“Did you leave her to look after herself?”
“God, no.”
“Did you leave her at home on her own?”
My head jerked at the question. “I’d never do that.”
“Were you too busy getting your vagina seen to by him to look after her?”
I shot her a glare. “Now you’re just being ridiculous.”
“Then you did nothing wrong. I know you have it in your mind that you can’t have a relationship until Nemi’s eighteen, and I absolutely understand your theory behind it, but why can’t you be like most other single moms and have a man, too? So long as he treats her well, puts her first as he does you, takes her into consideration with big decisions, and doesn’t hurt or harm her, where’s the wrong in that? If anything, you’re teaching your daughter about the beauty of life, where a man can love a woman implicitly, and he can be a father figure to a kid who isn’t his.”
I had a sudden sense of longing after hearing Naomi’s words of wisdom. “I want that for her.”
“And the rest of us want it for both of you. So, shave your legs, make an effort with your appearance but not to the extent that you look over the top, and go on the damn date. You don’t know until you try it. Who knows, Bond could have a weird eating habit that grosses you out.”
She had a point.
Then Naomi added, “I went on two dates with a guy in New York who had to stick his finger in his food and then touch it to his lip to check the temperature of it before he ate it. When I asked him if he was okay, he told me his mom normally did it for him.”
I stared at her wide-eyed. There was random, and there was random, but that was a whole new realm of fucked up random. “I don’t— What in the hell? How old was he?”
“Three years older than I was at the time, so maybe, like, twenty-four? It was a total nightmare,” she snorted, then burst out laughing.
I couldn’t help it, once I joined her, I couldn’t stop. It was just the mental image of sitting in a nice restaurant and Bond sticking his finger in mashed potatoes and then raising it to his lip that did it for me. It was too much.
Once we settled, we focused on the girls, who were now showing Zoyla how a solar butterfly worked by putting it on her knee and then moving back so the sun could get to it.
“You know,” Naomi mused, “I don’t think I’ll ever stop thanking you for convincing me to move here. You saved both of us, honey, and I don’t think you realize it.”
Oh, I knew. Her parents were drug addicts who’d tried to sell Shanti to a family who wanted to adopt. That’d been the catalyst for her moving, but I knew the grief from losing her brother had been suffocating her in Florida way before they’d tried to steal Shanti in a store. This way, she wasn’t too far from his grave, but she was far enough away to be able to breathe. Plus, the town was beautiful and safe for a little girl to grow up in, and Shanti loved it here.
“Are they still in jail?” I asked, referring to her parents.
“For the next fifteen years for him and the next thirteen for her.”
That made me smile. It was the best place for them. “Still got your framed Blow-Pop from Carter?”
There was silence, and then she mumbled, “In pride of place next to my bed.”
Yeah, their story was a special one, with a history that went back years. Carter had even known her brother, so their connection was more profound and visceral than most couples.
He’d be good for her, and she’d be the same for him. I was sure of it.
Chapter Eleven
Bond
It’d been three days since I’d helped Heidi out with Nemi, and even though our date was only an hour away from starting, I was still expecting her to text and say she’d changed her mind. To be honest, her not doing it before now was a surprise.
Then again, the news that Jenny had accepted the job and was starting on Monday might have made her like me even more. Not that I did it purely for Heidi. I’d been that kid once who’d needed to be trusted with some responsibility to learn, so I knew how much it’d mean to Jenny to be on the receiving end of it.
I was just pulling a new t-shirt over my head when there was a knock at my door and my stomach sank. If it was an emergency, I’d have to be the one that’d cancel it, and would she give me a second chance? Probably not.