5. Autumn
FIVE
AUTUMN
I glance at the price of the bottle and then place it back on the shelf.
A heavy sigh beside me has me wincing, then my arm tingles as he brushes past me to grab not only the shampoo, but the matching conditioner, and drops them into the cart.
My lips thin as I look at the more than generous hoard, and then up to the man who’s watching me with crossed arms. I huff out in annoyance and turn back around.
I’ve already voiced my frustrations about him spending so much.
It spiraled into a conversation about the style of live-in nannies, and asking me if other families had provided things for me before.
I couldn’t deny it, but it felt different when I was fifteen and it was the mom giving me her extra body wash from some sale than a single dad buying out half the beauty section.
When we walked through a few aisles and I didn’t touch anything, he caught on that I realized he was throwing in whatever I picked up. Dodge threatened to go ask an associate to shop for us. I just knew his stubbornness would outpace my pride, so I caved.
“Anything else you want?” Dodge asks.
Winnie babbles happily in the cart's seat, content with the stuffed pig she had reached for as soon as we walked in. It’s half her size, but Dodge handed it over to her without hesitation. It’s endearing.
“Just some soap, and I think I’m good.”
He nods, and we try to turn into the next aisle, but stop short as another cart stops right before us.
“Oh my. She’s the cutest little thing,” an elderly woman croons, reaching over to tug at Winnie’s foot. “You look just like your mama.”
I give her an uncomfortable smile, moving to put myself between her and the cart. I’ll never understand people’s desire to touch strangers’ kids, even if it’s only an innocent foot tickle .
Dodge laughs, loud and obnoxious, startling us all. “Right? Thank god she didn’t get my mean ugly mug, huh?” I tense when his arm wraps around my shoulder.
The woman scowls, but hides it quickly before nodding with a forced smile.
He guides us away from her a few steps, and I shrug out of his hold while he presses a kiss on Winnie’s head. She’s staring up at him with wide eyes.
“Did you mean to scare us all?”
He shrugs with a smirk, nodding at me to grab my choice of body wash. “Yes, I’ve dealt with her kind before. Start asking me all kinds of questions that are strange and invasive.”
I snort, picking something up to smell it, and hum at the tropical smell. I toss it into the cart, and he pats my head.
“Good girl. You’re learning.”
My cheeks flush, and I swat at his hand. “Don’t say it like that.” I let out an embarrassed squeak.
He chuckles, and then winces. “Sorry. Like I said, most of the women I interact with are from the club. It will take a bit to adjust to normal. ”
I don’t say anything because, honestly, I don’t know what normal looks like, but I want him to be comfortable enough to be himself. I shake my head. “No, I don’t want you to change yourself. It was me. My mind went a little…astray.”
Dodge’s eyebrows raise, and a playful smile flits across his lips. A creak of a cart wheel has both of us turning to realize the old woman is still watching us a few feet away.
He scowls, and then clears his throat. “Let’s grab the lube and get home.” He raises his voice on lube and cocks his head to the side as I stare up at him. “Let’s skip the last one we tried. It kind of burned.”
There’s a scoff behind us, and then a moment of tense silence as she hurries away from us, muttering under her breath.
Once she’s out of sight, we stare at each other for another moment before bursting out in laughter. Winnie lets out a shriek of delight, and I reach out so her hand can curl around my finger.
“Don’t mean to embarrass you anymore, just realized the stuck-up prudes in this town scurry at the first mention of sex. I bet that woman only approached because you were with me,” he says with another shake of his head.
I can’t imagine everyone being so up in each other’s business, but even in the decent-sized city I lived in with my dad, no one cared to check up on the teenager abandoned in the apartment for weeks at a time. My attention flickers between him and Winnie.
“Well, I can’t blame her. Winnie really is the cutest thing,” I tell him to ease the tension.
He smirks. “My most shining achievement.”
I laugh with an eye roll and then look over the cart. “I’m good if you are.” I wonder if he really did need lube, but I’m not about to ask.
Dodge nods. “Yup, and it’s getting a little past her bedtime. Let’s get home.”
Home.
That’s a strange concept that I’ve never felt, but somehow him referring to it as such fills me with a hope I should know better than to have.