Teaghan
‘Lord, this man believed in fate, and I know I’m done for,’ I thought to myself…
I wondered how I managed to call his business out of all the plumbers in the phonebook.
Yes, I still used a phonebook with my uber classic ass.
I didn’t really do social media with all the hacking, negativity and faking.
My privacy was important to me and sometimes it came with more negativity than I could personally deal with.
Social media served as a tool but definitely had the power to deter you from the most important things in life.
Human interaction was needed. A simple touch could change someone’s mood.
A real hello, or ‘I’m praying for you’ could save a life.
My energy was just different and that was the one thing I held dear to my heart.
My energy was sacred like the first boy being born into a family.
I didn’t fuck around with bad vibes and sketchy people. Nothing was allowed to touch my sanity
“You might want to pull up a chair,” he said bringing me back to reality.
Whatever reality was for now. Currently, I felt like I was caught in some fantasy or between the pages of a book that was bound to end with a happily ever after, marriage and a baby in a carriage.
I was in my own head ready to orbit in his atmosphere.
“Oh, forgive me. I’m just standing here like don’t have some work I could do, but thank you again,” it was weird to say but I loved a man that was good with his hands.
The idea of a man not being afraid to roll his sleeves up and get dirty excited me to the core.
It was certainly what I was missing in my life.
All these pretty fragile men were a waste of time and probably the reason I hadn’t been married or even felt it was possible.
“You don’t have to keep thanking me, it’s my job you know?”
“It’s the polite thing to do.”
“Are you always polite and nosy?” he asked as my lips curled into a grin. He followed suit as I stopped and stood to look in his eyes again. I hadn’t had this amount of eye contact in a long time. Each glare made me melt and become a puddle of nothing but mush and sappy feelings.
“Three hundred and sixty-five days, sir,” I joked.
“Of course,” he laughed shaking his head, tossing a bolt to the side.
“Would you mind if I took Malone with me? I don’t mind.”
“Malone, you want to go with the nice lady and talk her head off?” Malone didn’t hesitate to grab my hand and leave his father behind, “that’s cold-blooded son.”
With a cute switch, I left the doorway and found my way to the front.
Fanning myself as I traveled the long hallway, I needed a piece of ice to slide down my chest. I was having a full-blown heat stroke watching him work.
His muscles bulged on his smooth skin with each turn of the wrench.
It was so rich with not one tattoo or imperfection in sight.
He was a work of art. So many emotions came to the forefront with one look at him.
Yep, he was that painting that you didn’t quite understand but it held so much beauty.
You couldn’t look away until you figured it out.
Masculine tones of brown, delicate hues of yellow and undertones of black from the mystery.
I was in over my head. It was clear and in the way he watched out for his son that that’s who meant the most to him.
I could never see myself coming in between that bond.
I didn’t want to either, that was something I felt was dope.
It was rare to see a father taking care of business.
And not just scratching the surface. Fathers taught lessons, taught them to lead and to respect.
No gift could amount to that. It took a real man to boss up and show the world it was more than a word.
“Let’s go find something to get into,” I said still holding Malone’s hand.
Me and Malone already had a relationship from school.
He was always well mannered and clean which said a lot.
He was in no danger with his father. However, I was.
I was ready to let my love run wild again.
Missy had been preaching for months that it was time for me to get over the hump I was in.
It was easy for Missy to say, but hard to do after all the times I had my heart stomped on.
I tried to live right and give good energy, but it was never returned.
That would turn anyone off. How could you trust the modern-day man when they took pride in turning hoes into wives?
Good girls, wholesome women, working women didn’t stand a chance.
I didn’t stand a chance in this new dating world.
My work was my boyfriend and it was time to come to terms with that.
I loved kids but not in the mushy gushy way but in the pure innocence of a child.
My heart extended to them farther than I knew possible.
I loved kids in a way that required action.
It was my passion to actually do something whenever one was near.
It didn’t matter the social status, the relationship they had with their parents or if they needed me.
The words I had for kids were never empty, always full of hope and promise.
“Your job is cool. You got computers, TV’s, and cool toys.”
“It’s for kids like you who come visit me. Kids get bored. Do you get bored?”
“All the time. I’m too smart for school. Can I play? I left my tablet in the car.”
“Of course, go play and have a ball until you pass out.” Malone lit up like a Christmas tree after that statement.
This was the reason I was able to wake up with a smile on my face and get ready for work no matter how the day before unfolded.
I loved what I did. Seeing kids smile when I entered a room made life complete.
It was seven years ago that I decided to change my major from law to pediatrics.
Kids were the future and they needed someone to understand them.
Grown people needed help also but it started as a child.
I believed wholeheartedly in the ‘it takes a village’ idea.
My village extended all over and was only extending further with the influential work I was doing.
“You know him?” Missy asked barely above a whisper as I made it to the front office.
Today had been a complete disaster and we were up to our ears in reschedules.
I was glad she didn’t leave when everyone else decided they had better things to do.
There was no way I would have been able to get home before the sun went down.
We had twenty appointments to reschedule.
That would include explaining the situation and apologizing. Shit like that only added to the time it would take.
“Kind of,” I replied smirking with the tip of my finger in my mouth.
Seeing him in my waiting area was a temporary moment of relief.
I still couldn’t believe that this happened at the busiest time of the year.
However, I had to give Houston the gold star because he was accurate about it being fate.
He hadn’t left my mind since the meeting, but I had to play his game and wait for him to reach out.
“You know you can go back there if you want. It’s clear you would like to know him, know him,” Missy joked. Although I was the owner I still had a hand in every aspect of the practice. Sometimes that meant I had to roll my own sleeves up and dig in. So Missy wasn’t going to get rid of me that fast.
“Not really. I mean I’ve met him before at the school. So I don’t know him and I’m not sure I need to even embark on that journey. He’s a widow.”
“So he’s free game?” she laughed.
“Don’t play with me. And why?” I asked me and Missy had been good friends since I started the practice, but none of that mattered.
I wouldn’t hesitate to cut her if she wanted to sink her fangs into Houston.
It was clear I wanted dibs by how softly I answered.
It didn’t matter that she saw him first this morning.
I was destined to be his eternity and plus she had someone.
“Chill, nah, I just saw how you looked at him and how he looked at you. I saw some sparks, honey.” Sparks were right, every nerve was snapping, crackling, and popping right now.
It took my breath away laying eyes on him again.
The surprise became nothing but delight once I stepped around the corner and noticed that beanie and his weird ears.
My face read the same, but I planned to play it off to keep Missy from intervening.
Soon, Missy would stick her nose in any way; it was inevitable.
Missy thought she was the big sister. All big sisters were bossy.
That was Missy spot on. A friend like her was the best thing that ever happened to me, so her being bossy was just something you had to deal with.
“I met him last week at that school meeting with Ms. Cranky. And I don’t believe shit you say about sparks. I still can’t believe you set me up with Chase. You are currently on a time-out from setting me up.”
“I apologized about that and knocked Lewis’ brain back on correctly,” she laughed as I rolled my eyes at her. “Oh, he’s the one that got her together, huh?”
Parts of me were still brewing from the way she tried to play the young man.
When I explained it to Missy she was just as pissed.
Malone was mischievous, but his grades didn’t show that.
She forgot to highlight that Malone was top of his class.
That pissed me off. I laid into her once the meeting was over.
I wasted no time letting her know that if she removed him from the school a phone call to my father would be made and funding would be cut.
Kids needed team players and if Ms. Norwood wasn’t up for the challenge she needed to step down.