He comes back out and pins me with a hard glare. “If you don’t want to live with me, you are welcome to move, Della. Just know that my daughter will stay here.”
I’m so angry I’m going to spit fire. He’s been working on my nerves ever since I agreed to this mess.
“You’re a control freak,” I snap at him as he stalks to the door.
He glares at me before he leaves the apartment.
I tighten my ponytail as I look around me. A penthouse. This is no place to raise a child. Danny loves to run and climb. She’s going to break something and Carter is going to have a heart attack.
I start to remove anything that can hurt Daniele and shove it as high as I can. I make sure all the doors and drawers are fitted with safety catches so Danny won’t be able to open them without an adult nearby. I need a screwdriver. When I can’t find one I take one of his expensive butter knives and start to install the safety door at the bottom of the stairs. I don’t know what’s up there and I don’t care.
Hours later, I’m done making sure there’s no way that Danny can get hurt. When I go check on her and Jamie, I find them both asleep on the double bed in Jamie’s room.
This is the first time Jamie will have a room of her own. This is the first time Danny will have a room of her own. I need to do this for them.
I go to Danny’s room and start to unpack all her clothes. Carter went crazy and practically bought our child every piece of clothing there is on the market. I look at all the stuffed animals and just shake my head. I understand that he’s trying to make up for three years, but he can’t keep doing this. I want Danny to appreciate everything in life and she won’t learn to if he keeps giving her everything her little heart wants.
When I’m done with Danny’s room I go check what the food situation looks like. I open the fridge and pinch the bridge of my nose when I see a six pack of beer, two bottles of water and a half full bottle of wine.
“Great, our first dinner will be alcohol.”
The front door opens and Carter comes in. He places a bag on the counter before looking at me.
“Have you calmed down?”
I smile sweetly at him. “Welcome home, honey. Can I get you beer?” When he scowls at me I go on, “Or wait,” I open the fridge and wave over the contents inside, “would you rather have some wine.”
He shoves the bag towards me. “I got food. Stop with the bitching.”
I look in the bag and see that it’s fish and rice. I’m going to cry. No, first I’m going to lose my mind, then I’m going to kill him, and then I’ll go to jail. Then I’ll cry because I’m in jail for killing an asshole.
I rub both my hands over my face and calm down, reminding myself that this is all new to Carter.
“Daniele is allergic to fish. We need to sit down and go over everything she likes and don’t like.” I grab my bag and stalk to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To the store so I can grab a few things that we will need.”
I close the door behind me and walk towards the elevator. The doors open and as I step in and turn around, it’s in time to see Carter walking toward me. I press the button to keep the doors from closing until he’s inside.
We only make it two floors before he presses a button that stops the elevator.
“I’m sorry,” he surprises me with an apology. “I’m new at this.”
I let out a shaky breath and nod. “I know. This is a learning process for both of us.”
“Let’s go to the store together. I need to see what kind of food you get so I can make sure it’s always in the cupboards.”
“That’s just it, Carter. You have to calm down with all the spending. You can’t buy a year’s supply of stuff for a three year old. She’s a little person. She doesn’t need a hundred dresses. She’ll pick three and she’ll wear them until they tear from all the use. You’re wasting money.”
He rubs over his jaw and it makes a rough sound from his day old beard. “Okay.”
“I know this is new for you, but it’s new for us too. I didn’t grow up around money. Jamie and I have shared a room all our lives. Jamie wore my hand-me-downs. I wore second-hand clothes donated from the church.”
When he grinds his teeth I quickly go on, “I’m not telling you this because I want to be pitied. It’s always been my life. I had good days and bad days, just like you. I’m only telling you so you know how different our lives are. I start to panic when you throw money around as if it’s nothing. I’ve learned to save, to use coupons, to be careful with money. You need to meet me in the middle.”
“I didn’t know,” he whispers.