“I see lots and lots of zeroes. What is this?” I was still confused. There was a lot of legal jargon and split money and guarantees and figures that made my head spin.
“There are a lot of details and payments to my agent and all of that, but the bottom line is eighty million.”
“Dollars?” I squawked.
“It better not be pesos,” he said with a grin. “Yes. Dollars. Of course then there are agent fees, taxes, a seventy-five percent guarantee, twenty-five percent that could be lost if I’m injured, all that real-life bullshit. But this is a load off of my mind. I feel confident that I can take care of you and the kids.”
“You could take care of me and three hundred kids and still have change in your pocket with that kind of money.” I sipped my water, feeling hot. “I guess I never thought about it. I mean, sure, I knew you had money and that was a very nice resort in Mexico, and I found out later that business class tickets are not cheap, but I didn’t think… this.” It was a lot of money. A ton of money.
“I promised you three things and I’m delivering on the first.” He held his hand out for his phone with a smile.
“You sure are.” I gave him his phone back. “Congratulations, Cash, seriously. It’s very impressive that with all of these athletes competing for limited spots on pro teams, you’re at the top of your game. You should be proud of yourself. I’m proud of you.”
I meant that. And here he was, barely blinking that his whole life was being turned upside down by a surprise pregnancy.
“Thanks, Serafima. That means a lot to me. Now moving on to point number two. Me being able to help you, you know, boots on the ground.”
“Yes?” Where the hell were my onion rings I’d ordered? I felt my stomach churning over its acids.
“I can help you a lot more if y’all move into my house.”
I wasn’t exactly surprised. It seemed like a logical suggestion. But I had to admit, the idea of just abandoning everything about my life with me and the kids solo was terrifying. I might not have always been a rousing success as a businesswoman, but I’d done the best I could and I was proud of what I’d accomplished, and the people my children were becoming.
Of course, practically speaking, raising four kids in a three-bedroom house with under a thousand square feet when Cash had a substantially larger farmhouse on ten acres would just be pure stubbornness.
“I think that does make sense,” I said.
His eyebrows shot up. “Somehow I pictured you resisting and me having to talk you into it.”
“I’m stubborn, not stupid. I want help with 3 am feedings after the baby is born. And I can’t imagine how tight living in my house would be with a baby.” I looked around the restaurant. “Where is my fucking food? I need to eat or I’m going to throw up.”
Without hesitation, Cash pushed back his chair and stood up. “I’ll find our server. Do you want some crackers or something in the meantime?”
“Yes. Please.”
He was back a minute later with six packs of crackers that they probably served with the chili. He set five down and was opening the sixth for me. He handed me a cracker out of the wrapper. “They swore it will be just another minute.”
“Thank you,” I said, already shoving the cracker in my mouth. I had to admit that it was a nice change of pace not to have to fight my own battles all the time, even if it was just over a delay in food service. “The other thing is, I think it would send a mixed message to the kids if we’re not living together.”
“I agree.”
“Like we like each other enough to make a baby but not to live together.”
“Exactly. I’m not going to be the man who sits in a big house while his baby and her mother are crammed into a small house. I’m not doing it. I refuse.”
That amused me. “I did say yes, you know. Don’t get all hunter and gatherer on me.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“It means just call the moving company. How does August sound? That gives us enough time to get the kids used to the idea of us together.” It gave me time to get used to the idea of us.
“Won’t you be showing by then? We can’t wait that long to tell the kids you’re pregnant.”
I would be showing. “I’ll tell them I’ve been eating too much ice cream. I don’t know.” His expression told me he thought that was dumb but he didn’t want to piss me off. “Fine. When do you think we should move in?”
“June.”
“That’s like six weeks from now!” It was really hot in the restaurant. I fanned myself vigorously. The server put my onion rings down on the table and I pounced on them. “Okay, compromise. July.”
“I always have a big party on the Fourth. The guys all come into town and we do fireworks and fish in the pond, go riding. This year I was thinking a pig roast.”
“How about after that then? That’s a lot of people.” Talk about just jumping into the thick of things.
Cash frowned. “Shit. I just remembered I told my sister she could stay with me for a few weeks this summer while she’s job hunting. Faith. She’s graduating from college in a few weeks.”
“This big house suddenly got smaller, didn’t it?” I asked. “When is she coming up?”
“Probably June so it won’t matter. And we’ll get some free babysitting out of it. It’s going to be hard to be alone with each other between now and then.”
“If you’re talking about sex, I can’t say I’m feeling my sexiest these days anyway. Maybe in a few weeks when the morning sickness dies down.”
Cash looked like I kicked his dog but he nodded. “I’m not just talking about sex.” Then he leaned forward and murmured, “But I bet it would help you relax if I ate your pussy.”
I swallowed a bite of my onion ring, my cheeks going hot, and my inner thighs giving his idea a resounding thumbs-up. “Maybe we should test the theory.”
“Which is why you should move in sooner than later.”
“Do you know that I don’t even know what the majority of your house looks like? I’ve only been in the kitchen and the living room. I don’t even know how many bedrooms and bathrooms you have.”
“It’s a five bedroom, six bathroom. And I’ll give you a tour this weekend, how does that sound?”
My first thought was “why does one man need six bathrooms?” followed by “who the hell is cleaning all those bathrooms?” But then I realized it wasn’t Cash, nor would he expect it to be me. Having access to the conveniences money could buy was going to be a hell of an adjustment for me.
“Why are there more bathrooms than bedrooms?”
“One is in the FROG.”
“What on earth is a FROG?”
“Finished room over the garage.”
“Oh. What is in the FROG?”
“Pool table and my golf simulator.”
I eyed him. “Are you ready for your bachelor pad to be taken over by children? I’m being serious.”
Cash stared back at me, steady as ever. “I always knew one day I’d have a family. I’ve always wanted that. I bought a big house hoping to fill it sooner than later.”
“You’re going to fill it all right,” I said, dryly. “So who goes where in this house?” I picked up yet another onion ring and bit it. My life had taken the world’s sharpest turn and I wasn’t even sure how to process it.
“You and the baby will be in the guest room,” he said. His expression was so casual that for a second I actually believed him. Then he grinned. “Kidding. I want your butt spooning with me all night, every night.”
The thought actually made me swallow hard. How ironic. I had been worried about sharing a bed all night in Mexico because I was worried about getting too emotionally involved and now we were having a baby and moving in together. That was about as involved as you could be.
“The baby has to be in our room for the first year. I’m not hiking down some long hallway from The Shining to feed our child.”
“My house doesn’t look like The Shining. It looks like a cowboy with too much money lives there, which is not inaccurate. It could use a woman’s touch, I’m not going to lie.”
“It is very leather based, from what I’ve seen.”