Page 58 of Rebound With Me
Vince
After I tookNina home from dinner at my Dad’s, I got a text from my Dad that said:Dear God please don’t fuck things up with this one.
Nice vote of confidence for her, not so much for me.
From my brother:If you don’t marry her, I will. Fuck you.
That’s a first from Gabe, who literally hasn’t dated anyone for longer than two months in his entire horndog life.
Eve hasn’t shut up about her since her birthday party.
Charlie’s already asking when she’s coming over again. That doesn’t surprise me. She was so great with him, especially when he fell down. Seeing her with all her baggies full of mom purse stuff spread out over the sidewalk, I had this weird urge to impregnate her.Thatwas a first for me.
I probably shouldn’t have taken her to the garden so soon after dinner with my family. I’ve felt weird since then, but it’s definitely not Nina’s fault. Nothing’s Nina’s fault. She’s perfect. For the first time in my life, I’m wondering if I’m even good enough for someone. It one hundred percent blows.
I know I’m moving too fast, but I don’t know how else to move. Especially when it comes to her. What we have is still so new and there are still things she doesn’t know about me, but I’m starting to feel like I could lose her any day now. I thought I could win her over in a summer, but each day that passes just feels like a death march towards September. It’s how I always felt about going back to school, but this is so much more than losing my freedom when school starts. I could lose her. She’ll realize how different we are and our schedules won’t mesh and she’ll be seeing the fucking principal every day, and she’ll remember this is just a rebound. Fuck. This is why Dr. Glass wanted me to keep up with the sessions.
Whatever.
I’m being an idiot.
I still have another month.
A lot can happen in a month. A lot has already happened. Like, a lot.
* * *
She doesn’t answer until the third ring, which is weird.
“Hi,” she says, her voice soft.
“Did I wake you up or something?”
“No, not at all.”
“I hate to bother you with this, but Charlie’s at day camp and his new part-time nanny has some family emergency all of a sudden so she can’t pick him up. Are you busy now? I know you said you have work to do, so you can say no, I can call someone else.”
“I can get him, of course. Do you want me to take him somewhere or bring him back to my place?”
“That’s great, thank you. Yeah take him to your place, I’ll pick you guys up after work and then we’ll drop him off at Gabe’s and you and I can go to dinner.”
“Uh huh.”
“You still want to go to dinner?”
“Yeah, of course. Listen, don’t hesitate to call me if you need someone to pick Charlie up or drop him off at the day camp. It’s so close to me, it’s no trouble.
I feel my jaw tensing up. I don’t want to turn her into another nanny here. She’s just being sweet, I know. “Okay yeah thanks, hopefully it won’t be necessary.”
Silence on the other end.
“Sooo, text me when you’ve got Charlie and I’ll call when I’m leaving the office, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, thanks again. Bye.”
“Bye.”
