"No, I don't think I'm ready to be apart from him. I haven't done it yet, and let me tell you, showering is a shit show."
"Then let's go for a quick walk together."
She lit up before looking at me very seriously. "But you don't like going for walks."
It was true. I thought they were a waste of time. You didn't have a destination or a purpose. But I knew how much my sister liked them. Even as a kid, she'd drag me around with her. My parents wouldn't allow her to go on her own, which was ridiculous, in my opinion, since we lived in a safe neighborhood, but they were adamant about it.
"It's going to do me good to stretch my legs too." There, that wasn't a lie.
"Okay then, brace yourself. It's going to take me forever to get out the door."
She wasn't exaggerating. We managed to leave forty minutes later, and it seemed like we were carrying the contents of the whole house stuffed into the bottom of the stroller.
"The glamorous life of a new mom," she said as we headed along the lake.
There was no good time for a walk, in my opinion, but January in Chicago was especially shit. The baby was all zipped in and protected by the stroller, and Suze had on a long coat with a hood. I didn't.
But despite all that, I understood when she said, "This is so peaceful."
That was a good point. Strolling might be useless, but it was peaceful.
"So what's your gut feeling? You think you're going to enjoy your life in Chicago?" she asked after a while.
"I think I will." I was definitely happy to be closer to Suze, and I liked what I did at Maxwell Hotels. It was different from my previous jobs, and I enjoyed trying out new things.
Kimberly Maxwell was still a challenge—a delicious one that I relished. I would wear her down sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, I had to stop thinking about claiming her mouth every time I saw her.
Chapter Six
Kimberly
"Hey, you've had herenough. It's my turn now," I told Reese, impatiently tapping my foot.
She’d been holding Rose for the past forty minutes. Yes, I'd counted.