I can forget all that shit tonight, though.I call in a pizza order and leave the hotel, thinking about Blair.She’s been on my mind every day since I last saw her.
There’s a line I can’t cross with her.Nothing physical.Not when I’m most likely making a big move in a few months.But we can be friends.I can hang out with her and her kids instead of rotting alone in my hotel room.
I don’t know what kind of pizza they like, so I got a cheese, a sausage, a pepperoni, and a supreme.I park in her driveway and grab the pizzas, Coop running out the front door to greet me.
“Monopoly night!”he yells, grinning.
“Whoa, dude.You lost a tooth.”
There’s a hole where one of his front lower teeth used to be.
“The tooth fairy left me a dollar and a new toothbrush.She said I need to eat less sugar.”
“You talked to her?”
“No, she left me a note.”
Blair’s waiting at the front door, ruffling Coop’s hair as he runs in and saying, “Stop going outside with no shoes; it’s freezing.”
I look down at my legs and give her a sheepish look.“In my defense, my laundry got mixed up and shorts and T-shirts are the only clean clothes I have.”
“Do you have laundry?You can do it here if you want.”
“Thanks, but I don’t.I think the hotel gave someone else my clean clothes and I have theirs.”
She wrinkles her nose.“Ew.Yours will need to be washed again.Who knows what some weirdo could be doing to them?”
“I hadn’t thought about that, thanks.”
“Dong, no!”one of the boys cries out.
Blair races into the kitchen and I follow.When I get there, I see it was Eli who scolded the cat.Dong is frozen in place on the kitchen island, his paw midair.There’s something white on his nose and his paw.
“Dong!”Blair throws her arms in the air.“Are you serious?”
He jumps down from the island, unconcerned.Blair picks up a glass pan and moves it beside the sink.
“The cake?!”Coop cries.“What happened?”
“Dong put his foot and his face in it, so we can’t eat it now.”
“Bad Dong!”Coop glares at the retreating cat.
Blair meets my gaze and we both burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny!”Eli says.“We spent two hours making that cake.”
“I know,” Blair says.“But we can’t eat it now.”
“It looks like you guys did a great job, though,” I say.“What kind of cake is it?”
“Red velvet,” Eli says.
I set the pizza boxes on the island.“Guess we better keep these closed when we’re not getting pizza out of them.”
“We watched your game,” Coop says.
“You did?”
