Page 70 of Green
“Yes. I’m on Pico.”
“You’reun poquito loco.”
“You think I don’t know that?! I can’t do this. I’ve turned into a crazy person. It’s too much.”
“You don’t have any work scheduled for the next few days, right?”
“No. Why, are you going to have me institutionalized? Did you even hear what I said? I can’t do this.”
“Just calm down.”
“Calm down?! Tell me exactly how many times since you’ve known me have you ever had to tell me to calm down before?”
“Once.”
“What?! Zero!”
“Once. That night after you and Andrew broke up. You jumped around, yelling and swearing and flipping me off.”
“I did not.”
“You did. After you tried to kiss me.”
“I did nottryto kiss you.”
“Agree to disagree.”
“Okay, I remember being a tad on edge that night. But this isn’t me—this isn’t us—this doesn’t feel right.”
I laughed. I couldn’t stop it, couldn’t hide it, and I couldn’t help it.
“You’re laughing at me. That’s great”
“I’m laughing atus. In case you haven’t noticed—I’ve been feeling things I’ve never felt before and acting like a crazy person too.”
“Yeah. You have.”
“I think this is what happens when two people are crazy about each other. Señora Crazypants.”
No comment from Gemma, but I swear I could hear her smiling.
“So, this afternoon I did something really crazy. Are you finally ready to let me talk?”
“Maybe.”
“Good enough.”
“I still don’t—”
I talked over her and launched into it. “Okay, here’s how it’s gonna go, kid. The other thing I was busy doing today, and what I’ve been trying to tell you is: I’m taking my first vacation in five years. I’ve got two tickets to paradise and I’m taking you with me. We’re gonna have the real honeymoon we never had. We’re gonna have fun. We’re gonna relax. We’re gonna spend time together. We’ll see how it goes. If we decide we want to go to town on each other we are gonna fucking do it until we can’t do it anymore, and then we’re gonna eat and sleep and then we’re gonna do it some more, because otherwise, we will have unresolved feelings for each other for the rest of our lives, we will always wonder what it would have been like between us if we just stopped playing it safe and risked everything. So…Pack your swimsuit and a book and clothes and shoes for lots of different kinds of weather and have that sweet ass ready to be picked up at seven tomorrow morning. I’ll email you the information.”Drop the mic. Exit, stage left.
I ended the call before she could protest.
That felt good.
This would keep her busy so she wouldn’t have time to find another apartment to move into, because that was a dumb idea. More importantly, it would put both of us in a new place so we could feel free to be this new version of ourselves with each other. And even more importantly—vacation sex.
If she wasn’t ready and waiting for me the next morning, I would eat my swim shorts.
