Page 62 of Cain

“It’s been nice not to even have a scale. And I get lots of steps in a day. Though the eating thing hasn’t been great. It’s a lot of frozen dinners, pre-made salads, or canned soups. I don’t have a stove.”

“Do you miss cooking?”

“I barely ever had a chance to do it. We had no money growing up, so there weren’t many opportunities to learn. Then Perry didn’t want me cooking. We ate out or he insisted on salads.”

“If you ever want to fiddle, I’ve got a brand new refreshed kitchen here. Even got the new range in. No one has even used it yet.”

“I might take you up on that. After I hyper-fixate on recipe videos for a few days.”

“Sounds like a plan. Do you want to stay and party? Or we could go out, do something.”

“I don’t want to go out.”

“Or party?” I asked.

“Or party.”

“Well, we can order in some food. And do an activity.”

“An activity?”

“I may or may not have grabbed something when I was at the store.” I left out that I went to a very specific store just to get it.

“Well, now I need to know what it is,” she said, folding up to look down at me, her hair falling forward.

I reached up, tucking it behind her ear.

“Okay. One second.”

I folded up and went into my closet, grabbed the bag, brought it back to the bed, and waited for her to pull it out.

“An air dry clay kit?” she asked, beaming up at me.

“Thirty-two colors. Plus some tools. You’re going to have to teach me. I have no idea how to make anything.”

“This is… this is everything,” she said, looking a little teary-eyed for a second before she blinked it away.

It was such a small thing. It shouldn’t have brought tears to her eyes. But she’d been abused for so long that any kind of kindness made her emotional.

“I’m gonna go grab a table and chairs. And some menus. Then we can get started.”

When I turned back at the door, I found her lovingly running her hand over the box. It was well worth the walk around the overwhelming cinnamon-scented craft store to get it.

I grabbed one of our card tables, two chairs, and the menus before making my way back into the room to find Georgie had pulled all the little packs of colored clay out and was fiddling with the tools that had been included.

“What are you thinking about making?”

“Earrings. Or a trinket holder. I don’t really have any trinkets but I don’t care. Oh, and magnets. My fridge is actually magnetic, so I can fill it. What are you going to make?”

“I’m going to attempt a circle. Then we will go from there.”

That got a sweet little laugh out of her as she climbed off the bed to join me.

“I could go for anything,” I said, handing her the menus. “So you pick.”

“Chinese,” she said without hesitation. “I literally can’t get enough Chinese food. But I haven’t had it in… a really long time.”

She didn’t have to say it.