Page 120 of Play the Part

I turn my body so I can lean my back against the window pane to better stare at Connie some more.

“Don’t tempt me,” I answer casually.

She snorts. “God, you really are a romantic.”

I kick her foot playfully under the table.

“And you’re not? Miss lover of fate?” I tease.

Her laugh is much purer this time. And I burn to memory the hills and valleys of the sound, knowing I’ll want to return to it again and again. Silence falls between us as I continue to stare at her, quietly drumming my fingers on the table.

“What is it?” she says, a crooked grin on her lips. “You look like you’re lost in thought.”

I respond with a smile before I speak. “Remember that question you asked me when we were snowed in?”

She casts her gaze down as if trying to recall, then looksup, eyes slightly narrowed. “About how everything happens for a reason?”

“Yeah,” I say, slowly nodding my head. “Do you remember what I said?”

Her expression turns slightly suspicious, but it’s paired with an amused smirk. “You said to ask again when something good actually happens in your life.”

Wordlessly and with a small prompt of the hand, I tell her to ask again.

Her gaze turns soulful, and she stays silent for a few loaded beats.

“Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?” Her voice is quiet. Deliberate.

“Maybe.” I laugh when her face falls. She was obviously expecting me to say yes outright. I take her hand and kiss her knuckles. “But right now? It sure does feel like it.”

She presses her lips together as if trying to suppress her grin, her eyes sparkling like a starry night sky. But as she watches me, she gradually turns serious.

“Am I the good thing in your life?”

It’s rare to see Connie looking so unsure of herself, as if she’s nervous to even ask for fear she’ll have assumed wrong. I reassure her with a stroke of my thumb over the top of her hand still in mine.

Something about the moment brings me back to the afternoon when I told her that I loved her. Feels like a lifetime ago. But it was just last week. It was the wrong time; I see it now. But it doesn’t prevent me from thinking it again as she stares back at me.

For now, I’ll settle for the silent declaration of my fingers leaving a slow caress on her skin. As well as telling her that she’s the one good thing in my life right now. It’s the closest thing I can say without flat-out telling her that I love her again.

“What do you think?” I finally say quietly.

Her smile is coy as she leans over. She plants a delicate kiss on my lips before settling back in her seat. “You are, too.”

“Do you ever think about Mom?”

Sophia’s fork full of scrambled eggs stops mid-way to her open mouth as she eyes me warily. By the way she’s staring at me, it’s as if I shouted the question across the busy restaurant. The eggs never make it to her mouth before she drops her fork back on her plate.

She crosses her arms before saying, “Is that why you took me out for breakfast this morning?”

I scrunch up my nose. “How is this me taking you out for breakfast?”

With her arms still crossed, she motions to her plate. “Well, I’m not paying for this.”

I roll my eyes. “Fine, I’ll pay. Can you answer my fucking question please?”

She widens her eyes and makes a face while looking to the side as if slightly appalled by my profanity. “Pushy,” she comments while picking up her smoothie.

I know she’s just antagonizing me on purpose but fucking hell, it’s working and my knee starts to jump under the table as I try to keep my cool.

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