Eye Candy (14 page)

“We thank you for the thought,” I said taking the gift. “I’m sure the twins will find it amusing.”

“You’re quite welcome, Aaron.” Tiffany said maintaining an innocent look on her face. “I’m pretty sure they will.”

“Honey, why don’t you go place the gift on the table with the other items,” my wife said to me. “I want to introduce Tiffany to our guests before we sing happy birthday to the twins and cut the cake.”

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” I said reluctantly.

I stood there with an unnoticeable dumbfounded look on my face. It was awkward to see my wife and the woman I had an affair with so cordial. However, I knew right now Monica had no idea what when on between Tiffany and I. The both of them walked away as I made my way over to the gift table.

For what seemed like eternity, I watched Monica introduce Tiffany to our guests. Tiffany kept her composure as if nothing was wrong and that alone made the rage build up inside me. Finally, Tiffany broke away from Monica and headed back inside the house. I figured she was headed to the powder room and this would be a good time to intervene. Without being obvious, I quickly raced behind her.

“What on God’s green earth are you doing here? I shouted halting Tiffany in her tracks. “And how did you find out where I lived?”

Tiffany had made it all the way to the powder room which was near the front door entrance. She paused but didn’t turn around.

“I thought my departure from your wife would get your attention,” she said turning around facing me. “You’d be surprised what I could find on your secretary’s computer once she left it unattended.”

I grabbed Tiffany by her elbow and maneuvered her near the door that exited to the garage. So our voices couldn’t be heard, I pushed her into the garage and closed the door behind us. The garage was partially dark and only lit by the beans of sunlight passing through the side of the garage door.

“Listen here you crazy lunatic,” I said grabbing her around the throat. “I want you out of my house, now!”

“Aaron, you’re getting rough with me again and you know that turns me on.”

I visually caught a glimpse of myself around her neck. Then I let her go and slightly pushed her backwards. “Tiffany, you have no right to be here and I mean that. I’m walking out this garage and back to the birthday party. When I get there I expect you to be gone.”

“Oh, come on now, don’t be such a party pooper. Doesn’t this garage remind you of something?”

“Hell no!”

“It’s dark, steamy, and hot in here just like it was at my place when we made love.”

“It was just one night of kinky sex, Tiffany.”

Tiffany advanced towards me and grabbed my right hand placing it on her breasts. Then she slowly moved my middle finger over her harden nipples.

“Come on, Aaron, let me suck you off. I want to see that gratifying expression on your face again.”

“You’re sick,” I said as she still had control of my hand.

“Heck, I’ll even let you recline back in your wife’s car. It’s the Tahoe, right?”

“Get the fuck out of here!” I screamed as I jerked my hand off her breasts. “You have two minutes to leave.”

When I returned to the back yard, the crowd had assembled to watch the cake ceremony. I had left Tiffany in the garage and firmly slammed the door behind me. In front of the crowd, Monica had lit the candle that was in the shape of the number four. The candle was placed squarely in the center of the cake with the traditional writing ‘happy birthday’ on it. I took my place in front of the cake where the twins and Monica were.

“Happy birthday!” yelled everyone in the crowd as the twins blew out the candle together.

The crowd clapped exuberantly, smiled, and showered the twins with praises. I then kissed both of my sons on their cheek knowing they would remember this day forever. When I looked up and towards the rear of the crowd, there stood Tiffany. She was clapping along with the crowd. And she had a silly and smirkish grin on her face that I saw before.

CHAPTER 16

The final bell for the afternoon class rang as it was the last day for seniors at North Atlanta High School. Wildly enough, the seniors left their classrooms and quickly filled the halls. There they littered loose sheets of paper until the floors were not visible. It’s a harmless tradition they had performed with only the school’s custodian getting angry with the cleanup that followed.

Instead of heading to the school’s parking lot and joining the rest of the seniors for a brief celebration, Marilyn made her way down to Monica’s room. The graduation ceremonies and the Memorial Day weekend were in a few days and she wanted to say her final good-byes to her English teacher. After she made it past the cluttered fill halls, she noticed Monica was inside her room. Monica was packing her small leather bag with her laptop and books about to depart for the day.

“Mrs. Malone I’m glad I caught you before you left.”

“Hi, Marilyn,” Monica said pausing from packing her bag. “I thought you’d be outside by now with your classmates.”

“No, I figured I do something more important.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“I just wanted to tell you how much of an inspiration you had been to me this year. And to come by and thank you personally.”

“Marilyn that’s so sweet for you to say that. It really means a lot to me.”

The two embraced in a warm and thoughtful hug while smiling. It was the intangible times like these when Monica knew her father would never understand why she loved teaching where she did.

“You deserve it, Mrs. Malone,” Marilyn said as the two separated from their hug.

“And you deserved to be named senior class valedictorian. Vanderbilt University is gaining such an asset this fall.”

“I promise to make you and everyone else so proud of me.”

“We already are, Marilyn,” Monica said in her comforting voice. “So are you ready for your speech at the graduation ceremony?”

“I’m ready but nervous too.”

“Don’t worry you’ll do just fine.”

“How are you so sure, Mrs. Malone?”

“Marilyn, because you always do.”

“Want to hear the first portion of my speech?”

“Yes, I’d be honored but I’ll be sure to listen with the same empathy during the ceremony.”

“Great it’s exciting to hear someone else’s opinion besides my parents who have heard it too many times by now.”

“Come on let’s make our way from this classroom and head outside.”

Monica zipped up her leather bag and placed it over her right shoulder. Then the teacher and student walked through the paper riddled halls towards the parking lot. During this time, Monica listened extensively to Marilyn’s speech. Once outside, Marilyn continued to the end of her speech. Then Monica gave her a few suggestions and the two prepared to say good-bye.

“Thanks so much on the pointers for my speech,” said Marilyn. “I feel even more comfortable now. I’ll see you in a couple of days at the graduation.”

“Yes, Marilyn, I’ll see you then. But in the meantime go have some fun with your classmates.”

“Alright Mrs. Malone I guess you’re right.”

“A little fun isn’t going to kill you. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay,” Marilyn said smiling.

Monica made her way to the faculty area of the parking lot while Marilyn went in the opposite direction. Now it was time for her to head to her mother’s house and pick up the twins.

As Monica drove down Northside Drive, she decided to give me a call to see how my day was going so far. Keeping her hands on the steering wheel, she used the Bluetooth option in the Tahoe to dial me at work.

“Hi, sweetheart,” I said picking up the handset from my desk as I recognized my wife’s number.

“Hello, honey. What are you up to?”

“I just finished another round of designs for the revitalization project and now I have to meet with Mr. Bradshaw in an hour.”

“I see you’re staying busy over there.”

“Yeah, but that’s a good thing,” I said while I took a moment and looked out my window. “So enough about me, how was your last day at school with your students?”

“Happy and also sad too.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You know, Aaron, I hate to see them go.”

“I know Monica but it’s part of the process. Just think about it, you’re educating some of our future lawyers, doctors, and even architects.”

“I understand but I always get so emotional at this time of the year,” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “I had one of my smartest students approach me after school today.”

“You mean the girl who was elected as class valedictorian you’re always talking about?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“Um, what’s her name again?”

“It’s Marilyn.”

“Okay, I remember now. So what happened with her?”

“She just let me know how much I inspired her this year.”

“But Monica that’s a great statement to hear from one of your students. Maybe you should relay that to your father so he would quit trying to recruit you over to Emory.”

“That’s so funny, Aaron,” she said with a light laugh.

“See, I knew I would cheer you up with that one.”

“You always seem to know how to.”

“I bet I can guess what is going to cheer you up even more,” I said.

“What’s that, Aaron?”

“Those bright smiles on the twins face this afternoon.”

“You guessed right,” she said as I could see her smiling through the phone. “I’m actually turning off Northside Drive now headed to Dunwoody.”

“Well, kiss them for me first when you pick them up.”

“I will, honey. So what time will you get home tonight?”

“It’s hard to say. It probably will be late as usual.”

“Well, the boys and I will see you later tonight either way.”

“Okay, I’ll see you all soon.”

Monica continued driving until her Tahoe reached the driveway of her parent’s home. Anxiously, she darted inside to see her two boys that meant so much to her. Her mother was the first person she saw as she walked through the front door.

“Monica, there you are,” said her mother greeting her. “I thought I heard you pulling up.”

“Hi mom,” replied Monica. “Yes, it’s me.”

“So how was your last day at school?”

“Fulfilling as always, mom”

“That’s so good to hear, Monica, despite what your father may think.”

“So where is dad, anyway?”

“He had another one of his lecturing classes this afternoon over at Emory. Then he said he would be in his office at the university to catch up on a new book he is writing.”

“I wonder what his new book is going to be about.”

“Only God knows, Monica. He keeps his writing subjects top secret around here until the book has been published and hits the bookstore shelves.”

“Yeah, dad has always been odd when it comes to his writing,” Monica said to her mother as the women stood near the front door. “So how was your day with the twins?”

“It was grand as always but I’m going to miss my boys since you’re now officially on your summer break.”

“Don’t worry, mom, I’m sure I’ll need your help looking after those two. They can keep me quite busy and are a handful.”

“Well, cherish the time you spend with them, dear, because one day they will be all grown up. Then you’ll be wondering how the time went by so fast.”

“For now, I can only imagine that. So where are those two little busy bodies anyway?”

It was as if the two boys waited until the women began to talk about them before they ran wildly into the area where Monica and her mother were. Brandon was leading the way and his brother was a close second.

“Mommy,” shouted the two boys together. “You’re finally here.”

Monica saw the stampede approaching her. She quickly placed both of her knees on the wood floor and extended her arms wide open. The twins, who were running in their white socks, slid perfectly into their mother’s heartwarming arms.

“There you two are,” Monica said to her sons as she kissed them on their foreheads. “Where have you two been?”

“We were watching the animals on TV,” Brandon said.

“Yeah, mommy, and we saw the giant panda like the one at the zoo,” Braylon said following up after his older brother.

“Let’s get your things together and get ready to go home now so grandma can get some rest.”

“Monica, why don’t you and the boys stay for dinner?” asked her mother. “I was just about to begin cooking.”

“You don’t have to go through all that trouble, mom. Besides, I need to stop by the cleaners before they close today.”

“Yeah, and I want pizza!” blurted out Brandon still in his mother’s arm.

“Can we have pizza tonight?” asked Braylon happy that his brother made the suggestion.

“Maybe but only if you two hurry up and put on your shoes then gather your stuff.”

The two boys frantically jumped out of their mother’s arms as the thought of being rewarded with pizza excited them. Within sixty seconds flat they had returned with their Velcro strapped shoes on and each carrying a small bag containing a few toys.

“Well, I’ll see you later, Monica,” her mother said giving her daughter a hug. “Now, you two boys come over here and give your grandma a good-bye kiss.”

As she ordered, the twins did just that. Then she held them a little bit extra longer as she hugged them.

“Now, you two behave and enjoy the rest of your evening,” she said. “Grandma loves you.”

“Good-bye, grandma, we love you too,” said the twins together.

Monica led the two out the front door as they waved good-bye to their grandmother. Once they were strapped into their car seats, Monica blew the horn on the Tahoe letting her mother know they were departing.

About five minutes into the drive on the winding back road to Sandy Springs the vehicle accelerated towards the occupant’s destination. Monica noticed how quickly she was approaching the red Toyota that was in front of her. She pressed the brake pedal slightly but nothing happened. Before rear ending the vehicle in front of her, she quickly turned the steering wheel into the lane of oncoming traffic noticing that lane was clear. Narrowly, she evaded striking the Toyota and expeditiously turned back into her lane.