The next week was unreal. A fervent, tantalizing blur, full of one extravagant gift after another and late-night flirting on the phone.
The first day, Alicia returned home from some much-needed grocery shopping to find her apartment so bright and clean that she wondered if some gnomes had snuck in to do her neglected chores for her. Candice sure as hell didn’t do this level of cleaning. A five-second rule could be reestablished in the kitchen for the first time in months.
No mysteries were solved until she discovered a note on the coffee table.“Mary Taylor Cleaning Services, compliments of Danica Moreau.”Dee made a quip about needing to get herself a billionaire lover before doing a sweep of the apartment.
On the second day, Alicia opened her mail to discover that her entire credit card debt had been paid off “by a generous benefactor.” Before she could have a heart attack, Candice opened the other piece of mail that announced Alicia’s federal student loans were obliterated as well. Alicia celebrated bycutting the worst credit card offender in half above the garbage can.
Nothing prepared her for the excited call she received from her mother on the third day.
“Alicia!” The daughter had no idea what to expect, but she thought that was happiness in her mother’s voice. They usually only spoke about once a month. Not because they didn’t get along, but because there was never anything to talk about aside from her brother’s health problems and how her parents overworked themselves to pay for Terrence’s expenses. “You won’t believe it, sweetheart! An anonymous donor paid off Terrence’s bills… for five years!”
“What?” Alicia had been washing dishes when this news came through. A plate clattered to the bottom of the sink. A few feet away, Pete the parrot squawked on his kitchen counter perch.“Thanks much, bitch!”When would Candice stop teaching him to say this dumb stuff? “Wait, what? Back up. Start from the beginning, Mom.”
Linda sucked in an excited breath. “The hospital called me this morning before I went to work. I thought it was a collections call again… but they said all of our debt for Terrence’s surgeries and medications had been paid off! And! The same donor set up a fund for us to draw from for the next five years. Not only for Terrence! The whole family! That includes you, baby!”
Alicia only had one thought as her mother whooped and her roommate’s parrot glared at her through beady black eyes.“Thanks much, bitch! Thanks much, bitch!”Her mother couldn’t hear that, right? “Did they give you an explanation for this?”
“Who cares? Did you hear what I said?”
“That sounds…”Like Danica.That had Danica’s stinking-rich name all over it.I’ve barely talked about my family, let alone my brother’s troubles.Had Alicia mentioned it at all? Yes. Once or twice. Flippant comments so she wouldn’t have to get workedup over the stressful cloud hanging over her family. “That’s awesome, Mom!” No sense asking questions when she knew exactly what was going on. Her girlfriend had nosed into her business again. She probably thought she was being helpful.
Okay, okay… she is being helpful. In her own stalkerish way.A month ago, Alicia would have been horrified. She would have thought she was in some great debt to Danica. Now? Alicia could imagine her smiling in her office, thinking,“Yup. Helping the ol’ girlfriend out. I’m a good girlfriend. Wonder what she’s wearing today? Gosh, I sure do love her.”
“I’ve asked the hospital who I should write our thanks to, but they can’t tell me. So I’m going to put something together and leave it there. You want to add anything, email it to me.”
“I’ll do that, Mom.” Alicia turned on the faucet to fill up a pot. “How is Terrence doing?”
Her brother’s condition was the same as ever, but the way Linda told it, the sun was shining upon the Colbert family in ways only God could bestow. Alicia didn’t have the heart to quip that the Moreaus certainly did think they were gods. Did they run any real charities? If Alicia ever married the asshole, that was the first thing she was doing.
Right. She had never told her mother that she was so heavily involved with someone. All the Colberts knew about their daughter’s current dating life was that she was “seeing someone.” That’s what Alicia told Linda the last time they had their monthly check-in.
That third day brought more than one surprise with it. Shortly after Alicia and Candice had dinner, in which they discussed what to do about the parents because“At some point, Al, they’re gonna have to know you’re dating a fucking billionaire who wants to make you her Mrs. Billionaire,”the doorbell rang.
“Um… Alicia?” Candice’s voice was met with Pete’s crooning. Great. Now the parrot was off, shaking his tail feathers to thatmusic only he heard. Didn’t help that his eyes were super vacant and his beak hung open. “You’re needed in the living room! Not by me!”
Alicia caught the second half of what Candice said the moment she walked into the living room, Pete flapping over her shoulder.
“I mean, if you want to let me have a turn tonight,” Candice began, gesturing to Danica sitting on the nicer of the two couches, “I’ll take a spin on her face.”
“Spin on her face! Spin on her face!” Pete landed on Candice’s shoulder. His long, vibrant feathers usually brought the most burst of drama to a room, but tonight, Danica beat out the parrot by about five thousand degrees of intensity. Or maybe that was Alicia’s fluttering heart drawing her to her magnanimous girlfriend.
“She’s trying to say she thinks you’re cute,” Alicia said, brushing her thumb over Danica’s jawline. Always the most delightful shivers! “Don’t let her fall on your face, though. Unlike me, she actually knows what to do.”
Pete lowered his head across Candice’s ample chest. “She knows what to do!”
“Now that both you and the bird have me sounding like a total slut,” Candice said, turning around so everyone saw some parrot butt, “I’m going to my room, and taking Don Juan de Avian with me.”
Danica caught Alicia’s hand as she looked around the room for one of her girlfriend’s usual companions. “My bodyguard is standing outside. I figured we’d be safe enough in here.”
Alicia snorted at the thought of someone who looked like CIA standing in a run-down apartment building hallway. Mrs. Jenkins next door would love to come home to that. “Oh? Are you staying, ma’am?”
Danica’s hand brushed against Alicia’s ass. “All night, if you’ll let me.”
Alicia had a million things to talk to her about. Namely, her parents, and what she had done for her brother. Yet words were unnecessary as Danica brought her into her lap and bluntly told her that she had been thinking about her voice and body all day. When her hand darted up Alicia’s powder blue sweater and cursed the existence of bras, Alicia knew what Danica had really come for.
She supposed, as Danica swept her off her feet and hustled her to her room and small double bed, that they had made improvements in that Danica came to her instead of making her come to Danica.
Yeah. Coming. A lot of that.
