“Mom,” I try again, and she just smiles at me as she puts her arm around Brooklyn and leads her toward the kitchen. “Your assistant Geoff was so helpful when I called the office today.”
I narrow my eyes and grab my phone as I follow behind them.
“He told me you’d be home all weekend with your girlfriend Brooklyn and he told me all about her. Well, what he knew.”
“What did he say?” Brooklyn laughs as if she finds all of this funny.
I don’t. I was planning on making love to her on every surface of my home, but now it looks like I’m going to have to suffer through dinner with my mother first. It’s not that I don’t love her, but she’s got the worst timing.
“Just that our Dashal was completely smitten.” She looks over her shoulder and winks at me, and I bury my face in my hands.
“I made chicken and dumplings and apple pie,” she sing-songs, enjoying every moment of my misery.
“Oh, my favorite,” Brooklyn says, and I smile because it’s true.
Now I can’t decide if I’m going to fire Geoff or give him a raise. How he figured all of this out, I have no idea, but as I see Brooklyn and my mom chatting in the kitchen it’s actually kind of nice.
I heave a heavy sigh and decide to just let go and sit back and enjoy dinner. I don’t talk much because my mom does enough for the three of us. She asks Brooklyn all kinds of questions and to my surprise, Brooklyn seems to be enjoying herself. She asks about me as a kid and my mom eats it up. Any chance to show me off or embarrass me, she grabs a hold of.
We eat until Brooklyn has to hold her hands over her plate so my mom won’t fill it up again. To be fair, she did it three times already. I clear the plates off the dining room table and hear them whispering as I walk into the kitchen.
I have no idea what my mother is telling Brooklyn, but after a few moments my mom comes into the kitchen to help me clean up.
“She said she needed to use the restroom, so I thought I’d sneak in here and apologize.”
“You’re not sorry,” I tell her, and she laughs.
“True, but I love you.”
“I love you too,” I concede and shake my head. “Thank you again for dinner. That was nice of you to cook for us.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not staying. I’ve got your driver waiting downstairs now. I just wanted to give you a hug before I left.”
I dry my hands off and lean down and give her a kiss on the cheek. “Be safe getting home.”
“You better be good to her or else.” She smiles brightly and shrugs. “I’d hate to pick her over my own son.”
“Rude,” I chide, but she ignores me as she grabs her purse.
“It was so nice to meet you,” she tells Brooklyn as they hug in the hallway. “You’ll be by next week to look at my library, right?”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” Brooklyn agrees, and they hug a second time.
It’s then I realize that my mom hugged her more and hasn’t give me a second glance as she gets on the elevator and waves goodbye.
“I like her,” Brooklyn laughs as I lock the door.
“I don’t,” I grumble, and she laughs again, walking into my arms.
“Well, I can’t wait to see her again.” She looks up at me and I smile down at her.
“I’m having the locks changed first thing tomorrow.” Brooklyn goes up on her toes and I lift her up. “Maybe I should have it done tonight.”
I grab her ass and carry her to the back of the penthouse to where my bedroom is. The lights are off in my room, but the skyline of the city glows with the setting sun.
“Oh my god, this is so beautiful,” she says as she looks around the space.
“It’s one advantage to being on the top floor.” I kiss her neck as I let her slide down my body. “There’s a balcony off of the bedroom if you want to go outside.” I kiss her again and smile. “There’s an outdoor tub and shower on it.”
“Are you serious?” Her eyes widen, and I nod.
“I’ve used the tub a few times after a long day. It’s nice to sit out there and look up at the stars.”
“I can’t picture you soaking in a bathtub.”
“Well now we definitely have to do it.” I take her by the hand and lead her onto the balcony. “I want you to picture me doing everything.”
When we walk outside she looks around and her eyes widen in shock. “You were not kidding.”
There’s only my balcony on this side of the building and nothing above us for someone to look down. It’s also up high enough that there’s no way someone could see us from a building below. There are plants along the edge and an arbor overhead covered in wisteria. It makes it feel like we’re completely isolated in a garden all to ourselves. The shower is to one side and the tub is in the middle, surrounded by stone steps to get into it and an infinity edge that makes it seem like the water goes on forever.