Page 120 of Fighting For Light
“Keep stirring, don’t burn my dinner.”
“Yes, ch—“
She presses her fingers to my lips and cocks a brow. “Please stop staying that it…” I smile against her fingers and pucker my lips to kiss them. “You can just say the word banana, and it makes me feral, okay? So just…no,” she says like she ran around the block. My heart stutters in my chest.
It’s great that we are so attracted to each other physically, but it’s in the ordinary, the cooking dinner with her, seeing her smile because I’m messing with her, that settles something in my soul. It makes everything I’ve done worth it.
55
Kai
Cordi is finally startingto relax. Last night, she didn’t wake up screaming or crying— a step in the right direction. A few days ago, I ordered a bunch of flowers that come in round boxes. They delivered them, and while she was sleeping, I quietly filled our room with them. I smile at my careful work. She’s going to freak out when she wakes up. She’s on her side with a body pillow she bought a while ago. I’d rather she wrap herself around me, but sometimes she prefers the pillow, and I reluctantly accept it. I slip into the bathroom to take a quick shower and wait for her to wake up.
I’ve been doing light workouts and gentle therapy, but I won’t know if everything is good until I get another MRI on my ribs and hip. Every time I attempt to schedule an appointment, I worry about Cordi. She doesn’t want to leave the house, and I’ve been trying to work with that and help her settle back in and move on from what happened. But at some point, we will have to leave the house and get back on the road. And that’s going to be a whole different adjustment with a baby in tow. I’m more nervousabout traveling with a newborn than unknown threats. Yeah, the baby is scarier.
Swiping the steam off the mirror, I brush my hair back and hear a gasp. I smile to myself in the mirror and open the bathroom door. She’s sitting up, looking all around as tears sit in her eyes. “What in the world?” she asks in utter disbelief.
“I’m wondering if I should be concerned with how I got all of these in here, and you didn’t move an inch.”
“Kai, they’re beautiful. Why did you do this? What’s the occasion?”
I shrug and lean against the doorjamb. “Because I wanted to.”
“You bought me what has to be thousands of dollars in flowers because you wanted to?”
I take the few steps to the bed, lean over, and kiss her cheek. “I love doing things that make you smile.”
She lifts her chin and kisses me again.
I pull away and get off the bed, still wrapped in my towel.
“Come here. I have one more thing to show you.” I walk around to her side of the bed and help her up, pulling her to the baby’s room.
I open the door and step to the side so she will see it the moment she walks in.
She glances at me, then walks into the baby’s room and gasps.
“You finished it,” she whispers.
I nod and press my front to her back, sliding my hands to her belly.
“It’s beautiful. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.”
I chuckle and kiss her cheek. The rocking chair is really nothing special. It’s a classic rocking chair design, stained a dark walnut to match the crib. I bought a cushion for us to sit on. The back is slightly curved with a mission style on the top, making itlook more modern to match the crib. She steps out of my hands and sits on it.
“It’s really comfortable,” she says, running her hands up and down the arms.
“Good, I figured we’re going to spend a lot of time in it.”
She smiles. “Thank you,” she says again.
I shake my head. “I wish you would stop thanking me for things that don’t need it. I want to do these things for you, for him, Cordi. Always.”
“This is my new favorite piece of furniture now.”
“Well damn, I’ll just throw our bed away and build one. Then maybe that can be your new favorite.”
She grins and rolls her eyes as she rubs her belly. Her hand stops on a spot.
