His Nasty Virgin

JESSE

Four years later

I couldn’t afford to be late. Even though I work mostly from home now, certain work-related emergencies warranted an occasional drop in first thing in the morning. I was still the boss, and my employees needed to remember that. I might not rule with an iron fist anymore, but I still expected a level of professionalism and efficiency. I grabbed the necessary documents from my office before bolting right back out the front doors of Pegasus Star Security, hopping into the front seat of the SUV I’d parked by the curb.

“Dad,” Amelia complained. “Gonna be late!”

“I don’t wanna go to school!” Adam whined, crossing his arms and kicking his feet.

Vivian turned in the passenger seat to look at our children. “Now, now. Don’t you want to make new friends?”

Adam pouted. “Don’t wanna.”

Amelia raised her hands, practically jumping out of her seat. “I wanna make bracelets.”

“Bracelets, sunshine,” I corrected. “It’s pronounced bracelets.”

“Brathelets,” she tried again. I couldn’t blame her considering she was missing two of her front baby teeth.

I signaled and merged into traffic. The preschool was only a couple blocks away, but Chicago traffic was unpredictable. There was also the added stress that I needed to drop Vivian off at Jones-White & Burke Investments before eight. She had a very important meeting to get to, and I didn’t want to be the reason she didn’t show up on time.

“I want to color,” Amelia said. “And play tag. I don’t want to be it.”

“Are there tests?” Adam asked. “Cory says tests are hard.”

Vivian chuckled. “No, sunshine. I don’t think they’re going to give you tests. You’re still too young for those.”

At this, Adam relaxed a little. “Oh, okay.”

We pulled up to the front of the school just in time to see the last few children walk in. Vivian and I guided Amelia and Adam to the doors, holding their hands. I crouched down to look them both in the eye.

“Now remember,” I said. “Always be there for each other, okay? Be nice. Play with everyone. Make lots of friends. And be sure to listen to what your teachers tell you.”

“When are you coming back?” Amelia asked, swinging her backpack in one hand by the strap.

Vivian crouched down, too, kissing Amelia’s forehead while pinching her cheek. “We’ll be back to get you in a couple of hours.”

“Promise?” my son asked, looking very much like he was about to cry.

I ruffled his hair and smiled. “I promise, buddy. Don’t worry. Dad never breaks his promises, right?”

Adam nodded slowly. “Right.”

Inside, the school bell rang loudly, echoing off the hallway walls. I patted both my children on the backs and gave them a gentle nudge in the right direction. Their teacher waited patiently for them on the other side of the doors.

“I love you,” I called after them.

“We love you, too,” they said together before disappearing inside hand-in-hand.

I rose and sighed, ignoring the crack in my knees. “That teacher,” I mumbled. “Have I seen her before?”

Vivian took my hand, leading me away. “Yes, you have.”

“I don’t remember her.”

“She’s a teaching assistant from the local college.”

“Did I run a background check on her?”

My wife rolled her eyes. “No, I wouldn’t let you remember?”

“Hm. Maybe I’ll get Devin right on that.”

“Babe.”

“I’m only kidding, angel.”

Vivian squinted at me as we climbed back into the car.

“No, you’re not.” “No, I’m not,” I agreed.

“They’ll be fine,” she assured. “Ava works at this school, for goodness’ sake. They can always turn to their aunt in case anything happens.”

“True, but you know how I get sometimes.”

Vivian hummed. “They’re in good hands, Jesse. Don’t worry about a thing.”

I turned the engine back on and drove to our next stop. I hit a streak of green lights, so we were making good time.

“They’re growing up so fast,” I mumbled, mostly to myself. “Next thing you know, I’ll be fending off Amelia’s boyfriends with a bat at my doorstep and giving Adam the talk. It was bad enough when I had to sit Wally down to talk about the birds and the bees. Now I have to do it all over again.”

“Well, think of the first time as a learning experience. Whatever you did to make things awkward for Wally, don’t do it for the twins.”

I smiled. “The fending off boyfriends thing, or the talk?” “Yes,” was my wife’s dry answer.

“Their birthday’s coming up soon,” I said. “Do you think they’ll want two different themes? Or do you think we can get away with a combo party like last year?”

“Amelia’s been saying how much she wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese, but Adam’s scared of that mouse mascot.”

I snorted. “Can you blame him? That thing’s fucking freaky.”

Vivian laughed. “Very true. We can talk to them about it later. I’m sure we can find a middle ground they’ll both enjoy.”

“Maybe a trip?” I suggested. “The twins keep asking about visiting Wally in Paris.”

“Maybe. Don’t you think that’s a bit much for a birthday, though?”

“They want to see their brother. I hardly think that’s spoiling them. It’s just some quality family time.”

“You have a point. How’s his restaurant doing, by the way? I forgot to ask yesterday when he called.”

“He’s doing great,” I said. “Just opened his third restaurant down the road from the Champs Elysee. It’s the talk of the town, or so I’ve heard.”

“I’m so proud of him,” Vivian said. “I knew he could do it. Okay, we’ll talk about it when I get back from work. We can congratulate him on the opening in person.”

I pulled up to the curb in front of a massive modern office building. At the very top, the sign read Jones-White & Burke. Sometimes it was almost surreal to see my wife’s name up there, synonymous these days with accountability, wealth, and progress. She’d come a long way and I couldn’t be prouder.

“You’d better get going,” I said. “Do you think you’ll have to stay the whole day?”

Vivian shook her head. “I’m the boss, babe. I can go home whenever I want.”

I smirked. “Cocky.”

“You like it.” She leaned over the center console and kissed me deeply. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Don’t work too hard, okay?”

“I was going to tell you the same thing.”

“Don’t worry,” she said with a wink. “Whatever work I don’t get done, I’ll just give to Molly.”

“Tell her I said hi.”

“Will do.”

“See you soon, angel.”

“Later, babe.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Vivian got out of the car and entered the building. I made sure to watch her go inside before leaving. Old habits died hard.