“Get a room. Nobody wants to seethat.” Freddie’s loud voice woke me from a deep sleep. I was nice and warm, not ready to get up yet. I thought I would get no sleep at all, but I must have dozed off. The last thing I remembered was lying on the couch with Rhett.
When I opened my eyes, it turned out that I was still lying on the couch with Rhett, my front pressed to his side, my hand underneath his shirt. He was still asleep, breathing deeply. His face looked younger, his hair was a mess and I couldn’t help but stare at all that was Rhett. If someone had told me a few months ago that I would be this close to him again, I would have questioned their sanity.
“We’re not doing anything,” I whisper-yelled at Freddie, who was standing in the doorway to the living room, crinkling her nose at us in disgust.
“Of course you weren’t. Only because you are fully dressed doesn’t mean you didn’t do a little something-something.”
“Shut it, you pest. Now go away, Rhett is still sleeping.”
“Nope, I think you woke him up,” Freddie said and ran away. I looked at Rhett with his eyes now open, and he was smiling at me.
“Good morning,” he said and kissed me. It wasn’t just a peck either. Morning breath be damned, I wanted the kiss to last. And last it did. I reluctantly pulled back when I heard a gagging noise from the kitchen.
“Sure you weren’t doing anything last night?” the brat yelled out to us.
I ignored her and placed a kiss on Rhett’s jaw instead. “Morning. Do you want some coffee?”
“Would love some.”
I untangled myself and got up, careful not to knee anything precious in the process. We walked into the kitchen, me barely functioning and Rhett looking ready to go to the office. The only thing missing was his suit jacket and his shoes, something he had taken off last night. Gone was the messy hair, all it took to set it to rights was a brush of his hand.
“What are you making us for breakfast?” I asked the brat and received a snort in return.
“I’m not your housekeeper. Cook your own breakfast.”
“I’m making pancakes,” I said, smirking, because it was something I knew Freddie loved. She eyed me suspiciously. “What do I have to do to get some?” Oh she knew me too well.
“Clean your room.”
“It’s clean,” she protested. We both knew it wasn’t. There were clothes everywhere. Most days she couldn’t even find her school books because they were buried under a mountain of crap.
I leveled her with a look and started getting the flour out of the cupboard. When I got to the fridge for the milk and eggs, she huffed and left the kitchen.
“You’re really good with her, you know,” Rhett said, having managed to stand close to me without making a sound.
“Doesn’t feel like it. And sadly the Judge didn’t agree with you. Apparently I’m a bad influence and no child is safe in my care.” I couldn’t help the bitterness in my voice.
“He wouldn’t have given you joint custody if he thought that. He just did what he thought was best for Josie. Anna can be very convincing when she wants to be.”
I started putting the flour, milk, vanilla extract and eggs into a bowl. “I think I’m just going to give her the money,” I said and turned on the electric mixer, drowning out Rhett’s response.
When the batter was as mixed as it was ever going to be, I turned the mixer off.
“You’re not,” Rhett said as if we didn’t just have a five minute pause in our conversation.
“It’s my decision. I can’t leave Josie with her. Once she gets money, she’ll back off. I don’t want it anyway. We were fine before I knew how much Nate had left. We’ll be fine after it’s all gone.”
“Emmi, let me help you,” Rhett growled.
“You are helping. But there is no way she’ll back off without getting the money. And I need Josie back. Who knows what Anna will do to her.”
Rhett sighed but backed off. I knew we weren’t done, but this was all I could handle at this stage and he recognized that.
The fact that he stuck around after everything and helped us as much as we let him meant more to me than he would ever know.
We heard a scream from the bedroom and Freddie came stomping down the hall. “The demon cat peed in my shoes. They are ruined,” Freddie screeched, holding her shoes out in front of her. “Smell them.” She started waving them in front of me, and I prayed the piss wasn’t going to slush out and over the floor. Cat piss stank worse than anything, something we had all found out over the years. Celeste didn’t discriminate. She hated everyone equally.
“Stop moving the shoes around. Just put them outside, hose them off and put vinegar and baking soda on it,” I told her. She’d done this before and knew what to do but acted like it was the first time.
