Page 18 of Smoke
Chapter Six
Smoke
“You can show me, Little one,” I encouraged.
Ashley stood at her closet door, playing with the handle nervously.
“I would love to see your safe space.”
We’d been discharged from the hospital earlier and after a light lunch, I was putting Ashley down for a nap. Nothing had changed yet, other than we weren’t denying our attraction to each other anymore.
She took a deep breath.
“I would love to see her too, babygirl.”
Her eyes widened a bit at the name and I smiled, hoping I’d won her over.
“Love it?” she asked.
“I would love to see it,” I confirmed.
She nodded and twisted the handle, opening the door. Dropping to her knees—and making me wince because of her injuries—she crawled inside the walk-in closet and I closed the space between us, following her in to see her safe space.
A pile of colorful blankets were tucked in the back corner of the closet. All of her purses and shoes sat on the top of the shelves so the floor was free of them. Instead, she had a tiny pink crib and matching high chair with a small baby doll sitting on the floor, neatly placed against one wall. On the other side she had cloth storage totes full of toys lined up neatly. When she’d shipped all her things here, she’d asked me not to unpack them before she got here. I figured it was a privacy thing, but standing there in her makeshift nursery, I realized just how private she’d wanted it to be.
“This is beautiful, baby,” I praised. “It’s so neat and tidy and it looks very cozy.”
“Lights, " she said, pointing to the light switch.
Ah, yes. I was seeing baby Ashley.
“You want me to turn them off?”
“Off,” she confirmed.
Okay, well, fuck me. Her Little babble was adorable.
I flipped the lights off and was met with dozens of glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the walls and ceiling.
“Wow!” I exclaimed. “You did such a good job.”
“Pretty?” she asked.
“Very pretty,” I promised.
“Nap here?”
“You want to nap in your nest?”
She nodded.
“You can totally nap in your nest. Let me get a few more pillows for you, okay? We need to elevate your arm.”
“Arm,” she said, looking down at it.
“Does it hurt?”
She nodded, looking so sad it broke my heart.
