Page 50 of Can We Skip to the Good Part?
“Oh, and now I’ve lost you a second time,” Max said and dropped her head to the side in a whimsical display. Her eyes danced, and the sides of her mouth tugged. Everything between them felt light and promising today, like a cool glass of ice water after a long run. “You’re adorable when you daydream.”
Ella perched her chin on her hand, reveling in the ease of their back-and-forth. “You seem to inspire it.”
“I do?” She watched understanding transform Max’s beautiful face, making her seem both surprised and satisfied. “Even better.”
God, she wanted to kiss her into their next chapter, lose herself in those lips, and taste the sweetness of her lip gloss again. She had no idea what was next in their story, but she knew this wasn’t the end. “You better go find Doug before this gets any worse.”
“But maybe I want it to get worse. Who knows what could happen?”
“Max.”
“Yes?”
“Exactly my sentiment,” she said, dropping her tone. “We’re in a bookstore.”
Max leveled a stare. “In my experience, we do well when books are involved. It’s how I met you.”
“Find Doug.”
“No need,” Doug called out. “I’m just over here working and listening to you two dance around each other.”
Max’s eyes went wide. “Point taken.”
“And don’t come to my office looking like that,” Ella said.
“Like what?”
“A lawyer.”
Max strolled back, hands in her suit pockets, which wasn’t helping. “Do you have a thing for corporate executives, ma’am?”
Ella sucked in air. “You could say it checks a lot of my boxes.”
Max arched a brow. “Good to know,” she said in a breezy voice. Too much. Max, if Ella wasn’t careful, would be the death of her rational thought and productivity. Ever since she’d given in to her desire, the world had become a much happier place. Well, as long as she pushed thoughts of her best friend and her feelings aside. That part was still a big problem. It was too early, she told herself, to bother Rachel with something that could turn out to be frivolous in the end. She and Max had a lot of potential, but they didn’t know each other very well at this point. Maybe their bond was purely physical, likely to fizzle and burn itself out. Wouldn’t it be wiser to wait and see if there was anything worth making waves about first? Yep, that’s what she was going to go with.
Tuesday night had seemed so far away.All week, Max had waited, knowing it was the next time she’d get to share space with Ella. The news about her mother hung over her, heavy and thick, leaving everything coated in regret and sadness, except Ella. She was the one bright spot in Max’s life. When things felt alarming or overwhelming, it was thoughts of her that Max turned to for a short respite. Seeing Ella in person, after several days away, was like taking a deep breath after being underwater for too long, necessary and urgent, the only thing keeping her from sinking.
“You’re a very forgiving person. I’ll say that for you,” Ariana said across the room to Ella, flipping through the book and turning it around with noticeable vehemence. They were forty-five minutes in, and the polite agreement had moved to the back burner in favor of friendly spars. It was, honestly, Max’s favorite part of book club. The Weepers didn’t mess around when it came to expressing their varied viewpoints. “But Chapter Fourteen was criminal. I wanted to call the author’s mother and personally tattle.”
“I hear you,” Ella said, the picture of calm. She was often that, a quality Max admired. She had her hair in a ponytail tonight with just the right amount of hair escaping and framing her face. Her lips carried a hint of pink lip gloss, and her lashes a slight touch of mascara. Unintentionally gorgeous. “I’m thinking this is about the rooftop tour gone wrong. It crushed me as well, but I love a good crushing. It makes me long for that romantic little payoff all the more, and who doesn’t love it when their own emotions get entangled in the story?”
Ariana went up on her knees, and Morgan’s eyebrows hit her hairline. “She’s gearing up for battle, folks. Hold onto your merlot.”
“But the crushing was unnecessary in this sense,” Ariana explained. “These women were on such a fantastic trajectory that she could have ridden that wave and crushed us like reader-bugs later on. It would have been a much more epic crushing, too.”
Stevie nodded and popped a grape. “Reader-bugs. I like it.” She seemed a lot lighter these days, smiling her way through the meeting. Max had to wonder if she’d quietly messaged that woman from Sally Sue’s after all. Maybe Stevie just needed a little breathing room to explore this whole new world on her own—a concept she’d mention to the others.
Olive sat forward. “But maybe that’s why it worked so well for Ella and her entangled feelings. It was a surprise crushing.” She nodded at her own quiet suggestion, always treading so delicately. Leave it to Olive to say very little all night and then bust out with an impressive nugget of wisdom.
“I have to agree,” Max said. Ella turned in her direction and they connected, holding each other’s gaze with a palpable intensity before Max reminded herself that they were in a room full of their friends and couldn’t spontaneously combust and take the whole place down in flames with them. Would be rude. It wasn’t her home.
“Are you going to say why?” Morgan asked, and that’s when Max realized she’d trailed off, her gaze still locked on Ella, who’d had the self-awareness to glance away. She’d just looked so fucking edible today. The way her silver necklace with the flower rested on her collarbone. The slight wave of her hair, and that damn shade of blond Max hadn’t quite been able to duplicate in her mind’s eye until she laid eyes on the real thing and went soft all over again. Ella had stolen her attention in a way no otherwoman ever had, and Max’s only explanation was the intricate combination of traits woven together that made Ella, well …Ella. The cumulative effect mystified, terrified, and excited Max all at once. She was lust drunk these days, admittedly.
“I am going to say why,” Max said, ordering herself to behave and focus. “But I need a minute to organize my thoughts.”
Ariana shot Morgan a knowing glance, as if to say,See what I mean?She swiveled back to Max and raised a brow (and Ariana had good ones). “You’re off your game these days.”
“Work is killer. Two long mediation sessions today.”
