Sunday.
Quiet house, for once — daughter still asleep, tutor not due till one.
Made the tea, sat at the bench a while before actually calling. Kept telling myself it was only Ninuo, not some big announcement. Still put it off through half a cup, the kitchen going that pale late-September gold it does before the day properly warms up.
Rang her anyway, eventually. Told her the number straight — six roll-ons, five sunscreens, the reishi and omega and probiotics for four people, all in one go, Saturday night.
Heard myself say it out loud and it sounded bigger coming out of my mouth than it had on the screen.
Silence on the other end a second. Then she laughed, said she genuinely hadn't expected it that fast — she'd pictured a slow build, one bottle at a time, not a whole cart in a week.
Went quiet again after that, but a different kind of quiet. Said, properly serious this time, that it was the right call. Not the size of it. The shape. Ordering for the people around me first, before ever asking anyone else to.
Didn't know what to say back. Just made a noise into the phone that wasn't really a word.
Then she asked, almost as an afterthought, how the Probio PCC had been going the last few days.
Had to stop and think. Hadn't actually checked in with myself about it at all — too busy with the tutor, the trolley, the order itself.
Said it was fine. Good, actually — though couldn't have told her exactly what was different. Just a general sense of alright, lately. Nothing dramatic. Nothing she could point to and name.
Counted back instead, tea going cold in my hand. Wednesday night, first one. Then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, this morning. Four days running. Not one missed.
That was the part that actually stopped me. Not anything I could point to about how I felt, exactly. Just that I hadn't forgotten. Not once. Every other bottle that's ever sat on that shelf — the magnesium, the vitamin C, the fish oil I bought myself years ago and swore I'd take daily — trails off by day four or five, back of the cupboard, cap not even properly on half the time.
Told Ninuo that instead, since it was the truer thing to say. She went quiet a second, then said that's usually how it goes. The small stuff sneaks up on you. Not the big stuff.
Looked over at the old Lifespace tub while she said it, still pushed to the back where I'd left it weeks ago. Hadn't touched it since.
Hung up not long after, the tutor's one o'clock creeping closer on the clock above the stove. Sat there a minute longer than I needed to, oddly pleased with myself over something as small as not forgetting a bottle four days running.
Thought of Dad, rinsing the mug out. His Probio PCC is already on its way, sitting in that same order from Saturday. Wondered whether he'd actually keep it up the way I somehow had — four days, without once trying to.
No idea. Would find out soon enough, once the parcel got there.