What's Life Without the Sprinkles? (25 page)
“Sugar is the base for the cake, for the icing, for the sprinkles. It’s the thing you need for all of it to come together. I’d call you the eggs, since that’s the binding ingredient and I want to be bound to you, but I don’t think that’s nearly as romantic, and it doesn’t sound as good as calling you my sugar.”
“Does this mean I’m going to fatten you up?” he joked, squeezing her and wanting to kiss her until neither of them could breath.
“Only if you plan on getting me pregnant.”
His breath backed up in his lungs. “Do you want that?” God, to watch Claudia grow big again, this time knowing it was
his
child living and kicking inside her. Rubbing her belly again, knowing it was his son or daughter rolling inside her womb. Talking to the baby and loving it as much as he loved the son she already had.
“I want it all, Nate, and I want it with you.”
“What about Justin?”
“Are you kidding? Justin is going to be over the moon. He’s going to be home soon, so if you’re planning on kissing me again, you’d better do it quick before we have to sit down and explain all this to him.”
He passed a gentle hand over her hair. “I don’t know what kind of family we’re going to make, Claudia, but we’re going to do our damnedest to make it as close to our dreams as possible.”
“That’s all I want. You’re all I want.”
“Same goes, babe. Now lay one on me so we can go back to all those people spying on us from down the street and tell them the news.”
“What news is that?” Claudia asked coyly.
“The news that you’re finally going to make an honest man out of me.”
She laughed, and it was music to his ears and his heart.
****
That night, Claudia and Nate sat Justin down in the living room above Decadence. Claudia asked Zoe to find something else to do so that she, Nate, and Justin could talk together as the family she hoped they would soon be.
“What’s up, guys?” Justin said, coming into the living room with his ball and mitt in his hands. “Is Nate going to take me to the batting cages? That would be really cool.” He slyly looked at Nate out of the corner of his eye, and Claudia couldn’t tell if Justin was just trying to get one over on them or if someone had told him about the display in front of Decadence before she got a chance to lay it out for him herself.
Nate laughed and held Claudia’s hand. Justin’s eyes zeroed in on the motion in a split second. His face squinched up, and Claudia wasn’t sure if he was about to cry or cheer.
“Justin, Nate and I would like to talk to you.”
“Why is he holding your hand? I’ve seen him hold your hand to help you over a short fence or something, but not just hold your hand when you’re sitting down.” He looked skeptical, and she couldn’t blame him.
“Well, honey, this is what we wanted to talk to you about.” Claudia cleared her throat, not sure where to actually go with the conversation now that she had started it. “Um…”
Nate jumped in. “Look, guy, what your mom is trying to say is that…um…”
She and Nate both laughed, looking at each other. They weren’t going to be able to wade slowly into this. “Nate and I are dating,” Claudia blurted out, hoping it wouldn’t rock Justin’s world in a bad way. As happy as she’d been to tell Nate she loved him today, she’d also feared what it would do to Justin. But she couldn’t ignore her heart anymore.
“Cool.” Justin sat back against the chair and smiled at both of them.
“Just cool? You don’t have anything else to say?” Claudia peered at him closely to make sure he wasn’t hiding his real feelings. She glanced at Nate, who was doing the same thing.
“Yep, just cool.”
“Okay,” Nate said, then kissed the back of Claudia’s hand. Was he testing the waters?
Justin laughed, right before he groaned. “Oh, man, I’m not going to have to watch you guys be all lovey-dovey and stuff, am I? I told Grandma when she said she wanted the two of you to get together that I didn’t know if I’d be able to handle that. I guess it’s okay, though, as long as I don’t have to watch too much smooching.”
Claudia burst out laughing, and so did Nate. “Did you just say that you and Grandma orchestrated this whole thing?”
“I don’t think I’d use that big of a word, but sure.” Justin grinned at them. “She told me all about her plan to introduce you to all those stupid guys so you might see what was right in front of you. I didn’t know what she meant at first, but then she said Nate. At first I thought it would be gross, because Nate’s like my best friend. But then I thought about it some more, and the more I thought about it the cooler it got. Who else gets to have their best friend living in their house all the time and making their mom happy? It’s going to be so cool! Don’t date too long, though,” he said, looking at them both head-on. “I want to be able to call him Dad and live in his house with all those flat screen TVs real soon!”
And then he threw down his ball and mitt and jumped onto the couch with them, screaming about how happy he was.
Claudia sat shell-shocked for a moment before being dragged into the first family hug of many. Life was good and would hopefully only get better.
****
Hours later, with Justin finally in bed and Zoe home for the night, Claudia felt like a schoolgirl, sneaking over to Nate’s house. She was going to have her cake and eat it too, and she was going to do it tonight. Zoe had shooed her out of the house without even a farewell, telling her to get her groove on and not to look back.
She hadn’t had sex in so many years, it hurt her girl parts to think about it, but she had dressed the part under her blouse and capris and hoped Nate would love it. The tiny, pink, silky panties perfectly matched the push-up bra clinging to her boobs. She’d shaved, waxed and lotioned to her heart’s content.
Yes, this could be a huge mistake. Yes, it could ruin her friendship of many years with a man who meant the world to her. But it could also enhance it a thousandfold. Nights with Nate wrapped around her like gift wrap, days of sharing with him across the kitchen table, snatching kisses and quick caresses when Justin wasn’t looking. This was her chance at making the family she’d always wanted, and with a man who made her heart sing a song like never before.
Of course, she still had doubts and anxieties about the whole thing. Nothing in life was a sure bet. Even making a cake while following the recipe to the last letter didn’t always produce the same result every single time. But you had to try before you could fail. And that was just what she was going to do tonight and hopefully for the rest of her life. She was going to grab this chance with Nate, the chance she thought she’d never have or want again, and run with it as far as possible.
Her hands were sweaty on the wheel of her car when she pulled up in front of his house. God, what if she had forgotten how to have sex?
But when Nate opened the front door and barely let her all the way into the foyer before giving her the first orgasm of the night, with his hands in her pants and his tongue doing wicked, wicked things to her neck and earlobe, she knew her fears were ridiculous.
It was the first of many, and she returned the favor over and over again throughout the night. It was only as dawn peeked in through the upstairs curtains that she fell into an exhausted sleep. As she hovered between this world and dreamland, she had a vision of herself at Decadence in the coming months.
Tears would be going around even before it was time to see the dress May would make over bowls of cornflakes and endless reruns of old shows. The wave of laughter and tears would come, and when it did, Mona would have control of the volume and intensity. When it quieted and when it swelled. The flowers would be made by her sister from the loveliest blooms.
And her cake would have sprinkles, and be made with the finest sugar.
A word about the author...
Misty Simon lives in Central Pennsylvania and is happiest when she is creating stories that make you laugh out loud. Everyone needs some laughter in their lives and she is all too happy to provide.
You can find her on the web at:
www.mistysimon.com.
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