Page 102 of Dirty Pucker

Chapter 35

Del

We walk back into Ingrid’s place. She turns to me. “Are you hungry?”

Just the mention of food makes my stomach growl. “Yeah, actually.”

I follow her to her kitchen. We reheat the Chinese food I brought and sit at her kitchen island to eat. The first bite I take sets off my appetite. I inhale my entire plate.

I glance over at Ingrid, who’s looking at me, smiling sweetly.

“I guess I was hungrier than I thought,” I say.

She slides me her plate. “I took too much. Wanna finish mine?”

“You sure?”

She nods. “My eyes were bigger than my stomach.”

I smile at her phrasing. I tell her thanks and dig into her leftovers.

“That’s probably so weird that I said that.”

I shake my head. “It was cute. I don’t hear many people our age say that.”

Ingrid sips from her water glass. “My dad says it all the time. He’s famous for taking lots of food when we eat dinner togetherand not finishing it all. My mom always steals his leftovers. It’s kind of their thing.”

She smiles but after a couple of seconds, it fades. “Sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

She bites her lip, hesitating. “I shouldn’t bring up my dad when you’re going through something awful with yours.”

I frown and scoop Ingrid’s hand in mine. “Hey. You don’t have to apologize for that. And you don’t have to not talk about your dad. He sounds like a good guy.”

“I just didn’t want it to come off like I was rubbing it in or…”

I reach over and cup her face with my free hand. “Ingrid. I didn’t think that, even for one second.”

Worry flashes in her soft blue eyes as she stares at me. My chest aches at just how much Ingrid is concerned about my feelings right now—just how much she cares about me. And my mom.

She dropped everything to come with me to check on her. She sat with my mom and comforted her. And she gave her phone number to her in case she wanted to reach out to her.

She’s known my mom for just a couple hours and yet she’s shown her so much care and kindness.

A wave of emotion rushes through me.

“I’m the one who should be apologizing to you,” I say. “This night wasn’t at all what I promised you. I dragged you into this mess with my family…” My shoulders sink as I exhale. “I’m sorry.”

Her eyebrows wrinkle. “Hey. Don’t say that. You have nothing to be sorry about either, okay? I wanted to be with you tonight, Del. I care about you and I want to make sure that you’re okay and that your mom is okay.”

That emotion inside of me flares up. I pull her to me and gently kiss her. “Thank you,” I whisper against her lips. I lean back and look at her.

“I’m so sorry for how your dad treated your mom. That’s just…” She shakes her head, her eyes turning glassy. That ache inside of me deepens.

She blinks quickly. “You all have been through so much.”

Emotion seeps up my chest, jamming in my throat. It feels like a rock sitting in my stomach. I take a second to clear my throat.

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