Page 24 of A Very Grumpy Father's Day
“HerrDeclan?” She calls me this because she has trouble sayingCannavale. “Disis Greta Stern.”
“Yes, hello Greta. This is Declan. What’s going on?”
My heart is racing and traffic is still moving at a snail’s pace, but it is, technically, moving. Now I’m trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to get home or to a hospital right now if I have to.
“HerrDeclan, I could not reach yourvifeonzephone, but Ivantto make sure you both knowdatI must leave at five thirtydisevening and absolutely no later. I must be downtown for dinnervitfamily, yeah? So, you orFrauMadeleine must be homevisbaby.”
I rub my forehead. “So, Ciara is okay right now? Nothing is broken or on fire? You’re okay right now?”
“Yes. Fine. Yes.”
“Okay. Great. I can definitely be home by five thirty. Maddie has to work late, but I will be there. Is that all?”
“Yes. Good. Goodbye.”
I hang up and take a couple of deep breaths before getting back into ear-fuck-my-wife-through-the-phone mode.
“Dec? You there?”
“Yeah. It’s fine. They’re fine. She just wanted to make sure one of us is home before five thirty so she can leave.”
“Seriously? That’s why she called?”
“Yeah.”
“Traffic still backed up?”
“Yeah. So where were we?”
“I think I should just go grab lunch. This wasn’t meant to be.”
“Babe, I literally can’t do anything besides sit in this car right now, and I would rather do it while talking to you. You don’t have to be anywhere besides that hotel room, so let me do this for you.”
She blows out a breath. “Okay.”
“You want to know how it would really go down if I showed up to be there with you now?”
“I do. Tell me.”
“I’m hard before I get out of the elevator. I’ve wanted to be alone with you, inside you, for so long. As soon as I see you there, naked in your heels or fully dressed and frowning at me, I go straight over to you, grab your beautiful face and kiss you. Not hard or deep or gentle. I just kiss you because I don’t need to tell you how much I miss you with words right now. I get to tell you with my mouth and tongue and hands and I get to be inside of you, and that is all I care about. I just want to fuck my beautiful wife.”
“God, I wish you were here, Dec.”
“Are you touching yourself?”
“Yes. I wish it was you.”
“Me too, baby.”
I hear it. I can hear all the telltale signs of her impending orgasm. In surround sound. I’m aware of what’s going on around me outside of the car, but all I care about is making my wife feel wanted and good. It’s not a corker of a climax, but it’s real.
I’m almost at the traffic circle. I could maybe get to the hotel in time to have a very rushed lunch with Maddie if she hurries up and meets me downstairs. But I don’t want to rush her. And I don’t want to create yet another situation that I might fuck up. So I will drive back to my office, through the park, and grab something from the cafeteria.
“How you feeling, Coop?”
She sighs. Not an exasperated sigh. Not an exhausted sigh. The kind of sigh that means she’s relaxed. For now. “I’m feeling good, Mr. Cannavale. How are you?”
“Still missing you.”
