Lemon Cake

Chapter Thirty-Five

"So, we're both named after a city...what else do we have in common, Mr. Lewis, and why are you interested in my MeMe."

Tulip heard the ten-year-old interrogating her date like a newbie detective from Rookie Blue as she trotted down the stairs. He had just stepped through the door and Sidney already pounced on the man. Tulip didn't hide her grin once his eyes caught her descent, she anticipated his answer to the question.

She knew they had good sex, they both loved sports, and he made her laugh but she wanted to know more; more that would explain the swarm of bees that fluttered in her stomach feigning from the sweetness of his smile, the swagger of his step, and the texts of funny memes and gifs he sent her throughout the day that made her giggle like the tween. She needed more justification for the headiness that took hold of her as she inhaled the top notes of his cologne and admiration that swept her up as his eyes ticked slowly up her body and settled on her eyes. She felt all those emotions before and the person that evoked them was closing the door as he wore humor on his face while telling Sidney to ease up a bit.

"It's fine. Although, I'm good under pressure." Austin rebutted to Jasper with his locs swept up in a bun not being able to touch the crisp white collar of the shirt that made his rich dark brown skin shine with regality. His sight didn't shift to Jasper even though his words were pointed towards him, he peered down at Sidney with a flight of a smile. "I like you're Meme because she..." He paused letting his eyes dance around as he thought then uttered. "She's fun, smart, beautiful, and infectious."

"Infectious?" Sidney's brows furrowed as she tasted the foreign word on her tongue tilting her head. "What did she infect you with? MeMe, you made him sick?" She looked up at Tulip with pure confusion

Niesha snorted with laughter as she stepped off the last stair behind her friend. "I'll help you download the Dictionary app and explain that to you later." She pointed to the old iPhone 7 Tulip gave her that was floating in one of the drawers of her desk. "But doesn't your MeMe look pretty?"

Sidney gave Tulip a once over then plainly said. "She looks wonderful." Her eyes fell to the floor as she leaned against Jasper's side and his arm went instinctively around her shoulder pulling her in closer as if he'd been executing the action for years upon years and not just two weeks.

Tulip however didn't notice. She was still transfixed on the answer Austin gave to her little one's question. The stirring in her gut gave her an eerie feeling that it wasn't and her brain took that worry and amplified it with more doubts. Was it enough to be fun, beautiful, and smart? Those were all great things. She loved those things about herself. She worked hard at being smart, read books that weren't her usual faves about superpowered people defeating villains and scrolled through her news app to stay current.

Her beauty was something she grew into as a late-teen after being dubbed too dark and too skinny by the boys who deemed themselves popular during middle school. With the tutelage with the nurturing words and advice of a volleyball coach and speech teacher, she found her voice and fell in love with her natural beauty. But those weren't things Austin knew, yet. Those were things he knew, she remembered when she told him all about it years ago.

She glanced over at Jasper as he gave her a closed-mouth smile then quickly plucked his eyes from her to place them on down the hallway. She wondered what notions and emotions were pooling in his mind, just from curiosity but she didn't linger in those thoughts. She shook them off to focus on Sidney. The little girl had drained of the youthful, happy energy that Tulip took days and all of June restoring with laughter and time. All thoughts of Austin vacated her and those mother instincts that were activated once Sidney appeared at her doorstep overpowered every caveat of her soul.