Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
“I wish I could go back to yesterday when my life was simple,” she cried.
I leaned in and kissed her forehead. “You and me both, kiddo. That feeling only gets worse the older you get.”
I sat with her for a little while, watching the cartoon she’d chosen on TV. When the doorbell rang, I placed my hand on her knee. “That’s him. Be right back.”
I went to answer the door and found Troy holding a large bag. “Did you buy out the whole store?”
Looking like he’d just returned from war, he stepped inside and placed the bag on the counter. “Honestly, I didn’t know what kind to choose, even though you told me medium. There were too many choices—long, super long, nighttime, wings, no wings. What, do you women fly away or some shit? Anyway, I got like five different kinds.”
“Five? We might be set till she’s a teenager.” I laughed as I sifted through the bag. I lifted one of the packages. “These are for bladder incontinence.”
He shut his eyes. “Shit.”
“I can return them,” I said.
“Or we can donate them to Horizons,” he suggested. “I’m sure they can use them for someone.”
“Good point.”
The next item in the bag was a stuffed, pink unicorn. “What the heck?” I laughed.
“I didn’t want the cashier to think I had a maxi pad fetish. So, to distract from my collection, I threw that into the mix.”
“I feel like that many maxi pads and a unicorn might have made you come off as even weirder.”
“Solid point. But, hey, it’s cute. It’s for Kiki…obviously.”
“That was very sweet of you.”
I peeked inside and noticed the last item was a bottle of cabernet.
“That’s for you,” he said. “I figured you could use it tonight.”
“Damn right. Thank you.”
“I didn’t think to ask you if you drink wine—with all of your food issues. But you mentioned drinking the night you were out with that Brian tool.”
“I do drink wine, just in moderation. But I will definitely be partaking in this tonight.”
“Would you prefer that I leave and let you relax?”
I paused. Telling him to leave after he’d gone to the store for me didn’t seem right. But more than that, did I want him to leave? I’d been enjoying his company tonight, despite everything.
“Just give me a few minutes while I go tend to her. Make yourself comfortable in the living room.”
“Cool.” He smiled.
I took the supplies Troy had bought to Kiki’s room and had her go to the bathroom and change. After she returned, I gave her the pink, stuffed unicorn.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Troy picked it up from the market.”
“It’s for me?”
“It is.”
Kiki stared down at it before hugging it to her chest. “Tell him I said thank you.”
“You don’t want to tell him yourself?”
She shook her head. “I just wanna go to bed.”
I couldn’t blame her. “Okay.” I kissed her on the head. “I understand. Holler if you need anything, okay?”
“I will.”
Troy was watching TV when I returned to the living room.
He lowered the volume. “Everything okay?”
“Yes. She wants to go to sleep early.” I sat across from him. “Thank you again for going to the store. You saved the day. I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime.” He grinned. “What do you say we crack open the wine?”
“Yeah.” I stood up. “That would be great. We can sit right out back. It’s a nice night.”
“I’ll bring out the special dessert I brought you. It’s something you can eat. At least I hope I got it right.”
“I totally forgot about that Tupperware you walked in with. I have to say, you have me curious.”
“Go make yourself comfortable. I’ll take care of everything.”
Well, I wasn’t going to argue with that—certainly not tonight. “The wine glasses are up there,” I said, pointing to the cupboard. “There’s an opener in the second drawer from the left.”
I couldn’t remember the last time a man had told me to make myself comfortable while he prepared a glass of wine for me. Troy might have had his faults, but he seemed to know how to take care of a woman when she needed it.
My imagination, of course, took the opportunity to run wild with all of the various ways Troy might take care of me.
Troy
I carried the bottle of wine and two glasses outside with the Tupperware container tucked under my arm. Crickets chirped, and the weather was cool and comfortable on this dry, summer night. To say this evening had turned out nothing like I’d imagined it, though, would be putting it lightly.
I poured us each a glass of the cabernet before reaching for the Tupperware.
Rubbing over the top of the container, I said, “Okay, I wanna preface this by saying these probably taste like dirt. So, go easy on me. It was my first time baking anything like this.”
“You baked something?”
“I did. I like to bake, actually. I’m not much of a cook, but cookies? I’m the cookie master. I know you can’t have sugar—or gluten or dairy. So, I Googled around for paleo desserts. I found this recipe for banana cookies. They’re sweetened with ripe banana and dates and made with almond flour.” I panicked for a second. “Shit, you can have eggs, right?”