Just like the guy who’s driven me over from the clinic in his Mustang.
As soon as he comes to a stop, he climbs out and walks around the car to open the door for me. The first day I got out by myself and it pissed him off. So now I wait for him to do his thing.
It’s not something he used to do two years ago though.
He’d get the door for me once when I was climbing in. I was free to climb out on my own after that.
Now he likes to help me with that as well. Just as he likes to help me with my backpack, which he’s still carrying as he walks me to the front door.
He only gives it back to me when I’m at the door, exactly on the threshold, with the door unlocked, ready to go in.
I know what he’s going to do now.
“You’ve got your phone with you?” he asks like he always does.
“Yes.”
Last week he bought me a new cell phone. Cell phones and personal technology are prohibited at St. Mary’s so I had to leave my old one, the one I had at Bardstown High, at home. I told him that I could still use the old one but he shot me an irritated look and bought me my current phone.
My brothers wanted to pay for half of it.
Reed gave them an irritated look as well but they glared at him back, so my brothers split the cost.
“And groceries and things are stocked?”
“They are.”
I have groceries for days actually.
Because again, Reed bought me everything over the weekend and then my brothers showed up with groceries too. So I have two sets of every food item. After a lot of discussion, they have now come up with a rotating schedule as to who will bring me groceries what week. This was a much more heated discussion than the cell phone one because they’d found out that Reed had already hired a cook and a housekeeper to come every day.
“Good. I’ll come by tomorrow to pick you up. Same time,” he instructs. “Lock the door after me.”
As usual.
He picks me up and he drops me off. He gives me instructions and then he leaves. Only to do it all over again the next day.
Because he doesn’t live here with me.
He lives in a hotel. One of the most luxurious hotels in Wuthering Garden, only fifteen minutes away from me. He made that very clear when my brothers asked him about it.
When he told them he already had a house for me, Con’s first question was where would Reed live. And he said that he’d be staying in a different place but close enough to get to me in record time if something happened.
As much as my brothers hate that I’m living alone now, they agree with this. They don’t want Reed anywhere near me even though I’m having his baby and he’s taking care of everything.
Before he can leave though, I ask, “Are you going back to the office?”
He’s taken aback by my question, I guess because I usually let him go without comment. But not today.
Today I have to say something to him.
His eyes flicker with suspicion as he answers. “Yeah. Why?”
“Just curious.” I shift on my feet. “So I was thinking something.”
His suspicion only grows. “And what might that be?”
“What do you… do for fun?”
