Page 101 of Smooth Sailing

Jeez, this guy was so awesome.

“I’m going to have to send someone out for more groceries,” I muttered.

“Make a list. I’ll take off when Pete gets back.”

Hmm.

This was another thing with Hugger.

When we were cleaning yesterday, he commandeered the vacuum and had at it, and he didn’t even have to be asked to take out the trash. No hiding on the balcony or pretending to fiddle with a faucet that wasn’t actually leaking to get out of doing housework.

I hadn’t thought about that at the time, either.

But now that I was, although the not touchy or affectionate thing was in the con column on the pros and cons list of Do I Want to Explore This with Hugger, that was definitely a pro.

Neither of my long-term boyfriends helped out around the house, and I’d lived with both of them. There were excuses—tee times, ballgames, trips to Lowe’s to pick up stuff to fix things I wasn’t sure were broken, and when they pitched in, they did a shitty job at it.

When I heard the term “weaponized incompetence” it rang the top bell for me with both of them.

Hugger didn’t just run the vacuum here and there to make a show of doing something, he actually vacuumed.

And he tidied the couch every morning, putting the toss pillows back like I liked them and everything (and I didn’t have to ask him to do that either).

Now, he was offering to go to the store, and it was partly because I couldn’t, but I was thinking it was mostly because that was Hugger.

Yes, this was definitely a pro.

Even so.

“I could also order them online so Pete doesn’t have to go back out,” I suggested. “You need to try to catch more sleep.”

“We’ll talk about it when Big Petey gets back.”

I agreed on a nod.

“Now let’s talk about you. How are you doin’ with all of this?” he asked.

“I’m thrilled to pieces she cried. I’m thrilled to pieces she got the chance to get that emotion out, I think that will help start the healing, and I don’t think she’s been anywhere near doing that. I’m further thrilled to pieces her parents know she’s okay, or at least she’s still of this world and they know where she is. I’m also thrilled this is moving forward, she obviously trusts me and she feels safe with the guys being around. Last, I’m thrilled to the absolute beyond I know her name.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, then asked, “Is it fucked that I’m glad she’s nineteen and not seventeen? I mean, it’s totally heinous, what was done to her, no matter her age. That’s not what I’m sayin’. But?—”

I shook my head and really wanted to touch him, since he appeared so awkward, saying what he was saying, and it was sweet and cute, but no one liked to feel awkward.

“No,” I cut him off. “I think back to when I was seventeen and when I was nineteen, which was when my incident happened to me, and I can say it would have been way harder to deal if it happened earlier.”

His voice was deeper, rougher when he asked quietly, “You were nineteen?”

“Mm-hmm,”

His lips thinned again and there was a scary air charging out of him, and again, I really wanted to touch him.

“I’m okay, Hugger. And I kneed him in the balls before it got too far, and when he was dealing with that, I punched him in the dick so I could be sure to get away.”

Hugger did a slow blink. “You punched him in the dick?”

“Well, yeah. I had to make sure he was incapacitated when I ran to get the RA.”

Abruptly, his hand darted out, caught me at the back of my head and slammed me face first into his wide chest.

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