His Perfect, Fuller Figure Surrogate

Sophie turned her attention back to the TV as the energy between them settled. Andre couldn’t help but watch her from the kitchen as he continued to cook. He knew being close to her could be a problem over time, but he tried to think of her as only his surrogate, ignoring the feelings that had started to form in his chest that went back to when they were still in high school. It wasn’t the time or the place to have feelings involved.

Andre didn’t want to think that there could be more between him and Sophie, he couldn’t risk it in case it ruined the agreement, there was too much at stake.

He turned his attention back to his cooking, checking that the potatoes weren’t over cooking and that the pasta wasn’t stuck together either. He didn’t dare to look up from the pan and he stirred the mince. He poured the sauce over it and mixed it all together before testing the pasta, pleased with its texture he poured out the water and mixed the pasta in with the meat sauce. He moved to the potatoes, mashing them with butter and milk to make sure it was creamy and smooth.

“Dinner is ready if you are,” he announced to Sophie who then switched the TV off and joined him in the kitchen.

“I can’t believe you don’t cook more often, you’re really good,” Sophie said as she sniffed the pasta dish before her.

“I’ve been practicing recently. Watching cooking shows and well as reading cooking books. I’d like to be a father that can cook for my child, you know,” he admitted.

“I feel like I should let you cook for me more often,” she joked.

“I’d be more than willing to do that if you’d like. It would be good for me to have other people taste my food instead of just me,” he said.

“Well sure, that would be nice actually,” Sophie said.

Andre felt happy with the prospect of having dinner with Sophie more often.

“Perfect. So, how’s your work been going lately? I noticed you’re not working that much there, and if you’d be interested, I can provide an alternative,” Andre said as he took plates to the dining table so they could start dishing up. Sophie picked up the bowl of mashed potatoes as well as the dish with pasta and took them to the table.

“Yeah, work has really cut back on my hours. It started before all of this but has picked up when I told them that I’m pregnant,” she said, “what alternative do you have in mind though?”

“That’s bullsh*t, how can they do that when you’ve signed a contract with them?” he exclaimed.

“I suppose they can do what they want regardless. They could just get rid of me and replace me in a few days if you think about it,” Sophie said.

“I just think it’s nonsense. You’ve made yourself available to work for them and that’s just not how they should treat their employees,” he said.

“I know you’re not that type of person, but some people aren’t like you,” Sophie said as she dished up a plate of food before sitting down at the table.

“I guess you have a point,” he sighed.

“But you said you have an alternative, what do you have in mind?” Sophie asked.

“I was thinking that if you’d be open to the idea of not working at all. I can pay you the difference of what you’d make per month, on a full salary, and then you can relax,” Andre suggested.

He knew asking her to stop working would be a hard question to ask so he made it seem as if it could be for her benefit. He dished himself some food while he allowed Sophie to think about it. He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes as he kept his head down. He could see from the corner of his eye that Sophie had stopped eating her food as she had already started digging into the mashed potatoes.

“Uhm, I love working,” she said.

“I know, I could tell from the moment I met you that you enjoyed working but lately you’ve hardly even been working so really, what would you be missing?” he asked.

“You have a point, I just don’t want you to give me more money than needed. It’s not fair on you,” she said as she rubbed her forehead that had formed creases.

Andre couldn’t stop himself from admiring her soft skin from where he sat. It always looked soft and ready to touch even though he knew he could never caress her skin the way he imagined and how it would feel like to touch her beautiful dark skin. He had to stop himself before his thoughts got carried away as he tried to bring his attention back to the present.

“I have no problem paying you more. I wouldn’t mind having you taking it easy for the next 7 months. Obviously, I don’t expect you to sit around all day and do nothing so you can do whatever you want to keep yourself busy, but I could get you more financially stable so that when this is all over you have more money available to use,” he said.

He didn’t want her to feel belittled as he tried to keep the conversation, giving her more pros to the purpose of it all. He knew she wanted to work, and he could see the upset in her eyes whenever they bumped into each other when her shifts had been lessened.

“Can I think about it? I mean I know your option could be better, but I just need to think about what I will do with my time,” she replied.

“Of course, take all the time you need,” he said.

They ate dinner in silence, each of them quite as they thought over things. Andre couldn’t help himself as he snuck glances at Sophie. At times their eyes would meet and they’d both smile shyly at the other.

The atmosphere around them filled with electricity. It wasn’t often that they’d be in the same room together for a long period of time. Of course, Sophie granted him time to talk to the baby, but it would last about 10 minutes before she would head back to her side of the house. In two months, they had hardly spent any time together which was good, it meant that they were able to keep their relationship strictly business but as they sat across from each other at the dining table Andre could feel the chemistry between them grow.

The silence wasn’t awkward but more a feeling of acknowledging the buzz in the air while neither of them said a thing.

Andre tried not to look at Sophie at all as he didn’t want to make her feel weird but as they started to clean up after dinner, they were drawn to each other. Their bodies bumping into each other as they moved. They fumbled around the kitchen, muttering sorry every time they touched.

“Well, I guess I should head to bed,” Sophie said as she hovered in the kitchen once everything was cleaned up.