“I like when you say things like that to me,” she says quietly.
“It’s just the truth.”
Putting my arm around her, I hug her close to me. We finish our ice cream and make our way inside the ice cream parlor to the bathrooms so we can wash our sticky hands.
“Where to now?” I ask as we make our way back outside.
“Well, I was thinking a nice hot bath would be nice.”
“That does sound nice,” I answer.
“So, back to my place?”
I grab her hand, linking our fingers.
“My place.” She looks up at me questioningly. “I have a bath that will fit both of us.”
“You said you had abath, Elliot.”
“Well, I do.” Pulling my shirt off, I toss it onto the chair. “But why go in there when we could be out here?”
I kick my pants off then go to her, needing to help her get undressed.
“Is something wrong with it?” I ask against her ear.
“Not at all.”
I lift her shirt up, kissing the space where her neck meets her shoulder, then move along and do the same on the other side. As I help her remove her clothes, I kiss her everywhere I can.
I set the timer on the hot tub for the jets to come on, and I step inside then offer my hand to help her in. Taking a seat in my favorite spot, the one that gives the perfect view of the bay, I pull her onto my lap, tugging her hair aside and brushing my fingers through it.
“Tell me about your life when you were little,” I say softly.
She doesn’t hesitate to answer as she settles against me, hands running along the top of the bubbling water.
“It was great. Perfect. My father worked a nine-to-five, my mother was a stay-at-home mom. She dropped me off at school every morning and picked me up every afternoon. I remember complaining that I couldn’t take the bus like other kids, but she told me she liked spending the extra time with me.”
“So, your sweetness comes from her?” I ask.
She huffs out a laugh. “I suppose so, yeah. Dinner was always on the table at 5:30, just when Dad got home. We’d eat dinner as a family and then watch TV as a family after. They both tucked me in at night. We’d take weekend trips sometimes, and everything was great. Until it wasn’t.”
“Go on,” I say softly.
“I don’t really know what happened. Only that my happy mother suddenly wasn’t so happy anymore. It slowly got worse over time, until… it became too much.”
“Did you ever try asking your father?”
“I never got the chance.”
I hug her tighter to me, never getting enough of how she feels against me.
“It’s almost like he died with her that day too. The man who was there after her death wasn’t my father. It wasn’t.”
It’s quiet for a moment and I let her work through the emotions she’s feelings. Words aren’t going to help her get through this; she needs to manage it herself. She knows I’m here and I’ll listen to anything she has to say, when she’s ready to say it.
“Have you heard anything about his estate yet?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Nothing.”
