White Orchids (Watty Awards 2013)

Preparation

“Nicki, come in our car,” Jackie begged. “Send your father with the boys, we can have some girl time.”

“I’d love to,” she laughed, “But we have some serious errands to run.” She slipped her arm behind Tyler’s back and smirked when she felt him flinch at her touch.

“That’s why we’re here sweetie, to help! We can do the fun stuff and make them do everything else.” Jackie nodded towards the boys and giggled with her daughters as all of the men pouted. “We can do some shopping for Liam, I doubt they’d be very good at it.”

Nicki took a moment to eye the fashion-impaired individuals that stood in front of her. She knew that Tyler would want him to have the best of everything, but she also had the feeling that if she let him pick out clothes, their son would be donning stripes on a near daily basis.

“Go with them,” Tyler urged, placing a hand in the center of her back and giving her a small push towards his mother. “We can take care of the stuff for the party.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded and momentarily buried his face in her hair, leaving a few quick kisses that, for some reason, turned her cheeks crimson. “I’ll see you at home,” he whispered, before sneaking in a real kiss.

“Alright love. Have fun bonding.”

A deep chuckled penetrated her ears, one that ensured she would miss him while they were apart. “You too, don’t talk too much shit about me.”

“I’ll try to hold back,” she promised, grinning before she turned to walk away from him. His hand brushed against her stomach, and the look in his eyes told her that it hadn’t been an accident. “Love you,” she mouthed, waiting for his response before she finally left him and climbed into the passenger seat of Jackie’s SUV.

In seconds the car was full and brimming with estrogen. If anything said female bonding, it was shopping.

“Where to first?” Jackie asked as she pulled out of the restaurant parking lot.

“I’ll tell you where to go,” Diane said from the backseat. “Take a left onto this street, then a right at the next light.”

**                         *                              *                     *                       *

“Be honest with me son, how are you holding up?”

Tyler grimaced and clutched the wheel of his Maserati just a bit tighter. He watched as his mother clumsily swerved across the street in front of them, and found himself praying for Nicki’s safety. Candace should have driven, or he should have instructed her to sit in the backseat. His mother’s driving record was longer than the list of girls he’d slept with. Scarier, too. He took a sharp right, in the opposite direction of the girls.

“I’m fine, dad, seriously.”

“Yeah, you sound it,” he muttered sarcastically. “If you don’t want to talk about it while Bill’s here – “

“What’s Bill got to do with it?” he shouted, kicking himself in the ass for sending Nicki off. Sometimes, she was the only thing that kept him from going ten rounds with his father. During his outburst he’d failed to notice that he was pushing eighty miles per hour and he hastily let his foot fall to the brake.

“I get it, Ty. I would never have said anything bad about your mother in front of grampa, either.”

“Bad?” His voice seemed to be rising with his temper. Trying desperately to calm down before he lost control, he took a series of deep breaths. He hated feeling so aggressive, especially towards someone who was simply trying to help him. It had been a long time since he’d been without Nicki around his father, and he was just now noticing the impact she had on him. “I don’t have anything bad to say.”