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33
Kris
The honeymoon phase. You know that let's fuck like bunnies and slack off period of a relationship that we all love? Yeah, I’m in deep, but I’m pretty sure Nicolette is too. Once she smoothed things over with her dad, it alleviated a ton of the tension, and the last week has blown by. I’ve agreed to a once-weekly phone conversation with either Bobby or Cliff to keep everyone in a similar loop. To say Cliff was unhappy about losing his client is undercutting what a whiney toddler he can be.
Right now, I’m standing in the middle of Howard’s Grocery and Gifts because Bobby insisted that regardless of the fact that Nicolette is a twenty-one-year-old woman, the Easter Bunny always brings her a basket full of treats she can eat. I feel like the Grinch puzzling from the top of Mount Krumpet. Bunnies made of chocolate, cream eggs, caramel, and peanut butter eggs. So many Peeps! When I was a kid, there was one, maybe two kinds of Peeps, and they all tasted like horrible sugar glass. The best Peep is an exploded Peep.
Frustrated, I just grab two of everything I see, fuck it, one of us will eat it. Instead of a basket, I buy a trunk because there is a four-foot stuffed duck and bunny too. You know the flat ones, so you can snuggle them like big pillows? I can’t help myself as I get toys for Bowzer and Cat. Nicolette tried changing his name several times, but he ignores her completely until she calls him Cat.
I smile to myself. The last time I had to do something like this was when Claudette was alive. She loved the stuffies and white chocolate bunnies. I think that this could be fun to do every year, and imagine what it would be like to have a kid. Not something I ever thought I would think, but here I am. Hitting an aisle block, I’m sent down the medical supplies section, and I remember the call I had with Andrew, the go-between for Vagrant Soul’s insurance company. He said that it is in her contract that Nicolette needs to have a consultation with a physician no more than ninety days after she signs. I need her to do that. I mean, it shouldn't be an issue. I saw a clinician when she asked me. Which, by the way, handed me a squeaky clean bill of sexual health. Which is good, seeing as we haven’t exactly done the condom thing. I know better, but she’s got an IUD, right?
Speaking of which, I look around, and I’m in the feminine hygiene department. Pursing my lips, I look at the products. Seriously ten bucks for a dozen pads? That’s robbery. The money women have to dish out is insane. It occurs to me that in our honeymoon phase, there has yet to be a pause.
Maybe it's the IUD? I don’t really know how those work. I know some contraceptives stop periods. Maybe we need to have a chat? Then again, maybe I’m overreacting. I’m sure if she missed her period, she would say something. Still, I grab three different tests from the shelf, and since they’re selling them, a back massager. May as well take advantage of what I can.
Getting to the counter, I notice the little spinny case with charms inside, and a little silver bunny head with pink crystals catches my eye. That will look great on Nicolette’s bracelet. “Hey, Trudy, can I get this charm?” I ask the woman that’s been working behind this counter for as long as I can remember.
“Sure, Kris, Coming out early this year?”
“Yeah, decided I needed to get out of the city for a bit. You know, get my pole in the water early.”
“Absolutely, I hear the fish are spawning something fierce. Will this be all of it? Or did you need anything else?” She looks to the liquor shelf behind her. It’s a rare day that she has seen me sober.
“Nope, I’m good, sober actually.” I smile.
“Good for you. You know Saint Peter’s has a good group if you ever want to come to a meeting.” She rings me up, putting the charm in a little box.
“Thanks, Trudy. I’ll keep it in mind.” I don’t say this to brush her off. Her mentioning a meeting makes me wonder if maybe I should actually attend one. I mean, twelve-step isn’t my thing, but having people to talk to might just be.
Getting back to the cabin, I find Nicolette on the porch, meaning I have to smuggle this stuff in later. Though I can grab the groceries. We’re doing ham, of course, a pineapple casserole, carrots, okra, and a couple of salads, for dinner, but I’m all about the brunch and these chocolate eggs we are going to make tonight.
Bags in hand, I walk up the steps, and she’s scribbling in her notebook, Cat in her general shoulder and boob space, and Bowzer laying on the ground getting head scratches from her adorable bare toes as she sits curled up in my favorite rocking chair. “Hey, Tink, you working hard there?”
“Hey, I didn’t even hear you pull up. I’m just scribbling. Is that all everything, or should I go grab something?” Her toes are now gliding over Bowzer’s back, and he looks like he’s in heaven.
“I got it. You stay.” I bend down and give her a soft kiss. “We are going to have such a nice day tomorrow. I got you a little something.” I hold out a rock candy necklace. I remember the sweet treat being at her party and her showing interest.
Her eyes pop as she snatches it from me like a little kid. I chuckle as she puts it on and immediately starts chewing on the string. It is simultaneously the most childish and sexy thing I have ever seen. “Thank you.”
“Sure, I’m gonna put this away. Do you want a tea when I come back out?”
“No, I’ve still got water. It’ll be nice when my stuff gets here. I may have to order some stuff for my water bottle.”
Before I can speak, Cat stretches and adjusts to lay on top of her notebook. “I swear he likes you more than me. Are you just made of all the nips?”
“I’ve got boobs.”
“Fair enough.” With a shrug, I head inside.
By the time I finish unpacking, it’s basically time to make food, and since tomorrow is going to be heavy on the sweets for Nicolette, I decide to do this recipe her dad forwarded to me. A pan-seared garlic chicken and broccoli pasta. Here’s hoping I don’t fuck it up as I’m rather distracted. I go to the bottom of the bag and those tests. I dont want to be in her face about them. With a shrug, I cross the house and go straight for the master bath. I’m going to be a passive-aggressive coward and just leave these right here on the sink.
That problem set into motion. I go back into the kitchen to plate our supper. I figure we can have it on the porch with the fireflies and then maybe go out back and roast some marshmallows at the fire pit.
My back is turned when I hear a little dove coo. Looking over my shoulder, I see Nicolette, a blanket over one arm, and between the fingers of her other hand, one of the pregnancy tests.
“You tryin’ to tell me somethin’?” She quirks a brow with her hip turned out.
“I—uh—well—see what happened was—”
