Page 351 of My Sweet Dollie, You Have to Love Me
I scream just at the sight of it.
“You okay?” Nyx asks, after waiting a moment, because clearly, I’m not okay.
“Not really.” I look over the dirty footprints all through the house, then down at my dirty socks that I pull off before allowing my eyes to scan the big brown box in Nyx’s hands as I slouch on the chaise.
“Maybe this will cheer you up. The packaging label says it’s meant to.”
He sets the box in my lap, and I eye the label.
My Sweet Dollie
The last few days have been hard for you, but I want to see you smile again.
-A
Ambrose must have ordered me something in the last day or so to try to cheer me up. He wanted to see me smile again, and he almost didn’t see me at all.
My struggling fingers fail with the tape sealing the box, needing to open it as quickly as possible. Almond nails offer no help as I try to pierce the center and pick at the edges.
“Here.” Nyx lowers himself to his haunches and sticks his keys into the center of the tape, making it easy for me to wedge my fingers in and pry open the box. “I’ll give you a minute.”
Shifting to the kitchen, he calls back, “I’ll get you some water after I check on the yard.” I hear him say something else, something about Bubbles tormenting his workers. A laugh follows.
But all I can focus on is the box in my hands.
Inside, multiple presents wait for me to inspect them.
I pull out the first one, unsure what it is, as the soft, yellow fabric covered in pink roses squishes between my fingers. It’s one of three pouch-type things that are all banded together by cardboard. I flip it over to read the back.
Cute stoma bag covers: assorted.
Assorted, but all pink and yellow, like I need. There are matching socks too, that go all the way to the knee, with frills just below. Setting them both at my side, I pull out the next gift—a replacement pair of slippers that couldn’t have come at a better time. The fluffy pink pair have mini wine glasses on them—the lethal red liquid filled appropriately. Nothing like the amount I drank while sexting with Lucky—Ambrose. A bottle of rosé sits in the left one, with my name on the label.
I’m left with one last gift, bubble wrapped so much that I could bounce it off the wall and not worry about damaging whatever is inside. Still, I’m extra careful as I peel it open. And that’s a good thing, because the perfect Pegasus almost flies from my hands. Its perfect coral color is so reminiscent of my favorite from Mom’s collection, to the trinkets I loved that Shane destroyed. Standing, I rush over to the dark shelves where hundreds of its kind used to sit.
And I smile, the biggest and most genuine smile I’ve smiled in days.
Moving back to the box, I collect it, ready to take it outside to the trash, now that the noise has dimmed.
A note staring up at me invites me back to the chaise as I pluck it from the box and begin reading.
I think you’ll like the Pegasus most.
I nod along, agreeing but also loving every sentimental thought and gift.
Some of the gifts are a little unconventional, and perhaps the slippers are more for me than for you.But I hate seeing you in his stuff, and these are much cuter anyway.
I hate seeing you upset, too, Dollie. Mom and Dad would too. They wouldn’t want you to hate yourself.
They’d want you to have a happy life.
I wasn’t lying when I told you what Dad said.
They wanted you safe. I want you safe. I want you happy.
I’m writing this in words because who knows if I’ll ever be able to say it out loud. What happened last night with you on the sofa, I’ve waited years for that. For a minute with you where we’re not just siblings—where we can be more. I’ve struggled with the idea of it, with my thoughts and feelings for you, for as long as I can remember. I thought we were wrong and that it could never happen. But why not?
Because Mom and Dad got married and made us a family? What if they were always meant to be our steppingstone? Our way to find each other?
