When the food is gone, we lay together on the couch.
Leif’s skin is warm, kissed by the sun, and getting pinker as time goes on. He doesn’t complain, though, and stays against me anyway.
I kiss the side of his head, and whisper, “I love having you in my arms.”
He hums a sound that tells me he’s almost asleep, so I don’t bother him anymore. I let him fall asleep in my arms and then I watch him for far too long before I pick him up and carry him to bed, where we sleep until late morning.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Leif
Turns out Aliko has no idea how to grocery shop. He’s never done it before.Ever. He’s never even been in a grocery store before. I’d love to see the look on his face if he set foot into a large one, and not this tiny one in this small village. There are limited options here.
“I can’t believe you’ve never done this before.”
“I’ve never had to,” he says. “I always order food. Eat street food.”
“Wait, so then you can’t cook, either?”
“Me and fire don’t do well together.”
I laugh as I stop by the fruit section. I guess that makes sense.
“I’m going to assume you haven’t had much fruit then, if all you’ve had is pre-made food.”
“Not unless you count pineapple on pizza, which was… confusing.”
I laugh again. “That’s one word for it.” I look over the fruit, trying to decide what to do with it. “Do you trust me to get what we need?”
“As long as you let me pay.” He grins, and I roll my eyes.
“It’s not worth arguing,” I mutter.
“Good,” he says, leaning in to kiss my head.
We both pause, but I quickly clear my throat and busy myself looking at the bananas.
I don’t hate that he just did that. He’s just never done it in public before, and we both realized it at the exact same time, it seems. But we don’t need to talk about it because it wasn’t serious. No one here will recognize us. The only other people in this place look like they’re retired and have decided anything heavier than Elvis is evil. They could have grandkids though… but I doubt their memory is that good.
“Banana pancakes are really good,” I say, picking up a bunch that’s yellow enough so we can eat them right away.
We make our way through the store slowly. Aliko looks at everything as if he’s seeing it all for the first time, with wonder, trying to figure out what it is or what to do with it. He looks absolutely devastated when we get to the seafood section and he sees lobsters in a glass case. I don’t say anything about it, and neither does he.
When we’re done and reach the cashier, we have a cart full of groceries. It’s probably too much for the week… but that’s fine. Better than not having enough.
“Carrying all of this back is going to be fun,” I say as I put the food on the belt.
“We have reusable bags,” the cashier says with a smile, gesturing to the bright blue bags hanging on the rack beside us. “They’re very sturdy and only fifty cents.”
I look at Aliko who just shrugs and reaches for them to grab a handful. He tosses them onto the belt. As she rings up our food, she keeps glancing at Aliko, her cheeks going pink.
“Sorry,” she says with a shake of her head. “I’m not trying to be rude, it’s just that we don’t get many of your kind around here. Sorry, was that rude?” She laughs nervously.
“It wasn’t rude,” Aliko says gently. “I appreciate you saying it rather than letting me think you’re staring for other reasons.”
“Oh goodness, you knew I was staring.” She laughs again.
“Really, it’s okay. I’m used to it.”
