Page 41 of Tell Me Softly
“We made Thiago mad, though.” At last, I’d managed to make my voice work again.
“After all the times I got called in because of things Thiago did when he was little…he’d better not let his position of authority go to his head,” she said, walking back into the kitchen. We followed her. It was so nice seeing her there, between those yellow walls with white wooden cabinets.
“Have a seat and get to work,” Katia said. She cut the cake and set down a slice for each of us. I watched her from the kitchen table, thinking how she deserved so much more happiness than she must have had. Once she’d given us forks and napkins, she poured herself a cup of coffee and asked us if we’d like some.
“I would, please,” I said, swallowing after I noticed my voice sounded strange.
“No. Gross,” Taylor said.
“You don’t like coffee?” I asked. Was he insane?
Before he could answer, his mother responded, “Taylor? No matter how old he gets, he still wants his little hot chocolate with extra sugar and…”
“And a pinch of cinnamon,” I finished her phrase. “Are you serious? Still?”
His mother watched him, amused, as she set a cup in front of me. Taylor sat up straight, pretending to be serious as he opened his laptop but a little embarrassed, I think. “It’s the best combination of flavors known to man,” he said.
“You’re really selling it. Maybe you should go into the hot chocolate biz,” I told him, trying not to laugh.
“You’d make a fortune, honey,” his mother said, mussing his hair before disappearing into the living room. I looked at the empty doorframe with a feeling of longing and comfort.
“She always did love you,” Taylor said, taking my hand.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I just do. Now let’s get to work because otherwise you’ll get home too late, and God forbid your mom starts calling and texting you like crazy.”
“No need to worry about that…she took away my phone.”
“Is that a thing? I thought parents didn’t punish their kids anymore.”
“Try me and find out,” Katia said, returning to the kitchen and picking her book up off the table. “I hope you’re not thinking of getting into any more trouble. Trust me, you won’t like what comes of it.”
I laughed as Taylor rolled his eyes.
“She’s talking because you’re here and she wants to show off.”
I shook my head and took out my notebook.
For half an hour, we tried to decide what we wanted to do. Talking about sex with Taylor could be fun. Even now, it was impossible to concentrate with all the dumb jokes he kept making.
“Why don’t we research the Kama Sutra? We can practice the positions. It’ll be like a study, and we can tell everyone––”
“Which positions are most painful?”
“I was going to say which ones led to the quickest orgasm. But you wouldn’t know, you’ve probably never had a real one yet.”
I tried to look at him knowingly. “Why would you say that?”
“It’s harder for girls.”
“You mean it’s harder for guys to figure us out,” I said.
With surprise in his eyes, he said, “I’m sorry, Kami, are thesesexual complaints I’m hearing? Problems in bed? You know Doctor Taylor’s here to help you.”
I punched him in the shoulder and shook my head.
“Seriously, though,” he said while I tried to gaze at the screen. “Can I ask you something?”
