Sweet Peppers

I'd been home for a couple days, helping my little sister get packed to head off to college. The small town's fall festival was going on and - since I enjoy gardening but I'm not very good at it - I stopped by the Recreation Center to look over some of what my former neighbors were growing.

I've dabbled in a little of everything, but I've discovered that melons don't grow well for me. I can throw those seeds in the yard at random and volunteer plants will flourish - but, if I try to contain them within the space I've set aside for my formal garden, the rebellious vines refuse to bend their iron will to my steel hoe.

Normal salad-bowl items do well enough - but most of those grow like weeds anyway - so I know it's not like I have a green thumb or anything. My radishes are too hot, my carrots are too scrawny, and my peppers are always underwhelming.

When I spied a paper plate that could barely contain the three sweet peppers that were offered as one of the submissions in the contest, I HAD to go see whose they were.

"Kimberly Pratt" I read. We graduated together, six years ago. At the class reunion, the year before, she'd been Kimberly Thompson - married to the guy who'd been quarterback of the football team. Kimberly had been the head cheerleader. The two of them had been an item for half of our years in high school.

"Hi, Terry," I heard a voice say.

I turned to see Kimberly holding the hand of a four or five year old who looked like my former classmate's mini-me. The little girl was absolutely adorable. She had mom's blonde curls and a beautiful smile.

"Did you grow these?" I asked the child, as I squatted down to talk to her. "They're almost as big as you!"

She giggled and said, "No ... mommy grew them but I helped pull weeds."

"Well, it looks like you two make a fabulous team," I told her. "I've never seen such amazing looking peppers. How do they taste?"

"They're good!" she exclaimed, "but mommy wouldn't let me eat those."

"How are you not married?" Kimberly asked me.

I looked up at her, shrugged, stood up, glanced at the plate, and said, "Haven't found the one, I guess. You can tell me it's none of my business but I noticed the name ..."

"Brad hooked up with Katie Johnson at the reunion last year. The two of them left town together. I got papers served to me a week later. I got the house - but it was like a cancerous sore. I sold it and moved back in with mom and dad. Not my best decision, but I needed some closure."

"Can I tell you something?" the little girl asked, tugging on the leg of my shorts.

I squatted down to her level again and said, "Certainly!"

Her "whisper" was loud enough for anyone nearby to hear, "Tomorrow is mommy's birthday."

"Is it now?" I asked.

She nodded her head up and down enthusiastically.

"Have we made any big plans yet?" I looked from the child, up to her mother.

Kimberly was smiling but shaking her head. "Mom and Dad will probably take me out to dinner," she said.

I looked at the little blonde and asked, "What do you think mommy should do for her birthday?"

"I think she should go see the Mermaid movie, have a big bucket of popcorn, and then stop for ice cream."

"I think that's a grand idea," I told her, realizing that the little girl was listing off what SHE wanted to do - and not necessarily what her mom might want. "Would it be okay if I came along?"

"Yes! We can share the popcorn."

"Maybe you and I can share and we'll get mom her own - since it's her birthday," I suggested.

"Could I have my own and you share with mommy?" she asked.

"I'll tell you what," I said. "We'll go eat dinner first - and if you eat all of your food - you can have your own popcorn. Does that work?"

She nodded her head up and down again. As I stood to face her mother, wondering if I was in trouble, little fingers wrapped around mine. Kimberly looked at me, her daughter's hand, and then back to my face.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, smiling wryly.

"I just HAVE to find out what you did to grow those peppers," I told her. "I'm going to ingratiate myself with you and your little angel and weedle all of your secrets out of you. I'll be the greatest gardener on the planet. I'll be unstoppable!"

She laughed and said, "That's why you're still single. You're crazy."

"Am I though? Are we going out for your birthday or not?"

The girl said, "Mommy! Say 'yes', say 'yes'!"

Kim choked out a laugh, looking at the bouncing little girl, and said, "I guess..."

"Well," I said, mischievously, "if you've got a better offer ..."

I had meant it to be funny but I could tell - when her tears came - that I'd messed up.

"Look," I said, quickly. "I'm sorry! I didn't think that through ..."

She sniffled as she held up a hand to stop the rest of my apology.

"It's not your fault," she said.

"This is why I'm still single," I told her.

"Stop!" she ordered. "You've always been a great guy - a little quirky - but I married the guy everybody thought was the perfect catch and you can see how that turned out. Can I ask you what you have planned beyond this birthday thing?"

"I hadn't planned any of this," I said. "Two beautiful women - with fabulous peppers - showed up out of the blue and I think I'd like to spend a little time with them."

"It's all about the peppers, is it?" she asked, smirking as she dabbed away the last of the tears.

"Right now it is ..." I replied, smiling.

"You're serious about dinner and the movie?"

"... and two buckets of popcorn, and sharing, and ice cream - you're damned straight!" I replied. "Darned. Darned straight."

Kimberly laughed and said, "She hears worse than that from my dad but I appreciate that. Are you sure?"

"I guess you'll just have to find out," I told her. "What's the address and what time should I pick you two ladies up? I'll order the movie tickets and the concessions. Other than popcorn, what do you want?"

"Can I have a blue Slushie?" the little girl asked.

When I looked down, she seemed to be addressing the question to me.

I looked at Kimberly and asked, "Do I need to approve my intense desire to spoil this child silly with you first or can I go crazy?"

She looked at her daughter and said, "Popcorn, a small blue Slushie, and ice cream. Nothing else - and you have to eat good first."

The small blonde cherub nodded, beaming at her mother and then at me.

Kim gave me the address. I checked the show-time, got her to name our dinner location, and set the time for me to pick them up.

I gave her my number and she texted me, "Her name is Belle. I don't know what you're up to, but you've absolutely made her day - and mine. Thank you."

I replied with, "I really just want you to have a good birthday."

She sent, "It's already the best I've had in forever - assuming you don't ghost on me."

"I'll be there. I promise. I can't stand the thought of doing something that might make a beautiful girl cry."

"Belle or me?" she sent back.

"Yes," I replied.

~~~

The following afternoon, I vid-called Kim's number. She didn't answer right away and my heart rate skyrocketed, worried that I'd misread things. Finally, she answered.

"Yes?" she asked, smiling.

"Is Miss Belle available?" I asked. "I need her professional opinion."

Kim turned the phone so that I could see the small blonde.

"Hello," she chirped.

"Hi," I said. "I need your help with a surprise. Can mommy see the screen right now?"

The phone wiggled a little and Belle looked past it and then said, "She's shaking her head."

I laughed and said, "Okay. I'm going to show you two things and I want you to pick the one that we should give to mommy. Okay?"

She nodded.

I showed her some lavender carnations and said, "One", followed by pink ones and said, "Two".

"Purple," she said.

I laughed and said, "That's good - but you have to say the number - so we can keep it a secret."

"Oh!" she said. "Okay."

"You ready for the next two things to pick from?"

"Yes."

I showed her a stuffed unicorn and said, "One", and a stuffed bear and said, "Two".

She stared hard at the unicorn but then said, "Mommy would want 'two'."

"Very good, Belle," I told her. "One more choice, okay?"

She nodded.

"I showed her a small heart-shaped box of chocolates as #1 and an oversized candy bar as #2."

She giggled and said, "One."

I moved the phone so Kim couldn't see the items and said, "Thanks, angel. I'll come pick you up in a few hours and you can help me show mommy the surprises, okay?"

Yes."

She giggled again. Her giggle made my heart happy.

"Kim?" I said.

"Yeeesss?" she said, bringing the phone around so that I could see her smiling face.

"See you soon," I said. "Happy birthday."

She grinned and said, "Thanks. See you soon."

~~~

With all three presents safely hidden behind my back or in the bag at my feet, I rang the doorbell and waited. Two beautiful blondes appeared when the door opened. Behind them, I saw a man and woman sneaking a look at me.

"Miss Belle," I said. "Can you help me a second?"

"Yes," she said, bounding over to my side.

I looked at Kim and said, "If you could close the door for just a moment, we'll ring the bell when we're ready."

She shook her head and eased the door shut. She was, at least, smiling.

I told Belle, "If you want to hold the bear and the candy, I'll hold the flowers. The flowers are a little heavier. If you want to hold those, that's probably the only thing you'll be able to hold."

"I'll take the bear and the candy," Belle said.

I handed over the two items, pulled out the bouquet and looked at my cohort.

"Ready?"

She nodded, beaming.

"I'm going to ring the doorbell. When she opens up, what should we yell, 'Surprise' or 'Happy birthday'?"

"Surprise!" she cheered.

"Okay, ready?"

She nodded again.

I hit the doorbell and stepped over next to Belle.

Kim opened the door and we yelled, "Surprise!"

"Mommy, mommy!" Belle yelled. "We got you presents!"

I stood by, holding the flowers, and waited as Kim scooped up her daughter and kissed and hugged and kissed and hugged her, asking about the gifts. Belle gave her all the details on the gifts we were holding, giggling the whole time.

She set the little girl back onto her feet and said, "Can you run to our room and put the bear and the candy on the dresser please?"

"Yes, mommy!" she yelled, as she headed through the house, announcing what she was doing, and showing the gifts to her grandparents along the way.

"What are you doing?" she said, looking at me, shaking her head.

I handed her the flowers and said, "I'm listening to super-infectious giggles and watching a woman hug and kiss her adorable daughter."

"Would you like a hug and kiss too?" she asked.

I looked at her for a moment and then said, "I wouldn't turn it down."

She stepped up, into my personal space, wrapped her arms around my neck, and pressed her lips to mine. She kept them there for a bit. I put my arms around her ribs.

"I'll put these in a vase," I heard a woman say, as the bouquet lifted from my fingers.

When the kiss ended, Kim's hands went to my shoulders, mine went to her sides, and she looked into my eyes.

"I don't know what you're fishing for, Mr. Martin," she said, "but you're definitely using the right bait."

"Did you kiss him, mommy?" Belle asked.

"Yes, is that okay?"

"I missed it?!" she complained, pushing her lower lip out in a pout.

I reached down, scooped her into my arms, and held her between Kim and me.

"Guess we'll have to do it again," I said, pressing my lips to her cheek.

"I guess," her mom said, leaning in to squeeze the little darling between us as she pressed her lips to Belle's other cheek.

Belle wrapped her arms around our necks and giggled. When I tried to lean back, she came away in my arms instead of her mother's.

"Mommy's been worried all day that you wouldn't come," she 'whispered'.

"Don't tell all of mommy's secrets," I told her. "Mommies don't want everybody to know how much they worry."

"Okay," she whispered loudly.

Kim grabbed my fingers and pulled me into the house.

"Mom, Dad, this is Terry Martin. He and I went to school together."

I shook hands with Kim's parents. The flowers were in a vase, sitting on the kitchen table.

"I didn't know where you wanted the flowers, darling," her mother told her. "I can move them to your room, if you'd like."

"They're fine, right there, thanks, mom," she said.

"The girls have a curfew," her dad said, smiling.

"I appreciate the warning, Mr. Pratt," I said. "I will do my best to have your beautiful ladies back before bedtime."

"We're going to get ice cream, Pop-pop!" Belle told him.

He gave her a squeeze and accepted a sweet peck on the lips from his granddaughter.

Grandma collected hers next, smiled, and said, "I want to hear all about it when you get back."

"C'mon, mommy," Belle told her as she kicked her legs, impatiently, for me to get us on our way.

"I guess we're going," I said, laughing.

"Looks like it," Kim agreed, grabbing her purse. "I need to grab her car seat."

She pulled out her keys, stopped at her car, removed the seat, and followed me to my vehicle. I opened the door and tried to switch loads with her, but she shook her head.

"She's happy enough in your arms and I won't have to worry that she's near the street," she told me.

Once her mother had the thing in place, I lowered Belle into the seat and then watched closely as Kim got her strapped in. I stepped back when she stood up. Our faces were close together. She gave me a kiss.

"What are you doing?" I asked, smirking.

"Just letting you know that you've got a fish on the line - so you can start figuring out whether or not you want to begin reeling it in."

I stepped around her and opened the front passenger door. She closed the back door, and stepped up, close again.

"The hook is set, Mr. Martin," she said, dropping into the seat.

I carefully shut the door and hurried to climb in, trying not to think about how my cock was waking from its hibernation.

We all had chicken strips, fries, peas, and peaches for dinner. Belle only needed one small reminder to eat her food. She was excited about having a bucket of popcorn of her own - and a blue Slushie.

At the theater, we got our tickets, picked up our concessions, and found the right screen. We were a little early so we sat and ate our corn as we ignored the trivia and other stuff on the screen. I watched our things as Kim took Belle to the bathroom one last time before the show began.

I asked Belle if she wanted to sit in the middle but she reminded me that I was sharing popcorn with her mom. She told me that I was sitting in the middle. Kim arched her eyebrow at me when I looked over at her.

The recliners were enormous. Kim looked over at her daughter, sitting there with her bucket of popcorn and her Slushie and grinned. She hopped up and took a picture to send to her parents.

Every few minutes, during the film, Kim leaned across me to check on her daughter.

"We can switch," I told her.

"You done with the popcorn?" she asked.

I nodded.

She took the bucket, put it in her seat, and climbed onto my lap, laying her head on my shoulder.

"Is this okay?" she whispered.

"Better than okay," I responded.

She snuggled a little closer.

She continued, periodically, checking to see if Belle was still good, but she relaxed into my arms more and more and I just hoped she couldn't feel the lump in my pants.

When the lights came on, I looked over at the little blonde.

"So? Did you like it?"

"Why is mommy sitting on your lap?" she asked.

"She was checking on you a bunch and I think she was worried she was blocking the people behind us," I said.

I turned and realized that, with the way the seats were installed now, that would be hard - but I didn't bother to correct what I'd told her.

"Can we take Mommy to get ice cream now?"

"I'm kind of full," Kim said, winking at me and grinning.

"But, Mommy ...," Belle whined.

"Belle ..." she warned.

"Please," Belle said, looking at me, "can we go get ice cream?"

"What's your favorite flavor?" I asked her, as we made our way out of the theater.

"Strawberry," she said.

"No way!" I told her. "Me too!"

She giggled and grabbed my fingers - grabbing her mom's in the other hand. As we crossed the parking lot, she got a better grip on our hands and then raised her legs up so that she could swing between us. She giggled like crazy as we swung our arms forward and backward to swing her a little higher.

At the treat shop, Kim got chocolate ice cream. Belle and I got strawberry.

"Mommy, what is his name again?"

"Terry - or Mr. Martin," she told her.

"Thank you for the ice cream, Terry," she cooed.

"You are most welcome, little angel," I told her. "Do you think mommy liked her birthday celebration?"

"Yes," Kim said, "she did. Thank you, Mr. Martin."

"Yes, she did. Thank you, Mr. Martin," Belle said, mimicking her mother.

She grinned broadly at her mom and me as we laughed at her.

~~~

I carried the sleeping child to the house. Kim let us in. We stood, together, in the front room. Belle's head was lying on my shoulder.

"Can I see you again?" I asked.

"If I didn't need to put a small child in my bed," she said, "and I didn't live in a house with my mom and my dad, I'd be tempted to invite you to spend the night."

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"I hope you aren't some kind of a serial killer, Mr. Martin, because you have done absolutely everything necessary to make my pussy wet for you. I'm damaged, I have baggage, and I live with my parents - and you have given me the best 24 hours of my life since I can't remember when. I've been around long enough to know that I would be stupid not to take a chance to see what you're really offering. I'm worried to death because I have a little girl and I'm vulnerable and ..."

"I won't make you promise anything," I told her. "For now, let's just take things slow."

"I don't want slow, Terry. I have a soon-to-be five-year-old."

"What do you want?" I asked her.

"Are you serious about Belle and me?"

"I think so."

"I want to sit on the couch and be held by a man who cares about my little girl," she said.

"What about you?"

"If you promise to love my daughter and help me take care of her, I don't need anything else."

"I have no experience," I said.

She looked into my eyes.

"Stay here, but give her to me. Let me put her to bed and then I can talk without her hearing the desperation in my voice."

She took the sleeping child from my arms and carried her down the hall. She was gone several minutes before she returned. She took my hand and led me to the couch. She sat down. I sat, facing her.

"You say you have no experience," she said, "but you have - from the moment she met you - treated my little princess like a real person, with real feelings, with real hopes, and real needs. I guaran-FUCKING-tee you that that's way more than her father ever did - and I haven't heard shit from that worthless son-of-a-bitch in more than a year. From everything I've seen since ... Fuck has it only been one day? From everything I've seen since yesterday, you are already overqualified for the position of dad - if you want it. You've already earned yourself a night in whichever of my holes you pick. I'll get my parents to watch Belle while we go somewhere so that I can give my body to you."

I sat and stared at her, feeling badly that she was so desperate that she would consider the little that I had done in 24 hours to be a replacement for seven years with Brad.

"Did I scare you off?" she asked, looking worried.

I took her hands in mine and said, "No. I'm just ... I'm sorry that you ..."