“Where else can yell at your boss and get time off to work on your 'emotions?'”
Heaven grabs a waffle triangle and thinks while she eats it. For my entertainment, I refrain from telling her she has whipped cream on the tip of her nose and powdered sugar on the top of her lip.
“That would make you an awesome boss who is willing to look over the effect and worry about the cause. Trust me. It will make sense if I can find a way to confirm and share my theory.”
She pushes her plate aside. “I’m full. I need a to-go box, Jeeves.”
I lift an eyebrow and take the rest of her food and relocate it to my plate. I’m starving.
“What?” I challenge when she chuckles. “Big man, big appetite.”
Her eyes heat up mischievously. “So I’ve witnessed.”
I drop my fork, the food momentarily forgotten. “Get your sexy ass over here.”
She giggles but complies. I pull her into my lap and lick the whipped cream off the tip of her nose then suck her top lip into my mouth to get the powdered sugar.
“Tastes even better on you,” I flirt while licking the residue off my lips. I ignore the erection poking her ass and pull out my phone.
Heaven steals my phone after I unlock it and takes a selfie—or an usie—who knows. I liberate my phone from Little Miss Picture Happy and video call my parents.
I see one big soft green eye and a nostril before my dad adjusts the phone to an acceptable distance. My phone is angled so he can see me and not Heaven.
Alger Behr is a big, uptight businessman who didn’t speak to me while I was a champion surfer. He didn’t consider surfing as a real career but had to eat his words when I built an empire around my love of the sport. It was a trying time that’s behind all of us now. I smile at the display.
“Hey, Dad. What are you doing?” Heaven tries to bolt when she realizes who’s on the phone. I hold her in place with my arm as my dad answers.
“Nothing much, watching television with your mother. Retirement is extremely boring by the way.”
“I bet.” Although I’m looking forward to being plenty bored soon. “Tell Mom to scoot closer. I want to talk to both of you.” Soon, I see the blue eyes and blonde hair I’d inherited appear on the screen.
“Axel, please tell me the news isn’t true. Did you really get Janet pregnant and throw her out when she told you?”
My eyebrows almost hit the ceiling. That’s probably what Allie was trying to discuss.
“Hell, no. In order for her to be pregnant with my child, she’d have to be almost due. I haven’t touched her in almost nine months.”
Now that I’ve had Heaven, I cringe at the thought. My parent’s faces relax.
“Good, that woman was trouble,” my mom sighs. “You should date someone nice like Allie. Don’t make that face at me, boy. She’s a perfectly nice woman, with childbearing hips.”
“Not happening, Mom—never ever happening. I just don’t see her that way—never have, never will.” It’s the truth, I’m not just saying it because Heaven is studying my profile. “Anyway, I was calling to introduce you to my girlfriend.”
My parents’ eyes grow in diameter. “Girlfriend?” they exclaim in unison.
“Yes. We’ve been a thing for a while. We must go public with our relationship due to all of this Janet nonsense. I wanted to introduce you to her before the paparazzi attack us.”
I move Heaven into view. “Heaven, this is Alger and Hanna Behr. Parents, this is my girlfriend, Heaven.”
“Hello?” Heaven’s squeak sounds more like a question. I totally put her on the spot, but we’d discussed telling our parents today.
I begin to wonder if the connection is frozen until my mom sputters. “Heaven, as in the place?”
Heaven stiffens in my lap; I rub her side to soothe her. “Yes, the one and only.”
More blank stares from my parents. I don’t know if it’s her name, her, or her blackness that has them frozen, but I’ve somehow shocked them into silence.
Heaven cups my ear and whispers. “Lucy, you have some ‘splainin' to do.” I laugh and look up at her amused. “I’m going to get some fruit.”
