2000
Tommy and Ginny had a good marriage. More than just good. He could honestly say he was beyond happy.
At least until this morning and the phone call from Leslie that unraveled everything.
He’d been certain Grizz’s death would finally put an end to the past. He didn’t feel good about the execution. He even felt remorse. But when Grizz was pronounced dead, Tommy couldn’t help but admit to himself he felt a tremendous weight being lifted. Like he’d been holding his breath for twenty-five years and was finally, finally able to let it go and take in a good, healthy dose of air. To have a fresh start.
His mind started to wander again as he steered the motorcycle down Sunrise Boulevard toward the ocean, Jason clinging tightly to his waist. Happy memories invaded his thoughts. He smiled as he thought about Jason’s first nickname. Ed.
Jason was about six months old. Both he and Mimi were fast asleep and Tommy was in bed with Ginny. He had kissed his way down Ginny’s body and was enjoying the taste of her. She’d grabbed his hair and moaned wildly as he’d brought her to a quick orgasm.
“Now, Tommy!” she panted. “I don’t think I can wait. I have to have you inside me now!”
Tommy grinned and crawled up to kiss her. He already had a full-blown erection and was only too happy to comply. He was just ready to plunge into her when they heard it—the unmistakable start of a baby’s whimper.
Mid-thrust, they stopped, staring at each other.
“Oh, no.” Ginny grimaced. “He’s awake and he’s going to wake up Mimi. I’ll go check on him, see if I can get him back to sleep. He shouldn’t be hungry. Maybe he needs a change.”
Tommy blew out a sigh and rested his full weight on her, his face in her neck, already losing his erection.
“I’ll do it,” he said.
She couldn’t help but smile. He sounded so deflated. It seemed like every time they were going to make love, Jason needed something.
“You check on him,” she said in a coy voice, “and I promise to make it up to you when you get back.” She sealed her words with a string of gentle kisses on his ear.
In a flash, he’d jumped off of her and headed to the nursery, not bothering to put on his pants.
She smiled again as she listened to him on the baby monitor. Apparently, Jason really needed to be changed.
“I know you can hear me, Gin. You really lucked out when you accepted my offer to check on him. He has taken a dump that would fill up a bucket. Damn, it’s everywhere! Oh, no! He’s not finished. There’s more coming out. Oh, shit!”
Ginny giggled. She was picturing a completely naked Tommy dealing with an overloaded diaper and apparently more on the way. She knew she should go in and help, but quite honestly, she was enjoying listening to Tommy’s commentary entirely too much to move.
“Okay, Ed, you’re all cleaned up and ready to go back to sleep. Now be a good boy and let Daddy have some quality Mommy time, okay? I don’t know why you seem to know every time Daddy wants to make love to Mommy. You’ve got some sort of built in radar, Ed.”
Minutes later, Tommy was back in their bedroom, headed toward the bathroom. She was still smiling when she saw the look on his face. “I have to wash up, Gin. There was crap everywhere, and don’t think I don’t know you were in here enjoying that a little too much.”
A few minutes later, he came out of the bathroom and gently straddled his wife.
“I do believe there was a promise to make it up to me,” he said, smiling down at her.
His face got serious then as he gently caressed her cheek. He stared into her eyes. “Ginny, I love you so much. You have made me the happiest man in the world. When I was putting him back down I couldn’t stop looking at him.” He brought his lips gently to hers. “To think that our love is what created that baby.”
He paused as she started to get tears in her eyes. “You’re my soul mate, Ginny. You know I’ve loved you since I first laid eyes on you. Do you know that?”
She smiled through the tears. “Yes, Tommy, I know. You tell me all the time and I never get tired of hearing it.”
He started kissing her in earnest then, and their lovemaking went from tender and sweet to passionate.
Later, wrapped in each other’s arms and catching their breath, she leaned up on one elbow, looking down at him.
“I heard you in there before. When you were changing Jason. Why were you calling him Ed?” Her hand was on his chest, caressing it softly .
“That’s his new nickname.” He grinned, eyes still closed.
“His new nickname? Ed? How’d you come up with that?
“I think he has some kind of built in sensor or something.” He cracked an eye. “Every time we want to make love and I get a boner, he screams.”
She started laughing then. “You’re right, it does seem like that. But why Ed? What does Ed have to do with it?”
“Ed. You know, E.D. It stands for Erection Detector.”
They laughed until they made love again and then slept in each other’s arms.
Tommy was brought back to the present as Jason tapped him on his shoulder and pointed. Tommy looked in the direction his son was pointing and nodded. Jason’s favorite fast food restaurant. They had to eat; might as well make it there.
He made a quick right into the parking lot and stopped the motorcycle.
“Can you take me to Aunt Carter’s house tomorrow, dad?” Jason asked when they’d sat down with their food.
“Why do you need to go to Carter’s?” Tommy asked, taking a big bite of cheeseburger.
“Because you’ll be at work and Mimi’s never home.” Jason shrugged and snagged a French fry. “I don’t want to stay by myself.”
Tommy hadn’t thought of that. Ginny was a stay-at-home mother during the summers. She did some bookkeeping for a few small businesses, but she was always able to do it from home. What would Jason do all summer, or until Ginny came back? If she came back. Tommy frowned a moment, thinking.
“Your sister will just have to stay home with you when she’s not working,” Tommy finally said.
Mimi had a part time job at a local floral shop. Her parents suggested she work a few hours a week and to their surprise, she agreed. They wanted her to have a taste of real life. A normal education. A part-time job. Regular friends. The kind of life that neither one of them had actually experienced when they were her age.
“She’s gonna be mad.” Jason’s face darkened. “She likes to go to her friend’s houses or the beach or something if she’s not at work.”
“Then she’ll have to be mad,” Tommy said, trying to keep the aggravated tone out of his voice.
As it was, it was going to be hard enough for him to go into work tomorrow given everything that had happened. He should’ve taken the week off and he wished he had. What was the matter with him? Did he honestly think he could sit there with Ginny and watch Grizz die on a Friday and go back to work on Monday? What was he thinking?
Or more importantly, why wasn’t he thinking?
Maybe he’d call his partner, Alec, when he got home, tell him he needed some time off. He could even do some of his work from home. It wouldn’t be a problem.
His thoughts were interrupted when Jason blurted, “Hey, the girl who just went by on the motorcycle looks just like Mimi!”
Tommy looked where Jason was pointing out the window, but he didn’t see a motorcycle. Just a long line of cars on a sunny afternoon at the beach.
“You didn’t look quick enough,” Jason said as he slurped his drink. “She’s gone.”