Page 47 of Knot All Is Lost: Part 1

Looking down there had to be ten pillows next to me. “All of them?” I asked. “I get to keep them all?”

“Of course, it’s hard to build a nest without the proper items, now isn’t it?” Spencer reported as he dragged another bag in. “These are all blankets and sheets. I knew you liked teal, and yellow seemed to be a no go but other than that I made guesses. Since you like the gray and pink pillows I’m hoping I went in the right direction.”

He pulled out two large plastic encased squares that had pictures of beds on them. One showed a bed covered in a white comforter with teal geometric shapes and color blocking with gray. It was beautiful but when I saw the second one, I gasped. It was also a white base but this looked like it had been painted with watercolors. Each area of color bloomed out fading into the white or one of the other colors. The pink was so soft compared to the teal and the gray seemed to tie it all together.

“This one,” I whispered as I pulled the image closer. Then I paused, cocking my head slightly to look at the size of the bed. “I think this will be too big, my bed is about half this size.”

Spencer’s cheeks started to turn pink and when he opened his mouth to answer, nothing came out. He closed it and looked past me to where Nixon was watching everything as he sorted through bags. Nixon didn’t seem to notice Spencer was at a loss and kept searching for whatever it was he’d lost in the mass of things.

“Hey, dinner’s ready!” Bodhi hollered up the stairs.

Spencer blew out a breath as he jumped to his feet startling me into falling backward clutching a pillow. “Shit, sorry Dove. I need to be better about moving too fast around you,” he muttered as he crouched next to me, offering a hand. “Can I help you up?”

I smiled wanting to reassure him I wasn’t afraid of him, it was just a response I couldn’t really control. He grasped my hand and pulled me to my feet, then frowned. “Did you cut yourself? Clearly you did but who on God’s green earth put this bandage on you?”

“Nixon and Bodhi,” I answered. “I told them a bandaid would be fine but they disagreed.”

Spencer snorted and shook his head. “I’ll bet they did. Would you like me to put a bandaid on it so you can use that finger to eat dinner? I feel like you won’t be able to hold a knife.”

“She’s not touching knives for the rest of the night. If she needs something cut we will do it for her,” Nixon grumbled. “Come on, let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

Laughing, Spencer took my hand and we headed out after Nixon down to the dining room. When we got to the first floor I saw Rafael was home hanging up his jacket.

“Welcome home, Rafael,” I said, beaming at him when he saw us. “Did you have a good day at work?”

He smiled but I noticed it didn’t quite reach his eyes and he looked almost sad. “It was an interesting day but I think overall it was good.”

His tone made him sound tired and everything in me felt like I needed to do something to help make him feel better. I thought about how nice it was to have a hug from Spencer when he got home so I walked up to Rafael and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I’m sorry something happened today to make you feel sad.”

Rafael let out a breath as if he’d been holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. Curling his arms around me, he held me tight and rested his head on mine, taking a deep breath. “Thank you, Little One, this is helping immensely. It’s nice to be welcomed home with a hug and someone who smells as yummy as you,” he added with a wink as he pulled back. “I believe I heard Bodhi call for dinner, let me wash up real quick and I’ll be in.”

“Alright,” I said, then froze as Rafael kissed me on the cheek before heading to the hall bathroom.

I lifted my hand to touch the spot and could feel the heat of my blush. The fluttery feeling returned to my stomach and I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. I turned and walked into the dining room letting my hand slowly drop from my face. Why had that kiss seemed different from the other times he’s kissed my head like my mother used to? Was it the feel of his lips on my skin and his scent wrapping around me like a warm blanket?

“Cambi, come sit by me this time, there’s no assigned seats,” Bodhi said, then paused. “Okay, no assigned seats but for the fact that Marius always likes to sit at the head of the table. Other than that, sit wherever you like.”

“Sorry Bodhi, but you and Oscar have had her all day, I saw the pillow fort. Now you have to share,” Spencer challenged, then looked at me patting the chair next to him. “Have a seat Dove, we need to talk about what we’re gonna do about clothes for you.”

Unsure of what to do, I considered what Spencer said and felt he was right. I’d spent all day curled up with Oscar and Bodhi, it was smart for me to spend time with Spencer and the others. Walking around the table I took a seat and was promptly given a tablet.

“Here, look through the catalog and pick out what clothes you like. I mean anything and everything because all you have is this one outfit and that isn’t gonna fly. You need socks, undergarments, pajamas, jackets, pants, shirts, swimsuits for the summer, and so on,” Spencer instructed.

“There’s a pool?” I inquired. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve gone swimming!” I bounced excitedly in my chair just thinking about the idea.

“We don’t have one in the backyard, but there is a pool in the community that we can use,” Nixon shared. “Not many people use it so when it warms up we’ll probably have the place to ourselves.”

Everything about this was so exciting, I couldn’t remember the last time I could plan ahead for my life, or dare to dream it would be possible. Something as simple as going to the pool sounded like heaven and I couldn’t wait.

“What is this about a pool?” Rafael asked as he joined us.

“They were telling me we could go when it’s warm enough, so I’d better look at buying a suit,” I offered, scrolling through all the choices. “Oh look at this one. It’s teal with all kinds of sparkles on it.” I turned it to show Spencer and Rafael.

Spencer’s eyes widened and Rafael let out a snarl making me jump. I looked at the picture trying to figure out what about the suit they didn’t like. It wasn’t too expensive and it said the pieces were buy one get one half off.

“Let me see, Sweetheart,” Nixon asked, who sat across from Spencer.

I showed it to him and he had almost the same reaction as Rafael, only not quite so aggressive. He cleared his throat and drank some water before he spoke. “That is a lovely suit, Sweetheart, but maybe it might be best to see the color better if there was a little more of it.”

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