Page 87 of The Wronged Omega

“We are waiting on Sloane, but Leona and Iker will be here. Do you know what you’d like to add?”

I wracked my brain, going over everything I had ever had in my life, but it was surprisingly blank. We had everything from soup and appetizers to main course, sides, and dessert. That’s when inspiration struck.

Freshly made Caesar salad. I could devour a large bowl of it all on my own, and the crisp texture with the sharp dressing sounded like heaven.

“Really?” Cy asked. “You’re not just trying to fill in the one gap we have?”

I can do both.

“If that’s what you really want.”

It is. I smiled and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

This felt like a mini celebration, and we all needed that. The holidays weren’t for a couple more months, so it was perfect timing.

I tagged along with Cy to the store and found that venturing out like that helped. I didn’t feel suffocated by the presence of strangers, and when we got home, I felt better than I had in the past two weeks, maybe even longer. I ignored the staring that our presence caused. Everyone glanced between us due to Cy being a giant and extremely attractive and my missing arm.

The bandage was finally off, and it was almost completely healed. I didn’t mind the curious glances. I’d be the same way.

I chose to put on a mustard yellow minidress that clung to my curves with white tennies. It had long sleeves, so I had Cy cut off the right one and tie the rest into a knot. It looked cute and pulled the outfit together, giving it a little needed pizzazz.

She was in a dress as well, and I marked this as the second time I saw her in one. If I put the dress on, it would be at least a mini as well, but on her, it hit about mid thigh. It was a flowy dark blue almost T-shirt style dress, but it was tailored to her and accentuated her long legs. Cy obviously didn’t need help in the height department, but she sported black leather booties with a two inch heel, making her at least six-foot-seven.

We made quite the pair, and before we left, Odie snapped a few pictures. It was one big step to normalcy.

I breathed in the autumn air as we left the store with an overfilled cart.

Do you always do the grocery shopping?

I hadn’t asked before because she seemed to enjoy it, but they also had people to do this. The curiosity finally got the better of me.

“I don’t like feeling useless. For a long time, there wasn’t anything I could do to help around, so I took over groceries. At first, I went with whoever did the shopping, then I went on my own when I wasn’t working. It makes me feel normal. Most people don’t have servants to cater to them, and I don’t like the feeling of always being waited on.”

That made perfect sense to me. Besides all the death, everything else about my childhood was normal. We were comfortable but not rich. I never worried about having food or a bed, but there were never any extravagant vacations. I did quite a bit as I got older to help my grandma, then she passed, and I had to sort everything out for myself.

I wished I had at least one servant to help me out then, but now I could manage with or without people, and that was a skill everyone should have.

We got to the SUV, and she opened the trunk before stuffing it all in. “How does a little coffee date sound?”

But the food? I didn’t want it to go bad before we got to Gerard’s. It was a forty minute drive back.

“It’s cold enough that we can spend twenty minutes getting coffee and eating a croissant smothered in Nutella.” Cy bent down, placing her face within a few inches of mine. She didn’t press forward, but she didn’t need to. Today had me feeling normal, so I covered the distance and kissed her.

She smiled against my lips, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I felt nothing but happiness in that moment.

Cy pulled back and asked, “Shall we?”

We shall.

We drove through a local drive-thru coffee shop instead of going in. I ordered a dirty chai with caramel syrup and a Nutella-filled donut. They were new and looked delicious. Cy went for a mocha and a variety of croissants with different fillings because she couldn’t decide and wanted to try them all.

We drank and snacked on our way home, discussing which ones were better. I tried to only distract her when there weren’t cars around us, so she did most of the talking.

The change from the first time I met her until now was insane. She still frowned but not nearly as much and definitely not when I was the focus—unless it was the bad kind of focus. Everything had changed, but I knew we were where we needed to be. I wouldn’t lie and say I wouldn’t change anything because I would. I just understood that it wasn’t possible, and we had to work with what we were given.

We were handed absolute shit at times, but we pulled through, and one day, we would be happier for it. I saw that day coming and couldn’t wait for it to change from my future to my present.

Chapter 43

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