Starting From Scratch (27 page)

“Yes…” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Oh…Avery…”

“at’s it. Come on. Let it go. I’ve got you…”

Her teeth clacked together audibly and her entire

body seemed to tighten. e orgasm tore a groan from her

throat as I pulled her down on top of me and slid my

fingers inside her, gasping with joy at the feel of her

muscles convulsing around me. She buried her head in the

crook of my neck.

“God, I love you,” she ground out as the last

contraction hit and left her as wrung out as a wet towel.

It didn’t surprise me; I’m not sure why. I think I’d felt

it coming. I know I was feeling the same way. So I replied

simply, “I love you, too, baby,” and pressed a kiss to her

temple. Straightforward. Effortless. Uncomplicated. I have

no idea how, but there it was.

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We straightened our legs out at the same time,

dropping them flatly to the mattress like weights, and we

chuckled as we lay in a panting heap for several long

moments.

Elena pushed herself up on an elbow so she could look

me in the eyes. Despite the darkness of the room, I could

see the strength of the gaze.

“I do love you,” she said quietly.

“I know.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “And I do love

you, too.”

“Do we need to talk about…you know…exclusivity?”

I cocked my head a bit. “What do you mean? Like me

not seeing anybody else and you not seeing anybody else?”

“Exactly. I know it’s kind of fast, but…” Her eyes

darted away as her voice trailed off and it occurred to me

that she was embarrassed.

“Are you just an old-fashioned girl, Elena?” I teased

gently, giving her a little squeeze.

When her eyes came back to mine, there was an

intensity to her gaze. “I don’t want you to be with anybody

else.” She wet her lips and dropped her voice to just above

a whisper when she continued. “I don’t want anybody else

touching you like this.”

If I could have melted into a puddle, I would have,

absolutely. And the slightly possessive quality of her voice

sent a pang straight down between my legs where it rested.

And throbbed.

Bringing my hand to her face, I informed her, “I don’t

want anybody else touching me like this either.” And then

I pulled her in for a mind-blowing kiss to seal our pledge

and start things heating up all over again.

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It was close to three o’clock in the morning by the

time we lay in each other’s arms, lightly dozing and as

spent and breathless as marathon runners. But my mind

wouldn’t settle, for some reason. Maybe I was afraid if we

actually went to sleep, I’d wake up to find it had all been a

dream, that Elena was still and forever out of my reach,

that I’d been standing in the lobby of the bank, fantasizing

all this time.

“So, what have you told Max about us?” I asked her.

Yep, the wee hours of the morning, after endless, limb-

melting sex, and I wanted to chat.

I felt Elena chuckle against my shoulder. “Where on

earth did that come from?”

I shrugged. “Just wondering.”

“Well, I explained to him that Cece and I are not

going to be together again, which I think is hard for him

because I get the impression Cindy lets him believe it’s a

possibility.”

“But it’s not, right?” I tried hard not to sound like a

child, but I didn’t succeed.

Elena pressed her lips to my neck. “No,” she

whispered. “It’s not.”

“Okay.”

“en I told him that Mommy doesn’t want to be

alone forever, that she does want to share her life with

somebody. I told him that ‘dating’ meant I was looking for

that person. And that I’ve been dating the same woman for

a little while now and I wanted to know what he thought

of her.”

I swallowed, suddenly nervous over the outcome, as if

the conversation with Max hadn’t taken place yet and there

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was a chance he’d put the kibosh on me. “Did you tell him

it was me?”

“Yup.”

“What did he say?”

“Cool.”

I waited for her to elaborate. Nothing. “at’s it?

Cool?”

“at’s it. And ‘cool’ is a pretty positive response

coming from him.”

It was true. I’d heard him say it more than once, so I

should have been relieved. But I’d never been in the

position of having somebody
other
than the woman I’m

dating have a say in our relationship. It was kind of weird. I

let it sink in and I nodded as it did. “Okay. Good. at’s

good.”

“It
is
good.”

“It must be hard for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, just about everything you do, you have to

take Max into consideration. It must be hard.”

“It’s just part of being a parent.” I felt her shrug.

“Still. It must be tough.” I absorbed that for a few

seconds before all kinds of questions began to zip through

my head, like a fleet of biplanes pulling giant signs behind

them. I turned my head to look at Elena’s face. “What’s the

hardest part about being a mom?”

Her brow furrowed. “Hmm. I’d say it’s probably the

constant negotiation on rules because they change as your

child grows, so there’s this ebb and flow based on Max’s

abilities at any given time. ings as simple as bedtime or

how much TV he gets to watch.”

I nodded. Made sense.

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She jerked. “Oh, wait. I know.” Her gentle laughter

shook the bed. “You have to be the grown-up. You know

what I mean? Your kid can push your buttons like nobody’s

business and sometimes he gets you. He gets you bad. And

you’re tired and you’ve had a crappy day and he’s just

pushing, pushing, pushing. It’s easy to let him pull you into

some kind of argument where you’re
both
acting like kids,

sniping back and forth and making zero progress. But you

have to take a step back and be the adult, even if you piss

him off. Or worse, break his little heart. Sometimes that

really sucks, but you have to do it.”

“For his own good.”

“Exactly.”

“God, how many times did we hear that when we

were growing up?” I smiled as Grandma’s voice filtered

through my brain, telling eight-year-old, very upset little

me that whatever she’d decided it was for my own good.

“You know what’s the absolute scariest thing in the

world about parenting?”

“Tell me.”

“e first time you hear your own mother’s voice

coming out of your mouth.”

I laughed. “Do you remember it?”

“Like it happened this morning. Max was two and he

wanted a cookie and he’d had, like, a dozen or something

ridiculous, and I told him no more. And he kept asking

why, but none of my explanations were good enough for

him. So the next time he asked why, I snapped and told

him, ‘Because I said so, that’s why!’ Oh, my God, Avery, I

was horrified. I clamped both hands over my mouth and

just stood there.
Horrified!
”

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I squeezed her tightly, grinning. “Ah, the old ‘because I

said so.’ A classic, truly. My grandmother said it all the

time.”

“It
is
the quintessential Mom Answer.”

“Without a doubt.”

We chuckled a little more and eventually quieted,

snuggling closer, our limbs entwined. I fell into a sated,

restful sleep during which I dreamed of baby bottles, soft

yellow chicks, and plastic tee-ball bats.

Weird.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Grandma was, of course, charming on Sunday

afternoon. I smothered a smile as I chewed a bite of her

melt-in-your-mouth pot roast. My grandmother was

always pleasant and polite, but she had an ‘extra charm’

button reserved exclusively for incredibly good-looking

men, Mr. Davidson, and apparently, Elena.

“is is delicious, Mrs. King,” Elena said sincerely.

Speaking of charming. If Elena didn’t meet with

Grandma’s approval, there was no hope for me.

“You’re very kind, Elena. ank you.” Grandma

speared a chunk of potato with her fork. “Now, your son—

Max is it? How old is he?”

I was pretty sure I’d already given her this tidbit of

information, but I appreciated her making conversation

with Elena.

“He just turned six two months ago.”

“And will you have more children?”

I’ve been chewing and swallowing my food for the

better part of three decades, but that didn’t prevent me

from snorting pot roast up my nose as I choked on a

mouthful. I was sure I saw a trace of amusement in the way

the corners of Elena’s mouth turned up ever-so-slightly,

but she thankfully didn’t look my way as she answered.

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“Well, it will depend on a lot of different factors, but

yes. I think I’d like to have another child.”

“You would?” I asked before I could stop myself.

She nodded and smiled, then forked a baby carrot into

her mouth.

“Good to know,” I said, more to myself than either of

the other two.

“Avery doesn’t think she’s good with children, but I

keep trying to tell her she’s wrong.”

“
Grandma.
” I covered my eyes with one hand.

Elena’s shock of a laugh cut through the air as

Grandma replied, “I’m just telling her the way it is, that’s

all.” Her smirk told me she knew exactly what she was

doing.

“Your grandmother’s right, Avery,” Elena told me.

“You’re very good with kids. at tee-ball team loves you.

Max thinks you’re the coolest thing since video games.”

“Well,” I said, playing with my meat. “I
am
pretty cool.

at part’s true.”

She pushed at me playfully and we got off the subject

of kids for a while. ank God because I just wasn’t ready

to get into a deep discussion about it, but I didn’t want

Elena to know that. I managed to shift the topic to Mr.

Davidson.  en we talked about the financial industry,

television, and cleaning products for the kitchen. In that

order.

All in all, the visit was a huge success and I could tell

by Grandma’s enormous smile and the way she hugged

Elena and told her to be sure and come back soon, that

she’d been won over.

I smiled all the way home.

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I dropped Elena off at her own house so she’d be there

when her parents dropped Max off. She didn’t want to

leave me, but thought she’d better spend some mommy

time with Max. I felt the same way; I didn’t want to be

away from her, but I knew I’d neglected Steve all weekend

and he could probably use some mommy time as well. We

kissed goodbye in my car, barely able to pry ourselves away

from one another before clothing was in danger of being

removed. Elena breathlessly pushed herself out the door of

my car and I nearly ended up with my face on the

passenger seat as I tried to stay with her. She gave me one

last peck on the lips.

“I’ll call you later,” she said as she backed away.

“’Kay.”

I watched her go inside, then blew out a huge breath,

my cheeks puffing with the effort. I was exhausted, my

thighs ached, and my nipples were sore.

Life was good.

Later that night, Steve and I lay in pooped-out piles

in the living room after a long romp through the park. We

were watching TV, Steve stretched out on the couch next

to me and actually allowing me to cuddle with him, when

Maddie called.

“Are you in love?” she asked in response to my hello.

“What?”

“I’ve been calling you all weekend, at all hours, and

you didn’t answer.” I vaguely recalled a distant memory of

the phone ringing a couple times and then realized I hadn’t

checked my voicemail.

“Oops. Sorry about that.”

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“e only time you don’t answer
at all
is when you’re

having sex. And you only have sex when you’re in love.

So…are you in love?”

“Yes.” ere was no point in arguing with her; she

knew me too well, and if I tried to lie, she’d only annoy me

until she pried the truth from me. Besides, she was right

on all counts. And it felt good to say it. Silence filled my

ears. “Hello?” I said, wondering if we’d been disconnected.

“I’m still here. I just didn’t expect you to admit it.”

en she laughed.

“I know from experience that hiding things from you

is futile.”

“Damn right. So…details?” Her hesitation was very

slight, but I understood it. After all, she was my best friend

and I’d barely told her a thing about Elena, so I wouldn’t

have been surprised if Maddie was angry. But she didn’t

seem to be and she listened to me blather on and on about

Elena, how wonderful she was, how great I thought we

were going to be together, and how incredible the sex was.

It didn’t take long at all for her to loosen up, let her