Direct Deposit

By: Lara

“Please, God, remind me why I decided I want more?” Lisa muttered to herself as she struggled to get his son into his sneakers. “Please, Joshy, let Mommy put these on you. I have an appointment and I can’t be late.”

Josh froze for a split second, becoming absolutely immobile. He froze so well that his little legs absolutely locked, making it impossible for her to get anything on his feet. Lisa laughed. She couldn’t help it. His blue eyes looked up at her and he laughed too, finally relaxing his legs so she could finish tying his sneaker.

“All done. Now, let’s get you to Grandma’s.” She heaved the heavy three-year-old into her arms and headed for the door.

“No…Bri…honestly…I have some errands to run and…no, Cuz, I’m fine.” Kevin sighed as he pulled on his sandals. “I don’t know why you keep asking me that.” Kevin held the phone away from his ear as his cousin ranted. “I swear…I’m just bumming around on my own tonight, and I’ll be at your picnic at eleven-thirty sharp tomorrow, okay? I’m running late. Gotta go.” He hung up the phone before Brian could respond.

Kevin walked over to the dresser and shoved his keys and wallet into his pocket. He picked up the manila folder that held his birth certificate and family medical records. He jogged down the steps to the front door, making sure to lock it behind him.

He smiled as he got behind the wheel of his car. Brian was worse than his mother was sometimes, always worrying and checking up on him. Since Kevin made it his job to check on everyone else, Brian had decided he’d be Kevin’s checker-upper. Kevin had been distant for days, Brian pointed out, and he wanted to know why. No answer was good enough. He wouldn’t believe anything Kevin told him. And there was no way Kevin was telling him the truth.

Lisa sat in her car in the parking lot outside the clinic. “This is crazy,” she said out loud. “There are a million single, fine-looking, intelligent, responsible men out there. You don’t need to have a baby this way.” She thought for a moment. “Problem is, all of those million men aren’t anywhere near here.” She grabbed her purse and got out of the car.

“Oh, yes, Miss Wilson. You’re early,” the nurse behind a counter said. “Take these forms and have a seat. There’s a lot to go through.”

Lisa took a seat in the small waiting room and flipped through the forms. They needed to know everything. Lisa stared off into space for a moment. She had a son, the light of her life. But she wanted another baby, and time was running out. She was thirty-three, and it didn’t look like a father was going to present itself anytime soon. She was at the point financially where she could raise two children on her own, and she knew she’d be a good mother. This was perfect. This way she could pick out the traits she wanted in a father…and maybe this time he wouldn’t end up being a loser asshole like Josh’s father. She sighed and bent over the clipboard of forms.

“You’re giving back to society,” Kevin said to himself as he sat in his car in the clinic parking lot. “The little squirmy suckers are going to waste inside you. The shit builds up enough…why not release it somewhere useful?” He laughed out loud at his odd reasoning. It wasn’t like he needed the money; he totally planned on refusing the fee. If they insisted on paying him, he had his checkbook ready to write a check for the exact amount, made out to Howie’s Lupus foundation. He was kind of nervous though…how did they do it? Dirty magazines? Pornographic movies? He sighed and got out of the car, grasping the manila folder tightly in his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Richardson. Have a seat over here and start looking through these.” The nurse handed him a stack of information about two inches thick. He groaned and looked back up at her from under his baseball cap. “I’m sorry…procedure,” she apologized. He headed for a seat, barely catching a glimpse of a pretty woman in the other waiting room before the door slowly swung shut.

“Thank you, Miss Wilson. We’ll give you a call in a few days.” The nurse smiled at Lisa, who stared at her.

“Give me a call?”

“We can’t decide these things overnight, Miss Wilson. There are many things to consider.”

Lisa sighed. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Mr. Richardson…I notice that you didn’t put a home phone number down.” The elderly nurse looked up at him in disapproval.

“I am never home,” he told her. “Will a cellphone number do?”

“Fine,” she sighed, as if cellphones were the downfall of life as she knew it. “Thank you. We’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can.”

Kevin walked out the door, staring at his shoes. What the hell was he getting into? He didn’t notice the woman in front of him until he had almost run her over. He grabbed at her to steady her, and ended up almost fondling her breast. “OhmyGod. I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, if you’d just…” Lisa looked up into green eyes and almost passed out. “OhmysweetLord. Kevin Richardson,” she whispered.

Kevin turned a deep red. “Let’s go outside.” He took her by the arm and led her out the door. “Please tell me you’re not going to cause a scene.”

“A scene? I’m thirty-three years old. I don’t cause scenes,” she almost snapped, then smiled. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Good.” He smiled back at her. “I should have known by looking at you that you’d never cause a scene.”

“Quite a line,” she said, and then laughed. “You weren’t this sassy when we met the first time.” He looked at her questioningly. “I’m sure you don’t remember, but I’ll never forget. Steak-n-Shake…I…”

“The bathroom girl,” he said suddenly and she blushed dark red.

“You remember that?”

“Yes. You said some very sweet things to me that night. I don’t forget that kind of stuff.” They walked towards their cars, which were parked only a few spaces away from each other. “So, um…you want…” Kevin tried to find a polite way to ask.

“I have a son. He’s three. I’m ready for another one, and the cliché biological clock is ticking,” Lisa informed him. She showed him a picture of Josh.

“Oh, wow. He’s adorable.”

“Yes, he is,” she said proudly, and Kevin laughed. He glanced at his watch.

“Hey…want to grab a sandwich or something?”

Her mouth almost fell open but she caught it just in time. “Sandwich?”

“You know…two pieces of bread, three if it’s a club, usually some kind of meat…”

She lightly smacked his arm. “I know what a sandwich is, silly. Yes, I’d love to have a sandwich or something with you.”

“Great.” Kevin’s eyes lit up as he smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Lisa.”

“Hi, Lisa.” Her name rolled out of his mouth like a song lyric and she shivered. “I’m…”

“Kevin. Yes. I know.” She laughed. “Where are we going?”

“Follow me. There’s a little place downtown that just opened that is fabulous.” He climbed into his car as she hurried over to hers.

“You were right,” Lisa said with a sigh as she pushed her chair back a few inches. “That was incredible.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” Kevin threw some money down and they walked out to their cars. They had spent almost three hours eating and talking, and she didn’t want the evening to end. She leaned against her car with Kevin standing in front of her.

“I had a really good time tonight,” she said. He nodded.

“Me too.”

“Can I ask a nosy question?”

“Sure.”

“Why the clinic?”

Kevin flushed slightly. “Well…I figured…I mean…what else am I gonna do with it, and maybe someone…” he stopped when Lisa started to laugh so hard she almost cried.

“I’m sorry…noble cause, I’m sure, but just the wording. I’m sorry.” She composed herself.

“You are beautiful,” Kevin said suddenly, and Lisa was no longer laughing. His large hands cupped her face. He kissed her nose and then her mouth. Lisa fell into the kiss, unable to do anything but put her heart and soul into it. He wrapped her in his strong arms, kissing her again and again. Lisa moaned against his mouth. He finally pulled back. “Sorry,” he apologized.

“Why?” Lisa wondered.

“It’s just…I hardly know you and…” he stammered.

“Don’t worry about it. I could have pushed you away.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I didn’t want to…you could have kissed me for hours and I wouldn’t have minded,” she said truthfully.

“What if I wanted to do more than just kiss you for hours?” Kevin said boldly.

“I don’t fuck on the first date, no matter how horny I am,” she told him, and he gave her the nose scrunch smile. “However…this isn’t a date, now is it?”

“So, if I were to, say, offer to make a direct deposit, you wouldn’t refuse?” Kevin took her in his arms once more. “There’s something about you, Lisa, that just makes me warm all over, inside and out.”

“Direct deposit?” Lisa desperately tried to hide the giggles.

“Yes…direct deposit,” Kevin repeated, laughing at the way it sounded.

“Well, I suppose I could accept that deposit. However, according to the clinic you should fill out about nine hundred forms and get sixteen different signatures.”

“I don’t have time for all that. I have a picnic to go to tomorrow at Brian’s and…hey…wanna come along? You could bring Josh.”

“Whoa. I mean, um, sure,” Lisa said, her eyes sparkling.

“So, what do I have to do to make the deposit?” Kevin’s voice was thick with passion.

“Well, first of all, we need to go to a more private bank.”

“My house,” Kevin said, nibbling at her ears.

“And then…um…I’ll need to see some form of identification.”

“Phone numbers? Email address? Pager number?” His hands stroked her back.

“That will work,” she said weakly.

“And do I get your identification?” He pulled back to look at her. She rattled off a phone number in response and he smiled. “We’ll leave your car here.” He opened the passenger door of his car and hopped in. “The bank is closing soon. I need to make that deposit as soon as possible.”

They zoomed off towards Kevin’s house…desperate to make it back before closing.

The End

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