A Bump in the Road -- Watty Awards 2011 --

Chapter 14: Always Running

The sun’s setting rays shone through Nicole’s eyelids and she stirred. As she woke she opened her eyes to see what looked like the statue of an angel standing over her in front of the window. The sun’s gold aura cast over the angel’s face receded with the sun and she saw then her ‘angel’ was Joseph.

She rose from the bed and wrapped her lavender robe around her before going and sitting in Joseph’s lap where he sat by the window and watching the sun set together as they kissed against a brilliant background of the stained glass sky.

She sighed lazily and laid her head against the breadth of Joseph’s shoulder and rubbed her stomach slowly in lazy circles. “All right the baby demands food” she said to him pointedly. “Well then by all means lets feed the ferocious beast” he teased back. “Bite me” she snapped saucily from the bathroom where she was dressing.

“Gladly” he parried as he caught her ear with his teeth and worked his way down, tongue flicking in and out until he felt her arousal. She surprised him by returning with a hot breathy kiss of her own using her own tongue to return the favour. And for a brief, blissful moment, each forgot the responsibilities and duties of their life, of adulthood, of marriage and impending parenthood and just went at each other like teenagers.

Nicole reappeared wearing a purple knit turtleneck that clung deliciously to her high round bump and luscious cleavage and a pair of jeans with the black leather boots he remembered so fondly as the reason for their first encounter. 

“Voulez vous couches avec moi?” he said proffering his arm as they walked out onto the street. “How do you think I got this way” she retorted glancing down laughingly. As the pair walked down the streets of Paris overlooking the Seine and nearby Eiffel Tower Joseph reluctantly admitted the company crisis was peaking instead of dying down as he had hoped. He had the Canadian newspapers delivered to the suite, careful not to let Nicole see the distressing slanderous headline, but at this point he didn’t know of the situation would even die down before her due date when thy had to return to Canada.

 At that moment they passed a little newsstand where the owner had displayed a glossy stack of international magazines. Before Joseph could redirect her attention elsewhere she caught sight of one of the sleazier tabloid shots Joseph hadn’t received yet. ‘Sleazy CEO gives Toronto the slip: heads abroad with mistress expecting his secret love-child’.

“Merde!” Nicole swore so loudly that the nearby ducks fled and scattered, quacking angrily at the disruption of their evening meal. “My God Joe have you seen these?” she demanded of him colour rising in her face. Joseph pushed it aside surprising Nicole with the vitriol of his anger. But it wasn’t the rag’s allegations of him – it was the image of Nicole plastered across the cover page of one of the more widespread internationally distributed magazines that he was now gripping with whitened hands.

Nicole peered around his shoulder and gasped, it was so intrusive so personal. Her lips tightened in outrage and disbelief.

This is despicable he snarled, they have been following you. Nicole took one hand off her stomach and flicked the page grimacing as she saw pictures of herself leap from the pages.  Her professional press release picture was in there, leaving the deli with groceries, going into her apartment, exiting the doctors…

She gasped suddenly, “Jaclynn” the word tore from her lips with wicked ferocity. There was a full page spread of Jaclynn in a midriff baring red top perched on HER desk as she gave an exclusive interview.

“I swear she must of like drugged him or something or like taken his sperm cuz I have never seen with a man like that, I ain’t ever seen Ms. Warren with any man period!”. “Eurgh!” ,she thought “there’s that MS. Thing again”.