MOTY (The Lady Kingpin Series Book 1)

by J Hoffman

  “Well, was it easy?”

  Natalee shrugged, “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Cool.”

  “Did you have fun?”

  “Yeah, he’s really cool. He gave me some baseball cards. He said the players weren’t very good, but I have to start somewhere. So, he’s going to help me start a collection.”

  “I didn’t realize you liked baseball that much.”

  “I don’t but he makes it sound cool.”

  “Cool,” Natalee echoed.

  After she knew Jonah was occupied, she headed into the basement and started hauling the boxes of decorations up the steps. She started to hang the garland around the staircase, and the border of the large doorways. She lined lights from the foyer to the hallway and even hung their stockings on their perfect mantle.

  All the inside trinkets were set up in less than an hour. Even with rearranging a few things, Natalee seemed to enjoy this setup more than previous years. She was just about to drag the tree up the steps when her phone rang, and it was Judah.

  “Hey gorgeous, how are you?”

  “I just landed in Cleveland and the weather is so bad up here. I might not make it home tonight, but if I do, it’ll be late.”

  “Seriously?” Natalee suddenly felt defeated.

  “Yeah, I didn’t expect it to be as bad as it is. They should’ve canceled the departing flight, but I think it just hit out of nowhere.”

  “That really sucks. I made dinner again.”

  “Already? It’s not even three o’clock.”

  “It’s in the crockpot.”

  “You have a crockpot?”

  “It was still in the box,” she giggled.

  He chuckled quietly and Natalee felt her heart flutter for a moment. “You’re something else, wife.”

  “I love you, please be safe.”

  “I love you so much, I’ll be home as soon as I can, baby.”

  Natalee hung up and switched her attention to laundry. She collected all the dirty laundry in the house and started sorting it into lights and darks. Jonah continued to occupy himself for most of the next couple hours and Natalee was grateful she got to put a nice dent into the house cleaning.

  Closer to six o’clock, Natalee texted Judah to find out if he knew anything about his return trip yet. He said he was taking the next flight out and the weather had died down significantly. If he could get out of Ohio before the next major snowfall, which was already well on its way, he would have a smooth flight after that.

  She wished him luck, sent him kisses, and reminded him that she loved him more than words could ever possibly express. She was more than grateful for his existence and what he did to take care of her and their family.

  Instead of making Jonah wait for his father, Natalee served him his roast beef on a nice thick baguette she had grabbed at the last minute at the store. She taught him how to dip it into the au jus and added melted cheese and sautéed onions to the top of the sandwich. Jonah gobbled up three small sandwiches and finished his soup in a few big gulps.

  He thanked his mother and bolted back to his room, not concerned with anything else, or even the Christmas decorations she had set up that day. Natalee let him be and made herself comfortable in the living room, waiting for her husband to arrive home. She left the crockpot on low and made a mental note that it was by far, the easiest appliance to cook with to her knowledge, to date.

  Judah walked through the door shortly before nine o’clock. Natalee could see the exhaustion on his face the moment she laid eyes on him. He groaned taking off his coat, and his hand fell as he removed his hat.

  “Everything okay, babe?” Natalee met him at the door.

  “That flight was pretty rough.”

  “You made it, though!” Natalee encouraged.

  “Yeah, but it felt like only barely. The turbulence messed my back up. Do you think you can schedule me a massage for the morning?”

  “Of course. I made dinner if you’re hungry.”

  Judah moaned as he rubbed his stomach, “I’m fucking starving.”

  Natalee chuckled, heading into the kitchen to make him a plate. She sautéed more onion and melted his favorite cheese, pepper jack, on top. She made him three little sandwiches and brought him a bowl of onion soup to dip. Then, she started making her own plate. She opted for only two sandwiches, but the same melted cheese over onions. She sat down next to him at the dining room table and he was already a sandwich and a half into his meal.

  “Whoa, must be good,” Natalee joked.

  He nodded and grumbled something inaudible between mouthfuls.

  She dipped her sandwich, letting it soak for a moment, softening up the crispy bread. The moment she took the first bite she knew she killed it. Probably the best meal she had ever cooked, and it only took about twenty minutes of her time that morning. Minus the time to pick up the onion and the bread, of course.

  The next day, Natalee continued her normal regimen and was happy to find herself well energized by the time Jonah needed to make it to school. On the way to the building, Natalee heard a familiar beat on the radio. She tapped the steering wheel to the beat and turned up the volume with her thumb.

  Jonah looked at her strangely, “You seem to be in a good mood.”

  Natalee sang loudly to “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones.

  Jonah rolled his eyes, “You can stop.”

  She ignored him and whistled along to the chorus.

  Jonah held his hand up, “Stop it.”

  Natalee yelled the last line as she leaned closer to him, drumming on the steering wheel. As they pulled into the parking lot, Jonah worked furiously trying to find the volume button on the touch screen radio. Finally, he gave in and just hit the power button, causing the touch screen to shut down, and retract back into its little hiding spot. That was always Jonah’s favorite part of the car, but this time it couldn’t retract fast enough. He couldn’t afford for anyone to see his mother acting that way in public. He rubbed his cheeks, trying to hide the blushing.

  “Oh, come on, you used to love that song!”

  “Yeah, like two years ago, Mom. Geez.”

  Natalee rolled her eyes, “Like that was so long ago.”

  “Long enough,” Jonah grumbled as he jumped out of the car, bolting for the front doors without looking back.

  Natalee chuckled as she leaned over the center console and pulled the passenger door shut all the way.

  A tap at her window startled her, but she was relieved to see Liz standing on the other side. Natalee rolled down the window happily, “Hey! How have you been?”

  “Not too bad! How about yourself?”

  “I’m doing pretty good,” Natalee nodded, “Pretty good.”

  “That’s awesome. So, listen,” Liz put her elbows on the door and leaned her head on her hands. “Chris will be back in town on Friday. He’s going to surprise the kids at school so don’t say anything to Jonah. But besides that, we’re getting a sitter for all five on Saturday night and I want to do a double date! Do you think Judah can get work off at least for a few hours?”

  Natalee chewed the inside of her cheek, contemplating. “I can ask him, but I don’t think either one of us could guarantee it, ya know?”

  Liz nodded, “Oh, for sure! I understand. Just let me know, okay?”

  “Yeah, definitely! That sounds exciting. How long will he be home for this time?”

  Liz shrugged, “As long as he doesn’t get called in, he could be home up to three months.”

  “That’s awesome! Are you excited? I bet you’re excited.”

  Liz nodded slowly, “Yeah, but he never stays home that long. He usually gets called in about two weeks after getting home. As soon as we all get used to having him home again. There he goes...” her voice trailed off and she sighed.

  Natalee frowned, “I’m sorry Liz, I know that has to be hard.”

  Liz pulled away and tapped the inside of the door. “Alright, well, I’ll get in touch
with you later about that date, okay?”

  She nodded, “Yeah, definitely, I’ll let you know what I find out!”

  Natalee headed home, listening to her phone dinging the entire way. Once she was safely in the drive, she glanced at her messages to see that most of them were from Svetlana.

  She opened the most recent message, and Svet was, once again, asking if she was still eating the branches. She replied:

  Natalee: Yeah, and drinking the leaves too!

  Immediately her phone started ringing. Svetlana’s face danced across the screen. Natalee hit the green button and held it to her ear.

  “You have been drinking the leaves?” Svetlana sounded mad.

  “Yeah, why?” She bit her bottom lip.

  “That is not safe, you will get very sick.”

  “I thought the branch made me not sick.”

  “Those leaves are poison, I told you they go with the rubbish.”

  “I actually feel pretty great.”

  “Do not let this fool you, you feel great for two days, you want to die the next. Throw them away.”

  Natalee rolled her eyes, “Whatever Svet. Maybe you should’ve been more clear about this when you gave me the stupid plant, to begin with.”

  “Have you made any new friends yet?”

  “Why are you so concerned about that?”

  “I want you to be a happy woman, Natalee. You are so lonely.”

  “I’m fine, Svet.”

  “Are you sure, Natty?”

  “Yes, I am sure. I’m going to go prepare dinner now, okay?”

  “It is not dinner time.” Svetlana deadpanned.

  “I use the slow cooker.”

  “Oh, that thing is amazing.”

  “Isn’t it?!” Natalee cooed.

  They exchanged a few words and a couple recipes. Just before they disconnected, Svetlana felt the need to reiterate.

  “You throw those leaves away, do you understand?”

  “Yeah, Svet, whatever you say.” She rolled her eyes and disconnected before she could be scolded anymore.

  Seventeen

  Natalee wasn’t entirely sure Svetlana was telling her the truth about the plant. She had said by day three she was going to feel like she was dying, but day three happened two days ago and Natalee just consistently felt better every single day. Throughout that day, Natalee rearranged both her and Judah’s closets, deep cleaned the master bathroom, and then took a long hot, relaxing bath as a reward.

  She organized all of Jonah’s things for school, hobbies and even his new baseball cards. She found an old binder in the basement and ordered him protective card displays online, delivery expected in two days. Natalee prepared dinner, and the house was smelling like an actual restaurant by the time her two favorite men arrived home.

  The next morning, Natalee briefly reconsidered her morning routine but decided to keep everything the way it was. As she pulled into the crowded school parking lot, she assessed the situation. She noticed one of the exits was also being used as an entrance and it was causing cars to be backed up from both directions. Once Jonah was on his way into the school, Natalee pulled into a parking spot near the exit and she approached the crossing guard.

  “Hey, I just noticed people are pulling in here,” she pointed toward the exit.

  “Yeah, they always do that.”

  “Well, if they stopped doing that, we’d have much less chaos in the morning.”

  The crossing guard looked from the exit back to Natalee, “How d’ya figure?”

  “I was watching in line and it seems like when people don’t know who is coming or who is going, they stop. When they stop, everyone else stops. We have no idea who can go if we’re all using the same lane to go two different ways.”

  The crossing guard stared at her like she was crazy.

  As she started to explain again, the two of them were approached by the principal. Natalee explained their conversation and the principal assessed the situation the same way Natalee had from the drop-off line.

  “We’ll try it your way this afternoon, but I’m sure it’ll piss a lot of people off.”

  Natalee shrugged, “I didn’t build it as an exit, I just noticed it was supposed to be an exit.”

  The principal nodded, “I understand what you’re saying, I just don’t see how it’ll make a difference.”

  “If you give it a shot, maybe you will.”

  “I said we’ll try this afternoon, that’s the best I can do,” he snapped.

  “That’s good enough for me,” Natalee nodded.

  That afternoon, traffic went smoothly. There was no honking, or brakes slamming. No one was yelling out their window or stressing out the crossing guard. Natalee was pleased with herself.

  That night, Natalee opted to take the night off and she ordered Chinese. She knew Judah wasn’t going to be home until late, but she knew he loved reheated Chinese food. She never understood, but he seemed to like it more than eating it fresh. Sometimes, he would even wait until almost everyone else was done eating before he would start to eat his. Just another one of his little quirks that Natalee fell in love with many years before.

  Liz texted Natalee and asked if she could make sure Jonah had his phone on him in school when Gage’s father surprised him. She wanted it to be recorded so she could watch it repeatedly. Natalee pointed out that Jonah wouldn’t know to have his phone ready if she didn’t tell him. Liz admitted she had been sipping wine all day, and Natalee was right. She agreed to let Natalee tell him, only so she would have that memory.

  Once Natalee sat down with Jonah for dinner, she brought it up. She explained how important it was to keep it quiet but to watch for him to enter the room so he can be ready. She told him around what time he anticipated being there and Jonah was incredibly excited by the end of their conversation.

  “This is going to be so awesome, Gage is going to lose it.”

  “I’m sure he misses his dad a lot.”

  “Yeah, he talks about him a lot.”

  “Oh yeah? What does he say?”

  “He wants to join the military to make his dad proud of him.”

  “I’m sure his dad will be proud of him no matter what life he chooses for himself.”

  Jonah shrugged, “He said his dad doesn’t like how obsessed he is with baseball.”

  “Why not? Professional sports are a good gig to get into.”

  “I don’t know. He told Gage sports are just full of drugs and if you want to get anywhere in life you have to serve your country or something.” Jonah pushed a pea around in his rice.

  Natalee lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “Well, that’s his opinion, I guess.”

  Jonah shrugged again, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “What do you want to do with your life?” Natalee peered at Jonah.

  He smashed the pea with the end of his fork. “I don’t know yet.”

  “Well, what’s your favorite thing?”

  He shrugged again, sighing this time, “I really liked building robots.”

  “Robotics is a really cool field to get into. You could build the first Artificial Intelligence!”

  “Someone already built that, Mom,” Jonah rolled his eyes.

  “Oh, well. See? You’re smarter than me in robotics.”

  “That’s not hard,” Jonah muttered just above his breath.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing,” he smiled sweetly.

  “So, have you looked into any robotics programs?”

  “No.”

  “Have you looked into any college degrees?” She watched him for a moment before taking another bite of her chicken.

  “I looked at criminal justice one time.”

  Natalee’s eyebrows shot up, completely shocked. “Criminal justice? That’s… Different.”

  “Maybe a cop would be cool.”

  “Oh no, a cop is scary.” She urged.

  “What’s scary about it?”

  “You could get shot!” />
  “I could get shot in the military too.”

  “Are you considering the military?”

  He shook his head, “No, definitely not.”

  She threw her hands in the air, “Well, okay then! I don’t have to worry about you getting shot in the military if you never join the military. But if you go to the police academy, I have to worry about some thug pulling his Glock on you because he didn’t use his turn signal.”

  Jonah leaned back, watching his mom panic and he snickered.

  She gasped, “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?”

  He held his hands out in surrender, “That was funny, though.”

  She rolled her eyes, “Just build a damn robot.”

  “I probably will.”

  Natalee let out a sigh of relief, “Thank God. You’re my only son so you can’t go and get yourself killed in the line of duty. Any duty.”

  “What if I invent a man-slaughtering robot that turns against me?”

  “Knock it off Jonah, you’re just being ridiculous now.”

  He snorted, laughing until his eyes burned with tears. “Thanks for the fun, Mom.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah at my own expense. Woo.”

  Eighteen

  The next morning, after she returned from dropping Jonah off at school, Natalee began digging through the cupboards and the fridge, making a list of all the things she needed. Flour, eggs, chips, chocolate chips… The list continued. By the time she was done, she had found (or rather, not found) forty-seven things she needed to replace in her kitchen.

  On her way to the grocery store, she realized she had left her hand-written list on the counter next to the sink. She felt defeated before she even entered the store, knowing that without the list she was sure to forget most, if not all, of the items. As she walked through the store pushing the cart, she picked out items she knew she had written down. She continued, picking up things on sale, and things she knew they were missing at home. As Natalee approached the register, going over everything in her cart.

  “Find everything you needed?” A young teenager asked sweetly from behind the counter.