“Remember,” Chris said, “we can come back for other stuff. We don’t have to bring everything now, and we can certainly buy anything else we need.”
She nodded. “Right. I’ll definitely have to come back to go through the rest of the stuff. I took two weeks of leave, but any more than that and my schedule of surgeries becomes more difficult to rearrange.”
Wow. She’d have to go back to work in two weeks? That seemed cruel. But time waited for no one and no thing—including grief.
“I’m so sorry, Erykah,” Piper said. There was a brief silence, then she motioned to the food boxes. “We brought breakfast, so fuel up. Tuck and I will go get supplies to pack everything.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Of course.” Piper hugged Erykah again. Then she and Tuck left the house.
“Your friends are really great.”
Chris nodded. “I was thinking that earlier.” He turned to the cabinet and removed two plates. “What kind of donuts do you like?”
Her nose wrinkled. “I don’t eat a lot of food like this normally.”
“I don’t think calories count right now.” His gaze skimmed her body. “And you definitely don’t have to worry about a thing.”
She looked downward. Chris wanted to give himself a kick in the pants. She was grieving. This wasn’t the time for flirting—even unintentional flirting.
“I’ll have one.” She added a glazed donut to her plate.
Chris added another one. “Or two.”
Erykah threw him a look.
“If you warm it up, you’ll see two is the correct choice.”
“Warm what up?” Cheyenne walked into the kitchen looking very...Disgruntled? Annoyed?
Her hair, no longer in braids, fanned out like a lion’s mane. She wore a pink polka dot shirt with purple-and-yellow-striped pants. Obviously the girl loved patterns and didn’t care about matching.
“My friends bought us donuts.”
Her eyes widened. “Are there any with sprinkles?” she whispered.
“Pink ones,” Chris said just as quietly.
“And you warm donuts up?” The skeptical look she threw Chris’s way resembled a royal looking down her nose at a peasant.
“I promise it’s delicious.”
“Okay. Warm one up.” She held up her pointer. “If it tastes okay, I’ll eat the rest warm too.”
“The rest?”
“Cheyenne, you can have two donuts, and that’s it,” Erykah interjected.
“But why?” she whined. “How many have you had?”
“Two.” Erykah pointed to her plate. “That’s all we need.”
Cheyenne swung her head in Chris’s direction. “How many are you having?”
He pointed at the two donuts on his plate. They were jelly filled, and he couldn’t wait to eat them.
“Fine.” She crossed her arms.
