So Mavis’s place it was.
Mavis raised her brows at me. “Oh yeah?”
I swallowed and nodded. “Yeah.”
“What’s the problem?” she wondered.
She steadily wiped crumbs off her kitchen counter onto the floor, after which her dog, who had to be at least a hundred and ten at this point, licked them up to the best of his ability.
I licked my lips. “I want her to like me.”
Mavis snickered. “Fran, everyone freakin’ likes you.”
She had a point. I’d never met a single person, besides Maria and her friend, Sonia, that didn’t like me.
I was a very likable person… at least I tried to be.
Speaking of Sonia.
“When I dropped Taos off at the gym today—so I can use his car without being followed around in mine—it was to see Sonia there waiting for him.” I sighed. “It’s like she picked up right where Maria left off.”
Mavis snorted. “Sonia was always into Taos. I’m talking, really into him. I think she’s a lot of the reason that Maria finally decided to leave Taos.”
“What happened there?” I asked.
“It was a big thing at the gym, because she came in pissed as hell that he wasn’t home. Again. And then she said, it’s the gym and your job or me. I seriously don’t think that she expected him to pick the gym and the job.” Mavis answered.
Mavis was snickering by the end of it.
“And anyway,” Mavis continued as she threw the wet rag in the sink and turned her eyes toward me. “Sonia was over there with this huge Cheshire cat smile on her face. You could tell that was exactly what she wanted. And when Maria tried to come back, it was also at the gym, but he refused. Said that he’d already filed divorce papers. Maria cried. Sonia consoled her while also smiling as she patted her back. Everyone clapped when they both left.”
I shook my head, leaning my backside against the counter next to her.
I squirmed, feeling the pull of sore muscles from this early morning’s sexual encounter with a certain someone. Which had me thinking…
“How do you know if a man is big or not?” I asked curiously. “I mean, I’ve slept with someone before. It was less than a stellar encounter. But how do I know if…”
“If he has a big cock?” Mavis’s eyes were sparkling.
“Yes,” I answered.
Vlad took that moment to cry out that he was finished with his nap, causing Mavis to sigh and jerk her head for me to follow.
“How big are we talking here?” she wondered as she walked.
I followed behind her, going to the changing table and pulling out a diaper to ready and a set of clothes to change Vlad into as she pulled him from his crib.
“I’m talking, big enough that…” I turned around when I saw Vlad in her arms. “I can’t talk about this with him here. It feels wrong to have this discussion around my nephew.”
Mavis rolled her eyes. “Google it then.”
I very well might.
Because looking at my nephew’s innocent little blue jean eyes so much like my own, I knew that I couldn’t finish this discussion now.
“How do you get anything done with him around?” I wondered.
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t.”
Then she proceeded to get him dressed, despite his wiggling and playing with his wiener, in less than two minutes.
When she had him once again in her arms, she handed him to me. “Hold him while I go get dressed.”
I did, giving him the biggest kiss ever as I moved.
His little baby giggles gave my heart a pang.
“I want to have babies with Taos,” I blurted out.
Why don’t you just go and blurt out everything, Francine?
“I can’t wait to see our grandmother’s reaction to that.” Mavis snickered.
I groaned.
My grandmother, from the bottom of her heart, hated children. She hated even more that Mavis had a child and didn’t get her career as advanced as she could have, which ruined her every chance.
Or so our grandmother said.
“I don’t really care what she thinks,” I told my sister. “And you know it.”
“I know it,” she confirmed. “But when that money stops coming in like mine did, then you’ll think differently.”
I groaned. “I don’t use it all that often. Only in emergencies now. And, just sayin, but you’re getting yours.”
“Now I am, yes. But only because she was forced to release the funds to me because of my age,” Mavis countered.
Before, she was able to take it away because there was a clause in the paperwork that stated it could be stalled if we got pregnant out of wedlock.
Something in which Mavis most certainly had done.
“Well, she can’t touch it now. It’s yours to do with as you please,” I pointed out.
When she ‘came of age’, our grandmother was no longer the keeper of our funds that had come from our parents upon their deaths. Now, she was the sole individual who had control of our accounts. Whether she’d gotten pregnant out of wedlock or not.
Which probably drove my grandmother insane seeing as she no longer had any leverage to hold over our heads to keep us in line.
“She called me last week, left me a voice mail, and told me that I was being dumb for not taking the promotion,” Mavis said.
Mavis worked at the hospital like I once had, though on a different floor. A few months ago, Mavis had been offered the position of charge nurse. Only Mavis hadn’t wanted it, because it meant more hours. Which she most definitely didn’t want.
And obviously, since my grandmother had an ear in every fucking thing, she’d heard, and then lamented Mavis’ decision.
“Well, she called me last week and told me that my job was waiting for me at the hospital, and to stop being a little baby about a few whispers, and to go back,” I countered.
Mavis snickered. “Doesn’t she know that you like what you do now?”
“She does,” I said. “I told her last time she told me my job was still waiting for me.”
Mavis shook her head, slipped her feet into low-heeled boots, and then stood up.
“Come on,” she urged. “We have to go see someone about a driveshaft.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Let’s go,” she ordered. “We can talk about cocks and shit to Murphy.”
Sure enough, five minutes later, we were pulling into Murph’s auto shop.
“Can you get Vlad?” she asked.
I nodded and got out of the car, moving to the back passenger side of the van where Vlad’s seat sat.
Once I had him out—and I did have to admit, it was really nice having such a wide opening to get him out as opposed to the small area I had in my car—I brought him up onto my hip before pressing the button to slide the door closed.
When I looked up, it was to find Murphy and Mavis in a silent glare-off.
I blinked, trying not to smile.
My lips weren’t listening to my urging, though, because before I could stop it, a small smile curved up the corners of my lips.
I started snickering when they continued to glare.
“Are we going to do this all day or…” I hedged.
Vlad shrieked when he finally turned and saw the man doing the glaring.