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Pixie stretched gingerly,then executed a few, easy yoga poses, more than happy that her pain hadn’t gotten worse while she’d slept, and was indeed, better once she finished her warm-up.
A quick shower had her even looser, and by the time she went downstairs for breakfast, if her face hadn’t been continually complaining, she might have been able to forget the whole incident.
“Hi, honey. How are you feeling this morning?” her mother chirped. Her father had already left. He was a plumber, and started his work-day at the ass-crack of dawn.
“Much better,” Pixie told her, sitting and grabbing one of the blueberry muffins her mother had just pulled from the oven.
“They’re hot,” Helena Spires warned.
“Mmm,” Pixie replied, breathing in their goodness before placing the steaming confection on a napkin and grabbing the butter. “All the better to melt half a stick on it,” she teased.
“I’m glad your appetite is good. I made those because I thought they’d be easier to chew than cereal.”
Pixie’s normal go-to when she was home was dry Cheerios with a side of fruit. Now, however, she appreciated her mother’s change of menu.
“These will work just fine.” Pixie rolled her eyes and gave a groan after her first bite. “I might have to eat two.”
“As long as you leave one for your father,” Helena chuckled. “He was pouting when he left the house this morning after seeing the blueberries thawing in the sink.”
“No promises,” Pixie giggled, swallowing down the last bite of her first muffin and reaching for her second.
“So, honey…”
Pixie stifled a snort. She’d known this was coming. The “talk”.
“Tell me about your young man.”
“You’ve met him before,” Pixie teased. She hadn’t had the opportunity, ever, to wax poetic over a guy, and she was going to enjoy this inquisition.
“I have,” her mother agreed, puttering uselessly around the kitchen while she probed. “But I’ve been introduced to him as a colleague of Talia’s. Not as myotherdaughter’s date. So, yes. I’m already aware that he’s extremely good looking, and his physique is…”
“Mom!” Pixie feigned shock. “Have you been checking out Doug’s muscles?”
Her mother huffed. “They’re hard to miss, Pixie. And I’ve seen him doing physical drills with your sister.”
Was that a blush from her sweet mother? Pixie stifled a giggle. “Okay. Now that we’ve checked off the handsome box as well as the nice ass category, what else do you want to know?”
“Fresh,” her mother replied with a fake purse of her lips. “Tell me abouthim.”
Pixie pondered, rolling thoughts around in her head before she teased a little further. “He’s a cop with the Orono PD, and a member of the Downeast SWAT team…”
“Pixie,” her mother warned.
“Okay. Fine.” She giggled. “He’s thirty-four years old. He lives in an apartment in Orono, but bought a fixer-upper on the lake in Newport where he’ll move in a month or so when it’s habitable. He’s kind. He’s sweet, and he works for MECASA, which says a lot about him.”
Pixie’s mom was a work-from-home administrator for an elderly health care agency, so she’d be familiar with MECASA.
“That’s wonderful. I already knew he was a good man because Talia hasn’t sent up any red flags since you started seeing each other. But working for MECASA,” her mom nodded thoughtfully, “there’s clearly a lot more to him than just a pretty uniform.”
“I agree,” Pixie stated. Now…how much more should she share? Probably not a lot. Especially since things were still new. Talia had clearly heard a lot of Doug’s story, so if Pixie needed to vent, Tallie would be the ear she’d bend until Doug became a bigger part of Pixie’s life. After that, they’d decide together how much of Doug’s past to reveal to others.
“Does he have folks, locally?”
Pixie didn’t hesitate. “He was raised by his aunt and uncle after his father died. Frank Ildavorg is the chief of police in Orono.”
“Oh! I’ve met Frank.” Her mother brightened even further. “And Suze I know from a fund-raiser she helped us with at work last year. They’re such nice people.”
“I actually haven’t met them yet,” Pixie revealed. “But Doug adores them, so I know I will, too.”
