Fact - People at work are nosey!

Time I walked into work this morning people were giving me a weird look. Obviously everybody in the office had already heard about my visit from Nick that day. At least that’s what I thought anyway. When I walked into my small office, I look over to see a dozen white roses, sitting on my desk. I didn’t know what to think. The first thing that came to my mind was the fact that they were white, and not red. Red roses usually stand for love, but white roses stand for friendship. That’s what I grew up believing. I wondered why Austin would send white roses unless he wasn’t interested in me any longer.

As I took the card out of the little card holder, I looked over to see a few girls peeking into my office. I looked back at the card, taking it out of the envelope to see a note:

Savannah –
I just wanted to thank you for being my daughter’s mother. I know I had nothing to do with the fact that you were chosen to adopt her and be her mother, but I don’t think I could have chosen anybody better. You’re a great person, and I don’t think I could ever repay you for letting me be a part of her life. I hope your night with Austin went well. I wish you two the best of luck. - Nick

Nick sent me the roses. The note was, well, emotional. I started to feel my eyes water up. I didn’t want anybody to see me crying so I sucked it up to the best of my abilities and put the card back in the envelope.

“What are ya’ll looking at? Get back to work,” I said, sitting down in my seat. I moved the roses out of the way, and over to the side of the desk. I smiled a little, looking at them. It was a nice gesture. He didn’t have to send or give me anything. He had already given me the best gift without knowing and that was Nichole.

As I sat there thinking about it, it was sort of odd that I named her Nichole. I did name her after my mother, whose name was Nichole Denise, but went by Denise. In a way, I think it’s sweet that it could be said that she was named after her father too. I almost named her Cheyenne, following in my parent’s tradition of naming kids after real places, but decided against it. I didn’t want her to be a cliché, like me and my brother.

“Savannah,” Sandra said, walking into my office. “Oh what lovely flowers! Are they from your boyfriend?” she asked, smelling them.

“No, they’re from Nick. It’s just a friendly gesture, something to do with Nichole.” I replied, looking at my computer monitor, “What’s up this morning?”

”Well darlin’,” she said with a slow Southern drawl, “There is a benefit tonight at Blue Masquerade for Breast Cancer Research and we need someone to go, to represent Kiss & Tell so I thought I would ask you if you would like to go. There’s two tickets so you can take a date. What’s his name? Austin?”

“Well, Austin is on duty this week at the hospital at night,” I replied, looking back at her. I’m sure I can find a friend to go with.”

“Take Nick!” she shouted. I jumped, looking at her with a confused look. “It would make Kiss & Tell stand out more with one of our representative’s date being a Backstreet Boy. Aren’t they in the studio recording a new album or something?”

”Yeah, I believe so. They’re here working with Jermaine Dupri I believe Nick said,” I sighed, looking back at my computer monitor. “I don’t know, maybe I can get Austin to get off and go with me. I don’t want to use Nick for anything like that and he’s just Savannah’s father. We aren’t involved or anything.”

”Well you had to be involved or at least have sex if you have a daughter together,” she said with a laugh. I looked back at her nodding my head. “You raise his daughter, he obviously owes you something. Go to the party and when someone interviews you or ask you a question – tell them about the new teen division of Kiss & Tell.” She stood up, putting her hands on my shoulders and smiled. “I have a lot of faith in you Savannah. Don’t prove me wrong, okay?”

”I won’t,” I replied as she turned to walk away. I sighed knowing that she wanted me to take Nick so that it would bring attention to the magazine. Hell, she admitted it herself. I just didn’t know if I was comfortable with that. I wasn’t after that nice card he had with the flowers. I think he really appreciates me for being a good mother to Nichole. He didn’t have to send me flowers though.

I sighed again, reaching over for my phone. I reached into the side of my purse, pulling out his number and dialed it. Waiting for him to pick up seemed like forever and a day but when he finally did, I heard him yawn.

“Hellooo?”

“Nick? Did I wake you up?” I asked as I sat back in my chair, “I’m sorry I just wanted to call to say that I got the roses and that you shouldn’t have.”

”Nah I was just taking a quick nap before we went into the studio and no problem,” he said as he laughed a little. “I just wanted to be nice. So how was your little night with Austin last night?”

”Horrible,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “Listen, I told Nichole this morning that you’re her father.”

”Oh my God, what did she do?” he asked, sounding ecstatic.

“She was thrilled. She was thanking me for making you her daddy and said she wanted to call you daddy.” I said as I reached over, turning my computer on. “She asked me why you and I didn’t love each other because I told her once that babies come from two people that love one another.”

“Ohhh…” he said as I looked down at my hand. Obviously he had no idea what to say either. “Do you plan to tell her one day that she’s adopted?”

“I don’t want to,” I replied, looking over my shoulder to see if anybody was there. “The only people that know is you, me, Diana, and Austin. I really don’t want her to know.”

”Well, when she gets older and she ask questions – we could always lie and say that we saw each other a few times or something. Didn’t you live in New York? Isn’t that where you adopted her?” he asked as I nodded my head, forgetting that he couldn’t see me. “Savannah?”

”Yeah,” I replied, not knowing what to say. “I guess we could say that we had a small romance and decided that we would rather stay friends.” Nick agreed and I sighed, looking up at my calendar. “Listen, I don’t want this to come out the wrong way or anything, and it’s not what it seems, but do you have plans tonight?”

”Oh, want me to watch Nichole?”

”No, I was wondering if you would like to go to a party with me. It’s a Breast Cancer Fundraiser type thing and I have to go and represent the magazine. I sort of need a date and Austin has to work and I’m scared to talk to him after last night.”

”What happened last night?” Nick asked. “He didn’t try to hurt you or anything did he because if he did and Nichole was there I’ll –“

”No, no Nick it’s not like that. It’s just me, that’s all. So will you?” I asked. I could almost sense him smiling into the phone. “If you want, maybe we can take Nichole. She loves parties with free food.”

”It could be a little family event,” Nick replied as I shook my head. “I mean, not a family, but you know, well –“

”I know what you mean,” I said, interrupting him. “Be at my place around six. I think the party is around seven and we can stay for a little while until Nichole falls asleep.”

“Will do,” Nick said as I smiled, telling him goodbye. I felt awful. Not only was I using Nick for the sake of my job now, I was throwing my daughter into it. It was so unlike me to do something like that. I should have just called Austin to see if he wanted to go. That would have been the right thing to do.

Unfortunately due to the fact that I’m scared to talk to him, I’m not going with the right thing, for once in my life.
- - - -

”Mommy!” Nichole yelled that early that evening as she walked into my bedroom. “Mommy, what time is Nick going to be here?” I sighed, looking at her. “Do I call him Daddy?”

”I don’t know baby, you talk to him about that.” I said, looking at myself in the mirror. “How do I look?” I looked down at the dress that I had on, realizing it was the same dress that I wore on the date with Nick. I laughed, looking over at Nichole who smiled. “Do I look okay?”

”Mommy, you look pretty!” she exclaimed as the doorbell rang. “That’s Nick! I mean Daddy!” I followed her out of my bedroom and up to the door to see Nick standing outside in a buttoned up shirt and spikey hair. I didn’t example tell him how to dress but then again, that was dress enough.

“Nick!” Nichole yelled as I opened the door. She practically leaped into his arms and hugged him. “Mommy said that you were my Daddy, so can I call you Daddy?” I smiled, closing the door behind him as he walked in.

“Yeah, you can call me whatever you want,” Nick said, hugging her back. I stood there, crossing my arms over my chest, staring at them as they hugged one another. I’m not sure why but I almost started to cry. That would only mess up my make-up. “I would like you to call me daddy.”

“I wanna call you Daddy because I always wanted a Daddy,” Nichole said as Nick hugged her again. He looked at me smiling and I smiled back.

“I’m going to go and finish getting ready,” I said as I walked past them and into my bedroom. Seeing them together, especially now that she knows that she has a father is a bit overwhelming. I never thought that she would have her real father in her life, much less that it would be him. Maybe I went off on him on the date that we had for no real reason. I guess he wasn’t that mean, but I was sensitive at the time. I didn’t have Austin to make me feel pretty, although after last night, I’m not sure what I feel anymore except that I want him more than ever. I almost feel ashamed of myself for turning him down.

“Savannah,” Nick whispered as I turned around and looked at him. “You look really pretty tonight.”

”Thanks,” I said, smiling, looking down at my bracelet I was fastening.

“Listen, is everything okay between Austin and you? You sounded weird on the phone this morning.” He said, walking into my room. “He didn’t try anything did he?”

”Nick, I know you’re my daughter’s biological father, but – I – I just really feel weird talking to you about this,” I said, looking back at him. “It was just a weird situation.”

”Well you know, I’m gonna be in your life from now on because you’re her mother, so maybe we can become friends or something. I know you still hate me because of that date we went on but I was confused as to why you left,” he confessed. “I mean, yeah okay, you’re not a tiny supermodel –“

”You sure know how to boost a girl’s ego –“

”But I didn’t mean that in a bad way. Ya know, I thought you were kind of cute that night and you’re wearing the same dress. You were interesting to talk to.” He said, crossing his arms. “So if you ever wanna talk about anything just know that you can come to me.”

“Thanks,” I said as I turned around, looking at him. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that someday, but nothing bad happened. I have a lot of issues.”

”Okay.” Nick said as Nichole walked into the room. He picked her up and she rapped her arms around his neck again.

“I think we’re ready to go.” I said smiling at Nichole.

”Great, I got us a limo –“ Nick said as he paused, “I wanted to go on my first date with my daughter in style.”

”Daddy I never rode in a limo before,” Nichole said as Nick put her down. We walked into the living room and I picked up my small purse off of the table. “Come on Mommy,” she said, reaching for my hand as she held Nick’s.

I looked at her, knowing that my daughter was happier right now then she had ever been in her life. She always wanted a father and now she had one, her actual biological father. She had gotten what she wanted and now it was time for me to get what I want – to be a real woman.

In other words, I need some sex in my life.