CHAPTER: Compliments.

Whenever Michelle wasn’t there David would ask for her, he always wanted her around, even if I was there and we were having a good time, he would still ask for her. I knew her going out without him would not sit well with him and she knew that as well which is why she left while he was taking his afternoon nap.

I paced up and down the apartment, thinking.

I had thought a lot about it over the years. Every time I slept with someone, I wondered if Michelle was doing the same. When I crept into my bed, alone at night I thought about the man who might me next to her. I wondered what he would look like. Would he look like me or would he be nothing like me. I thought it was unfair then. I thought I had some kind of right to her because she promised me. It was unbearable to think about someone else touching her the way I did. In my head, she was mine. All that had changed now, she was more mine, than I was hers. I couldn’t be upset if she was seeing someone, especially when I would have been doing the same thing if I was up to it at all.

I made up my mind that I would be as cooperative as possible. I knew when David woke up he would ask for her so I devised things we could do together to keep him distracted.

I was laying down old news papers on the carpet when he came in the living room robbing his eyes. He looked at me and turned to the kitchen. I knew he was already looking for her. His bottom lip started to tremble before he even asked the question.

“David,” I said. “What’s wrong?”

He looked at me and started to sniffle. “my tummy,” and he started to hold his stomach.

-o-o-

( Michelle)

Flashback.

I was standing in the elevator with my eyes closed. I had a horrible headache. It might have been from the crying, it might have been from spending so much time in the sun but I knew I couldn’t bear to open my eyes and face the bright lights in the elevator.

“Excuse me Miss, is everything alright.” I heard a deep throaty voice say from next to me. I was aware that there was someone else on the elevator with me but I didn’t care. I lived in the building, I could ride the elevator up and down if I wanted. I wanted to tell this person to leave me alone but I couldn’t muster up the courage to be impolite, even if I was having a horrible day. I opened my eyes and looked at the person who addressed me. He was a middle-aged man with a caramel complexion and a pair of dark brown eyes that could be mistaken for black. Actually they would have been scary to look at if they didn’t have so much kindness behind him. There is something about a pair of kind of eyes that can just draw someone in and he drew me in with one glance.

“I’m fine,” I said in a humble whisper.

He raised his brow in an inquisitive manner. “I’m not sure I believe you miss. I’ve been in this elevator for five minuets and it has passed every floor twice.” He left the sentence hanging, like he expected an explanation and I wanted to give him one.

“Today is my birthday,” I said. I don’t know why I said it but I thought it would suffice for some reason.

“Well that explains everything. I must admit I have the same reaction every time it comes around.” He passed his hand through his low cut hair that was black and dusted with hints of grey that only added to his sophistication.

“No, it’s not the age thing…I’m just having a bad day.” I explained.

He looked at me in interest and raised a brow. “Well eat some birthday cake. I’m sure it will make you feel better,” he asked.

But of course I didn’t have a birthday cake and that alone made me want to cry and my throat became heavy so I croaked out my response. “I don’t have a cake.”

“That must be a crime. A beautiful woman like you and no one made you a cake.”

It seemed like forever since the last time someone called me beautiful. It was enough to cheer me up for a couple of seconds. “No.”

“Well you’re in luck. I’m actually going to visit my mother right now. Coincidently… she made me cake. I’m willing to share it.”

“I shouldn’t…” I said.

“I insist.”

“I really shouldn’t.”

He laughed quietly and he looked even more handsome than before. “ You’re not afraid of me, are you.”

I shook my head. “No,” and I really wasn’t. Something told me I could trust him. “I just don’t… know you.”

“I’m sure you know my mother. Tiny old lady, blue hair…always asking questions.

He was right I did know his mother. I helped her with her groceries once. She lived on the top floor of the building. In the ten minutes it took for us to get to her apartment I had enough information on her son to write a book. She even asked me then if I would go out with him. I politely declined and avoided her like the plague thereafter.

“Do you know her?” he asked.

I nodded.

“I think I’ll make her the happiest woman alive if I bring a beautiful woman over.”

I looked down at the skirt I was wearing. It was still perfectly clean but I felt dirty from sitting out at the pool side. “I don’t think I should.”

“It can’t hurt. There’s lots of cake…”

I relented. It was unlike me to give in, especially to stranger but he was being so nice to me.

End Flashback

-o-

(Terry)

I stood at her bedroom window, looking down at the parking lot below me. Her car was still there which meant she would be dropped off by this person. I had to admit that I was interested. I wanted to see what he looked like.

The lights in the room were off, so I knew I could see them in the lot but she wouldn’t be able to tell if someone was looking or not. She said she would be back by nine. So I started looking out from eight o clock. It was a little after nine when I saw a white Mercades pull into the lot. I was actually just admiring the car. It was a beauty, except for the color. I didn’t expect Michelle to have a date with anyone who drove a car like that, since she hated showy things. So I didn’t pay attention when the man first came out of the car and walked over to the passenger side. I was expecting to see some kind of bimbo in red or something like that since old men are always painfully desperate and women like that always prey on the desperation.

Michelle was the last person I was expecting to see coming out of that car and when she did I actually gasped. “What the hell?” I said. I really thought she was going out on a date. I was a bit confused. I knew there couldn’t be anything between her and this man since he was old enough to be her father. I determined it could have just been a business dinner but that quickly changed when I saw him rest his hands on the small of her back in a protective manner.

Her eyes glanced up at the window and I held my breath. I reminded myself that she couldn’t see me so I just stayed still. She was telling him something and he looked up at the window too his eyes landing directly on me. They began to walk out the lot and he looped his arm around Michelle’s in a way that just annoyed me.. When they cleared the parking lot I turned around and stepped around the bed. David was lying on bed waiting for his mommy. He was spread out like someone put him on pause while he was making a snow angel. I took the little corner in the bed next to him and closed my eyes to pretend I was lying there all along.

About five minutes later I heard the front door open and I could hear the sound of her heels clicking through the apartment. I could hear when she was at the bedroom door. I sat up at this point and did my best to sound groggy. “You’re back already,” I asked.

“I’m actually a bit late… why is there is pedialyte on the counter?” she asked.

“He had tummy ache.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, I called three times?’ she whispered in an annoyed tone.

“I thought I could handle it and I did.”

“Did he cry a lot?”

“Yes… at first but he stopped.”

She stepped out of her heels and walked over the sleeping figure of David. “Poor baby,” she said and she touched his forehead. “I shouldn’t have left him.”

“He’s fine,” I said.

“I hope so… maybe I should wake him to find out.”

She sat on the bed and looked down at him. It was dark but my eyes had adjusted. “Don’t wake him… he’s fine. He even build a house and drew a Dolphin for you.”

“He did?” she asked. “Where is it?”

“It’s in the living room.”

She I heard her tracking to the living room and she came back with the piece of paper in her hand. “I’ll use this, the next time I write him a story.”

I sighed and began to get up off the bed.

“You can sleep here tonight if you want. I’ll take the couch tonight,” she said.

That couch was so uncomfortable. I had no idea how she put up with it for so long. I hated sleeping on it but the last thing I wanted was for her to start complaining to Tomiko again. “No I’ll take the couch.”

“No, I’ll take it.”

“No you go ahead.”

“Okay, I guess we’ll both sleep on bed and David will be between us.” It was a huge a bed and David was obviously not that big. It was a compromise I could more that deal with because I knew I would have to suffer through back ache if I didn’t.

“Okay,” I said.

She nodded and she walked to the closet and took up some clothes and headed to the bathroom to change. She came back in a couple of minutes later and laid down on the other side of David.

I couldn’t help but notice that we just had the closest thing to a decent conversation since I moved in with her and I wondered why then of all the times we had an opportunity to be civil to each other did we choose that moment.

A/N: So nothing much happened in this chapter. It’s sort of like to get it to the next point of the story.

So now you guys know what Michelle did on her birthday. I kept it secret for a reason.

Ha ha. He’s old. So what do you think is his story? Do you like him? I know you don’t know his name yet but you can get a gist of his character.

Why do you think Terry is not mad at her for dating?

Why is he being so nice Michelle?

Do you think Terry will date… if not, why.

Is Michelle wrong for dating this man?

Is Michelle attracted to him or is that he’s nice to her and she just wants someone to be nice to her and dote over her the way Terry used to?