Midlife Baby (Small Town Lovers)

Mama snorted, and I could almost picture her shaking her head. “You liked each other well enough to make a baby.”

“It’s complicated. She’s a little older and a whole lot snooty.” And that was putting it mildly.

Mama laughed again, this laugh was a flat out guffaw. “You always did like your women a little bit stuck up.”

“That’s not true!” I liked my women simple and easygoing, sought them out for that exact reason.

“Anita Whittaker,” she reminded me of a girl I crushed on junior year. “She was a judge’s daughter wasn’t she? Thought she was at the top of the food chain.”

I nodded. “Yeah okay, there was Anita.”

“Amanda Rochester,” she tossed out another name, her voice full of mischief. “Didn’t she and her family spend summers in France?”

“Okay, okay I take your point, but I was a kid and they were hot, which was pretty much my only criteria back then. Margot is different,” I told her and tried to explain the class difference and the way Margot was.

“Sounds like tugging pigtails and tripping in the hall.”

“Excuse me?”

“You know how kids mistreat each other to hide their true feelings? Sounds like what you two were doing until you fell into bed together.”

“She’s beautiful, but judgmental, but lately she hasn’t been,” I admitted more to myself than to her.

“So I’m right. This is an extreme way to get me to visit, but effective,” she admitted.

“Well,” I sighed. “If you would just visit, such extremes wouldn’t be necessary.”

She laughed again and the sound was welcome. “So what’s happening, you’re having a baby together, but you’re not together?”

I thought of the last few weeks with Margot. The first week was a nonstop sex-a-thon, but then shifted into something more like friends with benefits, but the emphasis was on friends and benefits, separately, which made it what? “It’s complicated.”

“You’re still sleeping together,” she guessed correctly. “And now things are getting confusing?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I like her, and she seems to like me, but that’s not enough to get over a year of sniping at each other, is it?”

“You’re askin’ the wrong question, my boy. You two are having a baby together, isn’t that enough to put the past behind you?”

“It has been so far.”

“Then you’re off to a good start.”

“Hang on Mama, someone’s at the door. Come in.”

“Hey, you have a visitor.” My part-time worker peeked her head inside the office.

“Send them in,” I told her and turned my focus back to my call. “I need to get to work and finish the payroll. Let’s talk soon about that visit yeah?”

“Sure thing, honey. I love you.”

“Love you too, Mama.” The door opened just as I set the phone down and Margot strolled in wearing a figure hugging green dress that made my dick stand on edge. “Margot. Hi.”

“Hey,” she smiled. “Are you busy?”

“You mean other than this payroll software kicking my ass and my mama giving me a hard time? Nope, free as a bird.”

She grinned. “Well I’ll keep this quick. I have a doctor’s appointment on the ninth of next month, and I wondered if you wanted to go, you know to be there?”

Her words shocked me into silence. “You mean for the baby?”

She nodded and flashed a wide grin. “Exactly that. Unless you wanted to come to other doctor visits with me?”

“No. I mean, yeah I would love to go. Thanks.” She stared at me with a hint of amusement on her face, like she was trying not to laugh at me. “Are you hungry?”

“You don’t always have to feed me Grady.”

“I know, but I want to feed you. It’s something I’m good at, and it directly helps you and the baby. So?”

She shook her head. “I had a fruit and nut salad with yogurt for lunch, and for breakfast Pippa brought a terrifying green drink that was surprisingly delicious. Happy?”

“Thrilled.” I fell back against my chair and let out a long breath. “Mama knows. Beth let it slip, because of course she did.”

Margot stiffened. “And? Was she angry? Upset? Does she think I’m robbing the cradle?”

I barked out a laugh. “No. She asked a ton of questions, most of which I don’t have answers to, but she’s planning to come for a visit. Finally.”

“To curse me out?”

“No, to meet you would be my guess. And to get a good look at the town she thinks is straight out of a horror movie.”

Her violet eyes widened. “Your mother watches horror movies?”

“Oh yeah. All of them, no matter how bad or how cheesy, she loves them all. She will ask you about your favorite and least favorite horror movie, so be prepared.”

Margot looked terrified as she nodded. “I’ll um, keep that in mind. Do you know when?”

“Nah, but you will be the first to know. After Mama, of course.”

“Of course.” She nodded. “All right then I guess I’ll see you around?”