Avenger(35)

It didn’t take me long to wash the sweat and grime from my skin. Since I’d been spending so much time here, I also had a stash of clean clothes. I sent Sophie a text letting her know I’d be later than I planned. I held my breath for a reply and sighed in relief when she said okay.

It would’ve worried me if I hadn’t heard from her and Bentley would have ended up wanting to punch me.

“Ready?” Bentley asked me as I tugged my shirt down.

“Yeah,” I nodded, my stomach already rumbling.

We each took separate cars and met at the restaurant. It was loud in there and to my sensitive ears it was a killer.

“You couldn’t have picked somewhere else to eat?” I questioned Bentley. “I think my eardrums are going to burst.”

“Hey, I wanted the green bean fries, those things are delicious. And you did tell me I could pick the place,” he continued to scan the menu. “So quit your complaining.”

He had a point.

A waitress appeared and we placed our order. We both got cheeseburgers and two orders of Bentley’s beloved green bean fries—which sounded gross to me, but he said I’d end up hogging them, hence the two orders.

We chatted about random things. Human things. It was nice to be a normal guy for a change, even if it was only for a night.

By the time we left the restaurant we were laughing and carrying on like we’d drunk a couple of beers, but neither of us had actually had anything to drink.

“We have to do this again soon,” Bentley thumped my back as he passed me on the way to his car. “I need more guy time, and less estrogen.”

I nodded in agreement. I needed to be better at finding balance. That had always been my problem. I went all out, and I forgot to breathe. I scrubbed my hand over my face before I started the car.

I decided to make a pit stop on my way home and got ice cream and toppings so we could make our own sundaes. It wasn’t much, but I thought Sophie would enjoy it.

I’d been gone all day and the house was dark and quiet. I hoped Nolan hadn’t left. I hated to think of Sophie here by herself all that time, but I knew if she had really needed me she would have called.

I grabbed two bowls out of the cabinet and made our sundaes. They weren’t the prettiest things ever created, but we were only going to eat them so I didn’t see how it mattered.

I carried the bowls upstairs and kicked open the bedroom door.

“I’m not hungry,” were the first words out of Sophie’s mouth.

“Good, because this isn’t food. It’s ice cream. Big difference,” I grinned.

She instantly brightened and a huge smile spread across her pretty face. God, I loved that smile, I lived for it actually.

“Ice cream? I haven’t had ice cream in forever,” she pushed herself up and adjusted the pillows behind her back before holding out her hands for a bowl.

I handed it to her and changed into my jammie jams—I couldn’t ever seem to call them pajamas—before climbing into bed beside her.

“This is so yummy,” she moaned, licking the spoon. “You even put sprinkles and whipped cream on it…ooh, is that a brownie mixed in?”

I laughed at her excitement. It didn’t take much to make my girl happy, all the more reason to love her.

“It most certainly is.”

“You, are without a doubt, the greatest husband to ever walk the planet,” she beamed.

“Wow, that’s a high honor. If I knew ice cream was the way too your heart I would’ve gotten you some a long time ago,” I chuckled, taking a bite of my own ice cream. I had opted for plain vanilla loaded with a half a bottle’s worth of chocolate syrup. Sophie’s was vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, brownie bits, sprinkles, whipped cream, and a cherry on top of course.

She smacked my arm in jest and it worried me how weak the force behind the touch had been. She wasn’t well and I didn’t know what to do to make it better. Lucinda wasn’t a doctor, and Sophie’s real doctor was a human, so it wasn’t like we could explain the situation to him. He’d think we were crazy.

“What are you thinking about?” Sophie asked.

“Nothing important,” I leaned over and kissed her cheek, before taking another bite of ice cream.

“Ew,” she wiped her cheek on her shirt sleeve, “you got syrup on my face, and now it’s all sticky.”

“Sticky with my love,” I taunted.

“You’re disgusting.”

“You love me, so I don’t know what that says about you,” I shrugged.

“It says I have horrible taste,” her lips quirked up in a small smile.

It was nice to sit and joke for a change. The dark heavy cloud that had been hanging over us for way too long was still there, but right now there was a small glimmer of sunshine and we both needed to bask in its glow.