Best of Days

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A takeaway owner, a single mother, an offer.
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ausfet
ausfet
385 Followers

It's a fact of life that you never have as much money as you think you should have. No matter how confident you are in your budget, there are always additional expenses that pop up seemingly out of nowhere. If you have kids or pets or a car, the problem is exacerbated. If you're a single mum with a cat, an eight year old car and a thirteen year old son, life becomes a balancing act. Every dollar counts.

All the same, shortly after my thirty-fourth birthday I managed the impossible; I put down a deposit on a (town)house of my own. It was thirty kilometres out of town and in a not-so-great area, but I was secretly excited about moving in and being able to paint the walls whatever colour I chose, and not having to worry about a twenty-something property manager coming in every three months to pass judgement on my housekeeping skills.

I kept my excitement to myself because not everyone is happy when a single mother buys a property. It seems to suggest to them that some sort of impropriety is afoot; she must be raping her child's father for excess child support, or scamming the government out of tax benefits, or doing something similarly nefarious.

The whole attitude a lot of people have towards single mums can be quite bizarrely and irrationally vitriolic. How dare you wanton sluts lower your knickers for a man you won't be with until one or both of you dies? How dare you wear a short skirt, or smile at a delivery man? Into the naughty corner you go, where you will sit while I regale you with stories of my ex-wife and what an evil bitch she is. You get the gist. Sometimes you don't know whether to roll your eyes, or laugh at the misplaced rage.

The funny part is, my life probably isn't as scandalous as most people seem to expect. I met Roy, Taylor's father, when he came to Brisbane for a dog show. My mother breeds Border Collies, as does Roy's family, but whereas we lived within the city limits in an area that used to be designated 'semi rural' and is now 'future development', Roy's family lived in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. When my Mum heard through the breeder's network they were looking for somewhere to stay when they came to town, she invited Roy and his parents to stay with us. She didn't have a clue who they were, but had spoken to them on the phone a few times and someone through the dog association had told her they were decent people, so that was good enough for her.

As it turned out, Roy and his parents were clean, tidy, pleasant people. They arrived at our two acre home on Wednesday afternoon with five of their best dogs and bitches, and by the time I arrived home from university and caught sight of Roy, I decided I was going to sleep with him. Why? Who knows. I was twenty, single and silly. Roy was eighteen, single, quite cute, and very polite, though not polite enough to suggest I stop kissing him when I pulled him into my room on Friday night and pushed my lips and body against his.

Roy is many things, but intelligent isn't one of them. That much I'd already accepted by the time I set about seducing him, but I only wanted him for a fling, and I figured by Sunday afternoon he'd saunter into the sunset with empty balls and a good story or two to tell his mates. Of course, things didn't quite go to plan because Roy somehow thought I liked him, and was under the assumption I wanted to be his girlfriend.

Rather than break his heart, I thought I'd let him down slowly over the next few weeks. He lived over two hours' away from me, so I figured that we'd catch up a few times, then I'd claim the travel was too onerous, and I wished him the best, it wasn't him but me, blah, blah, blah. You know the spiel.

It was a solid plan in my eyes, but I hadn't counted on Roy's tremendous stupidity. Look, he's a nice guy, but he's fucking dumb. Boxes of rocks have reported higher IQ's than this guy. Relying on him to put a condom on the dick he'd been pulling on for the past few years was obviously asking too much, because you can guess who ended up pregnant.

A wiser woman might have had an abortion, but I was young and stupid and emotional. For the next year or two Roy and I tried to make a go of things, but we were either living in the middle of nowhere and he was somewhat happy, or we were in Brisbane, and I was somewhat happy. Neither of us were truly happy, though; I was frustrated because he was stupid, and he was frustrated because I expected things of him that he just wasn't capable of.

When Taylor was two we decided to split. I stayed in Brisbane, where we had been living at the time, and he moved back to the middle of nowhere, where he met an equally pleasant but stupid country girl, and set about breeding at a frightening rate. Roy and Melissa have five kids aged between three months and eight years, and are perfectly content together. Taylor spends every third weekend with them, and at least half of each school holidays, where he can hang out with his brood of half-siblings, and live the kind of lifestyle I could never, and would never want to, give him.

Roy, Melissa and I have an amicable relationship, possibly aided by the fact that I ask as little of them as possible. Roy was assessed at having to pay thirty dollars a month child support and I told him not to bother. Money is far tighter for them than it is for me. He works at a feed store and Melissa stays at home with their kids.

I have a better job, as the finance officer for a building supplies company, but it still took me nearly eight years to put together a ten percent house deposit, plus a buffer for emergencies. It wasn't easy to save the money; for the past five years I had lived in a tiny sixty square metre flat on a main road, directly next door to a takeaway. The flat isn't everyone's choice of a home, but the rent was cheap and the local schools were good (Taylor would continue to attend his high school even after we'd moved - he'd be able to catch the train in), so I was willing to overlook it's pitfalls.

I even embraced the takeaway next door. The proprietor, Seldon, had taken ownership six months before I moved in, and apparently before this time it had been a pretty lousy joint, but Seldon knew what he was doing and he turned the business from 'mildly profitable' into 'very successful'. The food was fresh, hot and reasonably priced. During the day he did a cracking trade with blue collar workers and at nights he serviced local families, selling hot chickens, fish and chips, all the usual takeaway store fare.

Taylor and I would go down every Friday night to buy dinner. I was always budget conscious, and I don't think we ever spent more than fifteen dollars between us, but it was one of the small treats I allowed us.

I'm not special; just another mildly overweight five foot six brunette woman with regular brown eyes and regular sized tits, and Taylor was an ordinary enough kid who liked to chatter to the man about everything he'd been up to, but as the months passed, Seldon began to greet us each Friday night with a friendly smile.

As the months turned into years, Seldon, Taylor and I got to know each other well enough to start chatting on those rare occasions where the store was quiet. He's a nice guy, a year or two older than me, five foot eleven or so, and a little on the pale side, which I put down to his occupation. He works six days a week at the takeaway and although he always had at least one staff member helping out, none of them work the long hours that he does.

Most of the time he wears a band tee shirt and long pants. He has long ash brown hair which he keeps tied back in a ponytail, a number of tattoos, and startling blue eyes. Just imagine the grungy kid from high school grown up, and you know what Seldon looks like. He's not ugly, though, not bad looking at all. He had a girlfriend for a while and she'd hang around the takeaway and generally annoy the shit out of his staff, but after a year or two she stopped coming around and when I asked about her, Seldon just shrugged and said she'd left. She'd had enough and he didn't miss her.

Despite chatting to Seldon every Friday night, and him being a nice kind of guy, I felt weird about telling him I was moving, so I didn't. It was Taylor who finally told him, and on the day before we were due to move no less.

'Really?' Seldon asked, as he handed over our paper-wrapped meals. 'Where are you two off to?'

'Booval,' Taylor said. 'Our new house is huge compared to our flat. I'll have to catch the train to school each day, but it'll be worth it.'

'It'll probably be worth it for your mother to have the extra room, too,' Seldon agreed, casting me a conspiratorial grin.

I felt myself smile in response.

'It will be,' I agreed.

'Are you two moving in with anyone, Kristy?' Seldon asked me.

I shook my head. 'No, it's just Taylor and me. I'll own this townhouse. Well, the bank will still own it to start off with, but one day, hopefully, I will.'

'You've bought a place?' he said. 'Shit. Congratulations.'

'Uh, thanks,' I said with a blush.

It was a busy night and Seldon went back to cooking while Taylor and I took our dinner outside to a scratched plastic table and watched the cars drive past. I was feeling slightly nostalgic. This had been our home for so long. It was weird to be moving away.

We'd almost finished eating when Seldon came out to have a chat. The customers had thinned, and he was leaving his two Friday night helpers to take care of the serving and food preparation. It was a hot night. His Metallica shirt was stuck to his back and there was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, but there was a cool breeze blowing outside, so I just assumed he'd come out to cool down a bit.

'I don't know what I'm going to do without my two best customers,' he said.

'I'm not sure our patronage has ever been crucial to your business,' I replied, bemused. 'But I'll miss your food. I'll have to find a new takeaway for Friday nights.'

'It won't be the same,' Taylor said.

'No,' I agreed. 'Nobody else makes their chips crunchy on the outside and soft on the middle.'

'I do what I can,' Seldon said with a smile. He raised a water bottle to his lips and took a long drink. 'Are you two going away for Christmas? It's only, what, three weeks away now, isn't it?'

'We don't go on holidays,' Taylor told him. 'We don't have the money. I'll just hang out with my friends, or go and visit my Dad.'

'What about you?' I asked Seldon, hoping to redirect the conversation away from my lack of money. 'Are you going away?'

The takeaway always shuts down for two weeks over Christmas. Other than Sundays, it's the only time it closes and my God don't people whinge about it. Seldon has said more than once he doesn't care how much people carry on; business is quiet over that time of year as most of his tradesman customers are on holidays and besides, if he didn't shut down over Christmas, when should he shut down? Still, if you heard the way the locals carry on, it's as if Seldon were running the local hospital not the fish and chip shop.

'I'm going to Cairns,' he said. 'My folks are off to Adelaide for the break, so I'll be housesitting for them. I was raised up there, so I'm going to catch up with some friends, take my parents' boat out, that sort of stuff.'

'That sounds peaceful,' I remarked.

'It's boring,' he corrected. 'Still, it's better than staring at the same four walls at home.'

Seldon lived at the back of the takeaway in a small cottage, so I appreciated what he was saying. I might not have had money to take Taylor away, but at least when I was at home I wasn't at my actual workplace.

'You're welcome to join me,' Seldon added, completely out of the blue. 'It's a big house and you'd pay less than a grand in total for flights.'

Putting aside the weirdness of suddenly being offered to go and stay with someone I only knew casually, there has never been a point in my life where a thousand dollars hasn't been a considerable amount of money. I went straight from being a university student to being a graduate employee and mother, so money has always been tight, even in the days when Roy and I were together.

I wasn't quite sure how to respond. It was a sweet offer, though. Probably not serious, really, but sweet.

'That sounds great,' Taylor said, taking the offer at face value.

'It does,' I agreed lightly. I glanced at Seldon and gave him a wry smile. 'I'd take you up on it if we had the money, but I'm going to hazard a guess here that you don't know how poor I actually am. It took me eight years to save up for the house deposit.'

'Whack the flights on a credit card and worry about it later,' Seldon suggested.

'No, no, it doesn't work that way,' I replied, embarrassed. 'I technically have the money, but if anything goes wrong with the new house, or my car...' I forced a laugh. 'Thanks. Really. It sounds awesome, but it's just not in our budget.'

Taylor groaned.

Seldon stared at me thoughtfully.

'I'll pay for your flights,' he said, in a funny, awkward tone.

It took me a while to realise what he was offering. When it hit me, I grimaced and went red. Oh God. Ohhhhhh God, I thought. He wants sex. He wants to pay for two flights and get a week of sex in return.

I stared down at my outfit. I was in shorts, a tee and a pair of running shoes. I'd gone for a walk in between arriving home and taking Taylor to get dinner. Did he find me sexually attractive? Or did he just think I was cheap enough to be enticed by his offer? I'd just told him I didn't have the money, so maybe he assumed I was a desperate single mother who'd do anything for a bit of fun.

'Really?' Taylor asked.

'No,' I abruptly interrupted my son. 'No.'

Seldon shrugged. 'Why not?' he asked. 'I'd like some company.'

I had absolutely no idea how to respond.

'Mum, this sounds great,' Taylor said excitedly.

Yes, great, I thought. Give it five years, Taylor, and then we'll see how you interpret the offer the takeaway store owner has just made your mother. At a guess, you won't be describing it as 'great'.

'My parents have a big house,' Seldon said. 'A big house and a big boat. You can go snorkelling, fishing, sight-seeing, whatever you want.'

'Mum!' Taylor hissed at me.

I shook my head.

'No,' I replied. 'We can't. It's a very generous offer, but we can't take it.'

Seldon shrugged again.

'No worries,' he said, his face turning pink. 'Tell me if you change your mind. If not, I hope the move goes well. Enjoy your new home. You deserve it.'

There was no hint of malice or irritation in his voice, but he definitely seemed like he wanted to get away from me. Maybe he was embarrassed because I'd seen his sleazy side.

Seldon went back inside and I told Taylor it was time to go home.

'No!' Taylor hissed under his breath. 'Not before you tell him we'll go to Cairns with him.'

'Taylor,' I replied through gritted teeth. 'Let's just say that when you're an adult, you'll look back at this conversation and know why I said 'no'.'

'I doubt it,' he replied.

I was about to reply when I thought better of it. I love Taylor. Not once have I regretted having him. He's a lovely kid, and his teachers have always told me what a pleasure he is to teach. He's never been a hassle, never a trouble. He's a lot like his father. Roy is the same; always polite, always easy-going, always kind. Unfortunately - and it pains me to say this - Taylor, like his Dad, is not the shiniest penny in the fountain. It was highly possible that in five years' time, he still wouldn't understand what Seldon had been suggesting.

Taylor continued to nag the whole evening. Even as I was telling him to go to bed, he was begging me to reconsider.

'No,' I told him. 'He wasn't serious.'

'He was,' Taylor argued. 'Please Mum. We never go on holidays. Never. This might be our only chance.'

When you're a single parent nothing an outsider can say to you can ever make you feel even half as shit as your child, often quite unwittingly and without any intent or malice, can make you feel. I should have been nervous and excited about our upcoming move, but suddenly all I could think about was the multitude of things that Taylor had missed out on during his childhood.

A holiday was such a small thing, wasn't it? A week or two in tropical North Queensland hardly rated a mention compared to Disney or New York or London, and yet it was all that Taylor was asking. I wished there was some point in my future where I could foresee a holiday being a possibility, but knowing the vagaries of life as I did, I knew it would never happen.

As the evening passed, I began to look at Seldon's offer in another light. Women have sex with men they aren't in a relationship with all the time. I certainly had; that was, after all, how Taylor had come about. What would be intrinsically wrong about allowing a man to pay for a few domestic airfares in exchange for sex? Taylor would get what he wanted, Seldon would get what he wanted and as for me, I... well, it had been four years since I'd had sex. I missed the feel of man. I missed the intimacy and connection, and I missed the sex. Seldon probably wouldn't be too interested in intimacy and connection, but I doubted he'd let me down when it came to sex.

The fact that I was moving away helped, too, didn't it? I wouldn't have to see Seldon again after the holiday. It would just be a week or two of frisky business, followed by a final 'good-bye' and each of us going our separate ways.

The more I considered what Seldon had offered, and the benefits Taylor stood to gain, the sillier it seemed to be outraged by the offer. I didn't regret turning Seldon down, but by the time I finally fell asleep that night, I wasn't as grossed out as I had been.

~~~~~~

In the cold light of morning the idea of having sex with Seldon in exchange for a holiday was the last thing on my mind. The movers were due to arrive any minute and Taylor was hovering underfoot, so rather than feeling inclined to fuck Seldon so my son could have a nice trip up North, I was more interested in getting the whole moving shebang over and done with.

'I just can't understand why you won't let us go to Cairns,' Taylor whinged.

'Seldon wasn't serious!' I snapped. 'Would you please do what you try to do every other Saturday, and just plonk yourself in front of your tablet and stop interfering?'

I have literally no idea why a child who will ordinarily go to the ends of the earth to avoid lifting a finger will suddenly become hyperactive whenever you actually want them to sit down, shut up and not move a muscle.

'We'll never go on holidays,' he sulked.

'No, we won't,' I replied irritably.

'Can't we at least ask him if he was serious?'

I was so anxious about the move I would have agreed to just about anything. Besides, I had my doubts as to whether Seldon would actually agree to pay for the flights. Making an offer was one thing, but holding your end of the bargain up when push came to shove was quite another.

'Fine!' I snapped. 'You go down there and ask him if he still wants to pay for our flights. If he says 'yes', then we'll bloody well go!'

'Okay, I will!'

Taylor disappeared down the stairs just as the movers were arriving. I took advantage of my son's absence to run through what needed to be done with the two hired men, and get the process underway.

The truck was half packed by the time Taylor returned, and it was only then that it occurred to me that he'd been missing for the better part of an hour.

'Mum, when does your work shut down again?' Taylor asked.

'Why do you ask?'

'Because Seldon wants to book our flights,' he replied matter-of-factly.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

ausfet
ausfet
385 Followers