Maybe Baby Lite (29 page)

Trey reached across the
table and took my hand. The waitress delivered our calamari. Trey
served me a portion of the appetizer and waited for me to
continue.

“
When I went downstairs to
where I heard the voices, I discovered that my mom and Daniel were
in the den off the kitchen. They didn't see me.”

I faltered, embarrassed
and ashamed at what was left to tell. I took a big swallow of my
drink and then decided just to blurt it out and be done with
it.

“
My mom was on her knees
giving Daniel a blow job. I'd prefer not to go into all of the
horrible details, but suffice it to say, they enjoyed each other
thoroughly that night in every way possible. My mother made Daniel
promise to dump me. She said that she wouldn’t tolerate sharing him
with me. He said that it was no problem.”

I took another drink, and
bowed my head. Trey reached for my hand.

“
Tylar, it’s no wonder you
pushed something like that from your mind. That had to be horrible
for you.”

“
It’s not just that Trey.
There seems to be all sorts of things that I've repressed, trying
to believe in some way that my life was normal. And now, I learn
that my mom was never even married to my dad, or anyone else for
that matter. Do you know what that makes me?”

“
Tylar, don’t,” he
said.

“
I’m not just a bastard,
Trey. I’m the bastard daughter of a paid whore!”

“
Tylar,” Trey said firmly,
“You're what you've made of yourself despite your mother. Don’t you
understand that? You're smart, funny, and kind. Yes, you're also
stubborn, willful, and argumentative. But you see, you're your own
person and a very beautiful one at that."

Trey was being so kind.
But I worried that he pitied me, and I didn’t want his pity. “Trey,
you know as well as I do that my dad might be …what do they call
it…one of her tricks?

“
Tylar,” he scolded. “I am
not going to sit here and listen to you degrade yourself like that.
I mean it.”

“
I've a point to this,
Trey, if you'd please bear with me?” He nodded, allowing me to
continue. “My point is, whoever this guy was or is there's a reason
he set up my trust and kept my mom financially stable for 18 years.
I don’t know, maybe the guy has a heart or a conscience or
something. I just wish that I knew more.”

The waitress brought our
entrées just as Trey’s cell phone rang. He glanced down, “I have to
take this. Will you excuse me? Go ahead and start.” He left the
table.

The waitress put the last
plate on the table. I held up my empty glass. “I’d like another,
please?”

I wasn’t sure who Trey was
speaking to, but I managed to finish off my next drink without him
being any the wiser. He came back and we ate our dinner mostly in
silence. I needed to use this time to address something that'd been
bothering me. Now that I had some liquid courage, it was the
perfect time.

“
Trey,” I said, looking at
him directly.

“
Yes?”

“
There’s a bit of
confusion as to where I'll be assigned when I get back. The
doctor's cleared me, you know. I really want to start working with
the horses again.”

“
Tylar,” he answered, in a
very serious tone, leaning forward, “I’m apprehensive about you
working around all those horses. How would you feel about focusing
solely on getting Derringer ready for dressage
competition?”

I couldn’t believe what I
was hearing. This was an once-in-a-lifetime chance! But I knew my
limitations with dressage. I wasn't to training status. Trey read
my mind.

“
We have a dressage
trainer starting Monday at the Belle. You'll work with him and he
will train you to be a trainer, and also you'll be the one riding
Derringer in the competition. He'll get you prepared for that as
well.”

“
Oh my God, Trey!” I
squealed, jumping up to hug him. “Thank you so much!”

“
It’s not a favor I’m
doing for you, Tylar. My plan is that you'll learn and then later
you'll train. The competitions have nice purses and I expect you to
win for Sinclair Stables.”

“
I will!” I promised,
grinning.

“
Good,” he said. “You
start at the Belle on Monday.”

“
Will we board Derringer
there?”

“
No, I'd prefer he stay in
the stables close to you so that you can continue to watch his
care. You can ride him over each day on the trail.”

“
Perfect,” I said
smiling.

“
Tylar,” Trey said his
serious tone returned. “I’m going to be fairly tied up for the next
couple of weeks. I really need to be able to depend on you to be
careful, be watchful, and focus on Derringer, okay?”

“
Absolutely, Trey. You've
nothing to worry about.”

We left the restaurant and
returned to the Crowne Plaza. I got ready for bed. I was waiting to
see what exactly Trey had in mind as far as sleeping arrangements.
Once I had my pajamas on, ready to hit the sheets, I saw Trey was
on his laptop typing away.

“
Are you going to be much
longer?” I asked.

“
I’m sorry,” he said,
distracted. “Is this disturbing you?”

“
Well, not really,” I
replied, kind of embarrassed.

“
Go on to sleep,” he
advised. “I’ll be to bed shortly.”

I crawled under the covers
and was asleep within minutes. I never heard Trey come to bed,
though I was happy when I awoke the next morning to find he'd held
me in his arms as we slept.

Everything would be
perfect tonight at the Sanctuary, Gina and Ian’s hot-spot club.
Gina and I shopped all morning for my birthday celebration, and
then we treated ourselves to an afternoon at the spa. We were
manicured, pedicured, buffed, and waxed. I'd splurged on sexy
skyscraper mirror heels at Gina’s urging. My dress was a tight
white strapless number, with a colorful abstract splash print at
the top in yellow, fuchsia, indigo, purple, green, and orange.
There was a hint of the same splash pattern at the hemline. The
satiny fabric had an elastic top and banded hem for a secure fit. I
told Gina she would likely have to peel it off of me if I had too
much to drink at the party. She laughed wickedly and replied it
wouldn’t be her peeling it off of me, with any luck.

The manicurist had painted
my toenails and fingernails in yellow, fuchsia, indigo, purple,
green, and orange to blend with the splash print colors of my club
dress. Gina had given me a toe ring for my birthday that had a
small diamond stud encrusted in the gold band. I loved
it.

Gina’s dress was white at
the top with spaghetti straps, and black from the empire waist
down. Ruffles with raw edges adorned the bust line, and elastic
side shirring ensured a sexy fit, showing all of her curves. She'd
expertly done my hair and make-up. I hardly recognized myself when
I saw my reflection. She'd piled my hair loosely on top with a
bejeweled clip, letting some of the escaping layers cascade out
messily. I accessorized with gold dangling earrings, a delicate
gold choker, and matching ankle chain.

I'd stopped short of
getting any further body piercings despite Gina’s badgering to do
so. I recalled how the belly button piercing had gone over. It
seemed like that'd been ages ago instead of just a few short weeks.
I couldn’t think about that now. Nothing was going to spoil this
night for me. This was my night as Gina had declared it and we'd
party ’til we puked if necessary. She'd promised me that my 21st
birthday would be one to remember. I'd hold her to that promise. I
gave myself one more assessment in the mirror. Gina knocked on the
door between our adjoining rooms.

“
It’s unlocked, Gina, come
on in,” I yelled. “I’m in the bedroom.”

Gina’s jaw dropped when
she saw me. “You look fucking awesome!” she screeched. “Girlfriend,
we're going to rock the house tonight!”

“
Well I'm not sure about
that,” I replied, spritzing a small bit of shining mist on my hair.
“I’d be content with getting asked to dance once or twice and
getting buzzed.”

“
You're thinking too small
again, Ty,” she scolded. “What have I told you about that? Anyway,”
she continued, “I’ve got another surprise for you, birthday bitch,”
she laughed.

“
Oh yeah?” I asked, “I
think you've done quite enough, Gina, the rooms, the limo, the toe
ring! What's the surprise?”

“
Just maybe some special
friends stopping by.”

“
What friends?” I
asked.

“
If I told you, then it
wouldn’t be a surprise now would it? Grab your purse and your cell.
The limo awaits us!”

“
Let’s do it!” I
exclaimed.

The white limo pulled up
to the overhang of the hotel just as Gina had promised. People in
the lobby watched as we clicked across the black marble floor in
our spiked heels and club dresses. The limo driver opened the
double doors, allowing us to take our seats across from one
another. Inside was a flat screen TV, a wet bar, and the typical
sound-proof glass divider between the driver and coach area. We
settled in and Gina immediately adjusted the climate control, the
lighting inside the car, and tuned the stereo in to an all-music
satellite station for ’70s and ’80s music. “You're going to hear a
lot of this tonight at the Sanctuary,” she explained. “It’s a dance
club and what better to dance to then ’80s hits, right? I really
think you'll like the emcee and the bands. The sound system alone
cost us almost as much as the building.”

I could tell Gina was
proud of what she and Ian had done with the club. They were young
and they had really put it all on the line. I was glad to see them
succeed. She continued talking about Ian and how his younger
brother Piers was in from San Diego. She said that she really
wanted me to meet Piers; he was about 25 or 26 she thought, but was
certain that he and I'd hit it off. I listened to her go on about
Piers and suddenly there was quiet.

“
Stop it,” Gina said
abruptly.

I was totally caught off
guard. “Stop what?”

“
You know damn well what,
Ty,” she said accusingly. “You've got to stop thinking about Trey
or it'll ruin your night.”

“
Who said anything about
Trey? I wasn’t thinking about him at all,” I lied.

“
The fuck you weren’t,”
she snapped. “You need to let it go, Tylar, forget about Trey. Trey
hasn’t called you all week; he's totally blown off your 21st
birthday! I don’t get it, is the sex that good?”

“
Look,” I replied, “things
are more complicated than that, Gina.” She didn’t need to know we
hadn’t had sex yet.

“
What’s so complicated
about it? He’s a fucking control freak that wants to pin you to his
wall like some butterfly that he’s caught in his net. Does he ever
tell you how he feels? Does he ever give you a clue as to where he
sees the two of you going?”

I sighed and remained
silent.

“
He doesn’t even ask you
to come to Atlanta with him, does he?”

“
Ah, in case you forgot,
Gina, I do have a job in Bristol and even if I didn’t, why should I
go to Atlanta, anyway?”

“
Because you fucking love
the control freak for some inexplicable reason that I cannot guess,
well, except that he is gorgeous and rich,” she threw in
laughing.

I gave her a look of
warning; she needed to back off a little. “It doesn’t matter how I
feel about him anyway,” I replied. “Trey has never once told me
that he loves me, so really it’s a moot point.”

“
So, maybe he hasn’t, but
he sure as hell wants you tucked away in Bristol, waiting for him
when he makes it back occasionally,” she countered. “It just pisses
me off that you allow it, too.” She mimicked his voice: “Tylar be
here when I get back”; “Tylar, why would you desecrate your navel
like that?”; “Tylar get in bed and spread your legs.” Her imitation
of Trey’s voice was actually pretty good, but she still didn’t know
that Trey and I'd never been sexual.

“
We don’t have that kind
of a relationship, Gina. I’ve told you, it’s not that
serious.”

“
It doesn’t excuse the
fact that he’s not here with you right now does it? It doesn’t
excuse the fact that his shit is evidently way more important than
your 21st fucking birthday, right?”

“
I suppose,” I said,
quietly wanting to change the subject. That wasn't going to happen
because Gina was now on a roll, east coast style.

“
Or what about him telling
you he’s in fucking Atlanta all this week, what about that? If Ian
and I hadn’t had to visit his firm on Tuesday to sign the quit
claim deed transferring the Sanctuary into an LLC with one of his
partners, you'd never have found out he wasn’t even in the state,
would you?”

“
Probably not, Gina,” I
replied. “It’s not my style to check up on him.”

“
Well, I’m sorry, friend,
but it is
my
style, at least with a guy like
him
,” she scoffed.

Now I was starting to get
a little east coast with Gina. “I didn’t ask you to check up on
him, Gina, did I? But when he gets back and finds out what you did,
he’s going to think I asked you to and I'm just not that worried
about where he is or what he does. I don’t roll that
way.”