Tender Mate

Go For A Run?

                      I'd splashed my face a few dozen times and was going to do it a few dozen more when someone else entered the women's room.

                      "Oh, sorry. I had something in my eye..."

                      "Hmm... You're ovulating. That's gotta suck."

                      "Excuse me?"

                       A black haired beauty with gorgeous skin was looking at me with pity. Her complexion was flawless and her arms and sides lithe...then I realized she was very pregnant. She had that European body where you couldn't tell she was pregnant until she turned sideways. Nothing like I'd been when I had Emma; Patrick hadn't let me out of the house when I was into my second trimester because of the weight gain.

                       "A dashingly handsome young man sweeps into your life and treats your daughter like an absolute princess, and you're already vulnerable... But no, he has to come into your life right before your period and your hormones make this seem like a Spanish soap opera," she put a dramatically posed hand to her forehead and pouted her lips, "No! Allejandro! We cannot be together. Te quiero mucho..."

                        "Do I know you?" I was a bit disoriented.

                        "Oh! Right, I'm Penelope. I guess Everette hasn't had a chance to tell you much about the family yet."

                       "You're..." I looked at her abdomen once more, "his wife?"

                       "Oh gods no!" the woman barked her laughter, "I'm his sister. If he ever calls me 'Loopy' around you by the way, tell me and I'll punch his shoulder when I see him. I'm trying to convince my brothers I know exactly when they call me that at all times."

                        "Okay." I smiled. She was funny and even though I'd just met her I felt we were already friends. I guess the Free's have that sort of thing going for them.

                        "Sorry for showing up out of the blue like this. I was just curious to see this woman Everette is so enchanted by."

                        I stumbled at her words, "Enchanted? We-we just met yesterday."

                       "And went to the harvest moon festival yesterday at that I understand. I know my brother. He can try and hide it, but we had a gathering after the official festival--sort of a family reunion--and he had the most blissful sigh every few minutes. I knew it had to be you."

                        Comprehending this was a lot harder than it would seem. She was practically saying her brother she knows so well was in love with me after one day. Absurd.

                        "Well, he's sweet, but I wouldn't say he's enchanted with me exactly. That's probably pushing it. Don't you think?"

                         Penelope placed a naturally shiny nail to her rosy lips, "Hmm...I guess..."

                         I sighed in a sort of relief...and something else I couldn't place.

                         She looked back at me with a smirk, "More like smitten. Or perhaps mesmerized, afflicted, captivated, charmed, spellbound, beguiled, enraptured, enthralled, transfixed... Yeah, he's got it bad."