Page 61 of All The Way Under
The waitress drops off his beer and another water. I take the beer from the table and drink half while Brody looks on, grinning.
“They can’t. We took over the base. No one will have to go through what you did there again.” Brody clears his throat. “I don’t think we talked about this. Do you like beer?”
“Love it. Won a drinking contest sophomore year in college. I can open my throat and let it slip down. I was sick for the next forty-eight hours, so I won’t do it again, but it was worth the pain to be able to see Bianca’s face when I showed her the winning certificate. I don’t drink often, but this feels like an occasion.” I raise the stein, and he clinks with my water glass. “To surviving and thriving.”
We spend a couple of hours chatting in Café do Acaso.Chance Café. We talk about everything and nothing. Forever, and right now. It’s effortless banter, filled with full-chested promises that I believe.
It’s not like before, like with Archie, when he would talk about his future without mentioning me at all. Brody includesweandusspeak when he mentions anything, and I can tell it comes naturally. He’s not even trying to impress me or allude in any way. He asks me about work and my projects because that’s something we didn’t talk about much in captivity. He knows so much about my work that he’s interested in the details that would bore most.
He kisses me passionately, fully making me wet in public, in front of the large bay window. Then we have security unlock the door and walk back to the hotel.
This will go down as the most perfect date of all time. Nothing bad happened, even though we were on alert.
No enemy was lying in wait.
Being next to Brody feels like it’s where I was always meant to be. It feels too good to be true. When I land back in the States, I’m terrified this will all be a dream bubble popped with the pinpoint needle of cruel reality.
“Do you have brothers, Brody?” Mom asks.
We’re sitting at a dining table in the hotel restaurant. I told Brody not to agree to dinner when Bianca asked, but he did. He said nothing blows his skirt up like a challenge. Now he’s privy, with a front row view, to Bianca Wyndham’s shit show.
Brody smiles at her question, knowing where my mom is going.Do you have any single siblings because you’re attractive?
“I have a twin brother, ma’am. Older by thirty-seven minutes. His name is Nolan.”
I haven’t told them much about his family life yet.
Mom sips from the water glass, puckers her lips, then announces, “Is this water from the tap? I can taste the public infrastructure.”
She hails a waiter and asks for Pellegrino.
Then, to Brody, she says, “Nolan is a lucky man to share genes with you. Tell us more about your home life. We know what you do for work. Save reckless women and protect our sovereign country. What about your free time?”
Brody can’t help but smile at her antics, even though I’m dying inside.
My former boyfriends have all been like her. In the company of Bianca’s friends and family, this is normal behavior. In front of Brody? This? This right here is true zoo animal behavior, I think.
“She wasn’t reckless,” he defends me. “I know reckless when I see it.”
His smile is coy and dimpled.
“Those pirates just needed to be put in line, so what happened to Saylor never happens to anyone else.” Brody clears his throat.
He’s uncomfortable speaking about himself.
“My family is close, so I spend a lot of time with them, but the truth is I work a lot, so my hobbies are slim. I have a dog, and I volunteer at my local dog shelter here and there. I like to blend tea in my free time.”
I nearly choke on my Aperol Spritz.
“Blend tea?” I ask, eyes wide.
“Caffeine messes with cortisol, Saylor. Don’t you know that?” Brody claps back, pressing his lips together. “I’m going to stop in the tea shop a few blocks over before I fly home. They have a chamomile that’s supposed to be unlike any of the other ones I’ve tried.”
“I…I…You keep surprising me,” I drawl, a smile on my face. “I like tea. Wouldn’t know the first thing about blending it, though.”
I didn’t know blending tea was a hobby. Does anyone know that blending tea is a hobby?
“Oh, I look forward to an afternoon tea daily,” Mom says. “That’s such an interesting hobby. You will have to make me a blend. Something to unwind and relax. The stress of life really gets to me some days.”
