural. Usually the folks that took me in were trying to save my soul so I didn’t end up like my mama. My mother was, and still is, a raging drunk. She wasn’t a mean drunk, per say, she just wasn’t there. I was little when she started leaving me for days at a time. I probably wasn't more than four or five. I walked to the neighbors one day and asked for food. That's when I first got put into the foster care system.”
“And your dad?” Jake asked.
“I have no idea who my father is. I don’t think my mother does either.”
His heart pinched. She had gotten a raw deal growing up for sure. He wanted to wrap up the child she had been and carry her to a safe and happy place. One thing confused him tho
ugh. “So your mom’s husband isn’t your dad? I just naturally assumed your dad would be the same guy your mom’s been married to for thirty years.”
She stopped walking. She stood frozen in place. All the color had bled from her face and she looked like she had seen a ghost.
“Del, what’s the matter? What’s wrong?”
“Why did you say that? Why would you think my mother was married? My mother's never been married.”
He had researched her and her background, when he was looking for her three months ago. He had quickly found her address, but a few things popped up when he searched for her. Including her birth record, with both her parents name on it. It clearly showed her parents were indeed married, at least at the time of Del's birth. He could be wrong. Her mother could have made something up, but he thought this was a conversation they shouldn’t have on the side of the road.
“Del, haven’t you ever seen your birth certificate?”
“No, my mother said she lost it. We moved a lot when I was little.”
“The mind boggles on how you got moved around in foster homes no less, registered for school and got a drivers license, without a birth certificate.”
She shrugged. “Small town?”
“Maybe, or your mother is hiding something. Let’s go back to the house. There’s something I think you should see.”
*** ***
Delia’s head was spinning. In front of her was Jake’s laptop, opened up to a page that clearly displayed a copy of her birth certificate and hospital record of her birth. She had been born in Savannah, Georgia, at Memorial Hospital, twenty-nine years ago, to Tammy Priscilla Myers and her husband Thomas Scott Myers.
She had no idea she had been born in Georgia. She'd always assumed she had been born in the area of South Carolina, where she had grown up. What she really couldn’t wrap her mind around was the idea that her mother was married and she had a father. She kept saying the name, rolling her tongue over it, trying to link familiarity to it, but there was none. She had no memory of the presence or even the mention of a man named Tom, Thomas, or even a Tommy.