Read Online Some Women by Emily Liebert - Free Book Online

he’d picked up Piper from her exercise class. But also because she knew he’d tell her what she already suspected: that it was a really bad idea to rummage through a friend’s dirty laundry. Even if you planned to wash, dry, and fold it for her.
    Todd was far more practical than she was. It was one of the many things she loved about him. He made comprehensive lists. He categorized his socks by type—casual or dress—and color. He kept a schedule and followed it. He thought about dinner before his stomach was already grumbling. And he bought gifts in advance of every holiday. All things that Piper had neither an affinity for nor an interest in. Prior to Todd, the inside of their house had looked like the aftermath of a hurricane. Hurricane Piper. She wished she could say it had been organized chaos. But there had been nothing organized about it. Weeks’ worth of mail had been stacked into towering piles on the kitchen counter. Clothing had been flung over the backs of chairs, where it would remain for anywhere from a week to a month. Food had remained in the refrigerator well past its expiration date. And credit card receipts had been crumpled into balls and shoved in drawers or cubbies. It wasn’t that she’d enjoyed living that way. It was just that because there had always been so much to do, orderliness had never taken priority.
    When she and Todd had determined that he was going to movein with them, he’d gingerly broached the subject of Piper’s pigsty. She’d never forget how he’d twisted his face and gesticulated with his hands as he’d attempted to arrive at the best way of conveying his feelings about the shambolic environs he was readying to inhabit. He must have started his first sentence four or five times until she’d finally told him to spit it out, for fear that he’d changed his mind. For fear that he’d decided to remain at peace in his uncluttered world.
    Todd had been visibly surprised when Piper had said she’d be thrilled if he hired a cleaning service to come in and whip the place into shape. He’d then taken it a step further and suggested that someone come regularly, maybe once a week, and stressed that he’d be footing the bill for it. He’d been worried, he’d admitted, that it would be too much, too soon for him to arrive and overhaul things. But Piper had reassured him that it was his home now, as well as theirs, and that he had to be just as comfortable as she and Fern were living in it. Not to mention that everyone would benefit from occupying a cleaner, neater space.
    â€œYou work too hard.” He raked his fingers through the spirals in her dark brown hair—she’d wrestled them into loose waves that morning, but they’d since coiled back into tight corkscrews, thanks to the damp weather outside. “And they don’t appreciate you enough.”
    â€œYou get paid to say that.” She smiled at him adoringly. He was the only man she’d ever been with who wanted to protect her. The only man who’d put her well-being and the well-being of her daughter before his own. After so many years of taking care of herself and Fern, it was like she didn’t know how to let someone take care of her. Todd had told her she would have to learn, because heplanned to tend to her and spoil her for the rest of their lives. She often asked herself how she’d gotten so lucky to have met such a gift of a human being. Because she wasn’t the sole beneficiary of Todd’s goodwill. There was his mother, Berta, and his sister, Sally, who lived in Florida. Not only did he cover many of their bills, but he spoke to them almost every day, checking in to ensure that they didn’t want for anything, either financially or emotionally.
    It was a shame Todd had never had the opportunity to become a father. No one was better suited for the job than he was, which was why it was so important to Piper