Page 21 of Breathless

Tori reaches over to wipe his face with a napkin. “You two eat more than hobbits. Come on. Time for second breakfast.” She pulls out a big bowl of sliced fruit and settles the kids at thetable.

When I’m done eating, I rinse my plate and tuck it away in the dishwasher. “What time do you need Joey for the dress fittingtomorrow?”

“Can you bring her here at three?” Tori reaches for a napkin to clean a glop of something that flew off Cody. “The fitting isn’t until the evening, but I want to take hershopping.”

“I can take her shopping. What does sheneed?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Everything?” I stare at Tori, confused, and she sighs like I’m a dunderhead. “She was planning to pick up more clothes at hergrandmother’s…”

She pauses while I piece together theclues.

“But Silas probably threw out her stuff when he sold the house.” God, I’m a moron. “Of course she needs moreclothes.”

Tori gives me a patient smile. “So threeo’clock?”

“Let me take her shoppingtomorrow.”

She folds her lips between her teeth for a second. “Sounds good. But be sure you make suggestions because you know she won’t tell you she needsanything.”

“Okay. Yeah. Likewhat?”

I get out my phone to takenotes.

“I don’t know. Shirts, shorts, bras, underwear, a swimsuit,tampons…”

“Whoa.Whoa. That seems awfully personal. You want me to say, ‘Hey, do you need tampons?’ She’ll curl up and hide behind a giant bin ofCheerios.”

Mila waves in my face from her seat next to me. “What aretampons?”

I blink slowly. “Nose plugs. For when you get a nosebleed.”

“Don’t tell her that.” Tori laughs. “Honey, they’re for females. We can talk about it tonight, okay?” She glances at Ethan and henods.

I swipe an apple slice from the platter. “Theyaregood for nose bleeds. I speak from experience. When Kimmy Schumacher’s brother punched me in the face for kissing his sister, she gave me a tampon for the bleeding. Worked reallywell.”

Ethan chugs down the last of his coffee. “It’s amazing you’re as pretty as you are considering how many people have taken a swing at you over theyears.”

“Aww, bro. I’m touched.” I pretend to cry and the kids crack up. “Okay, so I’ll take Joey shopping, and I’ll be sure to ask if she needs feminine products.” God helpme.

I’m not squeamish about things like that, but Bitsy gets embarrassed easily, especially around me for somereason.

And fine, I’ll admit addressing things that go in particular parts of her body I try not to think about might make meuncomfortable.

“You sure she can wait ’till tomorrow? I got too many things to do today or I’d run her into town thisevening.”

Tori nods. “I grilled her last night, and she said she just needed to do some laundry, and she’d be fine. I think that’ll get her by for a little while, but definitely not for her wholevisit.”

I down the rest of my coffee, mentally tallying the tasks I can get done today to clear up my schedule for Joey’s shopping triptomorrow.

“How’d she like her puppy?” my brother asks as he getup.

“Um.” I scratch the scruff on my chin. “Didn’t tellher.”

Wide-eyed, Tori gasps. “Why not?” She starts muttering to herself, something about serving it up on a silver platter, but then trailsoff.

“Did you miss the part about her going back to Florida? Can she have pets at her place? If I had known she wasn’t staying, I would’ve thought this through better.” Staying here means I could’ve helped her with the pup while she settledin.

I was so excited to give her the gift, but now I feel like a dumbass for not beingsmarter.

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