Page 14 of Honey Undone
I looked over at Dad and he winked, I barely understood what he meant but I saw Adeline, or at least I thought I did. Maybe I just needed to work harder. I thought about it the entire time we ate dinner, floating through the conversation until we moved to the living room. I crawled under a terribly knitted blanket my father made while he and Mom argued about what movie to watch.
Eventually he let her win and she put on Jurassic Park. The two of them went back to their puzzle and I pulled my phone out of my pocket. The last messages from Adeline were about her favorite food. Every answer she gave was like playing Russian roulette. I never knew if she was giving me an answer just to see my reaction or if she was being serious.
Rodeo food
Do we even have Rodeos in Rhode Island?
She had left me to guess what the hell she meant and I could only assume that it was fried food on sticks and cotton candy. It only made me like her more, infuriatingly so.
So the first date is the boardwalk?
I typed and deleted it. That was stupid, she didn’t want to be told where to go. She enjoyed surprises, that was apparent enough. I could try to cook for her but that would end in disaster. Between my mom and Mrs. Cody, I’d never quite gotten the hang of it. I burned toast at the Nest so often that the guys had started to assume that’s how I liked to eat it.
Shit. Okay.Don’t let her see me sweat.
Favorite Movie?
I asked, looking up at the TV that hung above the massive fireplace. I didn’t expect her to answer right away but my phone vibrated like she had been waiting on my message.
Speed
Sandra Bullock?
Keanu Reeves in a tactical vest should be studied.
I laughed at my phone and my mom looked over at me suspiciously, her glasses on the edge of her nose.
Lake House Keanu and Sandra are superior.
Did you just rom-com me?
It’s just the simple truth.
More often than not my Mom’s insane collection of movies came in handy. I grew up in front of the T.V. It was our favorite pastime. Girls never saw it coming, the idea that a cocky baseball player has extensive knowledge of romance movies. It’s a golden goose. Mom would kill me if she knew I was weaponizing our quality time but it was for a good cause.
Cotton candy and Keanu Reeves it is.
You’d spend our first date with another man, wow.
You can come if you want? Tomorrow at 7
Looks like it’ll just be you and Keanu. I bet he uses tongue.
Raincheck?
Maybe.
I was going to go insane. I would ask her out a hundred times, it wasn’t about that. I could handle the avoidance, the flirting, the teasing. What infuriated me was missing a girl I had never even touched. My brain had started to fantasize all the trouble we could get into and it was twisting down into my consciousness. I couldn’t shake Adeline. I shoved my phone back into my pocket and slid down into the chair falling asleep before the movie was even over. Mom shook me awake at some point with a smile on her face.
“You’re getting a little big to be carried to bed,” she teased.
“You could have least tried,” I groaned sarcastically and pushed from the chair. She laughed, patting me on the cheek before starting back to her room. “Hey Mom,” I called out quietly to her. “I think I really like this girl.”
She turned back to look at me and I knew what she was thinking,silly little boy. It was written all over her face, she had never been one for pulling her punches. Especially when it came to me being an idiot.
“You think?” She challenged and wandered back toward me. “Your father tells the story of the first time we met a little differently than I do every single time we tell it but do you want to know the truth?”
“Yeah,” I said without hesitation.
