Page 135 of Pelvic Flaws

When my body started to relax into the couch and my breathing started to even out, there was a loud banging on my door startling me to attention.

Fuck my life, I get a few minutes to relax and someone decides to bang the door down.

“Daddy, someone’s banging on the door.” Savannah shouted from her room.

When I got into the hallway, she was standing at her doorway, hair mussed, holding a doll by its hair in one hand, while four fingers of her other hand were in her mouth.

“Okay sweetheart, go back to your nap and get those fingers out of your mouth.”

“But Daddy, I wanna see who’s here.”

I didn’t answer, knowing it was pointless, and moved to the door. Just as I was about to open it, the banging started again.

“Okay,” I grumbled. “Cut it out.”

Swinging it open I was faced with a sweaty looking Katie.

“So you are alive then,” she said, breathlessly. “Because you know, answering a call or a text might have stopped me worrying about you.”

“Yeah, I’m alive.” I rested my arm on the door jamb while holding onto the door with the other, blocking her view into my apartment. “What do you want?”

“Daddy, who is it?” Savannah was now beside me, tugging on the leg of my sweatpants.

“It’s Katie, sweetheart.”

She pushed between my legs and poked her head between them and I was pretty grateful she was a shortcake and I was tall, because it could have been a pretty painful situation otherwise.

“Hi Katie,” Savannah said brightly. “Where’s Charlie?”

Katie crouched down to Savannah’s level. “He’s at school, but he said to say hello.”

“I miss him,” Savannah sighed. “Elmo misses him.”

“He misses you too.” Katie looked up at me and chewed on her lip.

“What is it you want?” I asked.

Katie stood. “What’s happened? You were there one minute and gone the next. You won’t answer my calls or text messages, so I have no idea what’s going on.”

“You have no idea?” I asked incredulously.

She shook her head. “None.”

Savannah shifted and pulled herself back through my legs and when I turned around she was looking up at me with a grin.

“Daddy is Katie coming in? Because we don’t have any soup.” She looked at me earnestly, as she shrugged her tiny shoulders.

“She’s not coming in sweetheart, or staying for dinner.” I frowned, wondering what on earth she was talking about.

“But she’s here,” Savannah insisted. “Grandma always said when someone came to the house ‘company’s coming; add a cup of water to the soup’.”

I couldn’t help but smile as her lips turned down in worry.

“It’ll be fine, Savannah. Katie’s not staying, sweetheart.”

Taking advantage of me having my attention on Savannah, Katie pushed into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

“Katie,” I groaned. “I have nothing to say.”

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