Forgotten Love: A BWWM Pregnancy Billionaire Love Story (11 page)

“
But…you’re
over that now right?” he asked, his eyes intent on hers. she
suppressed a shiver at having the full blast of those gray eyes on
her.

“
Yeah
I’m over it,” she said, her voice slightly higher than
usual. She hoped he didn’t notice.

“
Good
because the thought of you still pussy footing around is exhausting,”
he said leaning back in his chair.

Frances
picked up an apple and threw it at him.

“
Hey!”
he said shielding his face. “That’s domestic violence. I
am totally telling.”

Frances
laughed, “Oh really? Who are you reporting me to?”

Allen
shrugged, “Social services.”

Frances
laughed even louder, “Aww, do you want them to come take you
away to foster care?” she teased.

Allen
pretended to pout. “If that’s what it takes to get away
from you,” he mumbled sulkily; his eyes lit up though, to see
Frances laughing so freely. What with the awkwardness of being
familiar strangers and being pregnant with its resultant shenanigans,
he’d felt like the frown hardly ever left her face.

Frances
snatched up his phone which was sitting on the side board and handed
it to him, “Go on then, call ‘em,” she said
challengingly.

Allen
ignored her in favor of drinking his coffee.

“
Ha!
I knew it,” Frances said triumphantly dropping the phone back
on the side board. “You can’t live without me.”

Allen
glanced at her and smiled. “Yeah. I can’t,” he said
quietly.

Frances
stared at him in shock, literally frozen with it, hand suspended in
mid-air as she was reaching out for some fruit. He continued to read
his paper like he hadn’t just said something earth shattering.
She unfroze her hand and forced it to continue on its trajectory to
the fruit bowl, but inside her ears were buzzing and she felt dizzy.
What was the appropriate response to that? She didn’t want him
to think that she didn’t care; although her freezing over like
an icicle probably meant that ship had sailed…but she didn’t
want to react in an over the top way he would think was either
contrived or crazy. She took a deep breath.

“
Good
to know,” she said aiming for a breezy tone before biting into
the mango in her hand.

Allen
looked up at her. “Yeah?” he asked. His voice sounded,
hopeful?

“
Yeah,”
she said still shooting for casual but she wasn’t sure if she
nailed it or not.

“
Good,”
he said heaving a deep sigh. “So I was thinking that maybe we
should start moving toward a more…I mean…I thought we
could go on a date,” he stuttered.

“
Oh?
Like..now? Kareem is coming,” Frances said in surprise.

“
Yeah,
I mean, I know…I just meant we could make a date. Go out some
day soon,” he said peeking at her and then looking back at his
paper.

“
Yeah
okay, I’d like that,” she replied.

“
You
would?” Allen asked brightening.

“
Definitely,”
she said with a single nod of her head.

“
Do
you know we don’t actually go on dates?” Allen said as
they waited for Kareem to clear airport security.

“
Oh?
Why is that?” she asked.

Allen
shrugged, “Probably because we were already living together
before we started dating?”

“
So
what? Married people still go on dates…unless I’m
remembering that wrong,” Frances said.

“
Yeah
well…we behaved more like friends with benefits; you know? I
mean we went on like work gigs; galas, benefits, dinners…but I
don’t think we ever dressed up and went out for dinner and a
movie or whatever.”

“
Really.
So we just what, had lots of sex and conversation?” she asked
turning to face him with interest.
“No…I mean…we
did go to the movies and we ate out sometimes; but it wasn’t
like a date, date…you understand what I’m saying?”

“
You’re
saying you never ask me ‘Hey Fran, do you want to go to dinner
with me?’ or something like that right?”

“
Yeah…pretty
much,” he agreed.

“
It's
cool. The other way sounds way better anyway. We should just continue
like that.”

“
We
really can’t. You don’t know me anymore so you need to do
that. People do that by going on dates.”

“
If
you say so,” Frances agreed with a shrug.

“
Heads
up,” Allen said and Frances turned to see where he was looking.
There were several people coming out of the terminal but Allen seemed
to be looking at a tall chocolate complexioned man with long
dreadlocks. He was impossibly handsome too; there was no way someone
like that would have gone out with someone like her let alone…

The guy
lifted her off her feet and threw her in the air.

“
Frances!”
he cried happily. “It's been too long.”

“
Whoa,”
she replied clutching his shoulders to steady herself.

He put
her down and then stuck his hand out for Allen to shake. “Allen?
Good to see you man,” he said. Allen shook his hand but didn’t
return the sentiment. He inclined his head instead, indicating that
they should go.

“
You
hungry?” he asked. “We can stop for coffee before I drop
you crazy kids off home and let you catch up.”

“
What
happened to Miguel?” Kareem asked. Frances was bemused to know
that Kareem knew their cook’s name. It brought it all home to
her that she was the one who was missing time.

“
He’s
still around,” Allen told him.

“
Okay
then, we can get coffee at home right?” Kareem said. Frances
thought he was totally taking it for granted that Miguel would be
happy to make them anything they wanted. She herself was still
getting used to having a cook who would prepare whatever meal she
needed. She stayed silent though and followed the two men to the car.
Kareem was dressed in skinny jeans that outlined his legs to muscled
perfection with a pink shirt half unbuttoned to show his smoothly
toned chest. He had a silver chain with a pendant on the end hanging
down between the V of his shirt. He looked like someone’s
well-kept gigolo. What he
didn’t
look like was a man
transitioning into womanhood. Why such a dreamily handsome man would
want to change his sex was beyond her though, so she just got in the
car after him and smiled shyly.

“
So…have
I jogged anything loose by any chance?” he asked.

“
Jogged?
Oh you mean my memory? No, Sorry,” she said.

“
No,
don’t apologize. It's cool,” he said with a wave of his
hand. Frances nodded because there was nothing else to say. Allen
drove them home and left them at the door before driving off to work.
Frances ushered Kareem into the apartment a little shyly. She still
wasn’t used to the fact that this was her home and she was
entitled to be here. Kareem walked in very matter of fact, crossed
down the hall to the spare room and deposited his bag on the bed as
Frances watched from the door. He took off his shoes, finding some
sandals to slip into and then crossed the hall to use the bathroom.
Clearly, he was very at home here. Frances leaned on the corridor
wall watching him carry out his ablutions. When he was finally all
freshened up he came up to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

“
Come
on, let’s go see if Miguel will make us some tea and then you
can tell me everything,” he said leading her back up the
corridor to the kitchen. Miguel was way ahead of them; the table was
already laid out with a second breakfast. It was like they were
hobbits or something; constantly eating. Kareem sat down and eyed the
food with relish. Frances sat back a little more slowly pulling the
coffee toward her and pouring a cup. She passed him the coffee pot
and picked up a slice of dry toast. She was pretty sure she could
keep that down.

“
So…”
Kareem said as he piled his plate.

“
So…”
Frances echoed with a smile.

“
Amnesia
huh?” Kareem said.

“
Yeah,”
Frances said sadly. “I got a big giant hole where 2005 to 2015
should be.”

“
The
doctors say why its only those ten years you lost?” he asked.

Frances
sighed. “Well apparently retrograde amnesia works like that. It
takes the most recent memories first.”

“
Are
they going to come back?” Kareem asked. “What do the
doctors say?”

“
Well
according to them, sometimes they come back, sometimes they don’t.
Sometimes you wake up and they’re just back; all of them.”

“
What
are you hoping for?” Kareem asked.

“
Fuck
knows. You tell me. What should I hope for?” she asked.

Kareem’s
brow rose, “Why ask me?”

“
Because
I think you know whether there is a hot mess waiting for me or
happily ever after,” she said.

“
Probably
something in between. Believe it or not, you didn’t give me
every single detail about your love life Frannie,” he said.

“
Nooo!”
she said in mock shock.

“
Yes,”
he said blandly drinking his coffee.

“
Well
anyway, at least I know that the passion was real if how I feel when
he massages my toes is anything to go by...” Frances said
watching Kareem for his reaction. He smiled.

“
Do
you guys…you know,” he asked avoiding her eyes.

“
You
know? You mean like have sex?” she asked leaning forward to
find his eyes.

“
Yeah.
I mean since you don’t remember him and shit,” he said.

“
Yeah,
no, we don’t. We sleep in the same bed though so it's super
awkward,” she said.

Kareem
laughed. “But you want to?” he persisted.

“
Hell
yeah. But I can’t exactly ask him to jump my bones,” she
said with a sigh.

“
Why
not?” he asked.

Frances
laughed in disbelief, “What do you
mean
why not?”

“
I
mean…he’s your boyfriend, you’re having a baby
together; you’re practically married! So why not ask him?”

Frances
opened her mouth and then closed it, she flicked a glance at him and
then back down at her plate. “It's difficult to explain,”
she said at last. “I don’t remember him; I don’t
remember if that’s part of our repertoire…and he kind of
intimidates me,” she confessed.

“
Is
it the eyes? You always had a thing about his eyes,” he said
with a wry smile.

“
It’s
the eyes, and the floppy curly hair and the…” Frances
spread her arms out, “the muscles and the height…how the
hell did we get together? He could have just about anyone he wanted,”
she sounded totally bewildered.

“
Exactly.
And he wants you so…own it sister,” Kareem said with a
click of his fingers.

“
Easy
for
you
to say…” Frances mumbled.

“
It
really isn’t but we’ll put that aside for now. How
are
you feeling about the whole pregnancy thing?” he asked putting
his cup down.

Frances
frowned. “ I don’t know,” she said with a shrug.
“Some days I’m just scared to death, other days I’m
excited to be growing another human beings; most days I have
heartburn at the myriad of ways I could ruin its life….did I
just say myriad? My vocabulary is on point these days…”
she finished thoughtfully.

Kareem
laughed. “It must be hard to live in your head these days huh?”

“
It’s
a strange landscape in here definitely,” she agreed.

“
Well
my advice is…don’t shut Allen out; he’s probably
the most qualified person to explain you to you,” he said.

“
Great.
Can he explain why my toes curl when he massages my back or why I
feel like crap when he just goes to sleep without trying to persuade
me to have sex with him?”

Kareem
laughed, “Maybe not but he’d be stoked to hear it.”

“
Would
he? Or would it just take a super awkward situation into the
stratosphere?” she said and then inclined her head. “There
I go with the three dollar words again.”