Page 46 of In My Blood
“Yes, breakfast,” she exhaled as she swiped at her eyes and seemed to gather herself. “What would you like to eat, sweetie? Tell me what your favourite is nowadays.”
“I don’t usually eat breakfast, but honestly I eat anything. Whatever you have will be fine,” I answered hesitantly. It had been so long since anyone offered to do anything for me. It was overwhelming.
“I’m back!” I turned quickly and looked to the door with alarm as Callan burst through it violently, making it smash back into the wall with a crash.
“Fuck Cal! Where’s the bloody fire?” Rafe ground out, the whole thing having seemingly startled him too.
“Sorry. I just…I met Cara in the hall and she was cold. I was in a rush to bring her something warm to put on,” he shrugged. He looked so sweet and innocent in that moment and I wondered to myself how old he was. He looked older than me by a little, but the way he went slightly red as he spoke made him seem younger.
“You should have said,Piccola. We can turn up the central heating,” Dario told me as he got to his feet and went to a box on the wall, presumably to crank the heat.
“Didn’t Gia buy you any warmer clothes?” Rafe asked as he looked over my outfit with question.
“Here. Put these on for now,” Callan said as he came closer and handed me a thick green hooded sweater and some white, thick sports socks.
“Thanks. These are perfect,” I told him as I took the items and shrugged the sweater on quickly. The kitchen was much colder than the rest of the house and I was feeling it. The sweater was huge on me, coming down to almost my knees, but it felt soft and comfortable. I rolled the long sleeves up to my wrists and instantly felt better covered up as I was.
I picked up the socks from where I had set them on the counter and looked for somewhere to perch while I pulled them on.
“Here, sit here,” Callan said, pulling a stool out in offering for me. I smiled at him and went to climb into it. It was too tall for me to simply lift into, so I had to set my foot on the rung that was half way up it and push myself up. The second my butt was in the seat, Callan took the socks from my hand and bent down to a crouch.
“Oh no. You don’t need to…” I tried to argue, but Callan already had one of the socks gathered up in his hands and was pulling it onto my foot and up over my skinny jeans, bunching it a little on my leg so it didn’t reach my knee. He made short work of pulling the second one on too, then he looked up at me with his wide smile firmly in place. He was adorable.
“Any better?” he asked.
“Much,” I nodded. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to wash them and get them back to you.”
“Keep them, gorgeous. They look much better on you anyway,” he threw me a wink that had me blushing furiously, then he stood and turned to Terza. “What’s cooking, good lookin’?” he asked playfully, and Terza burst out laughing.
“Nothin for you if you carry on like that, boy. Out of my kitchen!” she scolded him teasingly as she hit out at him.
“You’d never let me starve. I’m your favourite!” Callan defended himself as he stood holding his heart like she’d wounded him. It made me laugh out loud, and that actually startled me. How long had it been since I genuinely laughed like that? Too long.
My attention was pulled to Rafe as he came over and sat in the seat beside me.
“Are you feeling warmer?” he asked.
“Yeah. It was toasty upstairs. It just seems colder down here,” I tried to explain.
“We usually keep it cooler on the bottom two floors since most of us run warm most of the time. I’ll keep it warmer for you now that I know.” He assured ,me.
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine when I wash my clothes and have a couple of sweaters to wear.”
“Is there something wrong with the clothes Gia bought for you, Cara?” he asked.
“I don’t think she knew my sizes. They’re too big,” I told him honestly.
“You’re sure?” he asked with some confusion in his face.
“I think so. I looked through everything,” I shrugged. “Gia probably assumed I’d be around her size, I suppose.”
“I thought you called Gia with the sizes you got from Cara’s old clothes at her apartment?” Rafe questioned as he looked over to the seat Dio had returned to.
“I did. She told me she wrote them all down,” Dio agreed.
“It’s fine, Rafe. I don’t need new stuff anyway. What I have is fine. I just need to do some laundry,” I assured him.
“Are the clothes in your closet mainly dresses and skirts? Bright colours?” Dio asked me, and I nodded.
