Page 21 of August
“Both, if you want,” she said and swallowed. “They take time if you make them right.”
“Time, huh? You told me you work twenty-four-seven. When will you teach me?”
“I can add you to my calendar,” she replied.
Elisa moved back to the stove with another pan and a jar of Alfredo sauce and said, “That’s very kind of you.”
The response came with a smirk on her face that Myra wanted to kiss off.
“Your sweats are cute,” Myra said, going with this possible flirting they were doing right now. “What’s St. Peter’s?”
“Oh,” Elisa said and looked down. “Thank you.” She smiled at Myra. “It’s the school the kids went to.”
“Prep school?”
“Yeah. It’s Archie’s alma mater, so he wanted the kids to go there, too. It’s small; only about five hundred kids.”
“Private?”
“Yes. And great academics. It was a good environment for both of them, but theydidget spoiled there with small class sizes and a lot of attention from teachers, so we’ll haveto see how they do at college, where there are lectures with two hundred kids, and the professors don’t even know their names.”
“I’m sure they’ll do fine,” Myra said. “I should get back to work.”
“Oh,” Elisa let out, shaking her head. “Yeah. I’ll finish up here. Can you take a break to eat?”
Myra nodded at her and went back to work. She tried to focus; she really did… But Elisa hummed while she cooked. Myra wasn’t even sure that she knew she was doing it, but it was sweet and soft, and it made Myra want to walk over to her, pull her back against her, and kiss her neck. She wanted to hold Elisa while she hummed and cooked and then turn her around in her own arms to kiss her lips. Myra hadn’t felt anything like that in a long time; not with any of the women she had dated – or, rather, attempted to date – since her ex had blindsided her. No one she had gone out with since had stirred anything in her, but she had nearly screwed her own hand into the wall when Elisa started humming, so that had to mean something.
CHAPTER 8
“You have a crush,” Gwen said with a knowing smile.
“I do not,” she replied.
“Yes, you do,” Gwen insisted. “I’ve been here for five minutes, and you’ve said Myra’s name at least as many times. Myra this. Myra that.”
“You’ve been herefifteenminutes, and I’ve only said her name twice,” Elisa argued.
“Three times. Final offer,” Gwen replied as if they were bartering over an item at a yard sale.
“I have nothing else to talk about. The kids are gone. I went for a run. I did the dishes and applied for another couple of jobs. That’s the extent of my life right now outside of the fact thatsomeoneis working on my house.”
“Someone being Myra. Nice try.” Gwen laughed. She then took a drink of her sparkling water and added, “You’ve never really talked to anyone about a woman, have you?”
Elisa looked down at her plate and said, “No.”
“Do you want to talk about onenow? I know you were married to my idiot older brother for a couple of decades, and I was still pretty much a kid when you two met and the twins were born, but I’m not a kid anymore, and Ihaveknown you for two decades now, too. Besides, if anyone gets it, it’s me.”
“I know. I just don’t really know what to say. She stayed for dinner, and we talked for a while. Then, she got back to work and left around nine. I thought it was weird for me to sit there and watch her, even though I wanted to keep talking. Besides, she kind of needs to focus on the work. She’s measuring and screwing things. She gets this look of concentration on her face that’s really cute, and her nose scrunches up.” She imitated Myra’s nose scrunch with one of her own.
Gwen laughed a little and asked, “How long did you actually watch her while you pretended to do something else?”
“Not long. Just, like, a few minutes. Then, I went to the living room and watched TV on mute so that I could hear her if she needed anything.”
“And how was the dinner conversation?”
“Really good. I touched her.”
“Sorry; what?” Gwen said with a little cough.
