Clearing his throat and looking up at me, he still sees the smile fighting on my face. “Mom, I want you to meet someone.” She turns instantly to look where I’m standing. Sonny motions for me to come closer and I do, but I feel vulnerable and uncomfortable not being in my own clothes. “This is my Ruby.” If I could save the way he looks at me when he says ‘my Ruby’ I would. “Ruby, this is my mother, Roisin.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Knight. I’m sorry about my attire. I had a… mishap and Sonny was nice enough to help me.” I blush as I fidget with the hem of his shirt.
Ignoring my appearance altogether, she stands to get closer to me. She smiles and says, “It’s nice to finally meet the little fairy my son adores.” My eyes go to Sonny, who’s smiling bigger than I’ve ever seen. He winks at me.
Before anyone can say anything more, a stout little woman comes in carrying a tray filled with coffee and fruit and pastries and eggs and bacon. “Thank you, Ruth,” Sonny tells her as she sets it all down and leaves.
“Sit,” he says to me, pulling out a chair. “Mom, would you like anything?”
“No, I’ve already eaten. I’ll leave you two to it.” She kisses him on the cheek this time before she goes.
Sonny pours coffee into two cups and hands me one. “So, that was your mom,” I muse, and he nods his head as he makes a plate of food. “And I’m your little fairy, huh?”
He looks at me then. “Yes, Tink, you’ve always been my little fairy.”
“You talk about me. To your mom?”
“Yes…”
“Huh.”
He finally cracks a smile. “Huh? What does that mean?”
“Just… interesting. I didn’t know you were close to your mom. You don’t talk about her much.” I think about it for a second, trying to remember if there was ever a time, but come up blank. “Or ever, now that I think about it.”
He shrugs. “I like to keep the things—and people—I love most close and to myself.” He pauses for a second before adding, “You included.”
I stare at him, watching him fill a plate for himself. Standing and rounding the table to get to him, I straddle his lap and say, “You are so damn adorable.” I kiss him, tasting the coffee on his tongue.
“I don’t think anyone has ever called me adorable before,” he laughs into our kiss.
“Shit, Sonny, I guess you do keep showing me more sides to you.”
We kiss a little longer before we start to feed each other. We laugh and we tease and we play and we kiss, and it’s the best breakfast I’ve ever had in my life.
“I have to go into work for a little bit,” he tells me, and my face falls. “Dez is going to take you to get clothes and whatever else you need. You can go home to pack, or you can buy everything new, makes no difference to me.” He tucks my hair behind my ear. “I only want you to do what you want to do.” I nod in acceptance of his offer and kindness. He’s so thoughtful, more so than anyone probably realizes.
What do I want to do? Do I want to risk going home and my family trying to keep me from leaving again and getting back to Sonny? Or am I really okay walking away from them and everything that’s mine and starting over?
“When I’m back tonight, we’ll have dinner and we’ll talk about everything. A lot was said last night, and I want to make sure this is what you want. You need the day away from me to think about that. But just know, I’ll never force you to stay with me, Ruby. You are always free to leave any time you want. It’s important to me that you understand that.”
Confused by his words, I nod. There has to be more to that, but I know he needs to go, and he said we’ll talk tonight, so I don’t push for more.
He kisses me on the head and turns to leave, but I stop him. “Since you call me Tink, should I start calling you Hook?” He looks at me, and I smile. “I never understood why you called me Tink. But when your mom called me your little fairy, I remembered that Halloween when I was Tinker Bell and you were Captain Hook.” He nods slowly, confirming. “You’ve always taken care of me. I’m just wondering when you’ll stop seeing yourself as the bad guy.”
We stand there watching each other, both wanting to say so much but knowing it’s not the time. He’s the first to break the silence. “I gotta go.” He kisses me one last time, sweet and soft, leaving me warm and gooey inside. “Tonight.”
“Tonight.” I smile.
“Why can’t we be done?” I whine as Dez pulls me into another store. I’m not a huge shopper like most think I would be. I like clothes and dressing up, but shopping is a whole other thing. “Can’t we just go back to the house? I can shop online for anything else. I’m so tired.” I pout.
“We have to at least get you bathroom shit here, and then fine, we’ll go back. But if he gets mad at me for not gettin’ you everything on his list, I’m telling him that you wear granny panties.”
“Fiiiiiine…” I huff while he drags me inside. I fill a basket with all the basics: toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, a loofa, razor, lotion and so on until I think I’ve appeased Dez enough.
When we get back to the house, he still seems worried that Sonny is going to be mad, but I don’t see how when it takes us three trips back and forth to get everything. Not to mention the amount of money we spent today. It wasn’t a full-on Pretty Woman moment, but it felt close enough needing a new wardrobe that was funded by Sonny.
I’m in the bathroom just about done putting everything away when Sonny gets back. “Where’s everything you got today?” he asks, making me jump.
“Oh, you scared me,” I say with a hand over my accelerated heart. “It’s all put away.”
He gives me a look like I’m dumb and asks, “Where?”
“In my room,” I answer slowly, feeling confused.
“No.”
I just laugh at his short answer with no explanation. “What does that mean? No?”
“There is no your room and my room.”
“But you said—”
“That was before,” he says, walking to me and wrapping me in his arms. “Now, I’ve had you in my bed. You’re not sleeping anywhere else.”
“And what if I don’t want to share a bed with you?” I ask, trying to act defiant when really my heart couldn’t be happier.
He kisses me, saying, “Tough shit.”
“Fine.” I kiss him back. “But I’m not moving everything over here. At least not today.”
“You get everything you needed?” he asks, sounding more sincere and caring.
I nod. “And then some. Dez was relentless,” I groan, making him chuckle. “How was your day?”
He takes a deep breath. “It’s looking better now.”
Tilting my head to the side, I smile. “Cheesy line but I like it.”
“What do you want for dinner? Any requests?”
“Nope. Just something light. I still can’t eat rich or heavy foods,” I tell him with a blush, embarrassed by my admittance.