Page 51 of Fighter
The last bit popped out before I could stop it, but when he said, “Me too,” I couldn't bring myself to regret it. Underneath all those layers of lacking emotional intelligence was a frightened, vulnerable man.
So I snuggled deeper under the covers and said, “Ava had a wonderful day. Would you like to hear about that instead?”
“Absolutely.”
For the next fifteen minutes, I filled him in on all the delightful things she did and said, including the weird moments with the dolls. He confirmed my suspicions when he said, “Sadie loved her, but didn't know how to parent her. A lot like me. I try to play dolls but it's so boring and mind numbing that I only last like ten minutes and get stupid bored and . . .” He sighed. “So that's probably my fault.”
“Well, I'm getting paid for playing dolls and you aren't,” I pointed out. “At the end of a long day, I'm sure there are other things you'd rather do.”
“There are indeed,” he murmured, in a warm sound that reminded me of a purr. Instantly, I was transported back to our almost-kiss. My breath caught and I must have taken too long to recover because he picked the conversation back up at that moment.
“Any word from your brother?”
I frowned. “No, but I did text him. Never heard back.”
“Good.”
“You sound tired,” I said as I fought off a yawn. “Get some sleep? We can talk again tomorrow.”
The response was a blatant invitation that made my stomach flutter a bit. If there was any other perfect moment for him to set a boundary and sayno, this was the one. But his response was equally quick and sincere.
“You bet we will. Thanks, Sera. Talk to you then.”
He clicked away as I whispered my goodbye. Seconds later, a final text message appeared. The perfect one to close out a day that didn't have him in it.
Benjamin:Thanks. Your voice was what I needed without realizing it. Be in touch soon.
With a sigh, I settled into a deep, restful sleep, the smell of Benjamin surrounding me.
“Where are we going?”
Ava asked the question the next day, her nose pressed to the window of the SUV. A frothing river passed to our right as we drove out of Pineville and up the canyon, to Jackson City. I flipped on the blinker.
“We are going girl shopping.”
Ava's ears perked up. She immediately straightened. “What's girl shopping?”
“While doing your laundry this morning, I noticed that you wear the same five shirts and two pairs of pants. All of your shirts have bright turquoise, orange, purple, or yellow colors. You have a closetful of clothes that are pink but you don't seem to wear them much. So I thought you could use a little revamp.”
Ava leaned back. “Yeah, those are my favorite colors.” Her nose wrinkled. “Dad bought me a lot of pink.”
“You don't like pink?”
She shrugged. “It's okay. I like dresses. With pockets! Dad didn't get me any dresses, and we haven't really been back to that store yet.”
“Me too, sister. Dresses with pockets are the best. So we're going to buy you more clothes with your favorite colorsandmore dresses with pockets.”
“Really?” she squeaked.
“Really.”
With a squeal, she kicked the back of the front seat and clapped her hands with a happy chant. Before she'd settled back down, she asked, “Does Dad know?”
“No, but he won't care. He told me I could buy you some more clothes.”
“He bought most of my clothes now.”
“Yeah, he did pretty good. But I think you should pick them from now on, and he agreed. Whattaya think?”
