Page 64 of Atonement

“Meyer would let you stay here, you know. You can build elsewhere on the property.”

“I know.” His feet banged against the side of the island.

“Mom would be really happy to have you close.”

“I know.” He drained the second can and set it aside, then reached for a third. But just as he began to pull the tab, he paused, then set it back on the counter. “I don’t want to stay here. It’s nothing against you or her or even Meyer. I dedicated the last few years of my life to this revenge scheme, and everything went up in flames before I could execute it. I have to figure out what comes next.”

“What about getting to know your family?”

He picked at a loose thread on his pants. “Maybe.”

I took another drink to keep myself from saying any more. Even though I wasn’t sure if I wanted Joshua around for my sake, I didn’t think my mom wanted him to leave. She had started insisting we all eat together at least once a day, instead of us all making food on our own and sometimes ending up together.

“Well, thank you for the beer.” I drained the can and grabbed his two empties, then tossed them in the recycling.

“Want another?”

I paused on my way out the door.

“Sure.”

“Grab another four-pack out of the fridge.”

I brought them over to the island, then hopped up to sit next to him. We opened our cans in unison, and took a drink.

*

“Come with me.” Meyer smiled at me as he held out his hand, startling me from where I sat by the window. My cheeks hurt as I tried to suppress my smile and set aside my book to take his hand.

“Where are we going?”

“Not far.” He laced his fingers with mine as we walked through the house to the back porch. I rubbed my arm with my free hand as he reached for the door to the outside.

“Shouldn’t we get coats?”

“I don’t think you’ll need one.”

I braced myself for the cold as he opened the door, but was met instead with comfortable warmth. The stone patio was crowded with portable heaters, creating an umbrella of warmth around a table set with two chairs and glasses of red wine.

“What is this?” My face was truly about to break in two. Meyer pulled out one of the chairs for me to sit in, and I grasped the edge of the table to try and hold myself steady.

“I haven’t had the chance to take you anywhere without someone breathing down our necks. I thought it might be nice to do something … normal.”

I reached across the table to take his hand.

“Creating a little oasis on your porch in the middle of the freezing cold isn’t ‘normal.’ You realize this is why people want to eat the rich, right?”

He bit his lip as he grinned wolfishly, running his fingers over mine. “Does that mean you’ll eat my dick later?”

I blushed all the way to the tips of my ears. “If you play your cards right.”

He laughed and released me as he finished his wine and stood. “Wait here. I’ll go get our food.”

We talked and laughed all through dinner, only suffering the occasional burst of cold wind that cut through the heaters. When we were done eating and had worked our way through two bottles of wine, we worked together to turn off the heaters and bring the table inside, but it got left just inside the doorway as Meyer grabbed me around the waist and kissed me.

“Mom will catch us,” I mumbled against his lips.

“I gave them a gift card for a steakhouse in the city. They’ll be out for hours.” He laughed. “Can you believe we’re trying to sneak around your parents?”

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