Page 16 of Brother to Brother

“Bye!” he called out brightly.

“See, I told you, Noah. Uncle Archer told me to tell you…” I heard Melody say and I yelled, “That’s right, I did!” I heard Noah laugh and they were gone. Mel’s little hatchback buzzing up the road.

I sighed and pulled the sandwich out of the bag. Cold cuts and some hot chicken soup, probably out of a can, but it sure beat nothing, which is what I probably would have had if she hadn’t defied me. I shrugged and let it slide. She made a good sandwich.

Chapter 9

Melody

I managed to get quite a bit at the goodwill, not only cookware, but an almost complete, somewhat fancy set of it for a really reasonable price. I also managed an almost complete set of dishes. I had just enough cash left to get Noah a couple of toys, and that was what he was doing now. Sitting on the living room floor, stacking and destroying blocks, laughing with little toddler maniacal glee at the destruction he wrought on the hapless colored wood. My child, super destructo-monkey.

I slid dinner into the oven and closed it up, blowing some of my bangs out of my eyes. I needed a trim badly, but it would have to wait until after Archer got home and Noah had someone to watch him. This place wasn’t toddler proofed enough, despite my best efforts. I had thick hair ties holding the cupboard under the sink closed. So tightly wrapped around the knobs on the cabinet, Noah’s little fingers wouldn’t have the strength to get them undone, nor would he have enough in him to get the doors open more than a couple of inches. I had all of the cleaning products and laundry soap shoved clear to the back of the cabinet and away from the doors. It was the best I could do. Still, I worried. If he tried, he could smash his fingers, I was exceptionally paranoid about the set up. Ineededto get child safety locks for that cabinet, forallthe kitchen cabinets.

I was standing there, hands flat on the kitchen counter, watching Noah play, when Archer came through the door. He stopped and looked at Noah, his face unreadable, when he looked up and over at me. I raised an eyebrow with a slight smile over how he looked at my boy and he shut the door behind him, shrugging out of his jacket and cut.

“What smells good?” he asked.

I was secretly pleased by the light praise, and hoped it tasted as good as it smelled when I answered him, “Southwest casserole, it’s got about ten minutes left.”

“Go get your shower then, I can get it out of the oven and watch Little Man here.”

“Thanks,” I murmured and left to Archer getting down on the floor next to Noah and stacking blocks with him. Murmuring to my little boy and clapping with him when he knocked over the blocks in a spectacular display.

I felt a tension I hadn’t realized rode me ease slightly. With a sigh that was a mix between exhaustion and relief I went in to shower, gathering some clean PJ’s and a couple of clean towels out of the bins that sat on the floor between the bed and the wall, opposite the side with the dresser.

I spent a long time under the hot shower spray. Longer than ten minutes, for sure. I heard the timer I’d picked up at the goodwill go off and Archer open the oven. I couldn’t even bring myself to care too much that I’d forgotten to set the table, even though I still only had paper plates and plastic cutlery to do it with. I hadn’t gotten around to washing the dishes I’d bought.

I startled when Archer called through the bathroom door a few minutes later “That’s enough, Mel. Food’s on the table.”

“I’ll be right out!” I called and shut off the water.

I dried off and got dressed and took the two or three minutes to trim my bangs in the cracked mirror above the sink.

“Mel!” Archer called from the main room of the apartment.

“I’m coming!” I called back and set my scissors on the edge of the sink, the towel I let ride on my shoulders as I ran it over my hair, squeezing the water into the thick terrycloth.

“Thought you was drowning,” Archer commented dryly and spooned some more food into Noah’s mouth.

“Sorry, I had to trim my bangs and that shower feltreallygood. It’s been a few days.”

“Should have said something,” he said, disapproval in his tone.

“I didn’t want to be a bother.”

“Too late for that.”

Ouch. Motherfucker, he still has it.I thought. Archer always knew just how to hit below the belt in as few words as possible. I swallowed hard and sank into one of the seats. He had the casserole on a couple of pot holders on the end of the table far from Noah.

“You uh, know he can do that mostly by himself, right?” I asked watching him spoon more food into my child’s mouth.

“Don’t really know the first thing about kids, it’s been a long fuckin’ time since I had to wipe Rush and Nox’s little asses.”

“Language, please?” I said and let the pleading creep into my tone. I didn’t want to get backhanded but this was important to me. Of course, not getting backhanded in front of my son was equally as important… I wanted him to grow up learning what it was to properly treat a woman. Living this life, those lessons were going to likely be pretty tricky, but so far, my treatment in front of him had improved by leaps and bounds over where we’d just come from, so there was that.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, Melody.I thought, but that still didn’t stop my stepfather’s voice from creeping in with some cold reality, asking me;so why are you hanging around a bunch of dirty heathen bikers?I took a deep breath and held it for a moment, answering that accusatory voice in my head;because, at the end of the day, those dirty heathen bikers arestilltreating me better than either you or ma.Which was equal parts sad and pathetic.

“You should eat,” Archer said eying me and I felt myself blush, I hadn’t thought to grab a robe or anything and I realized that the fitted white wife-beater and blue and white striped boxer shorts I wore rolled up at the top, didn’t exactly do much to hide my figure. Including my still pooched tummy. My hands drifted to it, to hide it and Archer raised a brow.

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