The Co-op

by Tarah DeWitt

More surprising still is that she laughs back, and the sound makes me think of the wind chimes around the courtyard at the grands’. Some musical, unpredictable thing that feels like it’s been waiting to welcome me home.

“When you have a bad day, ma fille, think about it from beginning to end. Walk your way through it. Was it really a bad day, or was it a few bad moments? What part of your day would you like to hold on to before you close your eyes? Find that good bit, and let it be the thing you fall asleep to.”

The kind of lengthy, powerful thighs and rounded ass that make you think there’s definitely a God and he’s definitely a mean bastard who lives to see his creations make fools of themselves drooling over his finer ones.

I’m so fucking proud that she’s my friend. It makes me feel more … worthy. Of what precisely, I’m not sure, but having a friend like her must mean I’m not totally hopeless.

“What about you?” I ask. “This’ll be enough,” he says, voice ragged now, hot embers in a campfire. “Watching you will be enough.”

What a fucking treasure he is, to want all the pieces of the people he cares for, the inconvenient and painful parts, too.

I’m back to feeling like two people, one that’s happy to see her so pleased, who loves seeing that easy joy. And another man who feels immediately possessive of that look. My home, my girl, my pain in the ass, my world. That fucking force of nature. I want her on my side, that formidable, fierce woman.

“Because that’s my wife.”

I want to say fuck the house and just stay. Beg her to attach herself to something here and also stick with me. Dream and fight with me, let me dream and fight with you, too.

“I want it all, LaRynn. You’re a fine friend and everything, but I can’t take having less than all of it with you,” he says, and I feel every word thump under my skin.

“You called me your husband,” I say. She laughs quietly. “Like that, did you?” “I fucking loved it.”

“I hate that I did that to you when we were younger. I hate that we wasted any time not loving one another right. Hate that you thought I was anything less than gone for you. Because I’m so fucking gone for you, LaRynn. I’m so stupidly in love with you.”

The addition of a few laugh lines. She’s only grown more stunning, and it’s even more overwhelming because I get to know her soul.