Boss Me (15 page)

“What did you find?” I ask as I approach to keep from startling him.

“This one smells like my mom,” he says as he takes another whiff of the bottle in his right hand. He sniffs the bottle in his left hand one more time before adding, “Yep, this one smells just like her.”

“Do you want to get it for her?” I offer.

“Oh, no thank you,” he says as he quickly puts the bottles back on the shelf.

“Do you have anything for your mom? Does your dad help buy something for her?” I ask, treading lightly and straight into uncharted territory.

“I don’t know. This is our first Christmas without my dad. He used to take me shopping for my mom, but we didn’t this year. I made her a few things in art class at school, but they seems so lame,” he mumbles and looks down at the ground. “Mom says she doesn’t need anything as long as she has me on Christmas morning.”

“Well, your mom should have something to open on Christmas morning. Do you want to get her something?” I offer without trying to pressure him.

Zach hem-haws around for several seconds. I can tell he wants to say yes, but was probably told not to accept anything of this nature.

“Look, Zach. I’m more than willing to pay for something for you so you can give your mom a gift. If you want, we can even work out a payment arrangement and you can pay me back.”

“Like what?” he asks, chocolate brown eyes sparkling at the prospect of buying Carmen something for Christmas.

“Well, maybe you can help me around the house or yard. Shovel snow or something. My parents could probably use the help with some snow this winter since my dad isn’t supposed to do it. What do you think?”

“I can do that,” he says, fighting to let the smile completely take over his face.

“Well, then we have a deal. You can get your mom a gift or two and I’ll buy them. Then, you can work it off.”

“Deal,” he says with a huge smile that reminds me of his mother. “Can I get this, too?” he asks and holds up some other body product? “She loves bubble baths and this is the same scent as the lotion.”

“You got it,” I say as we head up to the counter to pay for our purchases.

“Thank you, Will,” Zach says as we step out of the store and back into clean air. I didn’t realize how much that shit suffocates you until you’re nose deep in forty scents all competing to be the front runner in the smell-good race.

“You’re welcome, buddy. Let’s go down here so I can look at pajamas,” I say, nodding towards the large department store down the way.

Zach helps me choose fleece snowflake pajamas for my mom, and pink and blue snowman pajamas for Carmen. I walk around half hard the entire time we shop, imaging what she’ll be hiding beneath those pajamas. Or more precisely, what she’ll look like as I peel them off her slender body. Zach and I agree on a pair of fuzzy socks each and finally head out with our gifts.

An hour later, after we scarf down cheeseburgers and fries, we’re heading back to Rivers Edge. Zach talks non-stop the entire trip back, but I don’t mind. In fact, it’s actually quite the opposite. I find myself enjoying our time together. From the shopping to the lunch, to the constant talking, I’ve had a pretty damn good time with the kid.

“Why don’t we stop by your place and you can grab your tennis shoes and some shorts, and then we’ll hit mine,” I say as we pass the Welcome to Rivers Edge sign.

“Sounds good. Do I need to grab my basketball?” he asks, eyes full of excitement.

“Nope, they have indoor balls there for us to use,” I reply.

I pull into Carmen’s driveway, and Zach has the passenger door open before I even have the car in park. To say he’s excited might be a slight understatement. I watch as Zach half runs, half slides up the walkway and front steps. His key is out of his pocket and the door is open a split second later.

I hang back at the front door while he changes his clothes and grabs his tennis shoes. “Don’t put them on yet,” I tell him. “Wear your boots and we’ll change when we get there. This way, you don’t get wet snow and shit all over the floor,” I say. My eyes instantly widen as big as hubcaps when I realize my slip of the tongue. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to say that,” I add.

“No problem. My dad cusses all the time,” he says with a smile as we head back out the door.

I still feel bad knowing that Carmen would probably kick my ass at my slip up. She seems like the type of mom who doesn’t want her son anywhere near profanity. Fuck. I better keep him away from Jake.

After a quick stop by my condo, we’re finally heading towards the rec center. Just as we pull into the parking lot, my cell phone rings. Carmen’s name flashes on the screen so I quickly grab the first parking spot and answer the phone.

“Hey.”

“Hi, how’s Zach?” she asks quickly.

“Oh, he’s great! The tattoo artist says he’ll only be sore for a day or two so he’ll be good by the time he has to go back to school,” I say, fighting the smile. Zach bursts out laughing from the passenger seat next to me.

“Funny. Real funny,” she says with a chuckle. “They better have spelled my name right,” she adds straight faced.

I can’t help the belly laugh that erupts. Carmen sassing me back was the last thing I was expecting from my uptight, snarky boss. Though, if these past couple of weeks has proven anything, it’s that Carmen is far from the person she appears to be at work. She’s a very different person when she’s with her son. Or when she’s withering beneath me in pleasure.

“What are you boys doing? Did you get your shopping done?” she asks.

“Yeah. We just got back to town and pulled into the rec center to play some basketball,” I tell her.

“That’s very nice of you, William. Please don’t feel like you have to entertain my son all day. He’ll be just fine at home for the afternoon until I get home from work,” she says.

“I don’t mind, actually. What time are you getting off? I’ll bring him home after a few games of ball.”

“I’m out of here at four today.”

“K. I’ll have him back around then, okay?”

“Thank you. Really, I appreciate it,” she says softly.

“You can show me how much later,” I whisper quietly, praying that Zach didn’t just overhear me.

Carmen chuckles. “I’m sure we can arrange something. I need to get back to work,” she says. “Go play ball.”

“See you shortly. Bye.”

“Good bye,” she says before signing off.

“Ready?” I ask as I slide my cell phone into my pocket.

“Yep!” Zach exclaims as we both get out of my car and head inside.

The familiar sound of a bouncing basketball greets us as soon as we enter the building. The basketball court is directly to the left of the entrance and is used for tons of after-school and community events, and I’m happy that today it’s being used for our intended purpose.

What I wasn’t expecting was seeing my brothers Nate and Jake on the court. Both are covered in sweat and missing their shirts. By the look of exhaustion on their faces, it appears they’ve both been at it for a while.

“Come on, let’s get our shoes changed, and we’ll join them,” I say to Zach.

“Do you know them?” he asks as he pulls his clean tennis shoes from the bag he brought from home.

“Yep. Those two yahoos are my older brothers,” I confirm as we sit down on the bottom bleacher. As soon as our shoes are tied and we’ve stretched a bit, I walk out onto the court with Zach at my side.

“Well, look who’s here,” Jake says as he watches me approach. Both of my brothers seem to focus in on the youth at my side.

“Who’s your friend?” Nate finally asks as we meet them under the far basket.

“This is Zach. He’s a friend’s son, and we thought we’d play a little ball today,” I tell my brothers.

“You have a friend?” Jake asks, that ornery gleam in his eye completely lighting up his face.

“Shocking, isn’t it?” I smart off. “Wanna play partners?” I ask my brothers.

“Sure. We were just releasing a little stress,” Jake says.

Nate laughs. “You mean you’re hiding,” he retorts. “I’m burning off some stress.”

“Are you hiding from that sweet little five foot spitfire you’re married to?” I ask, unable to hide my own smile.

“She’s crazy. Plain and simple. She’s fucking crazy as all get out,” he says deadpanned, shaking his head.

“Language,” I chastise my oldest brother and risk a glance over at Zach. He appears to be enjoying the show as he flashes a lopsided grin from ear to ear.

“Sorry. What I mean is that my loving wife is hormonally unbalanced and if I didn’t walk away from the gift wrapping, I was going to snap and probably make her cry. Again.
Everything
makes her cry, Will,” Jake says with a pointed look.

Nate laughs hard again. “Wait, tell him why you’re so upset,” he says, a matching mischievous smile on his face.

“I was trying to help Erin wrap the presents since she gets so winded already. First, I wasn’t wrapping them right. Then, I was using too much tape. After the third present, I wasn’t freaking breathing right,” Jake bites out through gritted teeth.

Nate and I each burst out laughing. “Shit, that never gets old,” Nate mumbles, shaking his head left to right, before looking over at Zach. “Oh, sorry,” he mumbles to Zach.

“Seriously, it’s not funny, dude,” Jake says.

“How were you breathing wrong?” I ask as Zach and Nate start to shoot a few hoops.

“Apparently, I was doing it too loudly, or maybe it was the fact that I was breathing at all. Who knows,” Jake says before rebounding Nate’s missed shot.

It takes us less than a minute to completely forget about Jake’s hormonal, pregnant wife, and concentrate on two on two basketball. I can tell that the guys are taking it easy on Zach, letting him get in several good shots. I also notice that they throw solid pointers at the kid, complimenting him on his jump shot and his layup. Zach appears to be having a great time since the smile plastered on his face never falters. It makes me feel all sorts of foreign emotions as I watch him play. I’m filled with an amazing amount of happiness as I watch him let loose and enjoy himself, but also a tinge of protectiveness as my brothers play D. But the emotion that causes my heart to speed up and my blood to pump is pride. I’ve only known the kid a handful of days, really only spent a day in his presence, and I feel this crazy sense of pride over him. He’s an exceptional young man, and he has a lot of talent on the court.

“You play ball, kid?” Nate asks as he defends Zach’s drive for the hoop.

“Only in the driveway,” Zach replies before faking left and driving right. The move may not have completely thrown Nate off defense, but it’s enough that Nate struggles to regain his footing as Zach drives in for an easy layup. Two points.

I high-five the twelve-year-old and can’t help the smug smile plastered on my face. “Twenty, eighteen! We win!” he exclaims with a red face full of excitement and joy.

“It’s a good thing you brought him along, Will. You suck without backup,” Jake smarts off, using the back of his hand to wipe sweat from his brow as we all head over to our gym bags.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t be a sore loser, Jake. It’s not very becoming,” I reply as I reach for the two bottles of water I brought. Jake and Nate each retrieve their own bottles as I hand one to Zach.

“This was awesome!” he exclaims. “Can we do it again?”

“Sure we can,” I reply. “As long as your mom says it’s okay.”

“Can those guys come? I like beating them,” he whispers with a sly grin, making me laugh out loud.

“I’m sure we can talk them into a little basketball,” I say before chugging half my bottle in one gulp. “We should head back. Your mom should be home pretty soon.”

“But we didn’t wrap the presents. I can’t go home without them wrapped. Mom will know what they are,” Zach says.

“Well, then we better stop by my place so we can wrap them.”

“Hey, I’m going to take Husband of the Year over there, home. You’re gonna be at Mom and Dad’s tomorrow, right?” Nate asks, shaking his head towards Jake who’s still brooding over by his bag.

“Yeah, I’ll be there. I’m working until two, but I’ll be there as soon as I’m done,” I tell my brother.

“Cool. It’s my first Christmas off in I don’t know how long, but I wasn’t going to miss my first one with Lia if I could help it,” Nate says with a smile. He gets that sappy, lovesick smile on his face just about every time he talks about his fiancée. It’s nauseatingly sweet.

It wasn’t that long ago that Nate worked just as hard as I do. While he still works hard, he just makes sure that he saves plenty of time for the woman he loves. Watching Jake fall in love with Erin, Travis fall for Joss, and now Nate fall for Lia has been pretty cool to watch. I’d never admit it to them, but I’m actually a little jealous of their relationships with their wives or fiancée. I’ve always known that
someday
I wanted that, but was never in a hurry. There’s plenty of time for the wife, two point five kids, dog, and the white picket fence. But, the more time I spend with Carmen, the more my decision is confirmed that I want it.

The more I realize I may want it with someone just like her. Maybe even with her.

“Ready to go?” I ask Zach as we gather up our towels and throw back on our street shoes and sweatshirts.

“Yep,” he tells me before turning towards my brothers. “It was nice to meet you both. I hope we can play ball again soon,” he says with that goofy smile.

“Damn right, kid,” Jake says before ruffling his hair, causing Zach to jump back. Scowling, I give my brother a look and pull Zach away as quickly as possible. Two more minutes in the presence of my brothers, and ‘fuck’ and ‘damn’ might be his two new favorite adjectives.

Ten minutes later, Zach and I are pulling into the driveway of my condo to do the one thing I hate about gift giving. I’m more of a bag – sometimes without the tissue paper – kind of gift-giver. But, Zach insisted that we buy paper and bows and those little stickers and do it up right. I agreed to the whole wrapping thing if he helped me out. It’s already four o’clock so I know Carmen is going to be heading home soon, which means it won’t be long before she’s looking for her son.

Zach and I spread the festive wrapping paper out on the table and get to wrapping all of the boxes. I’m instantly flustered and growing more agitated the more I try to wrap. Can’t anyone use a simple square or rectangle box anymore? The packaging these days has ten sides and nothing is symmetrical. It’s a bitch to wrap!