Ben (The Sherwood)

“It’s the only furniture I have. I sleep on it too.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“I asked Jasmine to move in with me before she met you, but she wouldn’t. She wanted to maintain her freedom and her privacy. I even told her that she could have the bedroom. It’s empty,” she added pointing down the hall.

She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. Protecting herself. I had seen Danni do this and I knew that move well. She had no reason to protect herself from me, not again. I wouldn’t hurt her for anything. Seeing her pain, twice was more than enough for me.

I glanced at the painting behind me. The mystic quality of it caught my eye. She had created a realistic fogginess with fireflies that flittered across a night time sky surrounding a dark, colorless pond. She was a fantastic artist.

“I like your work.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “I’m in that painting.”

I turned quickly and looked for her. She was in the corner by the pond, near a rock disguised as a fairy. I stood and looked at her painting closer. There was so much more that was hidden in the depths of this painting that you didn’t see at first glance.

The face of the moon that you didn’t see at first glance was a shadowy image reflected off the surface near the rocks where the fairy hovered. I was more interested in the fairy and didn’t notice there was a distinct face on the moon.

“What is she thinking?” I asked. “She seems sad.”

“She is,” Disa responded.

“Why?”

I sat down glanced at Disa, but Asia distracted me from prodding Disa for a response. My daughter was fussing, heading for a full-blown meltdown. I unbuckled her and glanced at Disa. “She probably needs changed.”

She nodded at me. Was that relief on her face? I had to focus on Asia and couldn’t question her about it. I lifted the baby out of the carrier then I dug through the diaper bag which was one that Jasmine had picked out for herself. It was kind of girlie. Maybe I should pick out one that was manlier if there was such a thing.

I laid a blanket on Disa’s sofa then put my daughter down. I started unsnapping her sleeper and warned Asia, “Don’t make me look bad in front of Disa.”

Her arms and legs were flailing. I had a bad feeling about this. Disa chuckled at me. I spread the diaper open and got the wipes out then removed the wet diaper. I cleaned her up. So far, so good. Then I held up the wet diaper, unsure of what to do with it.

“I’ll take that for you.” Disa got up and folded the diaper then she headed to the kitchen. I couldn’t help myself, Dad’s employee or not, I watched her. Long, slender legs. Shapely too. Curvy ass. Disa was beautiful, coming and going.

She was flirtatious with some of the men at the bar but not overly so. She reminded me a lot of Danni. Always friendly with everyone even the older guys. I thought there was more that met the eye to the woman I had known forever.

In high school, we ran in different circles. I was a jock and Disa was well, she was I don’t really know what she was. A loner, I guess. Disa was genuinely kind who didn’t like a lot of attention, but she was always friendly. I realized she didn’t really say anything unkind to anyone but me.

Disa returned to the living room and caught me watching her. “Are you going to put another diaper on Asia?” She asked.

“Yeah,” I replied feeling the slow burn of embarrassment creep up my face because she caught me staring at her. I tucked the diaper beneath Asia’s bottom and pulled it up to cover her.

“You’re pretty comfortable doing that,” Disa said.

I snorted. “You should have seen me a week ago.”

“Not so good huh?” She asked.

“Nope, not at all. The first few hours I was terrible. I called Mom twenty times. She told me to call Jenny for the next question, she was going to bed. My sister and sister-in-law were very patient with me, taking calls at all hours of the night for the first forty-eight hours then they too told me I had this to stop calling in the middle of the night.”

Disa laughed. The sound was deep and throaty. A nice sound that I wanted to hear more often. I smiled at her. “You have a nice laugh,” I complimented her. I tucked Asia’s sleeper back in place and began snapping it. Then I lifted her to me and cradled her in my arms.

“Aren’t you going to eat your sandwich?” I asked.

“Not really very hungry,” she replied.

I glanced at Asia whose eyes were closing and opening while she tried to stay awake. Then I looked at Disa. “Tell me why you ran out on me.”

She shook her head no while she played with her hair. Disa and Danni my sister was in the same class in school. They were a year younger than me and similar in so many ways.