Page 25 of Friendshipped
“And Felicia?” I ask, sitting on the step next to Lexi. Her sandy brown hair glistens in the moonlight and I want to brush it back over her shoulder. I put my hand on my knee to ground myself.
“She’s at Mom and Dad’s,” Lexi says.
“You sound sad,” I tell her.
“I thought you and I were going to go to Italian,” she says. “Did you get upset this afternoon during the invasion of the matchmaker?”
“Ugh!” I say. “The restaurant! Can we go tomorrow instead? I’m sorry I fully forgot with Jayme being here and all the hustle to get you two married off.”
“It did feel like a modern retelling of Fiddler on the Roof gone haywire,” Lexi jokes.
“Want to look at stars?” I offer.
It’s one of our things.
When life seems overwhelming, or when the night feels just right, we grab this old plaid blanket and lay out in the back yard looking up at the stars.
“Yes!” Lexi says. “I definitely need to lose myself in the stars tonight. Let’s go.”
I walk through my half of the house with Lexi following me. I grab the blanket from the laundry room near the back door and we descend the stairs into the yard together. I shake the blanket out into the air and let it flutter down until it’s flat on the ground. Lexi flops onto it and I lie next to her.
Our arms touch and I don’t move, even though I know I should. She’s looking for romance with other men. I take a deep breath and blow it slowly out through my mouth. Tonight, she’s here with me. That’s what matters right now.
“Felicia wears me out,” she says tilting her head so she’s looking at me. “Is that horrible to say?”
“How so?” I ask, our eyes meeting in the twilight.
It would be so easy to reach out and touch her face, to draw her to me and kiss her.
“She means well.” Lexi says, snapping my thoughts away from what it would be like to take her mouth with mine.
“I know. You’d be hard pressed to find someone with better intentions. And still, she wears you out.”
“Yes. Take today. She came in like an entourage of professionals doing a makeover. The woman has as much energy as a room full of first graders on red Kool-Aid.”
I laugh lightly and turn so I can see Lexi’s profile in the moonlight. She’s staring up at the sky now and her face has a soft reflective glow. I still see each of her features clearly.
Lexi sighs and turns to face me again. I look at the sky when she does. We’re too close. Sometimes that doesn’t bother me. Tonight, every one of my nerve endings feels her nearness.
“First, Felicia started by grilling Jayme about her breakup. Then she shared how she had been through something similar with William. I never knew. I only found out because she was on one of her fix-it missions with Jayme. Then Felicia went on about meeting Gregg online. Another thing I didn’t know. Before I knew it, she had Jayme under her spell. That’s when Jayme turned to me and said she wouldn’t make a profile if I didn’t, but she would if I did.”
“So, you didn’t decide to start online dating on your own?” I ask.
A wave of relief washes over me.
“Are you kidding me?” she asks, poking me in the ribs right where she knows I’m ticklish.
I recoil and cover the spot which only encourages Lexi to wiggle her fingers in the air and try to break through to tickle me more.
I turn the tables on her and span my hand around her knee, grabbing the pressure points. It drives her nuts and she starts cracking up and trying to wriggle out of my grasp.
“Uncle! Uncle!” she gasps out, from her folded over position on the blanket.
“Okay,” I say, loosening my grip on her knee and reluctantly lifting my hand away from her. “Truce.”
“So, you only set up a profile so Jayme would?” I ask.
I need to know this. Maybe I’m only making things worse for myself in the long run, but today I just need to know.
