Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
B oon
“What is this and what have you done with my son, Boon?”
Mom was fuckin’ hilarious. A real comedian. She had a robe cinched tightly around her waist and a pair of reading glasses on her face with another pair jammed on top of her unbrushed hair.
I scooted out her chair at the dining table and she sat down, still looking at me like I’d grown a second head, probably just as gorgeous as my first one.
What can I say? I was gifted with a beautiful face.
The muffin and coffee waiting for her from the shop downtown was still warm if she’d stop gaping at me and eat.
“I just took a page out of Colson’s book. I mean, he successfully conned a woman who divorced his ass and dated Hollywood celebs into marrying him. Figured I could learn a thing or two about women from the guy.”
I sank into my own seat and devoured half my breakfast burrito in one bite. Mom sipped her coffee, beginning to rock side to side like she did when she tasted something particularly delicious. She was a sucker for caramel lattes, and Crazy Beans roasted the very best espresso.
The clunk of Kinsley’s boots down the stairs caught my attention and I hurried to swallow my bite.
She rounded the corner, looking half asleep and eyeing the two of us like we were the worst type of criminal for making her get out of bed before ten on a Sunday morning.
I saw the moment her gaze flickered over to the white pastry bag and extra-large mocha with whipping cream I’d gotten for her.
“Is that…”
I couldn’t help the smug smile. I’d overheard her and that blonde girl chatting at lifting the other day.
They’d been gushing over the Crazy Beans blueberry muffins, topped with some kind of brown sugar strudel.
Kinsley had said they were her favorite.
I’d made a mental note, but forgot about it until Shae told me to do something Kinsley would like.
She’d agreed to go to the mall with me and get some new clothes, but I figured sweetening the deal—literally—would go a long way toward mending our relationship.
Kinsley plunked down in a chair and inhaled the muffin, only coming up for air to sip her mocha. When we were all done, I gathered our trash.
“Ready to buy some clothes, Tink?” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
Shopping was stupid. I actually hated it, which is why when I lived in Dallas, I’d hired a personal shopper who knew my tastes and regularly delivered new articles of clothing to my condo and billed my card. No dressing rooms required.
“And some makeup,” Kinsley threw in there, eyeing me carefully, probably trying to see what she could get away with on this shopping trip of ours. The fact that she didn’t find offense to the use of her nickname showed how much she was working me. And I was willing to be worked.
“Only if we can get a shit ton of those pretzel things they have at the mall,” I responded.
“I’m in!” Kinsley got up and grabbed her wallet off the side table by the front door.
I gave Mom a look that said I was the shit. My daughter was not only talking to me, she seemed enthusiastic about this little shopping trip. Mom headed for the kitchen, leaning in to pat my shoulder.
“Good luck, son,” she whispered.
I tried not to take that ominously and grabbed my truck keys. “Let’s see if my credit card really is limitless.”
Kinsley cheered and didn’t even scowl as we got in my truck and headed two towns over where the bigger shopping mall was located.
When we arrived, she instructed me to park near the side entrance by the makeup store.
I had to hustle to keep up with her as we climbed out of the truck.
The girl had grown so much the last few years, her legs nearly as long as mine.
The second we stepped into the store, I visibly cringed.
Fragrance assaulted my nose, causing an instant headache.
Women of every size, color, and shape packed the aisles, oohing and aahing over color palettes and tubes of shit they intended to slather on their faces.
The overhead lights were brighter than stadium lights.
Kinsley grabbed my hand and dragged me to an aisle with thirty thousand tubes of the same crap, each a slightly different color than the rest.
“I have to get one of these skin tints! They’re huge right now.
Which shade do you think would be best for me?
” she asked, rattling on about the ingredients, blending techniques, and if she’d still need bronzer and a highlighter.
Considering I didn’t know what any of this was, I couldn’t answer her.
“Um, yes to all of it?”
She flicked her glazed eyes my way, then rolled them when she saw how my lip was curled. “Maybe I should ask a worker.”
She waved her hand in the air and a woman came over, her lashes nearly blowing my hair in the breeze every time she blinked.
Those had to be fake, right? Before I knew what was happening, I was shoved in a chair and something cold and goopy was swiped across my cheek.
My daughter and the worker both tilted their heads and swiped another one on my face.
That must have been the right shade or whatever because the woman rubbed it in, both of them smiling.
“Uh, I thought we were getting something for you? I don’t…wear makeup.”
“But I already have makeup on, and since you and I are similar shades, we’re using your naked skin,” Kinsley explained, but didn’t explain anything.
“I don’t think my naked skin feels comfortable with this.”
They apparently didn’t care because I ended up with bronzer, blush, and some sort of powder that set all the other crap on my now-not-so-naked skin before I got to wash it all off.
Kinsley disappeared up to the register to swipe my credit card.
I was pretty sure I was high off all the fragrance a pack of girls were spraying in the corner of the store.
But Kinsley was smiling when she came back with a little striped bag bulging with products.
She took my hand and didn’t let go until we made it out of the store.
She used to hold my hand all the time when she was little.
She loved it when I’d take both of her hands in mine and swing her high up into the air.
She’d squeal and laugh so wide I’d see all her baby teeth.
There was no squealing and no baby teeth to be found, but we did manage to shop in several stores where Kinsley tried on clothes and I told her they were too low cut or too short.
She ignored every comment I made, leaving the stores with bags full of purchases I carried for her like some kind of pack mule.
While she tried on clothes in the second store, it hit me between the eyes that I’d never taken my daughter shopping.
Not for clothes or school supplies. I was just the fun-time dad, showing up every now and again to take her out to dinner and buy her ice cream.
There was a short Disney trip one time and several Christmas visits filled with Santa sightings and snowman building.
But never anything as mundane as watching a music concert, or a loose tooth, or picking out a dress for prom.
So if Kinsley wanted to buy the whole fuckin’ mall right now, I’d hand over my credit card and hope that this one small action might chip away at all the ways I owed my daughter for being a shit dad for her first seventeen years.
When I begged for mercy, we stopped and got two buckets of pretzels and a chocolate shake for me. Kinsley eyed my snack, her eyes twinkling and her cheeks pink with excitement from our outing.
“Quite the snack you got there, big back.”
My jaw dropped open. “Wow. I buy you a whole closet of clothes and you shame me for needing sustenance?”
Her peal of giggles made my lips tip up at the edges.
I did, however, glance down at my belly and sucked in, just to make sure I hadn’t lost my athletic figure already.
That only made Kinsley laugh harder, catching me checking myself out.
I shoved two pretzel bites in my mouth and chewed loudly, just to irritate her.
“Hey! There’s Ms. Fletcher!”
I choked on the dough and had to swallow quickly while turning aside to cough out the salt that had scraped my throat on the way down. Kinsley pounded me on the back and then tugged on my arm, forcing me to follow her to the one store I told her I would not take her to. A lingerie store.
There we found my sisters-in-law, Emmerleigh and Tully, and Em’s employees turned friends, Savannah and Pip.
I’d met them once when they came over to Mom’s for lunch.
In the middle of this circle was Shae, her face flaming bright red as she held something equally red and lacy to her stomach as if she was trying to hide it.
“Come on, Dad. Let’s go say hello.” Kinsley let go of me and ran into the store, giving hugs all around.
I looked down at my two buckets of pretzels and milkshake, appetite officially gone. Well, shit. Kinsley went in. I had to go in too. I’d just pretend it wasn’t a lingerie store. I’ll say a quick hello to be polite and then step back outside to eat in peace.
My plans were thwarted when Tully’s face lit up with something devious when she saw me. She grabbed my arm, stole one of my pretzel bites and talked with her mouth full. “I’m so glad you’re here, Boon. We need a man’s opinion.”
“Uhh…”
“Shae is picking out some pieces and we can’t decide on the red or the black,” Emmerleigh explained, a smile tugging on her lips. “What do you think, Boon?”
Savannah, the redhead, leaned in, smiling brightly. “Yeah, what’s your favorite, Boon?”