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But first, brunch with the family.
“I have a whole ton of Cuties in the pantry,” I said as I pointed.
Ande disappeared into the pantry and came out with four Cuties.
She handed one to each of us and said, “Pretty much, the orange peel theory goes like this: if your partner is willing to peel an orange for you, it means that they’re prepared to make sacrifices to prioritize your happiness.”
I snorted.
“I don’t really need this,” Ellodie admitted. “During everything that happened with me, the man wiped my butt for me. I hate to say this, but we’re beyond orange peels.”
The group of women gathered around my kitchen table started to giggle.
“I’ll go first,” Ande said as she walked out to the yard where the kids were all playing with some of the brothers.
Keene was also there, tossing the ball around with Tex, who’d then launch it back at his father like he was competing for first place at a competition.
Ande walked right up to Keene and handed him the orange.
He absently took it, peeled it, and handed it all back to her while simultaneously catching the ball his son threw him.
Ande flashed us a grin as she came back inside, eating her orange.
“You go,” Ande suggested to me.
I rolled my eyes. “The man cut his parachute free to save my life. I guarantee he’s willing to prioritize my happiness.”
“Just do it.” Ande nudged me with her foot.
I got up and walked to where Quinn was in deep discussion on the phone with his team.
A gang shooting had happened sometime in the last thirty minutes, and I fully expected him to have to go into work here shortly, completely missing the trial.
“Hey, can you peel this for me?” I whispered to him, handing the small orange to him.
He absently took it, brought it up to his mouth, and got the peel started with his teeth before massacring it and handing it back to me.
I snorted out a laugh, pressed my lips to his, then took my orange and headed back to the table.
“Man needs to stop chewing his fingernails,” Hollis giggled.
“Agreed,” I said as I took a bite of the orange.
Delicious.
“Your turn, Hollis.” Ande nudged her next.
Hollis got up, deposited her kid in my lap, and headed off toward Quincy who was playing Mario Kart with Auden and Atlas on the television.
“Hey, Quincy. Can you peel this orange for me?” she asked.
Quincy stopped his game, his guy running into the wall and right off a cliff, and peeled it for her.
No questions asked.
Then he picked up his controller and went right back to work while the little crane guy pulled him back onto the track.
“That was sweet,” Ande said. “Why isn’t he that nice to me?”
