Ikher exited the park into the fancy section of Oak Grove as he tried to remember Eric’s instructions. Left the four-way, then right at the dead end? Was that it? Following that, he arrived at a cul-du-sac with three driveways. Straight ahead should be Eric and Sun’s.
Tall pines framed the long twisting driveway on both sides. It felt like he was in a forest rather than a neighborhood. Rounding a corner, he saw a three story white and blue home. The driveway circled around a pond with a small fountain.
Something plopped in the pond as he approached. Looking in, he saw a few colorful fish float in the shade. Eric and Sun must be loaded. The long driveway, massive house, a fish pond with a fountain, not to mention that they live on this side of the river.
Ikher knocked at the door and waited. As he was about to knock again, the door opened. An older Asian man looked him over, giving his t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers a disapproving look. “Yes.”
“Oh, uh, sorry. I think I have the wrong house,” Ikher said.
“That’s for me, dad!” he heard someone yell.
A moment later, Sun appeared with a big smile. She ushered him in as her father wandered off. She led him through the foyer, living room, kitchen, and out the back into a sunroom where Eric was waiting.
“Hey! You made it,” Eric said, getting up from a cushy wicker chair and giving him a fist bump.
“Yeah, thanks for the invite. Your house is really pretty,” Ikher said.
“Aww, thank you,” Sun said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatcha got?”
“Whatever you want. I own a bar remember,” Eric said with a smile.
“Vodka cranberry?” Ikher said.
“Coming right up,” Sun said, but Eric waved her off.
“Nah, I’ll get it. I see this guy all the time. This’ll let you two catch up.”
Sun sat when Ikher did. She smoothed her skirt and crossed her legs. Wrapping her hands around her knee, she grinned at him. “So, I have to ask. Your last name’s Ybarra, which I’m pretty sure is Spanish-” she started, but Ikher’s laugh stopped her.
“Yeah, I get that a lot. My mom’s Thai. My parents met overseas. Mom was visiting home and dad was there working.”
“Aww, that’s so cute. It’s almost like a fairy tale.”
“Yeah, mom wouldn’t agree. She said my father was annoying and followed her like a puppy.”
Sun giggled and glanced back to where Eric had gone. “That sounds a lot like Eric and I.”
“Did you guys meet overseas?” Ikher asked.
“No, in college,” Eric answered, coming from back in. He handed his wife a glass of wine and Ikher his drink. “We shared an economics class, and I was smitten.”
“Puppy’s an accurate description of you,” Sun said to Eric as he sat next to her. She looked back to Ikher. “You came by yourself. You could’ve brought someone.”
Ikher shrugged. “Oh, nah. I’m single.”
Sun blinked and shook her head. “Really? You’re so handsome and nice.”
Ikher shurgged. “I dunno. I don’t go out of my way to date.”
“Maybe you just haven’t found the right person.”
“Leave the man alone,” Eric said, patting his wife’s knee. “You’re almost as bad as Billie trying to hook him up. E, you want something to eat? Snack? Finger food?”
“I’m so rude.” Sun said, reaching over to squeeze Ikher’s knee. “I’ll bring us a platter.”
“Oh, you don’t have to,” Ikher said. “I feel bad. I didn’t bring anything.”
She giggled and waved his concern away. “You brought you. We love hosting people. I’ll right back.” She patted his shoulder and disappeared into the kitchen.
“Hey, did you bring some?” Eric asked, making a smoking motion.
Ikher patted his pockets before looking around. “Should we… do this here?”
Eric laughed and passed him some cash. “Yeah, Sun knows. She smokes now and then. Her dad isn’t a fan, but the place is big enough that he can get away from it.
“Dude, this place is enormous. I thought I was at the wrong house at first.”
Eric laughed and nodded. “We were set to get a smaller place, but then her mom died and she didn’t want her dad to live alone. So we got this,” Eric said, waving his hand around. “It’s a bit much, but we’ll grow into it.”
“How d’you get her dad to want to move in with you? My mom’s totally against it.”
“He put up a fight, but when Sun digs her heels in, she gets what she wants. I think he likes it here.”
“Who’s that?” Sun asked, re-entering the sun room.
“Ikher wanted to know if your dad was okay living with us. I told him you didn’t give him a choice.”
She sighed, walking around the couch with a large metal platter. “He would have just wasted away if we let him stay in their old house.”
She stopped in front of Ikher and bent over to place the platter on the table. Her tennis skirt was rode up enough that Ikher could see the thong she wore. His cheeks grew hot, and he turned to look out the window. “Uhh, yeah, my mom doesn’t want any part of living with me.”
Sun straightened and looked at Eric, who was trying not to laugh. She sat next to Ikher on the couch and asked, “Is your father not around?”
“No,” Ikher said, turning to look at her. “He died when I was fifteen.”
“Oh no. I’m so sorry,” Sun said, taking his hand.
“Thanks,” Ikher nodded. “It was rough for both of us for a while, but we’re better now.”
“Aww, that’s so good to hear. Eric’s right. I think Dad likes it here.” She patted his knee. “Okay, you have to try this,” she said, grabbing a small meat, cheese, cracker combo from the platter and brought it to his mouth.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Ikher blinked, not sure what to do. He didn’t want to be rude, so he opened his mouth and let her feed him. She bopped him on the nose with her finger after he closed his mouth and chewed. The meat was savory while the cheese was a touch sweet. The cracker was a nice bridge between the two.
“Mmmm, that’s great,” Ikher said with a nod after he swallowed. “What is it?”
“A sea salt crisp, with triple cream wrapped in Prosciutto,” Eric said.
Sun clapped and bounced in her seat with a big smile. “Yay! I thought you might like that.”
“Prosciutto’s the Cadillac of meat,” Eric said without looking up as he finished rolling a joint.
“Ooh, even better,” Sun said as he lit it and took a drag.
She stood and opened a few windows before returning to sit next to Ikher again. She patted his thigh before pointing to the plate. “Eat as much as you want. If you don’t, Eric will finish it all before you can get any.”
“She’s not lying.” Eric said with a laugh as he passed the joint to his wife.
After a few rotations, Sun, who was also on her second glass of wine, started fanning herself and removed her light cardigan. Underneath, she wore a tight tank top bodysuit which pushed up her small breasts.
Ikher, when he realized he was staring, shifted his gaze to Eric. “Sooo, umm, what made you want to run a football bar?”
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“No. No. No,” Janine said, shaking her head as she copied numbers from one page to another. She glanced up. “Jesus, Rafi, who did this for you?”
Rafael Aquilar paced in front of her, scratching his beard. He chuckled and gave her a sheepish grin. “Me and Chico.”
Janine put the pencil down and took a deep breath with her eyes closed before she looked at him. “I told you, when Louisa retired, you needed to hire an accountant.”
“I know, I know,” he said. “I’ve been looking, but I’m having trouble finding someone I can trust with both sides of the company.”
The door opened, and a white clad man with close cropped pale blond hair walked in. “Hey, hey! He said you two might be here.”
Janine exhaled. She’d heard Roger was back in town, but had hoped she wouldn’t run into him until the meeting next week. He paced in front of the table where they were sitting.
“I’m glad I caught you both. I have some ideas about the expansions Czernec mentioned.”
Janine sighed, glanced up at him, her head falling almost to her shoulder and said, “Rog, we’re in the middle of something.”
Roger stopped pacing and screwed his mouth to the side as he squinted at Janine. “Don’t look at me all askance, young lady.” He resumed pacing and flung a hand in their direction. “I can wait till you finish whatever, but I think we should make the move south first. My contacts, combined with Rafael’s, will make it a smoother transition than going north. No one’s looking forward to bartering with those instate rhubarbs. Intimidation works on the uneducated, so it’ll help to have more product on hand from a merger to wow their simple minds.”
“Did this trifling ass just say ‘askance’?” Janine whispered to Rafael, who snorted.
Roger turned and screwed his mouth to the side again before holding his hand out to Janine. “Something you’d like to share with the class?”
Janine chuckled and shook her head. ”Naw.”
It took some mental preparation to deal with Roger and she wasn’t in the mood. Standing, she grabbed the paperwork, stuffed it back in the envelope, and turned to Rafael.
“I’ll finish this train wreck and get it back to you as soon as I can. You need to file an extension and find an accountant,” she said, pointing a finger at him.
“Yes, ma’am, thank you so much,” Rafael said, standing and giving her a hug.
“You’re leaving?” Roger asked, looking back and forth between them. “I thought we’d have an impromptu pitch session.”
“Yes, I’m leaving. No, to the pitch session,” Janine said with a wave. “I’ll get with ya’ll next week like we planned.”
As the door closed behind her, she heard Roger say, “Rude.”
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“You good to walk back?” Eric asked as he opened the door. “I can give you a ride.”
“Nah, I’m good,” Ikher said. “I need to walk off all the Cadillac meat.”
“It was so good to have you over, Ikher. You must come back,” Sun said, squeezing his arms before pulling him in for a hug.
“Yeah, this was fun. You two are welcome at my place any time. It’s not as large and fancy, though.”
“I’d love to see your place,” Sun said before turning to Eric. “We can bring food.”
Ikher shook his head and pointed at her. “Nope. You fed me at your place, so I’ll feed you at mine. Do you eat Thai food? I can do some Spanish dishes as well.”
Sun’s eyes grew huge, and she placed a hand on his chest and smiled up at him. “Oh my god, yes. I don’t want to invite myself, but I do.”
Ikher laughed. “That’s fine. Just let me know. My schedule’s pretty open.”
“We’ll work something out,” Eric said, giving him a fist bump. “Be safe out there.”
Ikher thanked them again and started down the driveway. Once he rounded the corner, Eric closed the door and turned to his wife. “You were in rare form tonight.”
Sun threw her hands up. “Oh, my god. You’re right. He’s so ambiguous. I couldn’t get a read off him. Did you get anything?”
Eric laughed as they started up the steps. “He’s so innocent. When you bent over in front of him, he broke his neck, trying to look away.”
“Aww.” Sun’s bottom lip poked out as she sighed.
Eric shook his head. “Don’t be sad. I think he was just trying to be polite. You know, trying not to stare at another guy’s wife when her husband is right there. He didn’t seem too bothered by you getting handsy with him. And when you pulled your top off, he stared for a sec before he looked away.”
“Maybe there’s hope?” Sun asked.
Eric closed their bedroom door behind them. Sun tossed her top onto the bed and shimmied out of her skirt.
“Maybe,” Eric said, removing his top and unbuttoning his jeans. “If yes, we’re going to have to ease him into it.”
Sun nodded as she undid her body suit. “Not gonna lie. Him being all cute and bashful kinda makes me want him more.”
“Right! He’s adorable,” Eric said as Sun came over and wrapped her arms around his waist. She kissed his stomach and looked up at him.
“Shower or… “ Sun asked with a grin, glancing over to the bed.
Eric grinned, reached down, and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arms around his neck. “Or sounds pretty good.”
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It was just getting dark as Ikher exited the park. He saw Janine’s sister, LaChay, sitting on the front steps watching Ainsley play on the sidewalk.
When Ainsley saw him, she squealed, ran over, and threw herself at him. “Ikher!”
He caught and lifted her up onto his hip as LaChay met them. She was short and thin, the opposite of her sister. They shared the same big personality, though.
“Girl! You’re going to give me a heart attack,” LaChay said, wagging a finger at Ainsley. She smiled to Ikher and shook her head. “I’m glad it was you. I didn’t want to fight some stranger.”
“Is Grama coming?” Ainsley asked.
Ikher shook his head and stuck his bottom lip out. “Not tonight. I might get her over this weekend. Would you like that?”
Ainsley grinned and nodded, the beads in her hair jingling. Car lights turning into the neighborhood drew everyone’s attention. Janine’s beat-up van stopped before her driveway and she honked the horn.
“Mommy!” Ainsley yelled.
LaChay pulled her car out of the driveway and waited against the curb as Janine pulled in and got out.
“Thanks, dumb ass,” Janine said, walking over and leaning on LaChay’s roof to look in at her.
“Anytime, heffer,” LaChay replied. “Mom said to call.”
“Aight.” Janine straightened, giving her sister the middle finger before LaChay pulled away. She walked over and took Ainsley from Ikher. “How was your get together?”
“It was fun. You okay? You look a little frazzled.”
Janine sighed and nodded. “Yeah, Aguilar wanted me to look at his numbers. It was a mess. Oh hey, how did your tax thing go?”
“Okay,” he said. “I followed your advice.”
“Halved your money?”
“Yeah.”
“How much did you owe?”
“Like three and a half grand.”
“Shit, that aint bad.”
Ikher nodded. “Yeah, she got me on a payment plan so I can break it up over a couple of months.”
“Huh, your lady sounds legit,” Janine said, then laughed. “Maybe I should send her to Aguilar.”
“She’s pretty big on following rules. I dunno if she’d be okay doing ‘those’ numbers.”
Janine shrugged. “Ah well, no harm in dreaming. Oh hey, Aguilar reminded me. Once summer hits, we’ve got a team building day, so you should limber up.”
Ikher squinted. “Uhhh, why?”
“Heh, you’ll see,” she chuckled and turned to go home.