I also apologized, because at no point had I meant to scare her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I tried calling, and when you didn’t answer, so many things…” now I was the one shaking my head, trying to clear the images that hit me.
While I did that she found another sponge, or maybe it was the same one, and threw it at my face, hitting me right in the forehead. “You scared the shit out of me, but I’m glad it’s you and not a psycho with a knife… unless you’re gonna pull one out? But if you are, I’ve got a plan of action that I came up with years ago, so I’ll fight back.”
Regardless of the bubbles running from my forehead to my eyes, I opened them to look at her, confused by what she was saying. “You have a plan for getting attacked by a psycho with a knife while you’re in the shower?”
Leaning over to pick up a bottle from the shelf on the wall, she squeezed some out and started washing her hair. “Sure do. I’ve got one for every room. Hogan Beauregard didn’t raise no fool.”
Looking around us for a weapon or even a baseball bat, I frowned when I didn’t see anything. “How the hell are you going to defend yourself with nothing around?”
Tilting her down out of the spray, she tapped the side of her nose. “I can’t say, you might decide I’ve gone too far one day and try to off me. Girl needs to be prepared.”
After all the stress and all the worry, I burst out laughing, proving how much light she brought into my life. “Seeing as how you survived fucking with my coffee, baby, I think you’re good on that front.”
Grinning back at me, she reached for another bottle and repeated the routine on her hair. “I also survived the flowers,” she reminded me. “And you survived wrecking my house, so I’d say we’re good.”
“We’ll always be good,” I told her seriously, meaning every last one of those four words.
I was shit at relationships, always had been. My focus had always been on my education or my job, so I’d had little extra to give to girlfriends and women. I wasn’t an asshole, but I was preoccupied, and they’d struggled with that. This was partly due to the fact that I came from a low income family.
Mom had quit working to look after us so we’d depended on Dad’s salary, which had been fine until the company he worked for went into administration. After that, he’d set up his own, and we’d lived on a tight budget until I was away at college, earning my own money while I studied. I hadn’t taken a penny from them since then, and I never would. Garrett had done the same, joining the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) to get through college, meaning that he also had a job to go straight into. We’d done it this way to lift the financial burden off their shoulders, but also so that Catalina would be able to go to college and focus on her studies instead of working to make ends meet. I was proud of what I’d achieved, but it meant my relationships had definitely suffered, which I’d been ok with, until now.
Seeing that she was done, I picked up a towel and held it out for her to walk into. When she did, I suddenly realized I was out of my depth – I didn’t know what to do. I was good at casual, in fact I excelled at casual, but this was deep and I just didn’t know what to do. So I did the best I could and wrapped her up like a burrito, tucking it in behind her neck, making her burst out laughing.
“Really?” she snickered, wiggling her arms around inside it.
Reaching for another towel, I went to dry her hair like I did with my own. “I have no idea what I’m doing, but I want to do this,” I informed her, dropping it down on top of her head, and making to rub it over the wet strands. Her screech stopped me just as I touched it.
“If you do it like that, it’ll take me hours to get the knots out. Undo the tortilla you’ve wrapped me in and I’ll do it properly.”
Lifting it up so I could see her face, I thought about doing what she’d asked me to do. I also considered doing it anyway to get her back for the flowers, but the need inside me to do it for her won. “Tell me what to do.”
Her face softened when she heard the tone of my voice seeing as how I’m fairly certain the feelings were evident in the tone I’d said the words in. I wasn’t holding any part of me back with this female, ever. “Run it over the top and then squeeze it around the bottom. When that’s done, I normally put it up in a towel turban for a while.”