Page 73 of Fight For Her
I took in her flushed face. Her makeup was a bit smudged, probably from her rough day at work, and her hair was pulled into a messy bun on her head. It had only been a week since she left, but seeing her face on the screen made it feel like it had been months. So damn gorgeous. I wished I could reach in and pull her into my arms.
“What did you end up getting at the store yesterday?”
“Let me preface this by saying Foodietown in Palm Cove is far superior to Whole Foods near my new place,”she answered, chewing her lip.
I chuckled, she was about to start another tirade.
“Foodietown has my favorite chips, which I’ve never been able to find anywhere else. So I have to agree,” I said.
“Exactly my point!” She sighed and shifted on the couch, bringing a gray throw pillow onto her lap.
“So, what did you end up buying?”
“Umm, okay, but don’t laugh. I was overwhelmed!” Her already flushed face grew even more red.
I held my hand up in a scout’s honor pose. “I promise I won’t laugh.”
“I spent like ninety-five dollars, and I left with one bag. I got lettuce and carrots. But I also got pumpkin spice hand soap, organic cotton swabs, barbeque sauce, and a bag of cashews.”She fell back on the couch and covered her face with the pillow.
“At least there’s something edible in that haul.”
“I’m so done with that store. The smell was intoxicating. I was in a cloud of lavender floating toward the artisanal soaps. I barely knew what was happening when I handed the cashier my debit card.”
God, I missed her.
“I’m sure there’s a regular supermarket nearby. Something more Palm Cove’s speed.”
“I hope so. And another thing, what is this town’s obsession with green juice? I swear I haven’t seen one person eat actual solid food all week. Coby promise me if you see me drinking something green that isn’t a margarita, you will come here immediately and stage an intervention.”
I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my laughter.
“I swear I won’t let you turn to the green side. However, I happen to like green juice. I make it before class sometimes.”
“Of course you do,” she said.
She laughed and settled into the couch. It’d been like this all week, random texts and calls and talking about thoughts that popped into our heads. I told her how much everyone misses her already, true story, and she told me how her new job has been going.
So far neither of us has said anything about moving to be together. The thought scares the hell out of me. Every fiber of my being aches to be near her, to hold her, and to kiss her every damn day. We needed to have a conversation about the future but it could wait until she was more settled.
“Check your email really quick,” I said.
Her brow arched, “Okay?”
I watched her swipe out of our screen and open up her mail app. While we were chatting, I’d gone online and ordered her a bunch of stuff.
“Babe! That was so sweet. And my favorite cookies!” Her voice went up an octave or two.
“And the trail mix you love. Gotta make sure you’re eating enough protein.” Her face came back into view with a wide smile on her lips.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Sweat dripped down my neck as I rolled Shawn off me and pushed to a stand. We’d been practicing our guard techniques for our upcoming level five test, and he wasn’t taking it easy on me. I didn’t want him to. If I couldn’t get these techniques down, then I didn’t deserve to level up.
We reset our position with Shawn hovering over me on the ground. Within two seconds, I had him in a headlock position, held tightly to my chest. As I was about to push out of position and onto my feet, he gained the upper hand, broke free of my hold, and jumped back where he was free to kick me right in the groin had this been a real-life situation.
“Your head is not in this, man. I don’t blame you. Hell, I didn’t even come to class when Mia and I broke things off.” He leaned against the wall, wiping his brow.
