Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Sneaking out of bed before Kali wakes, I throw on a pair of black sweats and a Harley t-shirt before I stuff my feet into my black Nikes by the front door and steal my woman’s car keys for a quick trip to the store. Knowing a certain someone will be up for school, I drift down to Lily’s house and knock on the door. It swings wide a moment later with a bubbly kiddo ready to take on the day.
“Want a ride to school, Lily Pad?” I hitch my thumb toward Kali’s driveway.
Eyes wide, bouncing on the balls of her feet, Lily rushes back inside, her dark hair swaying in a high ponytail as she leaves me on the porch to ask her mom if she can hitch a ride to school with Grandpa. She’s back a second later, yelling goodbye to Abby and racing outta the house.
On the sidewalk, she holds my hand on the short stroll to Kali’s SUV. “I love not having to ride the bus,” Lily crows when I open the backseat for her to literally jump in and buckle up.
Belly chuckling at her enthusiasm, I round the rear and climb into the driver’s seat. “Donuts before school?” I ask as I turn over the engine. Because I don’t trust backup cameras, I hook an arm around the passenger seat to check everything’s clear. Not that I have anythin’ to worry about.
“Yes!” I catch Lily’s silly dance in the rearview mirror.
“You wanna run with me to pick some stuff up for Kali, too?”
Settling down, Lily folds her hands in her lap. “What kinda stuff?”
“A new plant? Flowers? Tea? Something she’ll like?” Something to make her morning and take her mind off all the drama goin’ on.
“Yes!” My little one claps like it’s the best idea she’s heard all week. “But can we get Mom something, too? She’s really sad. Dad left yesterday and said he didn’t know when he’d be back. But he promised to call me a lot.”
“Sure. We can get Mom whatever you want,” I reply, winking at my granddaughter in the rearview mirror.
“Can you take it to her since I have school?”
This adorable kid has a heart of gold.
“I sure can. I’ll tell her it’s from you.”
A smile splits her face in two. “Thank you!”
On the short ride to the local twenty-four-hour grocery store, Lily chatters away in the backseat, and I listen. Johnny from class pushed another boy around on the playground, and she didn’t like it. She told him how she felt, and now she’s sad because Johnny wasn’t nice to her. Little kids can be assholes. No. People can be assholes.
Parking outside the front of the store, Lily scrambles out of her side and meets me on the sidewalk.
The electronic doors slide open, and we share a grin as we both opt for a basket instead of a cart. I haven’t been here in ages. Not since Dark’s cheating anniversary. Well, the anniversary of the day he returned with Lily and Abby in tow.
With an eye for all things Kali and her mom, Lily places a bouquet into her basket and a small bamboo tree in mine.
“That’s the one you think Kali would want?” I point to the white pot nestled in the corner.
Lily nods enthusiastically and selects a succulent inside a pot shaped like a generic blackbird. “Can she have two?”
“She can have as many as you want.”
Grinning wider than the sun, Lily’s gray eyes light up, and she selects another succulent in a mini mosaic pot and adds that to my basket before she moseys over to the bakery. Whatever she chooses, I decide to buy, no matter the cost. This is far more about spending quality time with my granddaughter than shopping.
“Can I bring donuts for my class?” she asks, and I don’t hesitate to stack two large boxes of donuts on top of the other for her classmates and teachers. Maybe this will show whatshisname he should be nicer to Lily. Killing him with kindness is probably better than actually killing him, which is my choice of retaliation.
Setting my basket on top of the donut boxes, I carry them around the store. By the third aisle, I regret not using a cart, especially when Lily adds two oranges the size of my fist and the world’s largest piece of ginger into my basket alongside the three plants. “What are those for?” I nod toward the additions while she adds a carton of strawberries to her basket, but not before she inspects the fruit to see which is best.
“Kali likes to make that gross juice stuff. It uses ginger and lemons. But oranges are good, too,” Lily reasons, and I can’t argue that logic. My woman does love to make that gross juice stuff, as Lily calls it. It’s something I actually like. Maybe not at first. But it grows on you after a hundred or so tries.
By the time we’re done, we’ve got two baskets full and the donuts. With my help, we spread everything on the conveyor at checkout. While the cashier rings us up, I pull my wallet from my front pocket and hand Lily a stack of cash. Her eyes widen, and her mouth rounds at the sight, like she won the lottery, when it’s not more than a couple of hundred dollars in a mix of twenties and fifties. But to a kid, it probably is like winning the lottery.
“Whoa,” she whispers under her breath as she attempts to count through the cash when the lady gives us the total. Those behind us are patient as Lily figures out which bills to hand the woman. I don’t intervene. She’s smart. She’s got this. Tongue between her lips, Lily counts her numbers and checks the green letters on the screen twice before handing over her stack of bills.
“Thank you.” The woman smiles kindly and counts the money aloud for Lily to hear. When she’s handed her twenty dollars too much, Lily accepts the bill back with our other change, and we collect our bags.
I thank the lady for her patience on the way out. She blushes ten shades of pink, and Lily is ten times happier than I’ve seen her in ages when we load down the back of Kali’s vehicle with our finds. I set the donuts beside my granddaughter so we don’t forget to take them to school. It isn’t long before we’re there, parking in the lot across from the front doors of her elementary, and she’s skipping with her backpack ahead of me to hold the entrance open like a polite little lady.
“Thanks, Lily Pad. You lead the way.” I stop inside to wait for her as other kids raise hell and race around like they’ve snorted six pounds of sugar for breakfast. As I bob and weave through the chaos, I chuckle at a group of boys I overhear arguing over whether Minecraft or Fortnite is superior. Whatever the fuck Minecraft and Fortnite is.
By the graces that be, Lily’s teacher’s greeting her kids at the classroom door when we arrive.
“We brought donuts.” Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Lily points to me. “That’s my pops.”
“Good morning, Ms. Lily,” her teacher greets with a genuine smile before she turns her attention to me, and her eyes widen in surprise. I’m a big guy with tattoos. Not exactly something you see around these parts every day. I don’t take offense. “Good morning, Lily’s Pops.” She chuckles awkwardly and tucks a strand of curly blonde hair behind her ear out of nervousness or what? I don’t know. I’m fuckin’ clueless about women unless that woman is Kali .
“Mornin’,” I reply to be polite and lift the boxes of contraband. “Where would you like these to go?”
“Oh. Ohhh.” She visibly gulps. “That’s kind of you. Ummmm.” The young woman taps her bottom lip, thinking, then shakes her head and expels a small laugh when she’s made up her mind. “I-I’ll just take them.” She offers me her hands to deposit them into.
Not needing to be told twice, I hand over the treats, nod my thanks, and squeeze my little girl quickly before I dodge the hoard of tiny bodies on the way out.
As I exit, the older secretary waves to me. I raise my hand and offer a friendly smile as I shove open the front glass door and bask in the early morning sun as it warms my face.
Now it’s time to get my ass home to my lady before she wonders where I went.