Loving Mia

Mia gave her a mother as a smile as she sat in the living room waiting for her to return.

"Mia, come sit beside me."

Mia sighed and sat down. "Yes, mom?"

"I'm concern about your relationship with your bosses. You seemed to be abnormally close to them."

"They're good friends," Mia said, wondering where this was leading too.

"Are you dating one of them?"

"Why would you think that?"

"I noticed the way Kale took the liberty of just pulling you into a hug. Is he the one you're dating?"

"Mom…"

"Mia, I've raised you to be a respectable young woman. You know I wouldn't approve of you dating any of your bosses. It's very unprofessional and scandalous. A secretary dating her own boss is out of the question."

"Mom, once again, I'm a grown woman. I know you tend to forget that, but I am. Who I choose to date shouldn't concern you so much. If I decide to date anyone, I'll tell you when I'm ready for you to know. Right now, just let me have my privacy." Mia really wanted to talk to her mother. She wanted to tell her it wasn't just Kale, but Aidan too that was she was in love with, but her mother was so old fashion and judgmental. The last thing she needed was her mother on her back about her love life right now. She really did want to enjoy her rare vacation and she wasn't about to let her mother ruin it.

"Well, I'm definitely not sleeping in your guest bedroom. Since your male friends have occupied them, I'll be taking over your bedroom."

Mia watched her mother get up and walk to her room. She didn't really care; right now she seriously needed an aspirin.

For three days her mother took up most of her time. The first day, she had Mia show her around San Francisco. Mia took her as many places as she could. She enjoyed hanging out with her mother since she was such an outgoing and funny woman. As long as she stayed out of her personal life, Mia had a good time. Of course, there was one big embarrassing incident that happened that day that had Kale rolling on the floor laughing when Mia talked to him and Aidan at the end of the day.

Mia had passed by Castro on her way to Market Street after showing her mother around. Her mother asked her if this was the famous gay neighborhood that San Francisco was known for. Mia should have been suspicious when her mother asked her to pull over. She watched her mother jump out the car, grab her purse, pull out a huge bible and walked down the sidewalk waving it around wildly and shouting, "you're all going to hell!"

Mia had to grab her by the arm and force her back to the car apologizing profusely to the people on the street as she dragged her mother with her.

The second day, Mia found Kale and Aidan's guest rooms anointed in oil. She could smell it as soon as she walked into Kale's room, the one she was sleeping in, and decided to check Aidan and her room also. She found her mother coming out of her room with a bottle of olive oil in her hand and praying loudly. Mia watched her sling some oil from her fingers on the walls in the hallway and stopped her. She was not about to let her mother ruin her apartment no matter how much she wanted to bless her home.

The third day Mama Ruth had her attend an evening bible class with her at a church Mia had never been to. Apparently her mother had made friends at a bible convention in Mississippi with other members who lived in San Francisco also. Mia wanted to scream out of annoyance when her mother told them to keep an eye on her after she left. The last thing Mia needed was a bunch of little church ladies following her around and shaking the bible at her.

The fourth day, Joyce had come over to Mia's relief. Joyce was the only friend that Mama Ruth liked. She did not get along well with Jasmine which wasn't a surprise. Jasmine was still doing the disappearing act. Mia was becoming worried about her and decided to go check on her later in the week. Joyce took Mama Ruth out for lunch which gave Mia a chance to spend time with Aidan and Kale. She decided to sneak up on them at work and surprise them. However, she ended up being the one surprised.

Aidan eyes lit up as soon as she walked into his office since his office was the first one off the elevator. He picked up the phone and called Kale into the room. Kale came in looking annoyed from being disturbed and stopped in shock when he saw Mia standing there looking good enough to eat. The door to the office slammed shut. Mia's eyes widened when he locked it.

An hour later, Mia stumbled out of the room and closed the door with a dazed look on her face. One side of her hair was still pinned up and the other fell down pass her shoulder. Her lipstick was smeared. Her skirt was twisted sideways. The heel to one of her shoes had somehow broken off. She ignored the strange looks people gave her as she limped out quickly to the elevator and pressed the button with shaky fingers.

Shame on them for attacking her like that!

She'd brought them a cute basket filled with sandwiches to eat for lunch that she'd made herself and they'd totally ignored it. Instead, Kale had asked her if her monthly was off and she'd made the mistake of telling them it had ended a day ago. Kale had picked her up. Aidan had raked all his papers off his desk. Kale had sat her on it and it was the last thing she remembered before their hands and mouth were all over her. It had only been a few days since she'd seen them, but apparently they had missed her more than she realized.

"Do you think Mia is okay?" Aidan asked adjusting his tie. "She ran out of here pretty fast."

Kale grinned and licked his lips. He could still taste her on his tongue. "Too bad for her it wasn't the sandwiches we wanted."

Aidan chuckled. "You're worse than I am. I didn't expect you to go down on her in the office. I had to cover her mouth to keep her from screaming."

"You were the one who was kissing her breasts and getting her all hot and horny. I felt I couldn't leave her like that," Kale teased.

"I think we scared her off," Aidan sighed. "We'll have to apologize to her later for our rude behavior."

Kale scoffed. "Apologize? I rocked her world."

"This is exactly why I don't want Mia working here. Now that we're in a relationship, we can't seem to control ourselves around her."

Mia managed to make it to her car without falling over head first on the sidewalk. Her body was still quivering from aftershock. Seriously, ravaging her in the office with people walking around outside it, what were they thinking?

"Mia!" She heard a familiar voice and stopped to turn around. "Mom?"

Her mother ran up to her with Joyce beside her. "Hey, baby! I was just asking Joyce to show me where you worked since we were in the neighborhood having lunch and here you are!" She stopped and looked at her closely. Her keen eyes stared at her from top to bottom. "Honey…did you get into a fight?"

Joyce's mouth dropped open. She gave Mia a shocked look and then raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, Mia, did you get into a fight?"

"No, no," Mia laughed nervously. "Just fell down some stairs." It was the first thing that she could think of from getting caught in such a predicament.

"Are you hurt?" Mama Ruth looked at her in concern.

"No, I'm fine."

"By the way, what are you doing at work, aren't you on vacation?" Her mother asked frowning in confusion.

"Oh there were a few things I forgot to do before I went on vacation," Mia said. She really hated lying to her mother.

"Oh," her mother said. "Well, since I'm here, why don't I go say hi to the boys."

"You can't!" Mia almost shouted. "I mean, they're so busy, they rarely had time for me." Oh boy, Mia thought, that was a huge lie…

"Really? You sure they didn't have time for you Mia?" Joyce asked smirking.

Mia glared at her.

"Well, if they're busy, I don't want to disturb them," Mama Ruth said to Mia's relief. "Joyce was going to take me home, but since you're here, I'll let you do it and save her the trip." She turned to Joyce and hugged and kissed her cheek. "Thank you sweetie for a very nice afternoon. You keep being who you are; some man is going to sweep you off your feet one day."

Joyce smiled warmly at Mama Ruth and waited until she got into Mia's car. She pulled Mia aside and whispered in her ear. "You look thoroughly fucked today."

"Stop it!" Mia whispered back.

"You better be glad your mom still sees you as her innocent little girl. Call me when she goes back home. We must talk. It seems I've missed out on a few things."

Mia watched Joyce give her a stern look and walk away. She ran her fingers over her hair and quickly pinned up the loose locks that had fallen down.

"What is that smell?" Mama Ruth asked after a few minutes of sitting in the car as Mia drove them home. "Smells like sex in here." Mia quickly let down the windows.

"Mom, do you have to be so outspoken?"

"Well it does...you need to wash your car out more often. You don't want people to get the wrong idea about you because you got a weird odor."

Mia's face suddenly grew hot.

"I'll be heading back home tomorrow morning, but before I go, I want to invite Kale and Aidan over for another dinner."

"Really?" Mia asked.

"You think it will be too much trouble?"

"No, I don't think so…" Mia said.

"Good, gotta say goodbye to my boys."

Kale was too excited to have dinner with Mama Ruth again. Like before, she cooked up a feast. This time it was oven barbecue ribs, corn on the cob, beans, homemade potato salad and macaroni and cheese. Mia laughed at the way Kale dug into the ribs and licked his fingers clean of the barbecue sauce. She stopped when he started giving her hot looks across the table as he licked his fingers. She kicked him, hard. Even Aidan couldn't seem to stop staring at her while they ate. Mia knew exactly what they were thinking about, but did they have to be so obvious about it around her mother?

Mama Ruth kept the conversation simple and pleasant this time around which was so unlike her. It was as if she was setting the guys up to be at ease around her. She asked them about their plans for the future. They told her they'd plan to marry one day and have a lot of children. She smiled and nodded approvingly. The rest of the conversation was about Mia's family. She asked Mia if she ever thought about moving back home permanently. Kale and Aidan stared at her worriedly as they waited for her answer. Mia told her she didn't see herself moving back home at all since her life was here. Kale and Aidan looked relieved; Mama Ruth stared at them for a long moment before focusing her attention back on Mia.

"Lord…" she mumbled quietly.

Mia wondered if she was disappointed about her not returning home, but decided not to ask her.

Mama Ruth said her good byes to Kale and Aidan and let Kale take home the leftovers of their meal. Kale kissed her on the cheek and gave her a warm bear hug which had her laughing out loud. Aidan kissed her hand and told her he looked forward to seeing her again. Mama Ruth made him hug her and teased him about being so formal around her.

Mia smiled and watched them leave. She didn't follow them outside this time, but waved at them from the door. They got along with her mother so well. She wished she could tell her mother that they were the men in her life, but she was afraid her mother wouldn't accept them once she found out. Mama Ruth went to bed early that night since she had to get up at 6:00am to catch her plane.

Mia was sad that she was leaving. She was a handful, true, but she really did love having her mother around. She felt so secure. When Mia, walked with her to the airport, she was already trying to hold back her tears. Her mother smiled tenderly and hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry baby, mama will always be here for you. You're going to make me start crying in front of all these people and you know I can get loud."

Mia laughed in spite of her tears as she hugged her. "I'm going to miss you. I love you, mom."

"I love you too honey…By the way, why didn't you tell me you were with those two handsome men?"

Mia froze. "What…what?"

Mama Ruth pulled away and stared at her with a knowing smile. "Mia, your mama wasn't born yesterday. Both of those men are crazy about you. I could see the love in their eyes for you and it seems you love them just as much. I know I'm harsh and strict and I got my ways about me, but baby, you don't have to keep secrets from me. No matter what you decide in life, your mama is always going to love you. I think you're going to hell, but I'm still going to love you. And if those men are going to take care of you and make you happy, then I got nothing to say about it. You're going to do what you want anyway, right? I might as well accept it."

"Mom!" Mia's tears ran freely down her face. "Mom, I don't know what to say…I never thought…Oh mama, I love you so much!" Mia hugged her fiercely.

Her mother wiped away her own tears and pulled away. "I told you don't get me started in here. Child, you going to have me bawling all the way to Mississippi. Just trust your, mama, okay honey? No more secrets?"

"No more secrets," Mia promised her.

Her mother kissed her cheek and smiled. "That's my girl. I better go before I miss my flight. You take care of yourself and put those boys in their place if they start acting up with you."

Mia laughed softly and waved goodbye. "I will, mama. I will."