“Hi, Benjamin!” I scooped up my five-year-old son as he lunged at me.
“Guess what Ms. Ruth taught me today?” He grinned from ear to ear.
“What’s that?” I saw the older lady walking down the hallway, holding her back as she took each step.
“I learned how to divide every number by ten! You just take off a zero!” He seemed overly enthused, like he had just discovered magic.
“Yes, that works with a lot of numbers.” I sat him down and looked over at Ms. Ruth. “Everything go okay today?”
“It wasn’t bad.” Her voice was gentle. “We did have a bit of a dispute over how many cookies he’s allowed to have.”
“I said one.” I looked down at Benjamin.
“I multiplied that by five!” He held up five fingers.
“It doesn’t work that way, son.” I shook my head and laughed.
Benjamin was my heart and soul. He represented everything good about me and didn’t get cursed with any of my awful personality traits. His mother was the only woman I had ever loved but she decided she loved pills and tanned Brazilians more than the life we started to build together. By the time I found out she was pregnant with Benjamin, I wasn’t even sure he would be mine. The marriage was over, held together only by my stubbornness at that point. We signed the divorce papers a few days after he was born, despite the offer I made for us to get counseling and try to work things out. She cashed herself out of my life and for another zero, she signed over all of her parental rights to Benjamin.
“Alright, son. Let’s go make dinner.” I took him by the hand.
“Bye, Ms. Ruth!” Benjamin waved goodbye to his teacher.
“Goodbye, Benjamin. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She returned his wave and walked towards the door.
Ms. Ruth had been a godsend. I was a bit nervous about homeschooling Benjamin because I wanted him to socialize with other children, but he was slightly autistic. If he was with people he knew and trusted, he was okay, but if he was put in a room with strangers he would shut down and become almost non-verbal.
I took him to the kitchen and made him a ham sandwich with a side of broccoli. He loved ham sandwiches and he hated broccoli. Thankfully, he was willing to endure the curse of vegetables for a ham sandwich. After dinner was over, I bathed him and tucked him into bed. He wanted a bedtime story, so I read him a story about knights and castles. That was the flavor of the week after he found out dinosaurs were extinct.
Chapter 6: Abby
Flowers? Really?
I stared at the roses sitting next to my computer. I had already ripped up the card and threw it in the trash. The kiss Max planted on my lips left me burning with desire, but after having twenty-four hours to think about it, I was once again firmly opposed to him. The words left behind by the woman at the club resonated in my ear. It didn’t matter if he was hot as hell or if he made me wet, he was nothing more than Mr. Mistake.
I opened my email and stared at the request from Mr. Hawthorne. He wanted all of my analysis and data on the pitch I made because Energy Enhanced was going to fully embrace my idea.
“Abby!” I heard a voice and turned to see Mary-Katherine walking towards me.
“Mary-Katherine...” I blinked a couple of times. “What are you doing here?”
“We have a lunch date. Did you forget? Who sent you flowers!” She turned the vase and pulled a rose close so she could smell it.
“I totally forgot...” I sighed. “Those are from a client. They were happy with one of my ideas.”
“A client?” She grinned. “Is it a guy, because I don’t think clients send red roses unless they’re interested in more than just your ideas.”
“I don’t want to talk about it here.” I grabbed my purse and motioned for her to follow me outside.
“MR. MISTAKE?” MARY-Katherine started laughing as soon as she heard the story of what transpired outside the club. “I thought you just went to the bathroom. I didn’t realize someone tried to kidnap you!”
“It wasn’t a kidnapping...” I lifted my glass and sipped diet soda through my straw. “He was kind of charming, but come on—how do I get past that?”
“You don’t.” Mary-Katherine shrugged. “How long are you going to wait to lose your virginity? He sounds like the perfect guy for it. He’s experienced, hotter than anyone I’ve ever been with, and if the condom breaks, he’s rich as fuck.”
“So, I spent my whole life waiting for Mr. Right and I just throw myself at Mr. Mistake because I’m horny?” I shook my head and glared at her.
“It’s Maxwell Martin.” She pointed at me with both fingers. “You have a chance to fuck Maxwell Martin.”