Page 94 of Otto: The Hawthornes

“What the heck am I going to take pictures of?”

I didn’t even bother replying, just reached out and put my hand on her belly.

“Oh,” she said, snorting. “Right. Yeah, that would be good.”

We were quiet the rest of the way, but I shouldn’t have expected her complacency to last. The minute we parked in front of the phone store, she started shaking her head. “Why aren’t we just getting a phone from a mini-mart like normal people?”

“Baby, this is where I have my plan.”

“Phone plans are a waste of money.”

“Not they’re not.”

“They are. They have all of those extra secret add-on charges. I don’t need something like that.”

I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. And the angrier she got, the harder I laughed.

“Esther, they take my bill out of my bank account without me havin’ to remember or fuck with it. My phone always works. I have service every-fuckin’-where. Unlimited data so I can get online without thinkin’ about it. I’m not gettin’ you some track phone from a mini-mart. It ain’t happenin’.”

“Fine,” she grumbled.

“What’s that?” I was teasing, but she wasn’t in the mood for it.

“I said, fine. Okay. We can get an overpriced phone on an overpriced plan so you don’t have to actually physically pay your bill every month.”

“That’s what you took away from my comment?”

She just stared at me. It was so fucking cute that I leaned in and planted one on her. Fortunately, we seemed to catch fire whenever we were touching and a few minutes later, thewindows were beginning to fog up and Esther was in a much better mood.

“Let me get you a good one, yeah?” I asked, rubbing her cheek with my thumb. “We can buy generic shit at the grocery store to make up the difference.”

“Why in the world would you buy name brand at the grocery store?” she asked incredulously, unbuckling her seat belt. “Do you really think peas taste any different because they have a pretty logo?”

I chuckled as I got out and went around to open her door. “I don’t even like peas.”

“You’re exasperating.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

Buying a phone from an actual company store always takes forever. Swear to God, it’s like buying a car when you go in there. Even if you know what you want, the salespeople are still going to take an hour and a half fucking around with shit before you can actually pay them and get the hell out. By the time we were done, Esther was looking at me smugly and I was practically vibrating with impatience.

“I’m not going to say that I told you so,” she said conversationally as I put my hand on her back and led her toward the Mustang.

“Oh good.”

“Because we both know that I did, so it doesn’t need to be said.”

I shook my head. Sweet little Esther wasn’t quite the shy, passive woman I’d originally thought. I wasn’t mad about it.

“Thank you for my phone,” she said, looking up at me as I helped her into the car. “It’s very…shiny.”

“You’re kind of an asshole,” I said, barking out a laugh that I didn’t see coming.

“I am not!”

“Don’t worry, sugar,” I said, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. “I like it.”

The grocery store trip took even longer than we’d waited for her phone, but I liked it a hell of a lot better. I drove to the next town just to be sure that we wouldn’t run into anyone we knew, and I got to watch Esther in action.

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