Katherine Moves to Kansas, page 8
“You’ll take what, Adriano?" his boss asked, wondering why his number one man was in his own head today.
Adriano Barbens hard work, and unimpeachable ethic, put Tyler and Associates on the map as the best computer aided designers in Kansas City. His astute eye for detail made him the person to have in the room when creating living pods for the up and comer: Living spaces designed for the woman with just a cat who only ate vegetables to the carnivore who liked to grill out, have his buddies over to watch the game, and grab some brews. The buildings were designed to allow like-minded people to live in pods with other like-minded people.
"I'm here," he replied to Tony Tyler. "When we designed the Waller Street residential apartment homes, we knew we would have a great number of wellness influencers in the building. The community garden was critical to the design in the quad as well as having a meditation, Zen garden and yoga space. Those types of features are what makes the units sell."
Carlon Kantery was a crabby man who grew up with too much money and too many people who agreed with everything he said. The last thing he wanted, needed, or desired to listen to was a half Mexican, suggesting he make changes to a design he had sold a hundred times all over the Northeast corridor.
"Mr. Kantery, it's nearing four thirty, and I will add in once more, what sells in the Northeast to people who are snowed in six months of the year, doesn't work in the Midwest," Adriano said, trying to keep from raising his voice. "You can easily go with another designer. I will graciously bow out of this project."
"You're the best, or so they say, so I guess I'm staying with you. I only work with the best," Kantery said.
Adriano waited for the man to add that he didn't like him, but he didn't speak any further. With nothing more to be said either, he got to his feet. After gathering his things, he stood at the end of the table.
"If there's nothing more, I need to get home to the little lady," he said aloud before he knew it.
Everyone in the room turned to look at him. Especially his boss, who assumed, based on the way he dressed and how careful he was around his co-workers that the man batted for the other team. Tony spoke up, "What little lady? You've worked here for ten years and I've never heard you mention anyone in your family."
"Yeah, I got married this past weekend," he said. "Have a good evening."
After a quick pit stop in the men's room, he walked out to the entire hive aflutter with busy bees. The office buzzed with gossipers wanting to know more before he reached his desk. People he never spoke to and hadn't spoken to in his entire work life were asking him questions, even his assistant. "You got married?"
"Yep," was all he said. "I'll be in late in the morning. I need to get some things settled on my farm, pick out furniture for the house, husband stuff."
"Husband stuff," Melody Ritcher, his assistant chirped. "Wait, you have a farm?"
"I have a farm in Leavenworth County," he said. "I grew up there and go home almost every weekend."
"Shut the front door! I have been your assistant for six years and never knew any of that stuff," she told him. "Next, you're going to tell me you're not an only child."
He smiled softly. When he thought of the first six kids Aunt Sue took in, his 'sister' and the five foster 'brothers', he wasn't an only child, but the oldest of seven. A feeling of joy rushed through him and he smiled at her full on, making Melody draw back. Adriano didn't smile. He showed up, did the work, and went home. He never got personal and his desk held no photos, not even of a dog.
"Actually, I'm the oldest of seven," he said with a wink. "Have a good evening."
Halfway to the car, he called home. He waited to hear her voice when she answered the phone and guilt covered him as he thought of her home alone all day with nothing to do and she didn't know anyone. His heart rate increased as his mind veered to the left, thinking the worst, but then her voice came through the line. The wonderfully rich hillbilly tone with a bit of Southern sass made him smile.
"My day was hectic and I apologize for not calling to check on you," he said first before she had a chance to say anything.
"I am not twelve, Mr. Barbens; Katherine had shit to do," she told him. "Are you on your way home to me?"
"I am, Mrs. Barbens," he said with a smile, "in fifteen minutes, twenty tops."
"See you then," she told him, ending the call.
He sat behind the steering wheel holding the phone in his hands. The red hair. The brown eyes. The sassy little mouth and handful of butt were going to get handled tonight, or at least, get felt up.
"Katy, you're going to get kissed tonight," he said, firing up the engine and backing out, and ready to head home.
It took several minutes to realize he was indeed in his own apartment. In less than nine hours, Katy Mae had managed to transform the place from a perfectly, neatly arranged bachelor pad to an apartment which now had plants. To go with the plants, there were brightly colored pillows on his calf skin leather couch. One of those soft squishy feeling blankets in many colors was draped across the back of the couch as well as a matching one in style and color on his recliner.
"Oh wow," was all he managed to say when he looked at the dining room table.
There were placemats with napkins, in little napkin ring holders and silverware neatly organized on the table. She even had a dessert spoon at the top of the charger, which held a peach-colored plate with flowers in its center. In his cabinet were four white plates, four white cups, two wine goblets, and four white bowls. He didn't own any plates with flowers on them, which meant his wife purchased all of the finery today.
"Were these items in your suitcase?" he asked with a smile.
"No, I bought these today," she said.
He offered a tight smile. Before he said anything stupid, she opened the oven and the smell that tickled his brain stem floated up and smacked him in the nose. Katy Mae had made her mother's biscuits.
Katy Mae told him, "Go wash up. I got your supper ready."
"You cooked?"
"I made my man dinner after his hard day at work," she told him carefully, while watching his reaction to all the changes she'd made in the home. She could tell he hated them all. While he went into the bedroom, she removed the throws, the pillows, and extra placemats and stuck them in the closet. When he returned, he immediately noticed the difference.
"I never noticed how lifeless the place looked until you took away all that color," he said, being ushered to the table. "Are you going to put it all back?"
"I am if you like it. If you don't like it, I will take it all back to the store tomorrow."
"I like it," he said as she went to the kitchen and returned with two giant stuffed pork chops, red eye gravy, freshly snapped green beans with chunks of ham, and a hearty bowl of mashed potatoes. "I like this even more, but I don't think I can eat all of this."
"After the way you gulped down those pancakes and other food, I didn't know," she said, standing next to him as she placed the dishes on the table and made him a plate.
"You don't have to do that...make me a plate."
"You're right, I don't," she said, continuing her task. Before long, she was seated at the table with him.
Katy Mae waited for him to say a blessing, but he only mumbled a few words before he cut into the chop. Adriano remained quiet for the better portion of the meal. A glimmer caught his eye, bringing his attention to the photo frames which still held the stock photos of smiling happy people.
"What's with the picture frames?"
"Each time we create a new memory, we will envision which photo we want in which frame," she told him, pointing at the large one on the credenza. "That one is for us on the beach, standing next to a horse that I'll be afraid to ride."
He got it. Adriano wanted to play along to let her know he understood what she was trying to tell him. "The one by my recliner...that one is reserved for the pic of me taking you fishing down by the pond and you baiting your hook."
"The plants are not too much, are they?"
"I like them, Katy," he said softly. "Did you want to tell me about your day?"
"I went out. I shopped. I bought some stuff for this place so it didn't look like a bachelor pad, I made you dinner," she said. "And you? How did the meeting go with the man you said didn't like you?"
"About as well as can be expected," he answered. "He still doesn't like me, and I offered to change my face out with a face that looks more like his, and he refused."
She pursed her lips together. "He refused because he knows talent when it's sitting in front of him."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. You're going to make my head swell," he said with a smile.
"Which one?" she whispered across the table.
He didn't react to what she said as he bit into the buttery, light biscuit. "After eating this biscuit, I'm thinking both of them, along with my belly if you feed me like this every night."
"Speaking of swollen bellies..."she commented, biting her bottom lip.
"I was thinking, after dinner, we could move to the couch and have a hot and heavy make-out session with dueling tongues," he said, arching his eyebrows and waggling them up and down.
"Or after dinner, we can go for a walk to help some of that food digest as you explain to me what it is you do, how you designed this building, and why I have not seen your neighbors."
Adriano finished his first meal cooked by his wife, and he concluded that her brother Lil' Bo had been lying about the woman's talents. He helped load the dishwasher and changed into a pair of light weight joggers and a pair of trainers for his feet. He then explained the buildings.
"As I kid, we didn't have a lot of money, so I went to the library every chance I got," he told her as they strolled around the complex. "I designed the complex like the Dewy Decimal system.
Katy Mae looked up at him and said, "I don't understand."
"The Dewy Decimal system categorizes subjects by content and context," he explained. "I did the same thing with the building."
Katy Mae's expression denoted she was perplexed. He explained the building he lived in were numbered one through ninety-nine and the tenants were all general worker bees. These people, he explained, went to work and came home. "Filling this building is the easiest."
"The health and wellness people all reside in the 200 Building where there is a community garden in the center," he said, stopping in front of the 600 building. "Everyone that lives in this building works in a science field. They are used to people coming and going at all hours of the night for shift work, and most of them can sleep through anything."
She pointed to the next building, the 600 building. "What about these guys?"
"These are the techies, gamers, and people who use a lot of wi-fi," he said. "This building has the best routers and more high-speed internet than the others with ethernet hook-ups and the like."
"Clever, but what about the languages? I forget which number that is," Katy Mae said to him.
"The 400 building houses those whose first language is not English," he told her. "The social sciences, listed as the three hundreds, or rather the people who love to be social, live there. They can throw parties, grill out every weekend with their "bros" and no one in the building really cares. That is the hardest building to upkeep. Outsiders come and tear up shit while the party host is unaware of what's happening."
This was the moment he wanted all day. In front of the large fountain, he removed two silver coins from his pocket. He handed one to his wife. "Here, make a wish, Katy."
"Oh hell, I don't need no wishing well to make no wish," she stated. "I can just tell you that I wished you'd kiss me."
"That, my dear wife, I can do without wasting a wish as well," he said, slipping his arm around her waist.
Adriano lowered his head, finally getting to taste the sweet pouty mouth. The kiss deepened while she clung to him as if he held the last vapors of life restoring air. Katy Mae moved closer; her body pressed against his as a small moan escaped her lips. In the distance, the harried sound of footsteps coming their way broke the passionate moment.
"Damn twice," he said to her.
"What's the second one for?"
"Because if you kiss me like that again, what's next is going to come faster than we planned," he told her, slipping his hand into hers. "I'm not going to give Cooch Montgomery much of a choice. She's gonna have to learn to play ball."
Katy Mae reached for him again, and he held her at bay. "I want to wait until we have no other choice. Let me get to know what you like as a person before I learn what you like in our bed. If I can learn one, it will make me even better at the other."
"Whatever, Mr. Barbens," she said, chuckling, "Cooch is going to come for you and you sure as hell won't have a choice for the rest of our lives together. I will walk in and say, ‘Husband, Cooch said wash the dishes,’ and little Mr. Barbens will be like, ‘Sure thing. Dish washing here I come!’"
He laughed loudly, throwing his head back with a gut busting belly guffaw. Yeah, he wanted to take his time with Katy Mae and do it all right since they had started all wrong. However, a good deal more wrong would come their way before anything would ever seem all right again.
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Chapter 8 - Progress
The morning started slowly, with Adriano awakening and lying on his back staring at the ceiling. Katy Mae rested next to him; her face almost hidden in the folds of the pillow as she slumbered. For a moment, he faced her, watching her sleep and found the idea bordering on the creepy side. A better use of his time could be spent preparing for their day.
His body, however, knew there was a woman in bed with him and wanted to test the waters. Three times he tried to get out of bed. Four times his body urged him to wake up the pretty lady for an overdue conversation. He lived his life based on necessity. He did what was necessary, when it was necessary, and usually, only if the situation necessitated, he would move quickly. Much of his life had come about based on doing what was needed to eat, have a roof over his head, or take care of the farm.
"The farm," he said aloud, causing Katy Mae to stir.
Before he did anything dumb, he figured his best bet would be to rise, start a pot of coffee, and get a few miles in on the old stationary bike to calm down the bottom half of himself. In the kitchen, he added water to the hopper and fresh grounds to the cup and pressed the little button until it turned red.
"Now we are in business," he said, moving to the second bedroom. It too was different. A smaller second desk had been added, along with a sewing machine. "What in the hell?"
A new three-dimensional printer had been set up as well as a color printer. Katy Mae was taking over his space. This was his office. His think tank, and this would never do. He needed to get her to the farm, quick, fast, and with haste.
Adriano climbed onto the stationary bike and wedged his earbuds into his ear canals as he cranked up his favorite Garth Brooks CD, setting the timer and taking off with a slow warmup. Twenty minutes into his 45-minute ride, the smell of bacon made his stomach growl. He checked the timer, and it was barely past seven in the morning.
The cool down kicked in so he pedaled slower. Lactic acid in his thighs burned as he eased off on the last mile, coming to a slow stop ending the ride. The scent of onions in a frying pan made his mouth water and forced him to the kitchen to see what his woman was up to now. After last night, if she kept cooking the way she did, he'd be fat as hell before Christmas.
"Morning, wife," he called out, stepping from the bedroom, covered in sweat. "I'm starting to think you're trying to get me fat to keep the other women at bay, ensuring that all of this handsomeness will only belong to you."
"I don't need to worry about that kind of stuff," she said, flipping over the potato latkes in the pan.
"Excuse me then, Mrs. Barbens, I didn't know you had it like that," he stated, arching his eyebrows.
"The only reason I can say it with confidence is that you're too rigid to deal with more than one woman, especially in your living space," she told him. "The chaos more than one female would bring to your life would throw you off balance. Besides, you still don't fully understand what you're dealing with in me, but you will."
She winked at him, pouring coffee with her left hand and plating his breakfast with her right. She placed them on the table, making eye contact in such a way that he took it as his cue to get to the table and sit his ass down. He wasn't going to give in that easy to her subtle power plays because she was right—he didn't know what he was dealing with, yet.
"I need to shower first," he said.
"The food will get cold, making it less than optimal to start your day, which will put you in a foul mood," she said, adding a smile. "Heaven forbid you direct that ire at me, so Husband, Honey, BooBear, come, sit down, and eat this meal I stood over a hot stove to prepare for you this morning."
Adriano sucked his front tooth. It was a challenge. It was too early in the morning for this tug of war, but he found it stimulating. He was going to eat it because she'd gone to the effort, but not because he was a punk.
"Katy, I appreciate what you have done, and I thank you," he told her, lifting the coffee mug from the table. "I don't normally eat this heavily at breakfast; it makes me sluggish. The idea of a Saturday morning breakfast sounds great, and during the week, maybe a piece of fruit, coffee, and peanut butter toast?"
"Hmmp," was all she offered as she poured herself a cup of coffee before heading to the second bathroom. She closed the door behind her and re-opened it, peering out at him. "Saturday, breakfast. Got it. Nice idea. I like it."
Adriano was perplexed and a bit confused. His skin tingled all over and the front of his pants began to show an interest in the woman. "She just circled me and made me feel like she's agreeing to do something she was probably already planning to do anyway."
He sat down at the table, covered in his emotions, and he cut through the latke and shoved a chunk in his pie hole. The pie hole nearly sang as he ate another bite, then another until his plate was empty. "Ha! I showed you, Katy Mae!"
