Page 7 of Santa Baby
“Cherries.” He gives me my answer without me having to ask. “Sweet ripe cherries.”
His eyes leave Noelle and pin me to where I am sitting. I have to take several deep breaths before I can stop squirming and pull my eyes away from his. He’s lying. It doesn’t really…does it?
“Really?”
He laughs out loud, “Oh yeah.”
His tongue comes out and licks his lower lip and he looks hungry. But it can’t be because of what we are talking about. Not where I’m concerned. Because he agreed to the rule. So maybe he’s just really hungry and it doesn’t have anything to do with our conversation at all. He did let my hand go without me having to do too much more than just tug it from his.
“Nic! Nic, is that you?!” The voice is soft and feminine and the look on his face tells me he has some kind of history with the woman calling out his name.
“Oh shit!” His face goes from smiling at Noelle to frowning in a matter of seconds. He hands Noelle back to me. “Miffy.”
“Muffin.” The woman doesn’t so much as lose her smile as she comes over to stand over us with a baby of her own in a stroller. The little one looks to be close to a year old and sound asleep. “Funny meeting you here, Nic. You usually spend all your time in the office. What are you doing here?”
“Forgive me for being rude.” Nic takes my hand in his and once again it disappears. “This is Muffin, my business partner’s wife. Muffin this is Talia…my fiancée.”
“Fiancé!” The woman looks shocked and the baby in the stroller starts to stir at his mom’s raised voice. I try to pull my hand from his like before but this time he doesn’t let go. “I didn’t even know you were dating anyone.”
“I typically don’t bring my private life up very often. Especially not at work. While I’m working.”
The woman finally pulls her eyes from Nic and takes me and the baby in. Then she lets out a big gasp and turns shocked eyes to Nic once again. “Oh my God! Is this your baby?”
I understand why the woman would think Noelle is Nic’s baby since they kind of look like one another and both have big blue eyes. Instead of answering the woman, Nic gives her a fake smile.
“It was nice speaking with you, Muffin. I’ll be sure to tell Patrick we ran into one another.”
Even I hear the dismissal in his voice. At first, the woman doesn’t lose her smile or act like she’s upset at all but then she turns those reptile-like eyes towards me and Noelle again and I can’t help but think of something better suited to slithering in the grass than an actual woman. Her eyes are just cold.
“Do you breastfeed? You really should.” I start to shake my head no, but the woman just plows right on without actually waiting for me to answer. “It’s the best for the baby, you know.”
“I…I…,” I don’t know how to answer. It isn’t a question that’s new to me. Some moms, most really, like to talk about their babies and give out advice while also getting some in return. I’ve taken Noelle to enough parks and stores to understand this isn’t weird or not normal. It isn’t necessarily the question, as the way the woman keeps looking at my chest.
“Of course, a woman your size might have worries about smothering the baby.” And that’s what I was waiting for. The snake struck, burying her fangs in deep to leave the deepest scar before slithering away.
“Muffin.” The name is snapped out and Nic doesn’t make it a secret that he is highly irritated. “If you will excuse us, we only have so long before I have to go back to the office, and we haven’t even started eating yet.”
We watch her go and I sit and worry. Since all of this started with Child Services, I question everything I thought I knew. Maybe I am too big to try to breastfeed. Not that I could right now. And because of the lie, I won’t actually have a chance anymore. Sadness settles in my chest -my overly large chest- and causes a lump to form in my throat. This isn’t forever. We just need to be together until I can be sure they won’t take Noelle away from me.
The mood changed after Muffin left which I guess is what she wanted. I glance down at my chest one more time. “Are my…?”
“No!” I gasp and raise my eyes to his. I wasn’t really asking him. I thought I was talking mostly to myself. It was so low I didn’t think he could hear…at least I thought it was so low. “Not at all! I have a request of my own. This relationship, no matter how unconventional it might be, has to be a monogamous one. No being with other people, no flirting, no sex, no other men ever!”
“Um, okay. But it goes both ways, right? No other women, ever?”
“Of course!” He starts taking things out of the basket. “Any hint of an affair will not look good in a court case. But more importantly, I’m not a cheater.”
“She’s cheating on your partner, isn’t she?”
“You better believe…wait…how did you know that?”
“The rule you just made and the fact that you kind of snarl your nose up when she talks like you smell something a puppy would leave on a carpet. And she looks at you like I would a cheesecake behind a glass case. Willing to do anything for just a taste.”
“He’ll figure it out but he’s already so far in.”
“So far in?”
“The baby. The only reason she had that baby was to honeytrap Patrick into never leaving her.”