Sunday Morning (Damaged #7.5)
By: Bijou Hunter
Jodi burst into happy tears. I wasn’t sure why that night I gave into her request rather than the many other evenings. Knowing how much she needed me, I couldn’t keep telling her no.
In reality, I probably agreed because I couldn’t tolerate life without her anymore. Waking up each day, I reached for her warm body and found the empty side of the bed. I’d been fucking dying to show her everything I saw when I drove around Ellsberg.
No more playing shit logical, I knew the time had come to make our home a reality.
18 - Jodi
My heart hurt without Kirk nearby. I couldn’t deal with anything beyond eating, sleeping, and reading. The only people I talked to most days were Kirk and the baby.
The longer Kirk was gone, the more emotionally stunted I felt. I grew more paranoid about someone breaking into the apartment. I also thought every thunderstorm would turn into a tornado, and I’d die without seeing Kirk again.
I refused to buy maternity clothes even though my belly was huge by six months along. Spending money on stuff I couldn’t wear for long seemed stupid. Though Kirk left me plenty of cash to buy what I needed, I’d been broke for too long to feel comfortable.
Instead, I bought a few sweatpants and shorts and wore Kirk’s shirts when mine got too small. I looked like a mess, but no one was around to care. Hell, I didn’t even brush my hair most days, leaving it wild.
Once Kirk decided to return to Chesterfield to get me, I cleaned myself up. Brushed my hair, found one decent fitting outfit, and even shaved my legs. I was ready to see my man again.
For an hour, I waited in front of the apartment building before I saw Kirk appear down the road. Bouncing on my heels, I was nearly crying in excitement. Kirk didn’t cry or squeal the way I did. No, he was too fucking manly for that shit. After he got off his Harley, he only casually hugged and kissed me.
Once we were in the apartment, Kirk dropped the act. He smothered me with kisses, leaving me breathless. Then he dropped to his knees and kissed my belly.
My fingers slid into his sweaty hair as he stared up at me.
“I saw a little white church near the Kentucky border,” he said and kissed my belly again. “I got it in my head that we need to stop there and get married on our way to Ellsberg.”
I couldn’t respond. So desperate for him to be home, I hadn’t imagined anything beyond our reunion. Now I was beginning to realize how Kirk was a man with plans. He hadn’t acted on his big ideas until meeting me. Once I got him started, he couldn’t stop.
“It won’t be legal,” he said when I only stared at him. “Not unless we get a license or some shit, but I don’t care about the law. You’re my woman already.”
“I just want you,” were the only words I managed.
Kirk studied me with his dark eyes, and I felt all of my fears disappear.
“I missed you,” he said, standing and lifting me into his arms. “Let me show you.”
Kirk and I remained locked in the apartment for the entire weekend. We ordered pizza and packed his belongings, not that he had many. Between us, we didn’t fill up my car with boxes.
“Jodi Johansson sounds really sexy,” Kirk said on our last evening in the apartment.
Nibbling on cold pizza crust, I leaned against Kirk’s chest. “I can’t decide on a name for our son.”
His fingers teased my back, and I felt him thinking again.
“The day I ran off like a bitch, I stopped in a little town. I had wanted to keep going, but I saw the sign and suddenly felt exhausted and needed to stop. The next day, I knew I had to come back even if I was still feeling like a bitch.”
No doubt Kirk worried I wouldn’t like the name he had in mind. I worried too, but I was thoroughly stuck in my search for the right name.
“Coopertown was the town. It’s stuck in my head, and I was thinking about Cooper for our boy’s name.”
The name didn’t sing to me immediately. Something about it bothered me, but I couldn’t figure out what I didn’t like until I stood in the little white church with Kirk.
Staring up at him, I asked, “What if people make fun of him and turn his name into Pooper?”
Kirk cupped my face and stroked my cheeks with his thumbs.
“No one would dare mock our boy like that.”
“Because he’ll be tough like his daddy.”
Kirk kissed me softly. All of those months without him, I often forget how tender he could be. I only imagined him hurting people in Ellsberg and claiming what he wanted. I never thought of him being gentle.
As we stood in the church, Kirk revealed the kind of tenderness I dreamed he would show me for the rest of our years together.
19 - Kirk