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She turns back to look at me. “What would you expect me to buy?”
I wave my hand around the room at the other decorations. Although she has primarily gray tones here, the pops of color she claims to have in the mountain house come from the couch, the plants, and now the dining room wallpaper. But looking around the condo here, the pictures in the dining room are modern black sketches, and she has a bronze chandelier hanging over the table. She uses accents like black and bronze. It’s very contemporary while still remaining chic, and then there’s the painting. I don’t see it in this room at all.
“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t necessarily match the motif here, but it doesn’t not either.” She looks at the vacant place on the wall. “Did I ever tell you how I came to love plants?”
“No.”
She takes the board to the kitchen table and sets it down. “I had a nanny, and to say she was eccentric is an understatement. I don’t think my mother ever realized this either, or she never would have kept her.”
“How did she get the job?”
She looks at the wall again, then at me, and smiles. “My mother’s assistant hired her for me. While she never gave me the time of day, as she was there to appease my mother, I guess it wasn't lost on her that I needed more than the crumbs of what I was given. This nanny, while we only spent one summer together, she changed my life.”
Goldie keeps talking as she moves back to the kitchen and pours us two cups of coffee. On the bar, she’s already laid out creamer and sugar. I move them to the table.
“She was kind to me, and even though our time together was short, I loved her. She hugged me, gave me piggyback rides, introduced me to farmers’ markets, to plants, picnics in the park, and color. She was in college and studying to be an artist, and she always had paint under her nails. I’ve followed her career over the years, and it just happened that as I was moving into my condo, she was having her own show. I was so proud of her. I went and bought The Garden. That’s what it’s titled.”
The timer dings on the toaster oven. She plates the bagels while I grab the coffee, and the two of us move to the table.
“Did you talk to her while you were there?” I ask as I dress my bagel and listen to her talk.
“No. She stood with her own family as people came up and spoke to her. Her husband and two daughters were there. I didn’t want to make the moment about me, and as I watched the awe on those girls’ faces, I knew at one time that was what I looked like too. I couldn’t help but think how lucky they are.”
My already wounded heart for Cora’s childhood bleeds a little more as I listen to her talk about a woman who was more motherly to her over ten weeks than her own mother has been her whole life. But at least she had that. At least she saw another side.
“So this nanny loved plants too?”
“Yes.” She blushes. “She bought me my first plant, and from there, I never stopped. I know people don’t understand, but plants mean something to me.”
“And you tried to give me one, and I turned it away.”
“Yeah, there was that. Such a horrible neighbor you are,” she teases, picking up her coffee and taking a sip.
“Well, maybe I’ll have to buy one of her paintings too.”
She gently places the cup down, and her eyes lock onto mine. Her hair is in a messy pile on top of her head, and she has zero makeup on, making her look younger. Yet she’s never been more beautiful.
“You would do that?”
“Of course. I’m thinking I need to buy you a new plant, too, as an apology. I don’t think there’s much I wouldn’t do for you.”
“Briggs,” she says as she slides off her seat and rounds the corner of the table. I lean back as she straddles my lap and hugs me.
Of course I wrap my arms around her and bury my head in her neck. If there was a way to live with this girl stuck to me, I’d do it.
“That’s all it takes, huh? I just need to whisper sweet nothings to you about a plant, and this will get you climbing onto my lap?”
She laughs as she pulls back to look at me. By doing so, her very naked ass rocks against me, and my dick twitches with excitement. Her smile stretches even more, and she does it again.
“Careful, or our breakfast plans will change real quick.”
Leaning forward, she whispers against my lips, “Okay.”
My hands instantly slide underneath her shirt. Her skin is warm, and I already know she’ll be even warmer when I push inside.
“Your stubble is a little sharper today,” she says, running her hand across my jaw.
“Does that bother you?”
