Page 59 of A Night to Remember

“You didn’t buy me jewelry, did you?” she asked warily. I didn’t respond right away. She looked so beautiful that night, jewelry or no, that I took a moment to enjoy it. She’d worn her hair down, the way I like it, and her plum-colored v-neck top had been simple but sexy. I had never told her the real reason like agate, particularly gray agate like the end-cut hunk of rock that sits on the table between us. Its delicate bands of smoke and silver have always reminded me of the gray eyes narrowed suspiciously at me now.

I stayed quiet so long that she began to get worried. “It’s okay, of course, if you did buy me jewelry, or if you bought me nothing, I just thought you’d like the rock?—”

“I love the rock,” I responded with a smile. “And I did buy you something. Not jewelry, I know better than that. I Googled ‘romantic Star Wars gifts’—”

“Oh no.”

“And there’s a lot of Luke and Leia out there, let me tell you?—”

“Leia andHan, Luke is herbrother.”

“But then I went down a rabbit hole, and it turns out there’s this other couple? Rey and Kylo Ren? And they don’t have sex but the internetreallywants them to have sex, and it’s this whole thing?”

“Yes, I, um… know about the thing.”

“And people smash their names together to become Reylo?”

“Um. Yup.”

“Which would be kind of like if people called us Gayla?—”

“Wilson, are you even hearing yourself?” She glanced around at the other couples who packed the restaurant and took a fortifying sip of wine.

“—or Wohnson.” At that, she’d laughed so hard that wine had shot out of her nose. Now those other couples reallydidlook at us. I chuckled too and felt enormously satisfied as I helped her mop wine off the tablecloth. Making her laugh like that is my love language.

“Please, please tell me you didn’t get ‘Wohnson’ embroidered on a tea towel or something,” she whispered desperately.

I grinned. “No. I bought you a romance novel that’s disguised Reylo fanfiction. It was either that or a picture of Darth Vader that said ‘Welcome to the Heart Side’. It’s supposed to be pretty steamy. Enjoy.” I handed it to her. She took it quickly, unwrapping it under the table so no one could see the cover.

“I will never read this,” she hissed, fighting back a smile. “I hate romance.”

“I know,” I replied, and kissed her hand.

She did read it, though. Later that night, after I’d initiated sex by enjoining her to come to the heart side, I’d woken up to see her tearing through it by the light of her headlamp.

“Shut up,” she said, once again suppressing a smile. “And thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I murmured, nuzzling into her collarbone. She looped an arm around my neck and ran her fingers through my hair until I fell back to sleep. It’d been the best Valentine’s Day of my life.

Such are my thoughts as I lie half-dressed on my bed, studying my new rock. I wonder if, after Kayla and I both suffer through this horrible dance, she’ll take me back to her place, peel off my suit, drop to her knees, and?—

“Hey there, stranger!”

“Jesus fuck!” I blaspheme, rolling off my bed with the agate clutched to my chest like a football. “Gretchen! What are you doing here?” Do I have a boner? Not anymore, thank God. ButI feel horribly naked in suit pants and no shirt, with Gretchen Meier standing in my bedroom doorway like she owns the place.

“I was just picking up my dress for Hungry Hearts from the dry cleaner’s and thought I would stop by and say hello,” she explains, smirking at me as I scramble to pull on an undershirt. “I’m wearing that red one that you like.”

“Um, which? I really don’t remember.”

“You’ll remember when you see it.” She walks over to me slowly, staring at me intently. I feel a little like I’m being hypnotized by a cobra and a little like my mom just caught me masturbating. “You remember that night in Ibiza, don’t you?” She reaches out and grazes my chest with her fingertips. I leap back like I’ve been shocked.

“Hey, Gretchen, c’mon. No. I’m seeing someone else now.”

She drops her hand. “Kayla Johnson. I heard.”

“That’s right.” I square my shoulders proudly.

“The one who got away,” she says in a mocking tone.

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