Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
It was a smart move on her part because just ten or so minutes into the next film, I felt her lean into me as she started to massage the ear of her capybara.
My heart swelled that she chose to lean into me, and my arm went around her, my fingers sifting through her soft hair.
Two yawns later, her eyes slid closed and stayed that way.
Runa glanced over, taking it in, her smile soft.
“That’s a good feeling, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s something else.” Denali shifted in her sleep, her chubby cheek pressing against me. “Do you ever feel like your heart is too big for your chest?”
“Pretty much every day since she came along,” Runa said, sharing the understanding. And it was nice to have someone who got it. “If you give her about twenty minutes, we can move her to her bed.”
“Twenty minutes, huh?”
“Yep. It’s a science. If you try it at fifteen, you’re gonna wake her up and she’ll be wired and impossible to get back to sleep until like midnight.”
“Good to know. I’m in no rush to move her.”
With Denali between us, neither of us spoke, just stared at the TV but seemed to get lost in our own thoughts. Until Runa suddenly got up.
“Do you want me to do it?”
“How about you watch and learn this time, so you can do it next time?” she suggested.
Then she carefully lifted our daughter and pressed her to her shoulder, pausing to rub her stuffed animal against her cheek for a second when she stirred, then carrying her down the hall.
I followed, watching her put Denali down, pull the blankets up, then press the capybara up near her head, then lean down to kiss her forehead.
She turned off the big light and on the astronaut projector.
“She’s obsessed with that,” she explained as she moved into the hallway, closing the door.
“Good. I’m glad. You close the door?”
“I hate closing it, but I will never forget this video I saw of how an entire house basically burned up… except for the room with the closed door. So she sleeps with a door closed, and so do I, but she knows she can come out and see me anytime.”
“That makes sense. Afraid of fires, huh?”
“Is anyone not afraid of fires?”
“Fair enough.”
She made her way to the living room, cleaning up the candy and food, bringing it into the kitchen, and putting everything into baggies, pizza included, then putting it all away.
“This was nice. She had a good time.”
That was a brush-off if I ever heard one. Everything about it, and her stiff posture, said it was time for me to go.
I leaned back against the cabinet instead.
Her whole body tensed.
And, yeah, I felt a bit like a dick about it. Especially if there had been a man in her life who had pushed her around a lot. But I needed answers, so I was just going to need to deal with the gross feeling in my stomach at her reaction.
“We need to talk.”
Runa exhaled hard.
“Look, York. We’re both adults. It happened. It doesn’t need to be discussed beyond the fact that it can’t happen again.”
Ah, so that was what she was all tense about. Not the conversation about their past, but how I’d gotten her off in my bedroom.
In general, I agreed. That kind of thing didn’t necessarily need to be discussed. Except I took issue with the “can’t.”
“Can’t, huh?” I asked.
She turned to me, chin high. “Right. Can’t.”
“Why can’t it?”
“Because of Denny. You just started to be part of her life. If things get weird with us, you might not want to be in it so much, and that’s not fair to her.”
“Alright. Let’s unpack that load of bullshit. I did just start to be a part of her life. But you’re wrong in thinking anything would get between us now. Even if shit went nuclear with us. I’d still be able to make it work for her sake. And I know you’d do the same.”
“I’d do whatever I needed to make sure she was happy, healthy, and safe.”
“Yeah, that last bit. That’s what I wanted to discuss. Not how good you sound moaning for me when I’m touching you.”
Alright.
It was low to go there just to watch the way desire flickered in her eyes. But I never claimed to play fair.
“Oh.”
“We can talk about that if you want, though.”
“No. No, I’m good. Sorry, I’m spacing. What part did you want to talk about?”
“Safety.”
“Oh, right. Well, I always lock the doors. And windows, even though no one can scale them.”
“Babe, come on. You know I want to talk about the bruises. About Denali seeing a man hurt you.”
“Oh,” she said, exhaling hard. “That.”
“Yeah, that.”
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. I mean, that was why I’d recommended the zoo in the first place. I thought we might be able to talk a little bit.”