“Hmm. How is it cooked? Do they fry it? Because I’m not eating fried anything.” She put her hands on her hips. She didn’t have her top hat on, but she did have a new shawl—a blue and white striped one spattered with butterflies.
“Some of it can be fried, but for the most part, it’s raw.”
“Wait. Raw fish?” she asked, doubt filling her voice.
“I’ll order a bunch of different things, and you can try what you want. I am ordering the gyozas, though, and they’re steamed and fried. You’ll be missing out on them if you don’t at least try one, because they are like eating little pillows of heaven,” Brady said as he moved away from me and pulled out his phone from his pocket.
“You don’t need to order us food,” I finally managed to speak. My voice had held on to the deep longing that had filled me with our kiss. The need. The want. He heard it, and his fingers slowed on the screen, glancing over at me, lingering on my lips that were still parted. Hungry in a different way.
“We haven’t finished our…conversation, but I’m as hungry as Hannah. So why don’t we eat and then finish where we left off.”
The words were bold and full of double meanings. A push. I could have refused, but I didn’t want to. When I didn’t stop him, he placed a call to the only Japanese restaurant in town, orderingso many things I wasn’t sure we’d ever be able to eat it all.
Hannah took the stool she used when cooking with Grams and moved it to a spot on the counter below the canister that held Molly’s treats. She took one out and then turned to Molly who was already sitting and wagging her tail.
“Roll over,” Hannah said, and Molly laid down, her tail thwacking on the floor so loudly that it could wake the earthworms buried in the ground below.
She repeated the command. Molly sat back up.
Brady laughed.
“How long you been workin’ on that?” he asked.
“She used to do it for Grams all the time, right, Mommy?”
I nodded. She had. But since my grandma had passed away, no one had kept up with it. My throat clogged with a different emotion than the desire that had heated my body.
“Mind if I try?” Brady asked, sticking his hand out for the treat.
Hannah gave it willingly. Brady got down on his haunches, and Molly tried to take the snack from him. He laughed and pushed on her chest. “Sit,” he said. And she did. “Down.” She hit the floor. “Over,” he said while making a turning motion with his hand. Molly completely complied with every command. And then sat back up.
Simple. Commanding. And God did it make me want to hear him command me. Make me roll over. It wasn’t something I’d ever wanted before. To be told what to do. To let someone else do all the thinking so all I had to do was feel.
“Good dog,” Brady said and gave her the treat.
“Holy tadpoles, you did it!” Hannah said, jumping up and down on the stepstool.
The stool tipped, Hannah went flying, and Brady caught her.
It all happened so fast my heart barely had time to register it was happening before Hannah was in his arms with wide eyes.
“Whoa, little lady, you better be careful on that thing,” he said. Hannah’s chin wobbled as if she was fighting tears, and he saw it. “I got you. Don’t worry. I got you.”
My heart splintered into a million little pieces I wasn’t sure I’d ever get back.
Brady
PRAYED FOR YOU
“A smile that steals me, a heart that heals me
A touch that kills me too
Baby, you're perfect.”
Performed by Matt Stell
Written by Veltz / Bowers / Stell
