Chapter Five
Good and Plenty
Anna added yet one more item to the overflowing shopping cart. Yes she was splurging, but in a good way. She looked at the items in the cart and felt humbled by what they represented. Other than for a few items just for her, everything else was for Kevin.
She could only imagine what the gluten-free food would do for Kevin. It had killed her for years to not be able to feed him the food that was better for him, but gluten-free food and organic food was expensive and she hadn’t been able to afford much of it. That had all changed since she had crossed the gap with her gentleman stalker and gotten personal.
Kind couldn’t begin to even describe Tyre in her eyes. He was an angel and the answer to prayers that she had long since thought forgotten in the halls of heaven. He was also somewhat of a brutal angel. She’d heard all about what had happened to the front desk clerk this morning from Mrs. Reed.
She had seen the way the man had looked at her necklace and because of it she had slept with one hand on the pistol that Tyre had given her. She needn’t have bothered as Tyre had taken care of the problem, howbeit, somewhat brutally.
She was fully aware that her knight in shining armor had a dark side. How dark she wasn’t sure yet, but she was confident that it would never surface out against her or Kevin.
Heroes with dark sides to them deserved to be loved too and that was just what Tyre was to her. He was her hero and she’d defend him to anybody! True to his word, he was at her apartment at nine this morning to help her move.
Moving hadn’t really happened. Truth was she didn’t have anything worth moving except for a few clothes and toys of Kevin’s. Kevin had pitched a fit about his computer so they’d taken that old relic to the new apartment to appease him.
Her first freak out moment of the day had been when she had checked the bank account and seen how much money was in it. The IRS would be knocking on the front door for sure, but she’d still have some even after they were through with her.
The next freak out moment had come when she’d seen the apartment. Luxury was a small word to describe it. The bathroom had a spa tub and a built in coffeemaker for goodness sake! She’d half expected to find herself and Kevin being moved into Tyre’s apartment and if the truth was to be known she wouldn’t have been too much against that.
She’d set the ground rules last night, but he was proving to have far better self-control than she had. She’d been on the verge of ripping his clothes off as well as her own, but she wasn’t making that mistake again no matter how tormenting it was. This time she wanted forever and not just the feelings and high emotions of a momentary passion.
She had to see this out the right way for her sake, Kevin’s sake and even Tyre’s sake. She wasn’t a psychologist, even though she felt that she could have passed as one after dealing with Kevin’s issues and the mixed up life stories of her bar patrons, but she knew that the best thing for Tyre’s somewhat shaky nature would be a well grounded family unit-based structure, where he would feel safe and accepted enough to start depressing the emotional load that he was carrying around within himself.
She wanted to do and be that for him. She thought back to the apartment and smiled, yes Tyre had not moved her into his, but he had moved her into the one right beside his. She wasn’t worried; rather in fact, it relieved her to know that he would be close to protect her if she needed it.
Another really nice thing about the building was that it was secure. Kevin had the really bad habit to just wander off and she’d had several terror filled moments over the years thinking she’d lost him. With the building being secure there was little chance of him wandering away again.
She’d expected Kevin to really act out today with all the change and the process of moving, but it hadn’t happened thanks once again to the intervening hand of Tyre. Tyre had a small bag with him this morning when he’d come to the apartment. As soon as he’d seen Kevin he’d gone to him and knelt down and without a word spoken had pulled a brand-new iPad out of the bag and handed it to Kevin.
Kevin hadn’t put it down ever since. Even now he sat quietly in the shopping cart with the clutter of groceries stacked all around him. The clutter would’ve been something that would normally have set him off.
He was completely engrossed in the gift and hadn’t given her one issue today, but at some point she’d have to take it away before he went blind. She wasn’t looking forward to that.
Anna winced and stopped the cart and quickly glanced around to see if anyone was looking before she pushed the underwire back into her bra. All of her clothes were worn out, especially her bras. She kept sewing across the underwire, but eventually it poked through to stab her again and she was tired of it!
She wanted new clothes terribly and the plan had been to fit shopping for some into the day, but she didn’t want to risk pressing her luck with Kevin anymore today out in the public’s eye.
She didn’t have to worry about her job anymore at least. It had been so empowering to quit that crummy job this morning. Life was changing and unfortunately that meant leaving Mrs. Reed behind. It was going to be hard to find someone she trusted as much as her to watch over Kevin when she needed to go out and couldn’t take him with her.
She moved to the checkout line and started unloading the food. It all rang up to over two hundred dollars! Organic and gluten-free or not that was ridiculous! Unfair or not, she could afford it now and for that she was eternally grateful. She had just started to leave when Tyre stepped into the grocery store and headed for her. He hadn’t just bought the iPod for Kevin on a whim. She’d asked him why he had done it, he’d said that he’d been looking up stuff on autism the night before.
Apparently he didn’t sleep much either. Something he had read had said how helpful iPads were becoming in the treatment of autism. Not only had he bought the iPad, but he’d had it specifically loaded with all the recommended apps for autism. Tyre wasn’t just all about her. He was showing her that he was very much about caring for Kevin too as part of their relationship together.
Just then her underwire slipped free again and stabbed her painfully, an unprompted idea crystallized within her. She debated within herself whether she should or not, but as the wire kept jabbing her the answer became clearer and clearer what she was going to do.
Tyre thought of everything. He paid to have the groceries delivered and a doorman that he trusted would see them safely into her apartment.
Anna batted her eyes and asked, “I don’t suppose you could do me a really big favor and watch Kevin in the park for an hour or so while I go and get some new clothes. This bra’s trying to kill me and you wouldn’t want that now would you?”
I stood there holding Kevin’s hand as the taxi carrying Anna pulled away from the curb. How had I allowed this to happen? She’d tricked me somehow, as I rationally would never have agreed to babysit a kid. I wasn’t cut out for this!
How had she done this to me? Perhaps it was the way she had said she would only get a few things because she wanted me to help her pick out the majority of her clothing. Faced with the prospect of that, it seemed only fair to babysit the boy for a few hours. I was regretting it now though.
What did one do with kids? One way or another I was about to find out. I just hoped I survived with the kid intact until mommy arrived to save me.