Parents

Chapter 4 Who's Counting

I woke up ravenous, but that made perfect sense for how the night ended. I looked at my sleeping beauty and smiled happily. She was so beautiful. She had fallen asleep with her hair in a messy bun on top of her head, my hands worked a number on it once we moved to the bed. I smiled and brushed some errant hairs off her neck and grimaced. That wasn't a lite or little mark. Fuck! I tried to spy where she had bitten me and failed so I slipped my grumbling tummy and curious mind out from under her arms, handed her my pillow and wandered to the bathroom. I looked at and examined the set of teeth marks on my shoulder. It hurt to touch them. She would be upset if she knew it did. I rinsed my mouth ran the brush through my hair then pulled it up the way she taught me and put a pin in it to avoid having to use a hair tie and prepared to go in search of food. She was still cuddled in bed with my pillow, so I set the alarm on her phone and went down to get food and start breakfast.

After pulling out the ingredients for breakfast, I rummaged through our stocked fridge and settled on eating cobbler before I started cooking. I was grateful that she prepared the coffee pot before bed because I had no idea how to make coffee. I put on water for her tea and settled into my cold cobbler.

"Good Morning Avi. Feel like sharing?"

My fork clattered to the floor. The only thing that stopped me from throwing the pan at his face when he spoke was the familiar sound of his voice. I laughed nervously and pulled two forks out of the drawer. I tossed the other gently in the sink and set the pan down between us on the counter. "Milk?" I squeaked. I hope like hell I didn't look half as guilty as I felt, knowing what I did to that man's little girl not only last night but on pretty much a nightly basis. Self-consciously I rubbed my shoulder.

I woke up clinging to his pillow and hungry. I pulled myself out of bed and took a quick shower. I found a collared shirt that covered the not so subtle mark he left on my neck and headed down to the kitchen. I was greeted by the site of Avi and my dad eating cobbler out of the pan and laughing at something. I hugged my dad from behind and then put my arms around Avi and kissed his cheek. "Good morning guys." I looked at my dad and then at Avi "What's so funny?"

I had no words and prayed her dad would let her in on this one. I always thought it was the moms that ratted out your childhood silliness. "Cute kid." I babbled and turned to offer her a bite of cobbler. Her dad's laughter filled the room. "Here. I need to start breakfast." I was all smiles, laughing with my eyes.

My dad just shrugged his shoulders and winked at me. "I love you, Sweetie." I took the bite of cobbler that Avi offered and I asked if the water for tea was ready yet. Avi grabbed me my mug with a tea bag in it and the bottle of honey. He filled my mug with the boiling water. "Can I do anything to help?"

"Nah, I can manage this just fine. I bet it would be nice to sit and catch up with You dad. Thanks for the coffee, thing. I would have been so lost trying to make coffee." After giving her her morning tea, I rinsed the forks, put the cobbler away and got started on breakfast. "I hope scrambled is okay."

My dad answered immediately. "Scrambled is great." I smiled and chatted easily with my dad. I asked how he slept. He said that it was the best sleep he has had in awhile. I beamed. "Is mom up yet?" "Yeah, she wanted to check in on your brothers. She'll be down soon." As if on cue, she stepped into the kitchen. I hugged her and asked how the boys were doing. She smiled and filled me in. She took it upon herself to pull dishes out of the dishwasher and set the table for breakfast.

It was nice to be surrounded by a working family unit and to be a part of it, but a little odd to have someone else putting our plates on the table before I could put the food on them. I let it go and put the food in other dishes and on the table, rather than plating the food. I left the pans on the stove, dirty and took the glasses to the table. Lizette carried the juice and the milk from the fridge to the table and we all sat around the table to eat. Unlike my dad, I didn't offer a prayer.