Driving Ms. Tanya

“Hey, papi! You missed me?” Tanya asks as she gets in your car from the street outside her office building.

“Of course. I didn’t keep you waiting, did I?” You ask her. Tanya gives you a quick peck on the lips and smiles afterwards while staring deep into your eyes.

“Keep me waiting for what? Being in my life? Yeah. By a lot.” Tanya jokes. You give her a disbelieving look. Not for the sentiment, but for the audacity to go that cheesy.

“Fuck outta here with that.” You tell her jokingly, before you start driving away from Tanya’s office.

“I miss seeing you flustered when I flirt with you.” Tanya replies with a giddy smile. “I decided to try cheesy instead of naughty since we can just openly fuck now.” Tanya adds. “You don’t like it when I’m cheesy, papi?” Tanya asks.

“I like it better when you’re sincere.” You answer her with just the same amount of cheese.

“You don’t like it when I’m cheesy but you say something like that!” Tanya replies with a laugh.

“What? I was being sincere!” You tell her laughing too. Tanya then takes your free hand and holds it, interlocking your fingers together.

“I know, papi. It’s why I love you.” Tanya tells you sweetly.

“Love you too, T.” You tell her, and since you were at a stoplight, you turn towards her for a kiss which Tanya returns. It may have gone on longer than either of you intended though, since you hear a honk from behind to tell you you’re stalling traffic, making both you and Tanya laugh. A car even passes you to throw an obscenity along your way.

“I used to hate people like us.” Tanya says with a chuckle.

“What people?” You ask her without looking towards her, now paying more attention to the road.

“The annoying couple that just has to inconvenience—” Tanya said calmly before opening her window, “— the-lonely-fucking-putos-who-can’t-wait-to-jerk-off-alone!” Tanya then shouted with ferocity before flipping off the car that just passed you to throw an obscenity.

You wait for her to calm down and close her window before continuing the conversation.

“Bad day?” You ask jokingly.

“Outside of an average work day, it’s been perfect. Mi Amor drove me to work and even picked me up. Now I get to spend the rest of the day with him.” Tanya answers you sweetly. “What about you, papi? How was your day with the girls?” Tanya returns the question.

“It was… eventful.” You answer Tanya.

“Good eventful or bad eventful?” Tanya asks.

“A bit of bad eventfulness, but mostly good. Which one do you want to hear first?” You ask her.

“Bad eventful first.” Tanya answered.

“Well, I found out that Cassie’s insecure about being a mom and possibly having to make me wait until I’m 50 to have a child with her. Oh, and she’s afraid Stella might leave her behind if I get Stella pregnant while they’re still in college. She was crying when I got home, and I figured out they had a fight about that.” You recount to Tanya.

“Ay, chica. Is Cassie alright now? Maybe we should buy her something to cheer her up?” Tanya suggests.

“That’s part of the good of today. We talked and found a way to at least start addressing her concerns.” You answer Tanya with a reassuring smile, and Tanya gets a wider smile and squeezes your hand in hers; happy to hear that Cassie’s problems are at least being addressed.

“Hey~, speaking of Cassie and motherhood, I was wondering about that. What’s Cassie’s mom like?” Tanya asks you.

“Sylvie? I haven’t seen her in years, so I can’t say what she’s like now. Why do you ask?” You answer Tanya.

“It just seems Cassie has a rocky relationship with her.” Tanya tells you.

“The most accurate description I can give Sylvie is that she's a selfish parent, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Cassie and her have problems.” You answer Tanya.

“She wasn’t abusive or anything, was she?” Tanya wanted to clarify.

“Oh, no. She wasn’t even someone I would consider negligent. She never left Cassie alone in their apartment ever. If she was abusive about anything, it was using the phrase ‘can my daughter stay with you for a couple of hours?’” You answer Tanya, chuckling at your own joke. “If I couldn’t babysit Cassie, there was always someone in the building she did leave her with. Otherwise, she wouldn’t leave at all.” You add.

“If you knew that, why’d you keep babysitting Cassie? You kinda enabled her mother to always leave her behind.” Tanya answered.

“I’ve heard that from Diane too, and my reason was always Stella. Stella loved having Cassie around, and Cassie was a good influence on Stella so I never saw the harm. It was a lot easier to get Stella to do stuff just because she had someone willing to do it with her. Chores, homework, trying out a sport, eating vegetables… you get what I’m saying.” You explain to Tanya.

“It doesn’t change the fact that you took on a job that shouldn’t have been yours. I get why you would do it for Stella, but Cassie needed her mother to be a mother to her too.” Tanya points out to you calmly. Making sure she didn’t sound admonishing in her tone.

“Between taking care of Cassie and forcing Sylvie to be a better parent, I’ll always choose the former. It wasn’t my job to tell Sylvie to stay and be a mom either.” You tell Tanya the only defense you could think of to her point. Tanya doesn’t push it further. She understands the fault isn’t on you if Sylvie’s relationship with Cassie wasn’t the best.

“I guess it was better than Cassie staying with a mom that didn’t want to be around much.” Tanya says. “Also, maybe if you weren’t around, she’d probably have taught Cassie how to roll a joint way earlier than fifteen.” Tanya shares with you.

“Sylvie did what!?” You ask, both in astonishment and fury at Sylvie’s irresponsible parenting.

“Calm down, papito. No point in getting angry over something you can’t change anymore.” Tanya reminds you, and you visibly relax to assure her you’ve calmed down from your initial reaction. “So Stella and Cassie really are just like sisters, huh?” Tanya asks.

‘Call me your baby, Daddy. I’m your baby too.’ Cassie’s words from yesterday ring in your head.

“Well, that explains a lot.” You say out loud unintentionally.

“It does?” Tanya then asks, making you realize you’ve said your last thought out loud.

“Oh, uh~, Cassie asked me to call her ‘baby’ in the bedroom. You know, like what I call Stella?” You tell Tanya.

“Oh? When was this?” Tanya asks surprised, and you realize that the three of you haven’t shared the story of that part of the day to Tanya yet.

“Yesterday, after we went to the clinic. Cassie wanted Stella to watch us while we had sex.” You tell Tanya. Tanya fans herself upon hearing Cassie’s request to have Stella watch.

“Ay chica! So naughty!” Tanya reacts in amusement.

“I’m guessing Stella was into it?” Tanya asks.

“Oh~, she got into it. Believe me. Stella even had the pizza delivery guy on loudspeaker while watching us, and playing with herself.” You reveal to Tanya.

“Ay Dios mio! The three of you, I swear!” Tanya reacts, laughing in amusement, and you can’t help but laugh guiltily. “Those two were made for each other, weren’t they?” Tanya asks you, still laughing. “One likes the other to watch, and the other likes watching.” Tanya explains what she meant.

“When you put it that way.” You reply in amusement.

“What about you, papi? Do you like being watched?” Tanya asks you.

“Not particularly, no.” You answer Tanya.

“What about doing it in public? You and Stella did it in a Ferris Wheel last night, right? Did that do anything for you? The idea of doing it in a sort of public space, getting caught in the act being a possibility.” Tanya continues her questioning.

“Well, I can say that the anxiety from the pizza delivery guy figuring out I was having sex over the phone kinda got my heart racing a little more yesterday than the Ferris Wheel. It was private enough and we knew we had time so it didn’t really feel like it was doing it in public.” You admit to Tanya.

“Oh~, so the Ferris wheel didn’t have enough risk involved for you.” Tanya says it as a statement and not as a question.

“How about cars parked in public places?”