ATLANTA GEORGIA
8th March 2022

LOTUS

Lotus was one Math equation away from disintegrating into a messy puddle of her own tears.

She was supposed —emphasis on supposed— to be helping Landon with his Math homework. The only issue with this arrangement was that Lotus was bogus at all things Math. Even third-grade Math was proving to be as arduous as climbing Mount Everest with one leg chopped off. For Lotus, Math was an arcane subject. A subject to be understood by the intellectually gifted, the chosen ones and, unfortunately, Lotus was neither of the two.

Usually, YouTube was a useful asset when it came to helping Landon with his Math homework. Lotus would watch videos about whatever it was Landon was learning, and then she would teach it to him. Today, however, the YouTube videos she'd watched had left her even more befuddled than when she'd started, so befuddled that she could feel a headache looming behind her eyeballs.

Gosh, why was Math so difficult? Why, Lotus wondered, did they teach kids long division? In this age of technological advancement, couldn't someone invent a shorter and easier way to divide? Lotus scratched her neck. Math could be so frustrating. Such a ridiculous subject.

"Mommy," Landon whined, "I think I am helping you more than you are helping me."

Lotus laughed. "Fine. Let's wait for your dad to come help you."

It was at that exact moment that Devon —Landon's dad and Lotus' ex-husband — walked into the dining room, humming a tune under his breath. It was almost as if by mentioning his name, Lotus had rubbed the magic lamp in which he'd been hiding. She hoped he could grant her wish and help Landon with his Math homework.

Devon was one of those guys who aged like fine wine. Rather than grey, his dark hair had silvered at the temples, his handsome face unblemished save for a few crow's feet. The blue polo shirt he wore tucked into a pair of khakis made him look boyish in a posh preppy kind of way. Forty-two looked good on him. Lotus couldn't say the same about herself. For her, every new day came with the discovery of a new wrinkle. She was seriously considering getting some anti-aging cream, or Botox. Or both.

"How are my two favourite homo sapiens?" Devon asked, smiling widely. He had such nice youthful teeth. Lotus was jealous.

Landon jumped off his seat, the chair skidding back, and ran to hug his father. "Daddy!"

Devon swooped Landon off his feet, twirling him around. "I missed you too, buddy."

"What is a homo sapien?" Landon asked when Devon put him down.

"Oh, Landon," Devon said, touching the tip of his nose. "I missed your questions the most." He turned to Lotus, who was watching them with a shy smile on her face. "And how are you?"

"Fine," Lotus said, squirming under Devon's intense forest-green gaze. "My poor Math skills have come back to haunt me. Can you help with Landon's homework while I prepare breakfast?"

Devon nodded, brushing his hair from his eyes, and Lotus felt herself swoon. The fact that Lotus was still in love with her ex-husband was an open secret. For Lotus, Devon was that love that Ruth B had sung about. That love that comes once in a lifetime. She loved him even more now that they'd spent a year apart, meeting only on the weekends when Devon came to spend time with Landon.

Lotus' adoptive mother's words came back to taunt her. When Lotus had told her mother about her decision to divorce Devon, she'd frowned at her and said, chuckling to herself; Absence makes the heart grow fonder and the pussy grow wetter.

Back then, Lotus had blushed at her mother's crass way of speaking. She'd told her mother that she was wrong, that she would never miss Devon even if they were the only people remaining on Earth, that she would enjoy being as single as a Pringle. Look at her now.

If they loved each other so much, then why were they divorced? That's what you are thinking, right? You see, relationships are complicated. Contrary to what most people think, love is not always enough to sustain a relationship. That's what people don't understand. And that's why many relationships don't last. Besides love, there are other things a relationship needs to survive. Things like trust, compatibility, respect, patience, and teamwork. Things her marriage with Devon had lacked.

At risk of looking like a fool in love, Lotus made a run for the kitchen. If she stayed there any longer, she was sure that there would be pulsating heart shapes in her eyes where her pupils were supposed to be, and that would be embarrassing. She had just clocked forty. Now was not the time to be looking like a lovesick schoolgirl in front of her son.

In the kitchen, Lotus beat eggs into a bowl, put water on the kettle to boil, and then layered strips of bacon in a pan. She couldn't miss the bacon. According to Landon, breakfast wasn't breakfast without bacon. Lotus proceeded to make pancakes while she watched two birds on the birdbath outside the window engrossed in a fierce lip-lock. Or was it a beak-lock?

"Watching bird porn?" Devon asked, coming behind her and whispering in her ear in that deep baritone of his that sent shivers down Lotus' spine. It always surprised Lotus how light Devon was on his feet. She hadn't even heard him coming. He would be good at ballet, Lotus thought as Devon pressed his body against hers, hugging her from behind. Lotus felt herself melt against him like butter. He'd had this effect on her since the day they met.

Lotus had met Devon at a retirement home. She'd been playing the violin for a bunch of classical music lovers, and he'd been on his way to visit his grandmother on her birthday. He'd stopped to listen to her play, a birthday cake in his hands, the candles melting away into little rivers of colored wax. After her performance, he'd asked her to teach him. She'd refused. He'd offered to pay her with money. She'd refused. He'd offered to pay her with dinner. Still, she'd refused, her persistent refusals a result of the fact that at thirty, Lotus was still as extra virgin as a bottle of olive oil. He'd persisted some more, calling her every day to ask her to dinner. The rest, as they say, is history.

"Are you done helping Landon with his homework?" Lotus asked back, ignoring Devon's remark. If the conversation went down the path of bird porn this early in the morning, there was a high chance that Lotus and Devon would end up in bed, their clothes discarded around the house and Landon would not get to go to the water park. At least not today.

"Yep," Devon answered, then licked her ear lobe, causing Lotus to wilt like a flower in summer. "He is upstairs taking a shower. We are all alone now."

All alone now. Devon was initiating something with that statement. They'd had sex multiple times after the divorce. Usually, on weekends like this one, when Devon came to see Landon and Lotus was feeling particularly horny. It would be so easy to have sex right here, right now. But Landon could come in any second. She didn't want to traumatize her young son by allowing him to find her naked in the kitchen being shagged by his father.

"Not now." Lotus said, her voice surprisingly mousy.

Devon sighed into her ear. "I know. I just wanted you to know that I missed you." He kissed her neck. "I missed you so bad."

Lotus had missed him so bad as well. In fact, she'd been pining for him, dreaming about him. She wouldn't tell him that, though. Her ego wouldn't let her. Devon flicked his tongue over her neck and Lotus found that she couldn't resist him anymore. There was only so much her self-control could take. She turned towards Devon and kissed him, her hands snaking around his back to his neck into his hair, his face. She pushed herself against Devon, wanting to be close to him, to merge with him so that they became one. Her appetite for him was insatiable.

It was times like this that she really regretted divorcing Devon. Lotus could tell from the ferocity of Devon's kisses, the way his hands kneaded her ass and caressed the flesh of her belly, the way he toyed with the strap of her bra that he was regretting it too.

"Mommy, do I pack the army green swimsuit or the one with a zebra pattern?" Landon asked, popping his head into the kitchen, holding both swimsuits up in the air like flags.

Lotus broke away from Devon, putting so much distance between her and Devon that her back hit the wall of the kitchen, a plastic cup clattering noisily to the floor. Her face was flushed, her hair messy, her lipstick smudged. What had she been thinking kissing Devon like that? You weren't supposed to get back with your ex. It was one of Dua Lipa's new rules. Though it was quite absurd to quote Dua Lipa's rules now when Lotus had not been listening to her advice for the past year.

"The one with a zebra pattern." Lotus answered, shame making her avoid her son's gaze. She pulled at the neck of her shirt. Was it hot in here?

"Is Billy here yet?" Landon asked, oblivious to what had almost happened in the kitchen.

"Not yet," Lotus said, putting her honey-brown braids in a ponytail. "They are probably on their way. Why don't we have breakfast as we wait?"

"Bacon!" Landon squealed, swiping a piece of bacon from a nearby plate, popping it into his mouth, and running away before Lotus could even react. Lotus shook her head. Left to his own devices, Landon could inhale an entire tonne of bacon. Devon chased after him while Lotus brought the food to the dining room and together they ate, making jokes and catching up on each other's lives, like a happy disjointed family.

The cuckoo clock in the dining room struck eleven and Lotus tried not to be too worried. She'd told Emilia to arrive by ten. Ten had come and gone and still, Emilia had not shown up. She'd not even called to tell them that she'd be late or that she was no longer coming and that was just plain rude. Landon was getting fussy and impatient. He wanted to go to the water park now. With or without Billy.

"Is your friend coming?" Devon asked, shoving his hands in the pockets of his khakis.

"Let me call up Emilia." Lotus said, picking up her phone and going to the kitchen so that she could talk peacefully without having to compete with the volume of Landon's television show. Putting her phone to her ear, she listened to the dial tone until she got Emilia's voicemail.

What was wrong with Emilia? Had she suddenly decided she was no longer coming? Lotus tried once more hoping to get a different response. No such luck. She got voicemail. Again.

Lotus had decided to let Landon and Devon go to the water park without Billy when the doorbell rang, startling her, the phone almost dropping from her hands. She rushed to the door, wrenched it open, and gasped.

Emilia stood at her doorstep breathing hard as if she'd been running a marathon, her hair plastered to her face with sweat, Billy's hand clutched tightly in hers. There was something crazed about her, like if you gave her a straightjacket and ankle cuffs, she would look exactly like a patient who'd just escaped from a mental asylum. 

Lotus took one look at the bulging grey duffle bag at Emilia's feet, the finger-like bruise blooming on Emilia's arm, and knew instantly that something was very wrong.

★★★

Happy 1st August. It's Pals Day. Tag your pal and wish them a Happy Pals Day.

Also, a very happy birthday to TheShadyButterfly