My Fake Fiance's Secret Baby

I woke up with Jeepers on my head, curled up and sleeping, cute as you please. So dedicated to this activity was the little black and white kitten that he didn’t even wake up when I placed him down on the bed. He just stretched out all four legs in different directions, rolled onto his back, and continued to snooze.

Stepping out of yesterday’s panties, I got into the shower for a quick scrub down before trying to figure out what to wear on the date. I really wanted to strike the right note. It was only then I realized how long it had been since I went on a date. Chris was the first guy to show any real interest in me since my divorce. That marriage had taking up a good five years of my life.

I was contemplating this when the buzzer rang. Chris was meeting me at my place because I lived closer to the bookstore.

Throwing on whatever was handy, jeans and a cute T-shirt, I put my feet into my sneakers without socks and headed out, putting more food in Jeepers’ bowl before leaving, and deciding going commando was better than keeping Chris waiting. My eagerness surprised me a bit. I was usually a lot more mature, but there was something about him that brought out the wonder in me. I felt almost like a wide-eyed kid.

I could see that Chris had made a lot more of an effort. Wearing one of the suits that he usually wore to the office. There was actually a bet as to whether suits were all he owned. I was beginning to wonder myself. Though in a way it would make sense. If you wore basically the same thing every day, it would leave a lot more brain-space for other things.

“You look great,” he said when he saw me.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks,” I said, unable to keep from smiling.

“Shall we?”

“Indeed.”

We set off down the street, Chris very much in the lead. He seemed to know the city really well. As we strolled, the bright, clear day around us, it felt natural to hold Chris’s hand. I half expected him to pull away, but he didn’t, which was a relief. I squeezed his hand, and he pressed back.

I hadn’t known Chris very long, but he seemed to have a defensiveness I wasn’t sure I would be able to get past. I was trying to be gentle with him. I feared he might have a horrible history like an abusive childhood but didn’t want to pry.

The bookstore was indeed close to my house, and all too soon we were there, but to my surprise, Chris didn’t let go of my hand. If anything, he seemed to squeeze it harder. Like he was uncomfortable with the crowd or something. It was the most physical contact I’d had with a man since Chris’s delicious foot rub the night before.

We got in the very long line that snaked all the way around the sizeable store and out the door down the sidewalk halfway to the next corner.

“Popular guy,” I quipped.

“Oh, you have no idea,” Chris said.

I didn’t actually. I had never heard of the author, but Chris had wanted to go, so I agreed. It was mostly an excuse to spend time with him, but if I got a cool new author out of the deal more the better.

“Tell me about him,” I promoted.

“Who?”

“Wolf Birch,” I said.

“Oh, I see. Well, the current series is a bit different than his usual stuff. Usually, he does gothic mystery. Not really horror, but it can have a lot of creepy elements. Like an Urban Gothic meets Noir kind of thing.”

“Sounds neat.”

“Oh, it is. Very much so. Though, like I said, this is a bit different.”

“How so?

“Well, it’s more of an Urban Fantasy but in a more grounded way.”

“How so?” I asked again, intrigued.

“The magic is real.”

“What?”

“The magical system used. It is based on the grounded, natural magic used by neo-pagans. Only in the books, there is no question as to whether or not it works. It definitely does.”

Like so many things Chris said, it made sense in a weird sort of way. I had grown up thinking of magic as the stuff of Walt Disney and role-playing games, but when I became an adult, I discovered a whole new aspect I’d never considered. A world of intention and combination and will making a difference to at least one’s personal reality.

I had actually tried an attraction spell in college. I know it sounds crazy, but the whole thing came off more like chemistry than anything else. Basically, I combined a bunch of natural ingredients into a compound that I wore on my neck like perfume. And dammit if I didn’t get an A on a midterm from a professor who had taken to hating me on sight and refused to grade me fairly. It got me through my undergraduate career with a high enough GPA to go into nursing.