A Curvy Girl for the Cadet: A Perfect Fit Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

me.”
    He wasn’t sure talking to a bunch of men like him would make anything better. He would just have other’s horrifying stories in his head mingling with his own. “I’ll think about it.”
    Abraham nodded. “We’re going to have to bring in a Dumpster to clear out all of this stuff. You sure they aren’t coming back?”
    “They moved to New Mexico. Said we could toss whatever was left.” He looked around the room again. There was a broken dollhouse in the corner, complete with legless and headless dolls and on the shelf there were books. One set was brand new and still in its unopened box. It seemed like a waste just to throw them out. “Some of this stuff can be donated.”
    “Yeah. Let’s clear that stuff out first. Luckily it looks like most of the damage is cosmetic. I’ll pull some guys off the condo project and have them patch up this place.”
    *
    On his lunch break Clayton drove to his mother’s house to drop off the flowers he had gotten for her that morning.
    His neighbor was a florist. He would have never guessed that. The sexy woman who wore tight ripped jeans and a bright pink, body hugging tank top with Jimi Hendrix on it didn’t fit the picture he had in his mind of a florist. He could see her as a bartender. Or a lounge singer. A tattoo artist maybe. But she was a florist who had the most perfect name for her job.
    He always thought she was wildly beautiful, but today he got to see her up close, he got to study her while she worked. He got to hear that low husky voice when she spoke. She turned him on.
    Just by looking him in the eye and speaking to him.
    Abraham was right. It must have been too long since he had been with a woman. He was incredibly attracted to the last woman on earth he should be. She had a kid. He steered clear of single mothers. There was usually an ex lurking around and a kid who didn’t want anyone replacing their father. But not only that, Daisy lived next door to him. He wasn’t looking for attachments. Nothing long term. Messing with his neighbor was a bad idea. He couldn’t avoid her after it was over.
    He was going to have to keep his distance. Admire the sexy florist with the husky voice from afar.
    Maybe he would go with Abraham to a bar this week. It might be good to work some of this tension off.
    He pulled into his mother’s condo complex. It was still odd for him to visit her here, even though she had been living here for five years. His father kept the house when his mother left and now he lived in Clayton’s childhood home alone. Sometimes having his girlfriend stay over in the room he had shared with his wife for twenty years.
    It pissed him off. But he wasn’t sure why it did. His mother had wanted to leave, in fact Clayton insisted that she did, but just going back there and seeing another woman there with pictures of his father and her on the wall instead of the family that have lived there, didn’t sit right with him.
    His parents were better off divorced. They were friends now. His father had gone through counseling. His mother admitted to her faults in their marriage. But he was still pissed. His parents were happy now and he was pissed because they couldn’t get their shit together when he and Maggie were kids.
    He had told Maggie not to worry about her marriage, about being a good mother to her children, because without a doubt he knew she would be, but he knew how fucked up things were when they were growing up.
    And he worried too, wondering if one day he could be a good father, a good husband, because he wasn’t sure what those things looked like.
    He got out of his truck, flowers in hand. The door opened before he even had the chance to knock, and his mother’s boyfriend was there with a huge smile on his face and pig printed apron on his body. Despite everything Clayton really liked Gordon. He owned his own butcher shop and gave big slabs of beef as presents.
    “Hello, Clay! You’re just in time. I got a great cut of baby back