Color Me Pretty: A Father's Best Friend Romance

He started in as soon as I hit accept. “You didn’t go to Sophie’s.”

“Most people start a conversation with hello and how are you,” I pointed out tiredly, laying back down on my side.

He didn’t hesitate. “You always go to her house on Sunday, and I know what today is. Even if she were on your last nerves you wouldn’t leave her on her own to handle things.”

Closing my eyes, I shifted my knees up until they were tucked by my chest, so I was balled up. Of course, I’d felt bad leaving Sophie alone, but I knew she’d be okay. She’d have brunch, day drink, and drown herself in town gossip by phoning her friends. If I honestly thought she’d need me, I would have sucked it up and went. “I don’t feel well, that’s all.”

“Do you need to go to the doctor?” The alarm in his voice warmed my chest, but also burned my cheeks considering what I had wasn’t some contagious illness he needed to fret about.

“No, it’s nothing serious. Just, uh…” Biting into my lip, I winced and tried figuring out how to explain that it was just my period sucking the life out of me one cramp at a time. The stress of Dad’s death anniversary only fed the typical migraine that accompanied my menstrual cycle, so I’d been drugged up in the dark all day trying to get rid of it while listening to whatever was on TV.

“Ah.” His throat cleared, seemingly in understanding. “Are you all right?”

“It’s not the end of the world, Theo.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’ll call Sophie later to see how she’s doing, but I’m fine. It’s been a hard week. I won’t act like I was okay throughout it.”

He mumbled a curse. “I should have made time to check in on you. I knew—”

“I’m not your responsibility,” I cut him off, even though I knew he’d argue. He made it his responsibility to worry, and sometimes I enjoyed it. It made me feel like I was on his mind, but not in the way I wanted.

“Since when?”

I thought to all the times he’d taken care of me when my parents were busy saving the world and building a future for us. I looked up to them and all they did for others, but there were times I wish they’d done more for me in their time on earth. It never hit me until I had to see them both buried, hearing hundreds of people give their condolences and assuring me what amazing people they were as if I needed to hear that. I knew it. I’d witnessed them make a difference every single day. But that didn’t dissipate the envy that grew despite all the good they did—even after Dad’s one poor decision that changed everything.

“Like I said, I’m fine,” I repeated. My tone was muffled by the hand I scrubbed down my achy, overheated face.

“Christ.” His hard tone confused me. “I’ll be there in thirty. Maybe forty.” Before I could tell him that wasn’t necessary, he hung up on me.

I sat up, staring at the background of my phone which had a picture of my favorite painting filling the space. Had he really just done that? Anger settled in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to turn off my cell and fall asleep like I’d begged my body to do all day, but there was too much weighing on my mind to get comfortable enough to slip into unconsciousness. Between that and the cramps, I’d watched TV all day instead, forcing myself to eat whatever was premade in my refrigerator even though I had no ap

petite.

It wasn’t that long of me absentmindedly watching a documentary on Egypt when the knock came at the door. Peeling myself off the couch, I didn’t think twice before answering in my frumpy pajamas that were loose, torn, and stained, but soft and comfortable, before opening the door and finding Theo. He was holding a paper bag that was filled to the top with items, leaving me staring in confusion.

He walked past me, breaking my focus. I slowly closed the door as he walked into the open kitchen and set the bag down on the closest counter. “You need to look before you answer the door, Della. We’ve gone over this.”

“How do you know I didn’t?”

“You say that every time.”

“Because you’re not Superman. You don’t have x-ray vision that clearly proves I didn’t check before answering.”

He stared at me.

My nose twitched. “Fine, but you were the only person I was expecting.”

“Another thing you say every time.”

Padding over, I looked in the bag and gaped at the feminine products, chocolate, and medicine resting on the top. He didn’t look away when I moved my eyes to him. “You bought me this stuff?”

He acted like it was no big deal. “I wasn’t sure what you needed, and I know you tend not to eat when you’re on your period. Better to eat something even if it isn’t a full meal. Though—” He pulled something out of the very bottom and passed it to me. “—I also bought this since I know you like it.”

It was a container of potato soup, my favorite go-to when I didn’t feel well. My mother used to make it from scratch which beat any other version I tried, but I couldn’t perfect the recipe because she’d done it all from her head.

“Want me to heat it up?” he asked.