Author's note: After finding a journal of mine from many years ago, I began to transcribe my more youthful fantasies, infusing them with the embellishment of someone who has learned a little bit more about how the world works (I actually don't know much on how it works, don't take advice from me). Just enjoy what is right in front of you.
This is a fictional work. Everyone is 18 years of age or older. Enjoy.
***********
Mina had carried out Carson and strapped him into his car seat after the horn honked, signaling the children's pick up. The eldest, Abby, despite the late hour pranced out beside her and buckled herself in.
"Had a good night?" Their father asked and she clicked her heels together and grinned as an answer. Directing his tone to Mina he smiled. "Thanks again for taking them on short notice you are a lifesaver."
"Daniel helped too."
"Daniel's an I-D-I-O-T."
Justifiably, his older brother was right, Daniel was one from head to toe. When Mina had first met Daniel across her aisle seat on a 747 heading across the country she could have crossed her heart and swore she'd never be living with the man. Through a twist of fate she became his brother's nanny after her permanent move.
Daniel was older than her by several years, both he and his brother immersed in the creative arts. It didn't take long for them to drag her under, into the world of drawing boards and think tanks. She held a nine to five, but those children were now family. She wasn't just their nanny, she was their aunt.
"Auntie, daddy spelled a bad word," Abby cried out, still clicking her heels together.
"She's onto me, better get them home," he chuckled and put the car in drive as Mina waved goodbye and strode into the house Daniel and her occupied.
They weren't lovers, they weren't married. They weren't anything but best friends. That was the ultimate twist of fate, how she could have let this narcissistic, know-it-all into her life and find semblances of joy in his company.
Already he was washing the dishes, scrubbing neon orange cheese from a pot. "Get me something to drink will you."
Mina slid him a sippy cup that had been on the counter with a wry smile. "Bottoms up."
"You think I won't drink from this then you don't know me."
"I know you will." And he did, lifting the cup and sucking in grape juice completely expressionless. She pulled wine from the fridge, opening the new bottle. "Want some adult grape juice?"
He slid the sippy cup back to her without thought and she filled it just to be funny, using a stemless wine glass for her own. They had a system here, a life - one she didn't want to leave anytime soon. He was one of the few who understood her workaholic nature, just as she knew why he didn't sleep much at night.
"Much better. I'll finish here, you get the den," he said and she took her wine with her as she collected toys and placed them in the bins. All except for Abby's stuffed giraffe, which she tossed on the sofa with intent to bring it over in the morning. Fluffing pillows, she nestled them against the sofa and finally got onto her hands and knees as she started picking up the pieces from a disturbing round of Candy Land where everything but the board had ended up on the floor.
Even after all this, the dishes, the mess, the too big parade of shoes she let Abby try on from her closet, Mina was pretty sure she wanted one.
Sorting through the cards to place them in order she tossed the thought around an realized she was nowhere close. With a snort she gulped down her glass of wine, only to have it refilled moments later by Daniel as he sank onto the floor beside her.
He was no small man, his height towering and build large. She liked his eyes best of all, such a soft blue they sometimes looked periwinkle.
"Don't get down here I'll have to call the fire department to get you back up," she took a jab at his age somewhere pinned in his mid-thirties.
He still drank from the sippy cup, only he had removed the the lid. "Fuck off."
"Fine, I will, and I'll leave you here too."
"You're not that cruel," he said and took the stack from her hand, placing it down and setting up two pieces to play, obviously nowhere near ready to sleep.
"Yes I am, and I'll cheat to win just to prove my point," she said with a grin as she drew a colored square and took her place on the rainbow trail as was the premise of the game.
"I'll throw the board across the room and make you pick up all the pieces again."
Mina submitted to playing. The two of them finishing the bottle of wine easily and opening another just in time for her to get sent nearly back to the start. She retaliated by indeed throwing his piece across the room in a tussle of limbs.
When they were through his hand remained on hers and Mina felt the same flair of tension she did when they passed each other in the hallway from the bathroom after a shower. Or when he'd press his hand into the small of her back for the briefest second in the store. Or how his fingers would brush her neck when he'd tied an apron around her in the kitchen.
But each instance passed, yet not this time. He groomed it, holding onto her hand for a bit longer. "Go get the piece."
"Uh, I can't."
"So defiant."
"Not exactly, someone's holding my hand and won't let go." She smiled easily because of the wine.
So did he. "I won't. You're right. Guess I'll just have to repurpose my piece. The remote control will be my gingerbread man," Daniel said and set the remote onto the board with his free hand.
"It takes up too much space, no way! It was this ingenious thinking that made Abby try to use the board as a gigantic spinner. Candy Land isn't supposed to be so complicated. All you do is pick up cards and move to the matching color."
