Page 55 of Perfectly Adequate

Page List


Font:  

“I think you’re mad. So I’ll clean him up. Problem solved.”

“Dorothy!”

She jumps. Wide eyes unblinking at me.

Roman’s lower lip pushes out and tears fill his eyes. “Daddy … why are you mad at Dorfee?”

Fuck …

“Okay. S-so …” Dorothy stutters and surveys the room like she’s looking for something. “I’ll just … go. Bye, Romeo.”

“Bye, Dorfee,” he murmurs, blinking several times without releasing any actual tears yet.

As she passes me, I grab her hand to stop her and blow out a long breath. “I shouldn’t have asked you to watch him tonight. You had plans, and I didn’t respect that. So all of this is on me, not you.”

She keeps her gaze at the door and says nothing, so I release her hand because I don’t have time to deal with her and get Roman cleaned up and in bed.

No time for patience.

No time for reflection.

No time to plan how I will handle Julie in the morning.

So I act on impulse and do the things that need to be done first, starting with my soaked child.

The door clicks behind Dorothy.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, buddy.” I remove his clothes over the tile floor in the kitchen.

“Daddy, I rode in red wagon.”

“Oh yeah?” I force a little daddy enthusiasm even though I feel none.

“I did. I did … and Dorfee pull the wagon and I go wee! And … and we gots food. Lots of food. We were cleaning!”

“That’s great, Roman.” I pick him up and carry him upstairs. “Are you going to shower with me?”

“And Dorfee and me gave all the lots of food to people, Daddy.”

“Uh huh …” I set him down and turn on the shower to warm up while I undress. “Let’s see if you have any more pee pee.” I set him on the toilet, and sure enough, more pee.

He giggles. “It’s lemon … ade. Me and Dorfee had lemon … ade. Purple lemon … ade.”

“Lavender lemonade?”

“Yes. Labender lemon … ade. It was yummy.”

I usher him into the walk-in shower.

As I shampoo his hair, he glances up at me. “Daddy, some … some people have no food.”

I pause my motions for a few seconds before returning a slow nod and resuming the sudsing. “That’s true.”

“Is sad, Daddy. Dorfee say is sad. But me and Dorfee gave … gave people food. All the lots of food. Dat … dat make people happy.”

I’m an asshole.

When you meet someone who is essentially a better human than ninety-nine percent of the population, it’s hard to not occasionally show your asshole side. By default, their selflessness will be misread as selfishness. Tonight, I thought Dorothy was being selfish with her insistence on going to the farmer’s market.

I was wrong.

She was being completely selfless in her actions. And at the same time, teaching my young child a very valuable lesson and me as well.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

She’s Mine

Dorothy

“Good morning.” Mom smiles, cinching the tie to her white bathrobe.

“Thanks for this,” I mumble over a mouthful of leftover fried rice.

“You mean my lunch that you’re eating for breakfast?”

“Oops.” I grin.

“How was the market?”

“Good. I took Romeo with me. Put him in my little red wagon. Look.” I pull up the pictures on my phone. “He’s so stinkin’ cute. He also kept eating the food we were gathering. The vendors went crazy over him. And I got us lavender lemonade, and he tried to eat the sprig of lavender, but spit it out onto the leg of a lady passing us. That was a little embarrassing.”

She laughs. “I’m sure. Did Eli enjoy the market?”

“Oh.” I shake my head, shoveling in more food. “He didn’t go. He had an appointment. I was babysitting Roman for him. I also ran into Dr. Hathaway. She seemed a little confused or worried about me being there alone with Roman. When she tried to get him to go home with her, he was all, ‘No! I stay with Dorfee!’ Oh my god, it was just … crazy. I didn’t know what to do.”

“So did he finally go with her?”

“No. Because this police officer came over and basically asked me if ‘my son and I’ knew her. Like … can you imagine how horrified she must have been? I felt really bad for her. But I didn’t know what to do.”

“What did Eli say when you told him?”

I cringe. “I don’t think he was happy. He didn’t exactly know I was taking Romeo to the market with me. He kinda freaked out when he got home.”

“Dorothy Emmaline Mayhem, you took his child without asking?”

“No. I didn’t take his child. He begged me to watch Roman. No big deal. Like, his son was fine. Yes, he wasn’t in his jammies and his face was a little dirty, but he was safe and sleeping on the sofa. I mean … isn’t that what should be important to parents? That at the end of the day, their child is alive and safe at home? Like … he sees this bad shit all day. He sees kids die and parents grieve. But he freaks out about a trip to the farmer’s market that ended just fine. I didn’t know what to say or do. This morning while I was showering, I thought thank god he didn’t know about the car seat.”


Tags: Jewel E. Ann Romance