Wine After Whiskey

Tessa had been beyond stressed out Monday morning, when she had dropped Aubree off at All Saints Nursery School. Part of her was nervous that she was going to be leaving her young child with somebody that Aubree didn’t know, and the other part was stress from trying to remember all the things that she needed to give James when he stopped by her house that morning.

“Okay, so here are the emergency contact numbers. My parents, your parents, her pediatrician, the schools number and address. Oh! And I put my number at the hospital. Sometimes you cant get directly to the nursery, so call Sick Kids Hospital, ask for the NICU/Nursery, and then ask to speak with me. But only call me if it is a dire emergency.” Tessa wracked her brain for anything else on the emergency front that she needed to let him know of. “I left her car seat out next to the front door, and when you leave I can help you install it and--”

“Calm down, Tess. I got everything under control. And don’t worry, I got a car seat yesterday. Pink is alright, right? They said it was the best, and safest at the baby store… I hope it works good.” James sweated nervously. They both let out nervous chuckles at each others freak outs.

“Stop being so scared. I’m the momma, you don’t get to worry.” she grinned, smoothing out her periwinkle hospital issued scrubs, and checking her hair in the mirror. Even in those scrubs- which hugged her body, and left nothing to his imagination- James thought that Tessa was the most beautiful woman on the face of the Earth.

He took a risk. A jump, and hoped for a leap of faith. She was leaned up against the wall, staring back at him. There was no lustful look on her face, or one that James could signify that she was anticipating or expecting what he did next.

Closing the space in between them, James stepped forward two steps, and pressed his lips against hers. Instinctively, her hands went to his hair, and she let his freshly washed hair wrap around her thin fingers. James cupped her face in his hands, and pressed her against the wall, closing off any remaining space that was between them.

Tessa bit down on his lip, hard enough to almost draw blood and James made a noise- crossed between a wince and moan. He took her not pushing him away, and slapping him across his face as a good thing, and began to drag his hands lower; across her clavicle, shoulders, stopping at her breasts just for a millisecond before letting his hands settle lower. His hands began to fumble with the tie on the top of her scrub pants, and that gave Tessa a moment to realize where exactly this was going to go. Pulling her face off of his, she gripped his biceps- which almost felt fake in her small hands- and pushed him away from her with as much strength as she was able to muscle up. James gave her a confused look as she began to retie her pants.

“What the hell was that about, James?” she screeched, barely able to come up with the words she wanted to say. Her lips, and skin blazed from his touch as if she were on fire and a gross pit in her stomach began to form.

“I just-- I just thought…” James didn’t know what to say either. She was angry at him- he could tell even before the frown appeared on her face. “I thought that’s what you wanted, you didn’t--”

“Thought that’s what I wanted? When did that ever occur to you that I wanted that? I wasn’t the one who jumped you, James. You clearly came onto me.”

“You didn’t push me away, though. I just thought--”

“I pushed you away when my brain finally realized you were trying to get into my fucking pants. Mark my words, James Neal, this was how we got ourselves into the situation we are in now. No sex. No way. Nothing of that shape at all. That’s how accidents happen and I am in no way, shape, or form ready for another baby in the next at least five years. I don’t want to find out at the end of summer I get knocked up by you, and then I’m left to deal with two of your illegitimate children. No way.”

“I didn’t--” Again, Tessa cut him off.

“I think it’s best if you go. I need to go mouthwash your taste off of my esophagus, and get ready for work… I’ll be at your place at six to pick up Aubree. Make sure she’s ready.”

James realized how upset she was, and instead of apologizing and making it even worse he left. He would make it up with the stupendous dinner he would be making them later that evening.

_____

James had waited in the parking lot of All Saints Nursery School for nearly two hours- just as he had promised Tessa- for Aubree to get out of school. He was surprised he hadn’t gotten the cops called on him or gotten arrested for being a creep after just sitting in his car. The Catholic school system were a suspicious bunch, especially when a grown-ass man sat outside in their parking lot on his cell phone for two hours.

As soon as he got Aubree back to his place, he settled her down on the couch with the TV- child appropriate of course- and went into the kitchen to make her a snack.

“Bree bee,” he called her the nickname he had heard her mother call her many times that evening he had been over their place. “What do you want for a snack? Apples and caramel? Fruit salad? Veggies with dip?” In the two days he had between meeting with Tessa for lunch and today, James had searched the world wide web high and low for healthy snacks for four years olds. Those had been the top items from the mommy blogger websites he had found.

“Ummmmmmm,” she tapped her chin and did a little dance as she leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen door. “Can I have it all? It sounds so yummie!” she giggled jumping around. He never realized that four year olds had so much energy- or an appetite.

“How about I make you a little plate of each, yeah?” he asked and she agreed, running out into the living room as the theme song for ‘Franklin’ began to play. James smiled as she sang along to the song, just barely knowing the words and as he finished making her plate of food- on a Tangled Princess plate he had bought at the store- and brought it to her in the living room. “For milady,” he offered her the plate in his best British accent. She giggled loudly, and rested the plate on her lap.

James sat down next to Aubree and let out a long sigh, he had only been around her for almost an hour by himself and she had already wore him out. How the hell did Tessa do this by herself for all these years?

Once Franklin had long sang his last song, and Aubree had piled off an amount of food that left James wondering where on Earth the pint sized little girl could fit it all, he pulled out the tub of toys he had bought earlier in the week when he’d been at the baby store.

“Dolls!” Aubree yelled in a high-pitched voice. She peered through the rest of the tote, letting the rest of the apartment know exactly what had been in it. “And stuffed animals! And Barbie Dolls! And Legos! And Princess clothes! And a tea set!?” Aubree had gotten the most excited for the last item.

“Can we please have a Princess and Dollie tea party, James?” she finally asked after dumping everything that had been in the giant tote onto the floor, and scattering it everywhere to survey what exactly was what.

James scooted down on the floor next to her from the couch, and shrugged his shoulders. Having a daughter was apparently a lot harder than it looked like.

“I suppose we could, Princess Aubree. But I’m not exactly sure how I will fare, because I’m not too used to playing Princesses. Think you could give me some tips?”

Aubree jumped up from her spot on the floor while nodding, she grabbed the pink tutu off the floor and a set of jewels, and then walked over to James.

“Here, put the necklace on,” she instructed him as she tried to wrap the tutu around his waist. After many futile attempts she gave up with a pout. “I think you’re too fat to be a Princess,” she finally said with a huff. James looked up at her, a little surprised and stunned that a child that small was capable of saying something like that. He knew not to take it to heart- a five year olds tutu probably wouldn’t have fit a skinny twenty-three year old man on a good day- and gave her a small grin before picking up the tiara that had been tossed in his direction and positioning it on his head. It was a little small, but it definitely fit better than the tutu.

“That better, Princess Aubree?” She nodded curtly and wrapped the pink tutu around herself, adding a ton of jewels and the extra Princess tiara to her ensemble. “Quite a good look we have going on here, if I do say so myself.” Aubree grinned, and began taking apart the China tea set ever so carefully.

After they got all of the toys cleaned up from the floor, and set up their tea party where the toys had formally been, James brought out small cookies he had bought at the store- Organic and sugar free- and lactose intolerant milk, just incase she couldn’t drink regular milk.

“Oooh! This looks so pretty, Prince James!” Aubree ogled as James poured them “tea” and set out their little snack.

Little conversations; like how Aubree liked school and what her favorite TV show was filled the void of silence that would sometimes come about. James was slightly surprised that Aubree had taken a breath, and stopped talking for two seconds. It seemed like that girl could talk all day long, which was fine by James because he wanted to know everything about his daughter; straight from her.

Finally they began to start cleaning up their messes in order for James to begin preparing dinner, and Aubree followed him into the kitchen- still both clad in their ‘Princess/Prince’ outfits, and asked to be put up on the counter next to him to watch while he made his famous Three Cheese Macaroni and Cheese Casserole.

Aubree began humming a little melody she said she learned in school, and it helped James focus on his cooking. Her soft humming was rhythmic and made him smile the entire time he was grating cheese. After a little while she stopped, and the kitchen was silent. Silence never was good with women, even small women.

“What’s up, bubs?” he asked, as he looked over to where his small child was staring off into space as if she were pondering the meaning of life. It actually wouldn’t have surprised James if she were, seeing she seemed way past her years in maturity and wise.

“Are you my daddy, James?” she finally asked, breaking her trance.

James dropped the cheese grater he was holding, and it hit the ground with a loud clang. What was he supposed to say to that? Lie to his daughter? Tell her he was just a friend and that was it? Or should he tell her the truth, that he was her father? But what would Tessa had said about that? She would’ve been pissed, no doubt.

His mind flooded with the millions of choices and ideas he could’ve said, but he knew deep down what he really needed to say. Just would he end up saying that?