Page 113 of Kind of Cursed
“You hungry, Millie?” I call.
“God, no.” Then I hear her mutter, “I may never be hungry again.”
I chuckle, but I check the fridge just in case she changes her mind. I have some leftover grilled chicken. I could make her a wrap or a salad. But after Thanksgiving dinner at Mami’s, even that might be too much.
Having Millie there today felt so right. Holding her hand while we said grace. Pressing my knee into hers under the table. Clearing her dishes.
She felt like mine.
She feels like mine now. She hasn’t even been here for five minutes, and my place feels more alive, warmer than it ever has. It’s not homey at all, but maybe it can be a retreat for her. A place to get away and forget her responsibilities for a little while.
A place to stop being a guardian and just be a woman.
I’d like to give that to her. I don’t really know what to make of her stories about her family—and birth control and babies. I said I believed her and I meant it. But I can tell she’s scared. That’s one of the reasons I assumed she was a virgin.
But if she’s not, and she’s already experienced thiscurse, as she calls it, then she’s been hurt. Because she’s alone, and there’s no sign of a baby. Maybe that means she trusted someone and he let her down.
Dios, help her to trust me.
The water boils, and I fill our mugs. “Sugar?” I call.
“Just a little,” Millie answers.
When the mugs are ready, I carry them back to the living room and set them down in front of her.
“Thanks.” She grabs hers and blows over the top. “Smells good. Your neighbor must really like you.” Millie grins as she says this, but she watches me closely, waiting for a response.
“She’s friendly, I guess.”
Millie keeps her eyes on me as she takes a tentative sip. “Should I be jealous?”
I want her to be jealous so bad I choke on the tea.
“Um…” I clear my throat.“Areyou jealous?”
She presses her lips together to keep from grinning, her blue eyes blazing. God, she’s adorable. And the sexiest woman alive.
She narrows her gaze. “What if I were? Hypothetically?”
¡Éxito!
I take a successful swallow of the tea. “Hypothetically or otherwise,” I tell her, “I’d never give you a reason to be.”
She blushes again, but before I can enjoy it, my phone buzzes. I check the screen to find an unknown number and three pictures. One of the open fridge with Mami’s to-go containers clearly stacked inside, another of Clarence lifting a leg on a sago palm in the Delacroix’s backyard, and other of Emmett pouring food into the dog’s dish.
Chuckling, I show the phone to Millie. She takes it from me, smiling.
“That’s from Harry’s phone.” She swipes through the pictures, shaking her head at the one of Clarence and the palm. “Photographic evidence. Ingenious.”
I smirk. “I figured it was the best way to get you to accept my invitation.”
She presses her lips together, considering. “It helped.”
When she hands the phone back to me, I save Harry’s contact. Having it might come in handy if Millie lets me stick around.
“You’re really good with them,” Millie says, her voice going soft.
“They’re good kids.”
