Page 23 of Under My Skin
Grabbing my phone off the counter, I send Allison a quick text even though she’s probably getting ready for work.
Lucy:
May the bride have no unrealistic last-minute requests today!
Surprisingly, the three dots come in right away.
Allison:
Ugh too late. All the food she picked for her bridal suite’s breakfast buffet is apparently making her nauseous, so I’m standing in line at Cracker Barrel in Northglenn to pick up her comfort food.
Lucy:
Get yourself an extra coffee while you’re there.
Wait, didn’t she pick all the food for the buffet months ago?
Allison:
Of course she did. But that food followed her wedding diet, and now that she’s here, she wants carbs slathered in syrup. Specifically, from Cracker Barrel.
I huff a laugh, but before I can type my response, another message comes in from her that stops my laughter short.
Allison:
Are you going to see your parents today?
The words alone are enough to make me feel the pressure of getting out of here.
Lucy:
Yeah. I’m leaving Simon’s apartment soon.
I wait for her response. I know I’m stalling. Standing here and waiting for her to text me back feels like the perfect way to delay the inevitable. After a minute, her response comes in.
Allison:
My order is ready, but I love you. And they love you. Call me if you need anything.
She adds a heart emoji to the end of her message, and I close my fingers around my phone a little tighter. I wish she were here. She and I could have gotten a hotel, drank a bottle of wine last night to help me ramp up my courage, and she’d drive me to my childhood home like a proud mom sending her kid off to school to conquer a bully.
“I don’t know how you and Simon eat that shit.”
I look up to find Everett drying his hair with a towel and leaving it messy. His eyes are fixed on the bowl on the counter, and mine are locked onto his bare chest as he stands in front of me wearing nothing but dark gray sweatpants. I desperately will my eyes not to follow the single droplet of water he missed as it slides further down.
It’s only when he tosses the towel in his hand over his shoulder, that I remember to look at his face, his muffled voice coming into focus. “. . . my mouth.”
At the mention, my eyes drop to his mouth, taking in the curve of his lips for a fraction of a second before I blink and shake my head. “Sorry, what?”
Oblivious to my staring, he points at the cereal bowl. “Doesn’t it destroy the roof of your mouth?”
“That’s part of its charm.” I shovel in another bite. I’m dying to study the tattoos on his chest, but I don’t want to get caught. There also aren’t as many as I thought there would be. Something over his heart and another on his lower abdomen, but the rest of his chest is bare. Swallowing my bite, I shrug in a desperate attempt to recover. “Not everyone can handle the crunch, I guess.”
He shakes his head with a trace of a smile before he seems to remember why he walked out here with a towel in the first place. “Hey, I’m leaving for the shop in half an hour. Want me to drop you off at your parents’ house?”
I had assumed Simon would take me, so my eyes immediately jump toward his bedroom as I chew, like he might walk out here right when I need him.
Everett looks over his shoulder before pointing his thumb in the same direction. “Yeah . . . if he’s on call, he’ll probably sleep until the city needs him.”
