Page 64 of August
God, Myra really didn’t know what to do here, so she figured the only way to respond was to take the random old lady’s advice to just say yes and deal with the rest later.
???
“You’re here,” Elisa said with a wide smile. “Hurry! Kiss me. The kids are arguing in the back over how much parmesan cheese is appropriate on top of lasagna.”
Myra leaned in and quickly kissed Elisa on the lips.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi. Sorry for the last-minute invitation. Dante was in the kitchen, working, and when he asked me a few questions, the kids overheard me saying thatyounever ask me any questions, so I don’t know how to answer his, andtheyasked questions. I told them you owned the company and that you also happen to live next door, and Adele suggested we invite you to dinner, so here we are.”
Myra laughed and asked, “Should I have brought something? I just came over. I didn’t even change.”
Myra looked down at her polo shirt and khakis.
“You look cute in your uniform,” Elisa replied with wiggling eyebrows. “Is it a uniform, though, if you’re the boss, or is it a choice?”
Myra chuckled and said, “I think that’s a philosophical question for another night.”
“I guess so,” Elisa said as she laughed and then closedthe door behind herself, joining Myra on the porch. “Can I maybe get a better kiss now?”
“You told me to hurry before,” Myra said with a smile but wrapped her arms around Elisa’s waist.
“I know. But now, I want more.”
Hearing that made Myra’s smile widen because she did, too. Yes, she still had her worries, but they weren’t enough to stop her from kissing Elisa right now. And the old lady had been right: now wasn’t the time to bring up those worries, with Elisa’s kids inside the house, but shewouldtell her about them later. They’d already decided that they would be honest with one another, and Myra would honor that. Just not right now, with two teenagers in the kitchen arguing over cheese. She leaned in and captured Elisa’s lips just as Elisa wrapped her arms around Myra’s neck. She kissed her slowly because she loved kissing her slowly. It allowed her to hear all of the little sounds Elisa made as if she were still so surprised that she was kissing a woman, as if she still hadn’t allowed herself to believe that this new thing they were doing was happening.
“You are really good at that,” Elisa said when their kiss ended.
“So are you,” she replied, meaning it, too, because Elisa was an amazing kisser.
“We should get in there,” Elisa suggested as she nodded back toward the house.
“Okay,” Myra said. “Is Dante still here?”
“No, he left right before you got here. He said you only told him to stay for a few hours.”
“I did. But I also asked him to finish what I gave him to work on before he left. Did he?”
“I wouldn’t know. He said he was done, though, before he hit the road.”
“I’ll check it out,” she said.
“Myra?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re here for dinner,” Elisa reminded her, cuppingher cheeks. “Take the night off, babe.”
Myra smiled at the term of endearment and said, “Yeah, okay. I can’t help it.”
“I know. I think it’s cute.” Elisa then kissed her again quickly and added, “Come on.”
She opened the door for them, and they went inside. They hadn’t talked about whether Myra would be introduced as the woman Elisa was dating or as a friend who lived next door, so Myra decided to just take Elisa’s lead.
“AJ and Adele, this is Myra. Remember, you were rude to her before, so please be nice now,” Elisa said once they were in the kitchen.
“Hi,” AJ said as he waved. “How much parmesan do you use on lasagna?”
