“I know it sounds bad considering how good the dinner you made for me was, but I’m a little hungry.” She sighs.
“There are plenty of leftovers.” I rub my eyes and sit up. “Unless you want dessert.”
“I didn’t think you made desert.” She raises an eyebrow.
“I could have something delivered.” I shrug and get up to retrieve my phone from my pants. “What do you like?”
“You can get dessert delivered here? Our only options are pizza and Chinese food. Damn, I may have to move to the city…” She leans against me once I sit back down on the bed.
I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth unless it was something that came from my grandmother’s kitchen. I must have burned off every calorie I ate if I have a craving for it right now.
“How fast will it get here?” She points at an ice cream sundae. “That sounds really good, but I don’t want it if the ice cream is going to be melted.”
“It shouldn’t take that long.” I add it to my cart and scroll down the screen. “I wouldn’t mind some ice cream myself.”
I place the order and drop my phone on the table. Ainsley lifts up and kisses me the instant it leaves my hand. We make out on the bed for several minutes before I finally pull away so that I can get dressed. I’ve had enough time to recuperate and would forget all about dessert if we kept going, but there will be plenty of time for that before the sun comes up tomorrow morning.
Ainsley goes to my office to retrieve her things while I walk to the kitchen and pour myself a drink. I don’t even have a taste for it; I just do it out of instinct. I stare at the whiskey in my glass for a second, then dump it out in the sink. I’ve used it as a crutch for quite a while, but I don’t feel like I need a crutch right now.
“I may have to call my mom.” Ainsley sighs as she walks into the kitchen. “She sent me like ten text messages.”
“Is everything okay?” I turn to her and raise an eyebrow.
“Yeah, she’s just ticked off because I didn’t come home last night. I texted her this morning, but I’m sure she thought I’d be home by now.” Ainsley sits at the table. “I’m going to text her and see if that will get her off my back.”
“She didn’t know you weren’t coming home?” I sit across from her.
“We don’t talk as much as we used to.” She shrugs. “I told her I was going to a party; I just left the rest of it out.”
“Damn, Ainsley.” I shake my head. “I bet she's more worried than ticked off.”
“Yeah.” She sighs. “That was really shitty of me, wasn’t it? I’m going to call her.”
Ainsley walks back to my office, and all I can do is stare in disbelief until she disappears. I couldn’t imagine what would be going through my head if Kiana left for a party and didn’t come home. I might not win father of the year anytime soon, but I’d hope that she would tell me if she wasn’t planning to come home for the entire weekend. She would tell her mother; at least one of us would know where she was.
The ice cream arrives while Ainsley is on the phone with her mother. I set everything up on the table and wait. The conversation doesn’t seem to be a short one. I’d hate for her ice cream to melt. I’m two seconds from putting it in the freezer to be safe when my office door opens, and Ainsley returns to the kitchen.
“Everything okay?” I look up at her.
“Yeah, I apologized.” She sighs and sits next to me. “I’m sure she’s tired of hearing those from me by this point, but she’s okay now.”
“You should treat the people who love you a lot better than that.” I pick up my spoon and open my ice cream. “You’ll regret it one day.”
I know I do. All of the times I told Kiana I was disappointed in her when she was doing her best. All of the times I wasn’t supportive of Hudson when he was excited about an accomplishment that didn’t seem that impressive to me. I dug my own grave, and I get to lie in it every day. I wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone.
“I always regret it.” She nods, and I see a hint of sadness in her beautiful emerald green eyes. “I keep waiting for her to give up on me, but she never does.”
“You don’t want that. Trust me.” I look down and sigh.
“I know.” She picks up her spoon. “I’ll talk to her when I get back tomorrow.”
“You may not walk the straight and narrow like you said, but that’s one thing you can fix; you should do it while you still have a chance to do so.” I dig my spoon into my ice cream and take a bite.
I might not have a lot of sagely advice to give anyone, but I’m an expert on this. I have more regrets than most and a long list of missed opportunities. Ainsley has her fair share, but she doesn’t realize what it’s like to truly hit rock bottom. I’d like to save her from that fate.
“On a more positive note, this is really good.” Ainsley looks down at her ice cream sundae and smiles.
“Yes, it is.” I lean closer to her. “Although I’m going to want another kind of dessert when I’m done with this.”