I contemplated for a moment before arriving at a decision. I wouldn't go to Mrs Smith's house for our session. The 63 year old widow would just have to hold on till the next week. She was a nice lady and would probably not make a fuss about the change of plans. It was very sad she fell into depression right after the death of her husband. I kept my fingers crossed as I made the call.
"Miss Rodriguez, that's quite sad but I understand your plight. Family above everything. Will it be okay if I just came over instead? We can just talk for 30 minutes and I'll leave. Our sessions have become a constant that I look forward to every week."
My heart warmed up a little at her statement, it was always nice to get appreciated by your clients. I checked the wall clock and winced. Even if she left her house that very second, she couldn't get to WeCare Inc a minute before 5pm. Regardless, my hands were tied. I didn't have a choice. "That's alright. Thank you for your understanding."
I ended the call and started the laborious task of waiting for her. After about half an hour of waiting, I decided to call the other clients I had field sessions with from 3pm and inform them that I wouldn't be able to make it by that time anymore, so we'd have to reschedule it for early hours. I was on my eighth client when a knock sounded on my door. In came Mrs Smith and I rose to greet her with a peck on the cheek.
"I can't remember the last time I came to this office." She said as she lowered herself in the comfy sofa against the wall in my office.
"Me neither." I smiled when she took a handful of the toffee candies I always kept handy. In my opinion, sugar helped with anxiety so it was a tool in my trade.
The elderly woman popped one in her mouth. "I might have to start coming here instead. This candy is so good." I chuckled softly and started the session with her. Mrs Smith was by far my most favorite client, as we'd formed an almost mother-daughter bond. Our session was filled with laughter as usual and I got lost in it, only to glance at the clock and gasp.
"Good God, it's 6pm." I shot to my feet. "I'm so sorry Mrs Smith, I'll have to be on my way now. I'm already late as it is."
The woman gave me a mock scowl. "I've told you severally to call me Anne. Mrs Smith makes me feel so old and frail." I chuckled and gave her a quick hug. "I'll be on my way then, send my regards to your daughter."
I prayed for a traffic free road as I entered my car. I had told Mikayla on Sunday that I'd always make it back home just in time to make her dinner. She ate dinner by 6pm everyday. It was already past six so I drove at full throttle with the radio tuned down to cancel every distraction. Once I got to the building, I parked the car haphazardly and ran up the stairs to my apartment.
"You're back early. Well not exactly early, just earlier than usual." Nelly's dry voice welcomed me as I entered the living room. My lips turned down in dejection when I saw the littering of tupperware and food wrappings. They'd already eaten.
I turned to Nelly with an accusing look on my face. "I told you I'd be back on time to cook dinner."
Her bored expression tipped me over the edge. "The fact that you thought I'd wait is fucking mental. Move aside." She shouldered past me to plop on the sofa. "Besides you didn't actually come on time."
I sat down beside her. "What do you mean? If you knew what I did just to make it back by this time, you wouldn't say that. I had to cancel my field session."
Nelly made a tsk sound and stretched out her legs, making them land on my thighs. "Well, I'm still not impressed. You might have as well done the field session and come back by 10:30 cos there'll be no difference. We still had to eat takeouts."
"Where's Kayla?" Arguing with Nelly was a waste of time since I'd never be able to win.
She tipped her head towards the bathroom. "Taking a shower. She's been in there for a fat minute so she'll probably be out soon."
I nodded and took a soiled paper bag from the table. "Y'all ate panda express?"
"Yeah. Chow mein and orange chicken."
I sniffed the bag before tossing it. "And as usual, you couldn't clean up after eating?"
A bulb in the hallway flickered at that moment and my eyes left my friend for a few seconds. "Why would I do that? That's your job."
"Mama."
Mikayla's exit from the bathroom prevented me from badmouthing the smug bastard. My towel-clad daughter ran to where I was and jumped into my arms. The droplets from her body soaked my cotton shirt but I didn't mind and even tightened my arms around her little body. I smothered her face with loud kisses and that made her quake with laughter on my laps.
"You came home early, just like you said. I'm so happy you're here early" Ha! Right in Nelly's face. Kayla looked at the mess in the living room and frowned. "But you can't cook for us anymore. We've already eaten Chinese."
She didn't look too happy about that. "You don't like Chinese?"
"I do but I prefer your cooking."
Happiness streaked through me like a comet immediately. Mikayla had a way of making my heart swell with joy. "Awwww, thanks baby. I guess you liked what I cooked this morning."
She squealed in delight and nodded frantically. "Very much, mama. Even though it was burnt, it still tasted so good."
Burnt? I turned to Nelly with raised brows and she defended herself in an amused voice. "The sides were not even that black, you can't call that burnt."
I opened my mouth to give her a nasty retort but thought against it. Nelly was a nuisance that wasn't worth any headache. "Kayla, go wear your PJs and come right back." I waited till her door shut close before turning to Nelly. "Really, Nelly? All you had to do was watch the Mac and cheese for a couple minutes, but you still let it get burnt." My head shook in resignation and I started to clear the room of the mess they'd made.
She followed me to the messy kitchen. "I guess you weren't sacked today. I won't even lie, I thought you'd come back unemployed."
The baking dish I used in the morning to make mac and cheese was unsurprisingly still in the sink. Dirty. "Me too for a while. That would have been so terrible."
She waited for me to turn off the tap before responding. "Why would it be? I'm unemployed and look at me, living my best life."
"Nelly, you're 30 and your parents still take care of you. You're not living your best life, you're living an irresponsible one."
Her scornful chuckle filled the air. "My parents take care of me and I take care of your child. Mi amiga, we're both irresponsible in our own ways."
I laughed heartily at her callous statement and shook my head. "So what happened to you during the weekend? Your phone was switched off through out."
Nelly wiggled her brows suggestively and I knew the next words that would leave her mouth would be outrageous. "I was getting fucked in every position possible. When I said Brody was a horse, I wasn't exaggerating. He wasn't even fucking me, he was literally pounding me. I think my pussy ruptured on Sunday afternoon." She patted her crotch delicately and cooed. "My baby went through a whole fucking lot, Dee."
Her theatrics made me shake my head in repressed humor. "So that means no more sex for you?"
"It'll take way more than a bundle of nerves and skin to stop me." I hushed her when Mikayla's room door creaked open and she whispered her next words. "We'll continue after she goes to bed."
"Mamaaa." Mikayla drawled as she entered the kitchen and Nelly carried the little girl on her legs. "Today, I joined the Mathletes."
I grinned when I saw the beam on Kayla's face, she was totally proud of her accomplishment. As someone who hated math, I kinda understood the fuss. Even Nelly looked impressed and judging from her surprised expression, it was obvious Kayla didn't tell her about it when she picked the child from school. I was oddly pleased about that. "Mon Dieu, that is so wonderful. I'm super proud of you, sweetheart." I crouched to clean the oven. "Did you write like a test or something before you got in?"
"Mhmmm. There were two tests and I passed both of them." She paused for a while to snicker mischievously. "Nicole didn't get in though."
"Of course, she'd be all beauty and no brains." Nelly shook her head disdainfully. "Such a silly bitch."
I threw the wet rag on the floor and scampered to my feet. "Nelly!"
Said culprit blinked in obvious puzzlement. "What's up with you?" I glowered at her and Mikayla chuckled quietly.
"Stop swearing around her." I pointed to the kid sat on her laps. "Plus calling an 8 year old the b- word? That's effing low."
Nelly rolled her eyes and turned to Kayla. "Anyone who fucks with you, fucks with me. And I'll treat them the same way, whether they be 40 years or 8. I don't give a damn."
"Don't listen to her, Mikayla. For real Nelly, you need to stop. She could get into trouble at school if she uses those words there." I chastised before bending down to pick up the discarded rag.
After cleaning the whole house, I took a shower before making some toast to eat. Mikayla had fallen asleep by that time and I carried her from Nelly and tucked her in to sleep. As I munched my buttered toasts, my friend related her lecherous activities of the weekend.
"I never knew I was that flexible. Now I think of it, most of the positions were absurd as fuck." I tilted my head sideways and she nodded. "It was crazy. The craziest actually."
I shrugged and took a sip of the diet coke I opened a few minutes before. "Wow, must have been fun then."
"Of course." She eyed me warily. "Fun you've been missing out on for a century. When was the last time you had sex?"
She asked that exact question at least once a day and I always told her off but I decided to humor her for once. "Maybe 4 years ago."
Her face was the representation of horror and I bit the inside of my cheeks. "4 years? I'd have shrinked into a crab by now." Her eyes started a slow trek from my face downwards and stopped at my thighs. "Your pussy will probably look like a corn farm right now."
"Not quite. Amazon forest sounds just right."
Her guffaw bounced off the walls of the room and I redirected my attention to my food. "I'll like to inform you that you're now a fucking virgin cos your vagina has already sealed up as it is. It's probably tighter than a fist right now. You won't even need to do a kegel to make men squirm."
The morsel in my mouth had a tough time passing through my parched throat. "Your imagination is fucking filthy." I finished off my drink and told her about my encounters with the new CEO.
"No way."
I let out a deep sigh. "Yes way. I was super rude to him in the elevator, it's a miracle he didn't fire me on the spot."
She stayed silent for a while. "He probably wants something from you. Everybody has motives, plus you said he told you to call him by his first name. That sounds sus as fuck."
"You think he wants to fuck me?"
"That's a given." Her phone chimed and she smirked after glancing at it. "It's Brody. He wants to meet up this night."
I nodded slowly. "That Brody guy? Isn't he like 25?"
"23."
My nose wrinkled in displeasure. "Why do you fuck younger men?"
The expression she had on her face was a disinterested one and she responded to me while typing away on her phone. "I fuck men of all ages, not just younger ones. I don't discriminate, Dee."
I scoffed at her ideology. "That's you. I'd never fuck a younger man."
"Are you sure about that, Dee?" Her smirk was so annoying to the point I was tempted to slap her. "Cos I think you already have."
"Never." She gave me a pointed look and I raised my brows in question. What the hell was she talking about? I'd never, ever have sex with a youn-. I hissed in displeasure as I got the hang of what she meant. "That doesn't count."
Her chuckle followed as I went to dispose the empty coke can. "Who said it doesn't? Sex is sex. Whether in physical, online or in the dream."
"An incubus is not a sex partner, Nelly. It's just a dream type of thing. Now leave me the fuck alone."
We lazied about for close to an hour before she left and I turned in for the night.
At the moment, life was good.