Push by Sadie Rose
Iwoke up to the feeling of the weight of his arm and leg wrapped around me. I could hear his even breathing and before I could determine if he was awake, his soft voice filled the room. “Good morning, beautiful.” He squeezed in and then released his grip, allowing me to turn around to face him. His dimple stared back at me as he grinned. He was gorgeous even with bed hair and if anything it made him sexier.
He seemed a little shy and unsure in the harsh light of day; naked and exposed. It was discombobulating, he was always so confident, an impenetrable steel wall. Maybe this was the real him, unsure and shy; I smiled at the thought that I had created a window, a door even, that I could see inside.
“Good morning indeed. I’m glad to see you didn’t bolt in the night,” I jokingly said.
His mouth pulled down in a frown, “Ollie, after everything that happened yesterday between us… you still think I would just leave you in the middle of the night?”
Oh, he went dark and serious real quick. “No, I was only somewhat teasing. It just feels like a dream that you could really like me. I mean come on…” My voice trailed off not wanting to admit the rest of my thoughts out loud. That would make them seem even more real. I couldn’t look him in the eye so I settled on the comforter between us.
His large hand was on my chin tilting it up to look at him. When our eyes met he said, “Ollie baby, you are everything I want and this is exactly where I want to be. In fact, you’ll probably have to kick me out because I’m not leaving. I want to spend the entire day with you. Hell, the whole weekend if you’ll have me. I’ve wanted to spend every second with you since I ran into you that morning in the coffee house.”
The smile on my face went from ear to ear. “Honestly, I would like nothing more than to spend time with you.”
“I’m sensing a but…”
“But, I was planning on borrowing Madison’s car and driving to see my mom today.”
He seemed to think about my words for a minute before he sat up on the bed. “I’d like to meet your mother if you’d let me.”
That shocked me. I didn’t know what to say in return. We hadn’t even been dating 24 hours and he wanted to meet my mom? Did I want him to meet my mom? I don’t know. I felt a real connection with him, I was attracted to him, we were now in a relationship. I wasn’t the kind of girl that took every one of her boyfriend’s home to meet the parents. My mom hadn’t met Jeff. She hadn’t been introduced to anyone new in my life since Madison. I was torn, I wanted him to meet my mom at some point, but there were things we needed to discuss that I couldn’t, or maybe rather couldn’t talk about if he were there.
“While I would love for you to meet my mom, but I don’t know if today would be the best time. There are some personal things she has going on that I know would make her uncomfortable to talk about in front of you.” I tried for sincerity, not knowing if he would take this as some major slight or rejection, but there was no way he was coming with me.. Conversations about cancer and money weren’t going to happen with my shiny new billionaire boyfriend, not when he already told me people wanted him for money. He would probably assume I was garnering sympathy so he’d pay for everything himself.
Roman looked down at his hands clasped in his lap but recovered quickly. “It’s ok Ollie, I understand. I would feel better though if you took my car. Where does she live?”
“Sacramento. It’s just a short drive over. It’s not a problem, Madison won’t mind at all.”
“Baby girl, let me do this. It’ll let me know you’re safe and it’ll make me feel like a piece of me is there with you.”
When he said it like that, how could I say no? I didn’t want to say no, it was so sweet and sincere. “I can do that.”
“Perfect and when you get back, I can meet up with you and take you to dinner. Or you could come to my place and have dinner. Would you like that?”
Oh my God, dinner at Roman’s house? I couldn’t even imagine what his place looked like. In my mind, I just figured the nicest things possible and a huge mansion. I’d probably spend the entire evening feeling like an outsider, but I tried to remember this was my new boyfriend and he wanted me in his home. He wanted to have dinner with me, spend time with me, and get to know me. So I didn’t hide my feelings at all. “I’d love that.”
“Great! That settles it. I’ll just take a shower and get out of your way. the faster we both get finished, the sooner we can get back to spending the weekend together.”
He rushed over to a black bag sitting in my vanity chair. I had never seen it before and it wasn’t mine. He also hadn’t brought that in with him.
Curiosity got me to and I asked him. “Where did that bag come from?”
“Oh, I had Miller bring it to me early so I’d have fresh clothes to change into. Also a toothbrush so I could brush my teeth when I woke up.”
I was trying to picture how the bag got into the bedroom though, “But you just woke up. How did the bag get in here?”
“Well… I might have left this tidbit out last night but… I own this building Ollie and I had Miller get the key and bring my bag up for me at night.”
So he had a near stranger use a key to get into my apartment so he could have an overnight bag. I had been asleep, naked and vulnerable all because he needed to brush his teeth and avoid the same walk of shame the rest of us endured. I didn’t bother hiding my fury, the look on my face must have been venomous as he looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry. It was out of line and I’m sorry I didn’t ask you. I’ll tell him to never enter a bedroom with us in it again.”
I shook my head trying to register his words. “Wait… you own this building?! So let me get this straight, you—you are not only my boss but now you’re my landlord too?”
He at least had the decency to look sorry. “That I am Ollie baby.”
When I agreed to use Roman’s car, I imagined myself driving his black sedan across the bay bridge fiddling with the radio stations trying to find some good music to occupy my time on the drive. I didn’t expect the reality of saying yes to his car meant being driven in his Maybach with Miller in tow. On the drive over I thought of all the ways I was going to have to explain to my mother the car, the driver/bodyguard and my new boyfriend. The kicker was going to explain that my new boyfriend was also my boss and landlord. That was going to go over real good.
Quicker than I would have thought, I was standing in my mother’s front yard admiring the handiwork we had accomplished together last summer. We bought, measured, and cut wood to make new steps up to the front porch. When we were done we stained and sealed them. It was probably the last normal thing we did before we found out she was sick. Now anytime I went back home all I could think about when I went up those steps was that last normal weekend spent sweating in the heat before everything changed.
I looked back to Miller standing beside the Maybach. “Any chance you’ll drive around the block while I’m inside?”
He softly chuckled but had the good graces to look apologetic. “No.”
I inhaled a deep breath and walked up the front steps. I took my keys out of my bag, unlocked the door, and went inside. It smelled like home. My mom had cookies baking in the oven and the entire house smelled divine. I walked through the living room and turned into the kitchen; My mom was wearing her paisley print oven mitt, bent over pulling a tray of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. I watched her lay the cookie tray on the top of the stove and dive back into the oven for the other.
“Hi Mom.”
She jumped, clearly startled. “Olivia Louise you just scared the daylights out of me! I didn’t hear you come in sweetie.”
I smiled at her and walked into the kitchen eyeing the cookies. “Sorry mom, I didn’t mean to scare you. The cookies smell great.”
She took a spatula and started removing the cookies from the tray to cooling racks. “Well, you’ll just have to wait for a few minutes before they cool. I don’t want you burning the roof of your mouth again.”
I pulled out a stool and sat down at the kitchen counter. “One time. That happened one time and you’re never going to let me live it down.”
She stopped moving the cookies to look at me. “Ollie you burned the roof of your mouth so bad I had to take you to the doctor.”
I purse my lips at her and pretend to be unimpressed. “Well you should have put a warning label on them. How was I supposed to know that you had literally just taken them out of the oven?”
She chuckled and went back to putting cookies on the rack. When she was done she removed her oven mitt and matching apron and sat down on one of the wooden stools at the counter with me. She leaned over and hugged me and I suddenly got emotional. I could feel the extra moisture in my eyes so I hugged her for a few seconds longer. If I had any hope of getting through these hard conversations with her then I had to get my emotions under control. I conjured a picture in my mind of Roman standing in the kitchen with us. It came easily, he didn’t stick out like I thought he would, all harsh lines and edges. He blended in fluidly, like he belonged, like he’d always been there.
When I finally let my arms fall away I gave her a small smile, and I knew she could read me without a word passing between us.
“Ollie, let’s talk about it. I know that’s why you came over. Let’s just get it all out so we can spend some quality time together.”
I was surprised by her calm demeanor but then again she had always been able to emotionally keep it together even in the really hard times. And this past year had shown both of us that she could really fight in more ways than one. “Ok, let’s talk about it.” I shook my head, not knowing where to start.
Mom plastered a giant smile on her face. “Let’s start with the positive! The doctor said it was shrinking and that my numbers were going up. Which for my age and where we started, that’s great news.”
“Yes. Definitely a positive. Now let’s talk about the next steps.”
My mom had this habit of clasping her hands when she was nervous and she put her hands together as she started speaking. “The doctor wants me to do one more round. He believes that if I continue to progress in the same direction as the first round then I have a good chance of going into remission. He wants me to start the next round as soon as possible. As in like next week.” She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. “I called and talked to the billing department and this treatment is going to be around 40,000 dollars. They did say they would start a payment plan to secure the start of treatments.”
I closed my eyes, I couldn’t look at her. We were so close to her getting the treatment that could make her well again and it was taunting us; It was so close, yet felt so far out of reach. I didn’t know how to get that much money and no idea how I could get that amount of money that fast. There wasn’t anyone I knew that could have that kind of cash on hand and readily give it to me. Well there was one person, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d ever ask. I wasn’t interested in him for his money. I was attracted to him because he was gorgeous and sweet and the moment I met him I felt this magnetic pull towards him. The more I got to know about him the better I liked him.
“Ollie say something.”
I opened my eyes and I could see the concern on her face. I gave her a tight smile and held her hand. “It’s going to work out. We’ll figure out the money, I promise. We did last time and we will this last time and this time will be the last because you are going to beat this.”
Mom looked at our hands and spoke so softly I had to strain to hear her. “I don’t want to burden you with this. You’ve already done so much for me and you’ve got that new job and loans to take care of and I don’t want to add stress to you.”
Her words broke my heart. She would never be a burden to me. She was my mother whom I loved and had taken such good care of me. I could do this for her. I would do this with her. I vowed right then to do whatever I had to do to get that money. “Mom, I love you. You will never be a burden to me so stop. I’ll figure out the money this week and call you when it’s all taken care of.”
“Ok, sweetie. Let’s eat some cookies now and relax.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. I couldn’t get those cookies in my mouth fast enough. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon relaxing and eating cookies. Then we looked over the list of her home improvement ideas and set up a plan for the next project. We would be power washing the house and sanding flooring as soon we could depending on her strength.
We talked about Madison and our new apartment in San Francisco. We talked about my new job and I skated over the details about Roman. I told her a little bit about him but didn’t divulge that we had started dating. I didn’t want to give her anything else to worry about and dating my boss would definitely give her anxiety. I mean I could hear her in my head telling me screwing the boss was not going to end well. I didn’t want to hear it out loud. As it started to get dark, I knew that I needed to head back to the bay. I tried not to think what Miller had been doing for hours waiting on me outside. What did he do if he needed to go to the bathroom? A part of me felt ashamed for making him wait in the car but wasn’t that what he normally did?. No one had given me a handbook on how to care for my new bodyguards.
I rose from the couch and stood with my mom, I hugged her goodbye and told her to relax. I’d get a hold of her this week and it would all be ok. I knew deep down I’d figure out something, I had to. She wanted to walk me to the door but I was able to talk her into staying on the couch. As I walked down the steps, Miller got out of the car and opened the door for me. “Sorry to make you wait so long,” I gave him an apologetic smile, holding out cookies as a peace offering.
“It’s no problem at all ma’am.”
I got in the car and he shut the door behind me. I looked at my watch and tried to guess when we would get back into the city. When Miller got into the car, he looked uncomfortable and turned to me. “Ma’am Mr. Devereaux has called several times and he would like you to come to dinner at his home tonight. I’ve been asked to take you home if you’d like to freshen up and then straight to his home.”
“That’s perfect. Thank you.” To say he looked relieved would be an understatement. He turned, started the car, and off we drove.