Page 61 of Embers of You
“Good point.” She points finger guns at me.
“What brought this up?” It’s a dangerous question when it comes to Lily because sometimes there’s a reason, and sometimes it takes me down a rabbit hole of her mind, which is more complicated than figuring out an illusion at Disneyland.
“I heard something about the Pope and it made me think about how he’s probably a virgin, right? Because they have to start out as a priest and then get to be a cardinal or something, right?”
“Sure.” I shrug, really not sure about any of this.
“Right, so they go their entire lives without boning and then I thought about…well can they masturbate? But I don’t think they can watch porn, so do they even know what a naked woman looks like? What would they fantasize about if they don’t? Do they just go their entire lives without coming because that sounds unhealthy.”
I don’t know whether to be horrified or laugh. Especially when she continues.
“Seriously, decades of pent up ejaculate just there? That has to cause some sort of blockage or something.”
I burst out laughing. “Did you just say ejaculate?”
“Is there a word you’d prefer? Jizz? Splooge? Baby batter?”
I double over, holding my stomach in laughter, unable to stop. Jerry Lee takes advantage of the moment, and starts squawking out a new word in between barks,“Jizz.”
During the chaos, Trish walks in at the exact moment Jerry Lee screams out,“jizz!”And she gives the bird a questioning look.
“Who taught my bird the new word?” she asks lightly.
“That would be me. Sutton didn’t like the word ejaculate so I gave her other options, and Jerry Lee picked his favorite, apparently.”
“I don’t think I even want to know.” Trish shakes her head.
“Oh, I’ll tell you, Auntie.” Lily bounces after her, already back on her tangent once again. I shake my head, getting back to sweeping up the dog fur around my station from my last client.
I look out the window that faces the fire station and notice the truck getting pulled out, and Jameson stepping out from the driver’s seat. My eyes stay locked on him as he moves around doing whatever he needs to with the truck.
The other guy that came here, Parker, comes outside and they start talking and Parker pushes on Jameson’s shoulder while they laugh. I’m so focused on watching them I don’t noticeTrish until she speaks from behind me and I jump, pretending like I wasn’t just gawking out the window.
“Told you there was a good view,” she says.
“Huh, what?” I finish sweeping up the fur on the ground, not looking at her so she doesn’t see the blush that’s surely covering my face.
“The view. It may not be your typical one, but it’s pretty great.”
“It’s fine.” I work to make sure my cheeks return to their normal color before I dare face her. When I do, she’s smiling at me like she knows everything I won’t say out loud.
“How’re you liking it here? I haven’t gotten to check in much with you, but you seem to be handling Lily pretty well, which is not always the easiest.”
“I heard that,” Lily calls out from the other room.
“Then you know it’s true,” Trish calls back. “Anyway, you’ve been busy which is great.”
“Yeah, most everyone has been nice, and I do really like it here. Lily is…entertaining.”
“Heard that, too!”
“That’s a nice way of putting it,” Trish says quietly just between us. “I’ve heard someone has been extra nice to you.”
“Who?”
She raises an eyebrow.
“Jameson has been welcoming, but how do you know?”
