“Hey, baby girl. How are you feeling this morning?”
“This morning was rough. I’m starting to feel a little less like a blob of goo on the floor but I still have a marching band playing in my head. Remind me to never drink that much again. I’m glad that Kohl stopped in this morning to peel me off the bathroom floor or I would probably still be dying there.”
Laughing, Ronnie questions skeptically, “Kohl came in this morning?”
“Yes, he was here to witness the purging of all things peppermint and then some, from my body.”
“Kohl?”
Stepping behind Ten so she can see us both on the screen, I try as hard as I can to convey to Ronnie, with my eyes, not to divulge the truth about my arrival last night. Ronnie knows I was here because I responded to a text she sent to Ten asking how she was doing after she passed out. “Yes, I’m here.”
“In the drawer beside my bed is a little blue box, could you get it and give to Ten please?”
Moving across the room I grab the box she described out of the drawer, walking it back and handing it to Tensanne.
“Open it,” she instructs.
Pulling the bow, Ten opens the box. Pushing her glasses up on her nose in the cute way she does, she removes a sheet of paper from the box. Her eyes move to the sheet then to Ronnie on the screen, her forehead crinkled and lips pursed in confusion, she asks, “Ronnie, what is this?”
“What does it say it is?” I ask.
Reading the card, she mumbles, “You have an appointment set for Monday, December 29 at 8 a.m. with Doctor Greg Camp D.O. for an eye exam and contact fitting. Also, available to be scheduled at the patient’s discretion is LASIK surgery.” Her eyes widen, moving to me and back to the phone, “What exactly am I reading Ronnie?”
“You have an appointment Monday morning to get contacts. Then, as a gift from my dad, if you are interested, you can schedule LASIK surgery so you should never have to wear glasses again. If you decide to not do the surgery, you are supposed to ask for the money to be refunded and my dad said you are to take the money and buy yourself something great. It’s not to be spent on anything you need; you have been ordered to buy something frivolous,” she beams.
Tears stream down her cheeks, “This is too much. I can’t accept this.”
“You can and you will. You know my dad never takes no for an answer. He expects to see you at the party Wednesday night sans glasses. Did Kohl give you his gift?”
Wiping her cheeks, sniffling her nose, she responds, “Yes, I’m going tomorrow to get fitted for the dress.”
“Good, good. Wednesday morning, I will come get you and together we will go and get my gift to you. We are spending the morning at the spa. Complete make-overs and royalty treatment for both of us. Head to toe pampering. I promise to have you back in time for Kohl to pick you up.”
“I have to go, Ron. I need be at work in an hour. I have no idea how to thank you and your dad for this. I will give my gift to you when I see you this week. I love you, Ron. Hug your dad for me and I will see you soon,” she says blowing a kiss to the screen.
“I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know what to say,” she whispers to me wiping her face and taking a deep breath, “I need to get ready to make coffee for the masses.”
Pulling her to me, I embrace her in a huge squeezing bear hug. “I need to get my mom’s car back. Make sure you get to the dress store in the morning. Will you be ok here, by yourself?”
“Yes, big brother Kohl. I will be fine here by myself. I can always hang out with Archer and Leah or I can call Wren and see what he’s doing.”
My thoughts are anything but that of a big brother, a growl rumbles out at the thought of her spending more time with Archer and I don’t want her near Wren.
Mine, she is mine, my inner caveman rages.
“I can come back. I’ll take mom’s car back and have them drive me back to campus. I can be back before you get off work.”
“No, absolutely not. You enjoy the rest of break. Spend time with your family, I will see you New Year’s, Eve. I will be fine, Kohl.”
“Fine,” I pout, kissing her on the cheek. I leave. My mind telling me I need to stay. My body urging me to take her to bed and never crawl out. I do neither.
Chapter Fifteen
When life gives you lemons, you say screw it and drink coffee.
—Tensanne staring into her cup
Tensanne
“HEY, LEAH?” I ask, adding an espresso shot to the latte I’m making, “Have you ever been in that dress store downtown?”
“Mirage?” Leah asks,“The one that custom makes dresses?”
Nodding my head in confirmation, she continues, “Yes, they also sell on-the-rack dresses. I stopped in last year searching for a dress to wear to a dinner party. I was shocked when they were all a size two and less. I asked the clerk if they had anything in a larger size. She had the audacity to frown at me and inform me they can alter any dress. So, I picked one, she started the alterations and then told me it would be impossible to let the dress out far enough to fit me and maybe I should try a department store in the next town over,” she says her eyes wide in mock horror.
“I was mortified. I mean, I’m a size eight and she was implying that I was too fat for their dresses.
