“Did the pies taste better than those cookies you made for Auntie Aspyn?”
“Definitely.” I chuckled.
Aspyn’s mother turned to me. “You’re only here in Meadowbrook temporarily, from what I understand?”
Nodding, I cleared my throat. “That’s correct. I’ll go back to Seattle when my father returns from Europe.” I looked over at Aspyn, but her stoic expression was hard to read.
“I see.” Mrs. Dumont gave me a scrutinizing look. “Well, I’m heading home.” She gave her granddaughter a hug before turning to me. “Enjoy your time back in Meadowbrook, Troy.”
She didn’t need to say anything else. Her message was clear: You’d better not fuck around with my daughter in the short time you’re here, assnuts.
“Thank you,” I said. “It was wonderful meeting you.”
Unfortunately, before Mrs. Dumont had a chance to fully exit, Kiki looked down at my pants and pointed.
“Your fly is open.” She covered her mouth and giggled.
Aspyn’s mom turned back around to face us, and everyone now stared at me.
I looked down and quickly zipped. “Well, that’s embarrassing. Thank you for noticing that.”
“She notices everything,” Aspyn said.
Mrs. Dumont gave me one more funny look before she left. Aspyn was still chewing on her lip, seeming tense after her mother very likely drew the correct conclusion about what had been going on here today.
“Did Troy bring any food with him this time?” Kiki asked. “I’m hungry.”
Aspyn walked toward the kitchen. “He made some cookies again.”
“The ones that taste like rocks?” Kiki said.
“They came out really good this time,” Aspyn told her.
I laughed. “Tell you what, next time I come for a visit, I’ll bring something especially for you, Kiki. I wasn’t thinking I’d get to see you today.”
“With real sugar?”
“Yes. With real sugar.”
“What did you guys do today?” she asked Aspyn.
Aspyn glanced over at me. “We had breakfast together and just hung out.”
Kiki’s eyes moved between us. “You guys figured out how to be friends?”
I flashed Aspyn an amused grin. “I didn’t realize this was a challenge we were having.”
“Yeah…” she told her niece. “We’ve worked it out.”
“I finally figured out what makes her tick, Kiki.” My eyes darted over to Aspyn mischievously. “Rock cookies.”
“Yuck.” She giggled, then she darted off, headed to her room.
When the door closed behind her, I whispered, “Do you think your mother put two and two together?”
“Trust me, even if your fly hadn’t been open, she’s very perceptive. I’m certain she’d figured it out before she took one look at us.” She sighed. “But yeah, your fly pretty much sealed the deal.”
“I suspect you didn’t exactly put in the greatest word for me before today.”
“She knows about our history and that we’ve hung out. But my mother doesn’t judge me for the decisions I make. She lets me live and make my own mistakes without interfering too much.”
“Ah, so you’re already calling me a mistake.”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I’m teasing.” I smiled. “Anyway, I’m glad she’s not judgmental. I’d hate for her to give you shit about sleeping with the Whoreannosaurus. I mean, you could do so much better.”
“She doesn’t know about that nickname.”
I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms. “Speaking of which…are you gonna tell Jasmine what we did this weekend?”
She cringed. “I’m not looking forward to it, but I’ll have to at some point.”
I knew they were still friends, but from my perspective, we didn’t owe her an explanation.
“It’s really none of her business, you know.”
“Yeah. But I can’t lie to her. She knows we’ve been hanging out.”
“She’s gonna badmouth me when you tell her,” I said, feeling defensive.
“Trust me, there’s nothing she could say that I haven’t already thought.”
“Great. Thanks for the confidence.”
Aspyn slapped her forehead. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”
“No, no, no. Let’s face it. It’s the truth. I think we should always be real with each other. And right now you’re being real with me.” I inched closer and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “When do I get to see you again?”
She looked over toward Kiki’s bedroom door a moment. “Maybe we can figure out something for next weekend.”
“Maybe? You’ve got to give me something better than that. I’m already practically hard again, and I’m not gonna see you for almost a week. I need better than a maybe.”
“I thought this whole thing was supposed to be, in your words, noncommittal.”
“That was before I was inside of you and got addicted,” I said, leaning in to nuzzle her neck.
“Saturday?” she finally offered.
“Friday,” I countered.
Aspyn pursed her lips. “Maybe.”
“You’re killing me. But I guess I’ll take a maybe over a no.”
Aspyn
On Tuesday, Shala and I were hanging out by the administration desk. She’d been home with a sick kid yesterday, so I hadn’t seen her since our night out on Saturday.
She looked up from her flip chart. “This weekend was really fun. Thanks for coming out with me.”