“Do you always answer the door like that?” my mother asks when she walks in.
“No, Mother. I was in the middle of something and didn’t want to lose my train of thought. What can I do for you?”
“I want to talk to you about the New Year’s Eve Masquerade ball. Can you take your old mom to lunch?” My mom is hardly old, she’s turning forty on New Year’s Day so my twin sister London and I are planning to turn the second part of the night into her party. She was sixteen years old when she gave birth to us, and our grandparents hired the best nannies for us so my mom and dad could finish school and go to college to make our lives better. When my ex, Rhonda, got pregnant with my son, Devin, right before our senior year in college, my mom did the same thing for us. Rhonda took the money and split when Devin was only seven months old.
“You have that look in your eye, Mother.” My mother the matchmaker. She set me up with all the wrong women. They tell her what they want to hear but don’t stick around once they meet my son. So my left and right hand do the work for me because I won’t compromise his well-being. “Please no set ups right now. Devin is struggling and needs my attention. Besides, the last one you set me up with wanted to send him away.”
“That boy needs a mother.”
“He has one, don’t know where she is, but he has one. Can we please drop the fixing me up until I get Devin feeling better?” My mother sighs and nods. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.” My raging hard-on has since deflated thanks to my mother. I look at the picture of Devin and myself. He was the spitting image of me—black hair, ice-blue eyes, and dimples when he smiles. My heart feels a pang thinking about how Rhonda is missing out on everything.
“Children need both parents. He’s missing out on the mother’s love.” I sigh walking over to my mom as I bend down so I’m eye level with her.
“Mom, Devin has two strong women in his life who love him without conditions, and I couldn’t ask for better. Now let’s go eat.” I see her wipe her eyes as she nods. “Linda,” I say to my secretary and Mom’s best friend, “I’m on my cell but try not to call unless it’s an emergency.”
Standing in the elevator, I look at our reflections, and I often try to see how we’re the same. Our ice-blue eyes are the only thing that we have in common. My mom has beautiful strawberry-blonde hair while mine is black. I look more like my father and grandfather but I got my mom’s temper. London looks more like Mom than me.
“How is work going? I saw the numbers from the last board meeting, and things seem to be improving.”
“I’m upgrading all of our computer systems to run better and be able to access them easier.”
“You should call London’s friend, Riley. She’s brilliant.” I laugh and let her know that’s who is doing the work. “Good. I feel like Chinese,” my mom says as she exits the elevator. We both wave to Charles, the security officer for the building.
Adams Tower is owned by my family. My great grandfather built this building in hopes of helping the economy in this area. We have five local businesses in this building. I have the top two floors, then there is London’s real estate business, a doctor’s office, a law office, and a salon. I recently put in a Starbucks since I travel a lot—I got an addiction to it.
My mom and I walk in silence as I look around the street, lost in my thoughts about how to help the neighborhood. We come to the restaurant and there were two women getting there at the same. I hold open the door for them—the blonde thanks me while the fiery redhead nods, not making eye contact with me. My mom walks in before me. While standing there waiting to be seated, I’m drawn to the redhead. She’s wearing a shirt that dips in the back slightly, and I can see part of a full back tattoo—a phoenix. I bet there is a story there, and I wouldn’t mind looking at while I’m banging her from behind.
The blonde looks at me through the corner of her eye and winks. She leans in to let her friend know that I was caught staring at her. She shakes her head no then slaps her friend’s arm. I smile at the blonde. They are seated on the other side of the room, but I position myself to make sure to watch her. There hasn’t been a woman that has caught my attention in a while. Looks wise she has what I like; curves in all the right spots and small so that I can pick her up to fuck her against the wall, door, or desk. I notice my mom looking around to see who I’m staring at. She coughs.
“See something you like?”
“Why yes I do.”
“Go talk to her then.”
“I can’t.” I have all the confidence in the world when it comes to business and my family but women, I’m clueless. I start to stutter and insult them without realizing it. I see someone that I know and I do a double take to make sure that it’s who I think it is—my sister. She waves at me, and I motion for her to call me.