Page 17 of What I Needed

“My bad. That’s not how I meant it at all, but you’re thirty years old with no children and really nothing holding you back in life. I would think you’d be doing more.”

I wanted to do more, but I hadn’t been motivated to do much since my grandparents died. I was living but didn’t always feel like I had anything to live for.

“My grades tanked when my parents died, so my grades weren’t good enough to get into college. I was living with my grandparents, so I worked in retail and food service for a few years. Then their health slowly deteriorated, so I had to quit my jobs and take care of them. They were the last living relatives that meant a lot to me, and since they died, I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do.”

“Shit, Erissa. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to⁠—”

“It’s fine. It’s a logical question. I should be doing more with my life, but I felt like an orphan when I lost my parents, even though my grandparents were happy to take me in. I’ve spent a lot of time questioning my existence, and before I knew it, I was thirty and hadn’t done much with my life.”

“Fuck. I didn’t mean to be so insensitive.”

I shrugged and went back to eating my food. We didn’t do much more talking, and that was fine with me. I was in my feelings and didn’t need him to say anything else to make me feel like I was wasting my life.

We finished at the same time, and I stood to clean the kitchen. When I reached for his empty dishes, he gently grabbed my wrists. As chills traveled through my body, my eyes connected with his.

“I’ll do this,” he offered.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind.”

Still holding my wrist, he said, “Then we’ll do it together.”

I shrugged and pulled away from him, leaving his dishes. I went to the sink to rinse my plate, leaving the water running so that I could rinse other dishes after transferring the food to storage containers.

“There should be enough for you to have at least one more meal, depending on how much you eat,” I told him.

“Bet. I’m already looking forward to tomorrow night’s dinner.”

He ended up rinsing the dishes, putting them in the dishwasher, while I washed the pans I’d used by hand. Fifteen minutes later, the kitchen was spotless again.

“I have a cleaning lady who comes twice a month. She’s not due to come again until the end of next week.”

“Okay. I’m going to try to organize my room. Are you good with Riverlynn for the rest of the night?”

“Actually, I need to make a run. You think you can watch her while I’m gone?”

“Of course. Bring her to my room when you’re ready to go.”

I turned to leave the kitchen, but before I made it to the stairs, I heard, “Wait.”

I stopped and turned around.

“Did you need something?”

“My mother wants to meet you and asked me to FaceTime her. Chicago is two hours ahead of us, so I should probably call now before she goes to bed.”

“Okay.”

I leaned against the counter and waited as he called his mother.

“What do you want, bighead?” a girl’s voice asked.

“Wassup, Ry? Why you answering Ma’s phone?”

“Because she’s brushing her teeth. Where’s my niece?”

He aimed his phone at Riverlynn and pressed something on the screen.

“Aww, she’s so cute. I can’t wait to see her in person. Did Ma tell you we’re coming in a few weeks?”