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She took a sip of her coffee and cringed. “Thanks for shitty c-c-coffee?” she laughed. “Good God,” she moaned. “I don’t know how you managed to s-s-sip that without making a face.”
“It wasn’t easy.” I tipped the cup out in the bushes and set the cup on the rail. “We’ll blame the instant coffee on that one.”
“You could do that, or you could a-a-also say I’m that much of a shit c-c-cook that I can’t even make instant coffee.” Tess was at least conscious that she wasn’t the best when it came to cooking. If only Aunt Marley could come to that same conclusion. For the past thirty years, she had acted like a good cook, and we had all just had to suffer through it.
“I can’t draw that conclusion just yet. I’d say you’re mediocre. You could always ask Meg and Bristol for some pointers.” Meg would more than gladly give Tess a hand if she wanted it.
“A word a woman a-a-always wants to hear about herself; m-m-m-m-m–.” She closed her eyes and held up her hand. “That’s a hard w-w-word. I can get it.”
This was new. She had started this the second day I was here when a word completely stalled her. Yesterday the words kiwi, spaghetti, and tator tots tripped her up. It took all my willpower not to chuckle while she kept saying titor instead of tator a few times.
“Medi-i-i-iocre.”
“Your cooking is the only mediocre thing about you, babe. Trust me.”
She blushed a pretty pink and took a sip of her coffee. “Oh god, why did I do that to myself again,” she spat. She smacked her lips and reached over the railing to pour out her coffee. “That has to be bad because it’s instant. I can normally drink the coffee I make.”
I grabbed my cup and moved closer to her. “How about you just leave the coffee making to me? I can start a pot.” I reached for her cup, but she blocked my arm. “What’s wrong?”
“You don’t need to d-d-d-d–.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “Do. You don’t have to do things for me,” she stated loudly.
I smiled wide. “Never said I have to do things for you. I’m making you coffee because I don’t want either of us to drink that dishwater you just made.” I grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “Also, no one makes me do anything I don’t want to, babe.”
“Is that s-s-s-s–.” She let out a frustrated yell.
“Can I say something, babe?” I crouched down in front of her and threaded my fingers with hers.
I wasn’t sure what I could and couldn’t say about Tess’s stutter. It didn’t bother me at all. I just wanted to help her when it happened. “Have you ever tried to figure out why or what makes you stutter?”
She stared at me blankly.
“I’m not trying to cure you or anything like that. I just wonder if you knew what was tripping you up so much, we could figure out how to make it not so hard for you.”
Tears pooled in her eyes, and her chin quivered.
No.
Fuck no.
This was not what I wanted to happen. I didn’t want her to feel bad or that I was trying to fix her. I just wanted to help. She got so mad at herself when it happened.
“Don’t cry, baby.” I stood and pulled her out of her chair and into my arms. “I’m so sorry. Forget I even said anything.” I would never mention Tess’s stuttering again if it would make her cry.
“I’m s-s-s-sorry,” she sobbed.
“No, no, no.” I wrapped my arms tightly around her, and she buried her face in my chest. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, babe. I just wanted to help if I could.”
She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and cried uncontrollably.
Way to fucking go, Zag.
Way. To. Go.
