Free A Curvy Girl for the Cadet: A Perfect Fit Novella by Sugar Jamison Page A

you’ll be telling me that you want to go to boarding school.”
    “Do you want me to stay home?”
    Yes! “No. I want you to have fun and see new things and meet new people. I’m proud that I’m raising a very smart independent little woman.”
    “I’m glad.”
    A car pulled up in front of their house and she knew it was time to let Aubrey go.
    An hour later she was standing over her stove making a grilled cheese sandwich for herself when she heard a knock at her door. She turned off the oven, removed the sandwich from the pan and went to answer the door. Daisy had finally learned how not to burn down her kitchen. She probably held the record for most kitchen fires in a year and at this point knew how to put out every type of fire including electrical. Danny used to laugh at her. He joked that she should have joined the fire department. Of course he never attempted to cook either. They ate out a lot.
    She reached the door only to see Clayton there and she felt a little rush of excitement, just like she had when she saw him earlier today. When he had brushed his thumb over her tattoo and wrapped his long thick fingers around the back of her neck, when his eyes traveled to her lips as she spoke, when he stood so close to her that she felt the heat of his body burn through her clothes.
    “Hi.”
    “Hi.” He stood there in a black tee-shirt and jeans, his hands in his pockets and for once he was completely free of paint. “You said something about biscuits for dessert.”
    “Oh shit. I did.”
    “You forgot.”
    “I did, but come in anyway.” She stepped aside. “Aubrey sprung a sleepover on me when I picked her up from school and I got all mixed up and kind of depressed. She’d rather have tacos, watch movies and go to the science center than hang out with her old aunt. Anyways, I didn’t even feed myself, but I can feed you. You like grilled cheese?”
    “Those were a lot of words in a row.”
    “Your brain too small to keep up with them all?”
    He grinned at her, his eyes growing crinkly in the corners and causing her heartrate to speed up just a bit. “I think it can handle them without exploding. Let me process them one at a time. Why are you depressed about the sleepover? Isn’t that what kids do?”
    “Yes.” She turned around and led him to the kitchen. “It’s why I let her go. I was the irresponsible sister, you know. I went to college in New Orleans and I nearly flunked out because I went to more parties than classes. My first serious boyfriend was a biker who owned a tattoo shop and had a record longer than my leg. You think I would have learned my lesson, but I married a guy whose idea of a quiet night was only going to two bars. I partied hard. I drank too much. I woke up in places I didn’t recognize and then somebody from social services called me up and offered me a kid. Suddenly my whole life revolved around that kid. I thought I would feel resentful or stifled, but I never did, because she needed me. I got into huge fights about it with my husband, because I replaced him as the most important thing in the world to me. And now she turned seven and she wants to go to sleepovers with her friends and camp in another state. She doesn’t need me like she used to. I know that sounds kind of pathetic, but it is what it is.”
    “It doesn’t sound pathetic. I’m thirty-four and my mother still laments over me growing up. Your husband didn’t want you to take her?”
    “I didn’t give him a choice in the matter. When they called me I went running. He didn’t want kids and I agreed, but what was I supposed to do? My parents were dead. My sister had just died. Aubrey was all I had left and he was mad at me for taking her, for changing our lives without even asking. And I was mad at him for not understanding why I had to. I think that was the first thing that drove a wedge between us.” She stopped and turned back to look at him. “I don’t even know why I told you that. I’ve never