Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
I didn’t pick up the cup and saucer.
I sat in my chair.
Grabbed my cell.
And with my lips tipped up…
I phoned Tom.
CHAPTER 14
THE DINNER
Tom
Tom was heading to Mika’s.
It was the first time he’d been there since they began, even if it’d been nearly two weeks since that happened.
Mika came to him when she felt like coming to him, which was daily. But she was in the middle of a project, and she didn’t work nine to five.
This meant she already had his key, plus his garage door opener, and twice since they started, she slid into bed with him in the middle of the night, waking him.
He made love to her.
Then they slept.
She didn’t race out the door in the mornings.
Twice, she’d come into town with Cadence and Nora to meet him for lunch. Another evening, it had only been her and Cadence. They went to dinner and a movie and Cadence drove home. Mika came home with him and Lyfted back to her house the next day because Tom had clinic.
Most of the time, it was just Mika.
They’d go out to dinner, but usually they cooked together if she was there in time to eat.
And once, she’d shown in a shitty mood, closed off and surly.
The longer this lasted, Tom started getting flashbacks of Imogen, and he didn’t like it.
He was stunned, and relieved to find that he hadn’t had to mention it.
Mika was sensitive to his response.
When she’d noted it, she’d cuddled up to him and shared, “I can get in mental zones when I’m working. And what I’m working on now is uber personal. All my work is, but this is off the charts. It got to me today.” She’d kissed his cheek and promised, “I’ll shake it off and stop being such a bitch.”
She’d done just that, but what she said about what she was working on made him curious.
He broached it.
And with zero reluctance, she said, “I’ll show you. It’s not ready now, but I’d like you to see it.” There was a weighty pause that coated his enthusiasm before she concluded, “Truth, I think you need to see it.”
He didn’t know what that meant, but he didn’t press because he knew he’d find out.
That night, she and Cadence were cooking for him, and Nora was still in town, “And she’ll be here until she isn’t,” Mika had explained the ongoing presence of her friend. “I don’t have any siblings, or I didn’t, until I met Nora when I was thirty.”
And that was Tom’s blaring clue that Nora Ellington was a fixture in their lives, not that he hadn’t noted it with the way they all behaved during their lunches.
Tom was keen to spend time with Mika and Cadence, and even Nora, who was a more mature, more acerbic version of Chloe, and therefore he liked her. He was keen to see what mother and daughter would cook for him. He was keen to get a tour of their home. He was keen to spend time in Mika’s space.
And he was spending the night.
“It’s not like she doesn’t know where Mom is at night, sweetheart,” she’d said when he’d asked after how Cadence would react to that. “She likes you. She likes that I’m with you. She knows what we’re exploring is important, it’s meaningful, you’re not just some guy in our space. I also don’t want her to have hang-ups about sexuality and intimacy. A romantic relationship includes sex and sleeping in the same bed and spending the night. It’s more than okay. It’s good. It’s healthy. And you’re going to be around for a while and not only should she get used to you, there’s no reason to have barriers between us that don’t need to be there.”
He couldn’t fight that logic, and it wasn’t his daughter.
They’d spent one night apart since they got together, the Monday after they first got together. It was now the second Friday later.
So there was also the fact he didn’t want to sleep without Mika.
She’d been leaving her girl and her friend to be with him, it was time for Tom to pony up.
He’d been correct that Sunday morning.
They were both old enough to figure it out and do that fast.
They got the basics down.
History: she was born in Philly and made her way from an unhappy childhood (due to her father) and adolescence (due to what she called her “itchy feet”) to New York. He was born in Connecticut and spent a lot of time when he was growing up in New York.
Parents: both of his deceased, her beloved mother dead, her estranged father alive.
Siblings: Mika none, Tom a younger sister he was not close to due to sibling rivalry issues.
Location: Mika was good with spending more time in Arizona, but she was never giving up her brownstone. Tom had frequently tried to talk Genny into buying a place in New York because he vastly preferred it there to LA or anywhere. He’d made happy memories in New York and was a city boy at heart. He liked the vibe, the restaurants, the theater, concerts, museums, parks and shorter travel to places he frequented, like Europe. Genny had no interest and only went to New York to do the Letterman Show or if work sent her there. Though once Chloe got older, she went more frequently for mother-daughter shopping trips, but that was more about Chloe than Imogen. So they didn’t buy a place.