Rude Boss

I tear my gaze away from him, lower to my knees and dip the brush again to focus on the area near the trim. I ask, “So, do you visit your parents every Sunday?”

“No, although I do try to get over there as much as my temper would allow.”

“Oh. I take it you don’t get along with your parents.”

“Did I say that?”

“No, but I’m trying to read between the lines here.”

“Don’t do that. It’s easy for things to get misconstrued when you do that. Just listen to what I’m telling you and take it for what it is.”

“Okay. My bad. Jeez! I was only trying to have a conversation.”

He lowers the brush into the pan and says, “My mother is sick, so she’s been on a mission to see me married with a kid.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Which part? That she’s sick, or the constant pestering to marry me off?”

“That she’s sick. And I don’t think she’s intentionally trying to annoy you. My mother wants the same for me.”

“Then why haven’t you given her what she wants?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” I toss back.

“But I asked you first, so answer me.”

I say, “I haven’t met anyone so I can’t give her what she wants. What am I to do? Pick up some random guy like I’m at a drive-thru and ask him if he wants to go half on a baby?”

He laughs. “Yeah, I wouldn’t advise that, but if you don’t have any options, I’ll split one with you.”

“Shut up, Essex.”

He smirks. “Seriously. I think we’d have pretty children, especially because of you.”

He says it like he’s been imagining it, and now he has me thinking about some mean lil’ babies running around – a little boy who looks like him and a girl who looks like me.

Quintessa, what are you thinking, girl?

“Ay…you got some bottled water around here?”

“I do. Let me grab one for you.”

While I go to the kitchen to get water, he opens two windows in the living room.

“Here you go,” I say, getting his attention and handing him the bottle.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He chugs water and when he’s drunk half the bottle, he walks over to the kitchen and places it on the counter.

I ask, “Why haven’t you given your mother what she wants?”

“For the same reason you haven’t. I won’t be with a woman to fulfill anyone else’s hopes and dreams for me. If I’m with a woman, it’ll be because I love her and she’s someone I want to spend my life with. Call me old-fashioned, but I’ve never desired to have a child out of wedlock.”

“Wow. Something we agree on,” I say. “I didn’t think that was possible.”