Page 56 of Ms Perfectly Fine
“A kid is not something to ‘figure out.’”
“Can you mind him while I go?” Autumn was already shaking her head, but he added, “If we don’t feed him, he’ll cry and you won’t be able to read in peace.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “No, but I can come with you.”
“Really?” He seemed surprised. “I don’t have a car seat.”
“I have to go for a walk anyway after sitting for so long, but twenty minutes max. In and out, and you feed him.” He didn’t need to know she had already walked back from practice. Another short trip wouldn’t do her any harm.
Elijah clapped his hands, which Todd copied. Elijah picked him up out of his chair and rocked him back and forth.
“Hear that? Ms Grouch is going to come with us,” he said to Todd, who snuggled into his shoulder.
Cute.
The small shop was quiet, and Elijah took Todd from his baby carrier and tucked him into the trolley seat. Once they’d passed the luminous fruit section, Elijah went to find the baby food while Autumn picked them up a few things for the week. When she had enough for the next two days, she took Todd and the trolley to the baby section in search of Elijah.
At the start of the aisle, there was a carefully stacked pyramid of nappies. Autumn watched in slow motion as Todd slapped one of the bundles on their way past. She tried to catch them before they all fell, but she moved wrong and landed hard on her knees beneath a rain of nappy packs. Todd giggled in triumph. She sighed, wondering how in the hell she had ended up in this position.
“Funny,” she said, pushing the packs off just as Elijah appeared. She could see he was trying to contain his laughter, but she resisted the urge to glare at him. It wasn’t his fault she was buried in a pile of nappies.
“I was only gone for a second! Are you okay?” he asked, offering her a hand.
“Fine,” she grumbled.
He pulled her up while the others in the aisle stared at them like they were the worst parents in the world. A teenager in a work apron appeared, not amused by the ruined display, and started to fix their mess.
Autumn reached down, picking up one of the fallen packs. “Do we need nappies?”
“I have some at home,” Elijah said, apologetically handing the worker a pack before they moved to the next aisle.
Hearing him call the house ‘home’ was jarring, but it didn’t bother Autumn as much as she might have expected. These days, when he wasn’t home, she felt his absence, making her realise how alone she’d felt before.
Todd distracted her by grabbing the end of her ponytail and trying to chew it. She gently pried it away from him and handed him a cuddly giraffe from the shelf before he inflicted any more damage on the store.
“I think this kid wants to make us suffer,” she grumbled. He was awfully cute as he snuggled the giraffe.
“Yeah – a real evil genius,” Elijah agreed, adding some juice bottles to the cart. “And you’re paying for that.”
They made it to the checkout without incident, though they had been far longer than the twenty minutes Autumn had negotiated. It was already dark by the time they left.
“I’m exhausted,” Elijah said, carrying a bag in one hand while he held a sleeping Todd in the other. Autumn managed the rest of the bags and opened the front gate, closing it after them. He let her go first so she could open the door, but she paused on the steps when she saw a red rose lying on her doormat.
“Who is it from?” Elijah asked, coming up behind her.
Autumn picked up the rose and tossed it in the bin. “I don’t know,” she said truthfully. She unlocked the door, not wanting to have this conversation. Hurrying inside, she put away the groceries while Elijah put Todd in his sleep chair.
“You don’t know? Someone gives you a rose, and you don’t know who?” Elijah pressed, putting Todd’s food away.
“No. They just appear sometimes,” Autumn said, taking a bag of frozen peas from the freezer. She wished Todd would wake up so they wouldn’t have to keep talking about the roses. “Make sure you check the food isn’t too hot when you give it to him,” she added, putting the bag of peas beneath her back as she lay on the couch. Unfortunately, it was clear that Elijah wasn’t going to let it go.
“Aren’t you worried?” he demanded, sitting on the table by the couch.
“No – they probably just go to the wrong address,” she said, soothing herself with the lie she told herself every time they appeared. She had managed just fine without him; she didn’t need his concern now.
“I found one the other day. I thought it was a mistake,” he told her.
“You found one?” Huh. They were coming more frequently.
