“Sephora?”
I nodded, my cheek moving on leather but feeling the threadsof the patches on his chest too.
“What’s Sephora?”he asked.
“Only the b-b-best s-s-store in the m-m-mall.”
There was a smile in his voice when he said, “See the oldladies took care of you.”
“I n-n-need Corona,” I told him.
“Good Tack’s back with that for you,” he replied.
He was back?
Jeez.
How long had I been crying?
“And t-tequila,” I added.
“How about you stop crying before you get yourself hammered?You can start bawling again after you’re hammered,” he suggested.
“M-maybe a good idea,” I mumbled into his chest, snifflingand pulling myself together.
Though in doing that, I will note, I did not move from hisarms.
“I didn’t expect them to do the housewarming party thing,honey.But I’m thinking it’s not a bad idea,” he remarked.
“Mom loves parties and with Dad gone, she doesn’t get tosocialize as much as she used to.”
“Okay.”
“She probably could use getting hammered as well,” Icontinued.
“Probably.”
“Did you meet her?”I asked.
“Yeah, she’s as pretty as you,” he answered.
I hated that I’d missed that.
And I was scared about how much I hated missing it.
I sniffled some more, realizing I was curled into his armsbut not holding him.Both my arms were cocked in front of me, my knuckles undermy ducked chin, all of this tucked tight to his chest.
It felt nice.
“You painted,” I murmured.
“Yeah.”
“Bought me a new bed.”
He didn’t reply to that.
I lifted my head only slightly, keeping my cheek pressed tohis chest.
