Page 41 of Finding Home

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Thankfully, Chloe doesn’t spend the night in West Bridgejaw, I’m not sure what I’d have done with the thought of her in some random bar with men watching her as she danced and had fun.

When she gets back, she puts up a calendar on the fridge and adds my work shifts and her important appointments to it. We slowly start to transition to her taking Lila when I’m on shift. She’ll often take Lila to Grandma’s and they’ll spend the evening together before she brings her home to sleep in her own bed.

We find a rhythm that works for us. I make dinner on my days off, and Chloe and Lila often leave something sweet for me to find when I get off shift. Chloe takes Lila to spend time with the horses before she gets her riding. She has her feeding and grooming them, becoming familiar with them and the work that comes with having them, telling her that part is just as important as the safety of riding.

I often find myself sitting on the couch after Lila goes to bed watching one of Chloe’s reality TV shows, or we’ll both just sit and read. The more we’ve found ourselves in that position, the more I find us talking about our days. She’s started sprawling on the couch, her toes just dusting my leg as we talk. It’s like she wants to be closer but doesn’t want to make the first move, and I’ll be damned if that doesn’t send a little thrill through me. It takes every fibre of my being to not just grab her feet and pull her closer, or start massaging my thumb up her instep.

The next two and half weeks fly by, and before I know it, it’s Thanksgiving. While Chloe spends it with her family, Lila and I spend it with Grandma. It’s the last holiday before she starts treatment, and she decides to go all out. When we all get home and I’ve tucked Lila into bed, Chloe and I find ourselves in the living room together.

As she reaches for her book beside the couch, I ask, “Can I ask a favour?”

Chloe looks at me, a softness to her expression that once again shows me what an amazing woman she is. She’s prepared for anything, and I know that no matter what it is I ask, if she’s capable, she’ll do it. I feel like Chloe would help someone out even if it was a detriment to her, and I just hope that no one in her life has taken advantage of that.

“Of course.”

I grip the back of neck. “Lila asked me to learn how to do braids for her. I was hoping you could teach me. She loved the ones you did for her last week.”

Chloe’s smile is so big it reaches her eyes. “Of course, I’ll teach you. Do you want to watch some how-to videos and maybe practice with some basic braids?”

I nod.

“I’ll be right back,” she says before beelining to her room. She returns with a hair brush, comb, and a few hair ties.

She points to the couch and I sit, and she sits beside me, pulling out her phone and pulling up a video. As the woman shows how to separate the hair and move the pieces over each other, Chloe sits facing me, doing the same on a small section of her hair, so I can seecloser what she’s doing. When the video’s done, she stands and taps my left knee, and I spread my legs more. She settles on the ground between them, handing me the supplies she brought out over her shoulder.

“It’s practice time. You’re going to run the brush through my hair and then use the comb to separate it.”

I do as I’m told, maybe taking longer than necessary to brush her hair, enjoying the feeling of the soft strands between my fingers and the way she seems to relax into the couch more and more as I continue to run the brush through her hair.

I grab the comb and divide her hair into three even pieces as much as possible.

“Okay, hair’s divided, what next?”

“You’re going to cross the right piece over the middle one, making sure it’s as snug to the top of the strands as possible, without pulling my hair out,” she says on a laugh.

I do as I’m told, crossing the right piece over the middle and hold them.

“Okay, and now?”

“Now the left piece over the middle, again making sure it’s tight, then you’ll repeat, right then left until you don’t have enough hair to cross.”

Sounds easy enough. I repeat the steps, finding it easier than I thought. I’ve always learned better doing than being walked through something, so being able to put this into practice is nice.

When I finish, I wrap the hair tie around the end, and Chloe grins at me over her shoulder before pushing up and heading down the hall. Her smile is even bigger when she returns.

“You did great, I’d maybe make it a tad tighter, it prevents the smaller hairs from falling out more, but a really good job for your first time.”

Her praise has me fighting a smile. I only want to keep doing things that make her say these kinds of things to me.

I pat the couch between my legs, and she quickly takes her spot back. I undo the hair tie and run the brush through her hair before parting it and redoing the braid. We spend the rest of the night like this, she puts some music on and I brush and braid her hair. Isometimes stop and massage my fingers into her scalp, and her head leans into my touch as her eyes close and soft sounds of pleasure leave her.

Chloe’s done so much for me, between helping out with Lila and providing her a safe place and adult she can feel comfortable around to spending time with Grandma and bringing me snacks at the fire station. I’m glad I can do something for her, even if it’s as small as massaging her head for her.

When she yawns, I brush her hair a few more times and hand her back the supplies.

“You should probably get some sleep,” I say.

She leans her head against my knee, and I instinctively run my hand over her hair. After another yawn, she gets up and smiles at me.