Page 15 of Another Round
God her marvelous laugh. “You’re pretty tolerable for not being drunk.”
“Maybe we can do it again sometime.”
“Yeah, I’d like that.” She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Hesitation flushing her already pink cheeks. “Maybe tomorrow?”
Why does she sound so hopeful? Why do I feel so fortunate? “Yeah, I’ll make you dinner and you can tell me about your first day.”
Joy explodes across her stunning face from my offer, and she snuggles into the crook of my arm as I walk her back to her place. The grin gracing her lips never wavers when she steps inside and turns around to give me a little wave. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
Definitely. “Good night trouble.”
“Good night.”
I keep standing there long after she closes the door. Wishing it was already morning because for the first time in a long time I finally have something to look forward to.
Every night.
Every damn night.
Every damn wonderful night she comes over for dinner.
I don’t think I could love her company any more or hate myself any less.
Although I’ve been strictly platonic in my words and actions, my traitorous mind has been imagining her in ways I should be slowly and painfully tortured for thinking about.
We’ve settled into a brilliant routine over the past month. Exercising every morning before I walk her the three blocks from our place to her six-story building. Messaging Nick to confirm she’s safe within the protections I have installed at her office, and then waiting all day for her like a pitiful wanker with no life of my own until I can pick her up again.
I actually fucking cook too. Feeding her a meal I’ve made with my own fumbling hands. While she regales me with stories about people from her office that I don’t know and don’t really care about. I just love hearing her talk. Floating high myself on her energy. Her enthusiasm. Her excitement.
She created a new presentation for a client and got a thumbs up from her boss.
She negotiated a better price for the business cards she ordered, and the purchasing supervisor was impressed.
She proposed an idea for a website tagline, and they put it on the homepage.
Proving to herself and everyone else that she’s capable and doesn’t have to battle against her dad for her place in his world. Hopefully doesn’t want to anymore either.
We spend the evenings talking, sometimes swapping childhood stories, and she always expresses jealousy from the freedom I had, the adventures I experienced, the trouble I found myself in. While I remind her that she should be grateful for the security and lack of wanting she enjoyed as a kid.
Easy and effortless spending time with her. The only exertion required on my part to deflect questions about my old jobs and my lost family. To avoid revealing too much of the past I don’t want her exposed to. Which she seems to accept, even if she doesn’t quit trying to get me to let down my guard. To let her in.
Tonight, she’s quieter than normal. We eat in a silence that’s uncomfortable as well as unusual. Her focus on stabbing the tip of her fork over and over into her steak rather than her gaze meeting mine provokes a worry in my chest I’m not used to and don’t like. “Everything okay love?”
“What?” She finally looks up. Confusion pinching her brow until she realizes she’s been lost for several minutes. My voice bringing her back to the here and now. A quick shake of her head attempts to dismiss my concern which will never happen when it comes to her. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just this guy at work.”
Guy.
I will kill him.
My fingers instinctually curl around my knife while my muscles tighten against the wood of my chair. Shocked by my own rage as well as irrationality. That doesn’t make them any less real or intense. “What about him?”
My tone sounds normal. Hiding the anger I feel that someone has upset her. Concealing the fury burning through me from her being unhappy. Missing the wrath I intend to unleash on him from her anxiety.
“He’s having a bonfire at his lake house to celebrate the holiday and invited me—well everyone—to come over.”
Not a date. Thank fucking god he didn’t ask her out on a date.
“I know you don’t like to go out much. That you’d rather stay at home. But I thought…I mean only if you want to… that we might go.”
