Page 113 of We Met Like This
He startled and lifted me off his lap and back into my own seat in a surprisingly fluid motion. My back bumped the passenger-side door, not hard, but it made a sound. My feet were now in his lap.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It didn’t hurt,” I assured him. “You’re so jumpy.” I nudged him with my foot.
He looked over my shoulder out the window and toward the house as if my whole family would come pouring out at the sound of the horn.
“They’re probably in the backyard,” I said. “And with kids screaming and the music playing, they won’t have heard it.” Extra cars lined the street and I’d realized right when I’d seen them that this wasn’t just a family party. “Are you scared of my parents catching us? We’re not teenagers.”
“Then we probably shouldn’t be making out in a car,” he said.
“But cars are kind of our thing.”
“They shouldn’t be,” he said stiffly.
My mouth snapped shut in surprise. “Right. Okay. That’s my cue.” I pulled my feet off his lap.
“I’m sorry, Margot, I’m a little stressed.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “The weekend is over. Back to reality, I guess.” A heaviness settled on my chest with the thought that maybe Oliver had just thought of this as a weekend fling. An in-the-moment thing.Like Rob always did, came the unwanted thought.
“No, come here.” He put a hand on either side of my face and brought me in for a slow kiss. “I didn’t mean to be short with you. My head is hurting and I’m worrying about… things at work and…”
“I could’ve helped you talk it out on the drive.”
He smiled. “You’re right. You could’ve.” His eyes darted to the house over my shoulder before they were back on me. “I’m also worried about things here.”
“Things here? With us?”
He nodded out the window. “Things with you and your sister.”
“You’re sweet. We’ll get over it. We’ve fought before. I think we’re to the smoothing-it-over portion.”
He drew in a long breath.
“Wait, is this why you don’t want to come in and eat before you leave? Because me and my sister are fighting?”
His hands were still on my cheeks and he brought my mouth to his, letting our lips meet.
“I want to meet your family,” he said between kisses. “But today isn’t the right time. I want to give you and your sister space to talk. Work things out.”
He was right. I hadn’t seen Audrey since I’d made a mess of sharing my agency news. And even though I really did feel like we were in the smoothing-it-over portion of making up, bringing an unexpected guest wouldn’t help. Audrey didn’tlike the unexpected. Plus, Oliver and I were brand-new. We didn’t need to involve families yet. We needed to figure out how to navigate what we were first.
“We always make up. It’s what sisters do,” I said. “But you’re right. We should save meeting families for later.”
He gave a slow nod. “Call me later? Tell me how it all went?”
“Yes, I will.” I reached for the door handle.
“Margot.”
I looked over at him. He leaned closer and pulled me in for a passionate kiss that left me aching all over again. Even after he backed away, I kept my eyes closed, a smile on my face.
“You’re everything,” he said.
Finally, I blinked my eyes open. “I miss you already.”
“Same,” he said.
