Page 68 of Resistance Training
“You got it.”
“A little walk and talk. You can take your backpack with the laptop and put it in the main salon if ya want,” he says with a wink.
“Can’t fool you, huh?”
“Have to get up pretty early to fool a fool, bruh.”
I stow my backpack in the main salon and then help Larry with final prep. As we’re loosening the dock lines, he says, “So, I hear you gave your Aries friend a ride home last night. She sounds like a real firecracker.”
“You heard correctly” is all I’m planning to say about that. I turn my head away from him, staring out at the horizon, so he can’t see my Pussy Face.
“I already saw your Pussy Face, kid. You don’t have to look away.”
Fucking know-it-all Larry.
“She really knocks you on yer ass, doesn’t she?”
“You could say that.”
“It’s rare to meet a woman like that—a woman who knocks you on yer ass, y’know?”
“You aren’t the most convincing person to spout this theory, Larry.”
“They didn’t all knock me on my ass. One of them I married specifically because she didn’t. That was after the first one who did.”
“And the third was an ass knocker?”
“You can say that again. Fourth was a church mouse. Number five could be the death of me, but I made the decision. I don’t want to live the rest of my life without her.”
I look over at Cindy, who’s still pacing around on the main dock, staring at her phone. But I see a smile spread across her face. I know she heard him. I wonder if they’re talking about marriage already.
“Lemme ask you something,” he says as he checks that the anchor is properly stowed. “That little cat you rescued. If someone showed up and said,Hey, that’s my kitten. I wanther back.Would you give her back? Don’t think about it, just answer.”
“No. I’m keeping her—she’s mine.” I am startled to hear myself answer so quickly, but I’ve known it was true ever since we were at the animal hospital. “She doesn’t know it yet. But she’s mine.”
“And how would you feel if another man wanted Vivian? You think you’d be cool with that? Every day, for the rest of your life? Don’t think about it, just answer.”
No. My entire body tenses up with afuck no, I’m keeping her—she’s mineresponse. But I don’t say it out loud because I hear Cindy call out, “There she is!”
And there she is.
Vivian.
Walking down the main dock toward Cindy’s open arms, carrying a big shoulder bag, and I can just tell from the way the bag’s hanging that she’s filled it with books. Such a nerd. I watch them hug. I watch her squint over at me, and I can see that she is just as surprised to see me here as I am to see her. If she’s feeling anything more than surprise, she isn’t showing it.
When I went into the guest bathroom before I left home this morning, the kitten was in her kennel, but she wasn’t hiding in the back corner, she was right up front. She looked up and hissed at me, an automatic reaction, but there wasn’t much fire behind it, and she just kind of stopped hissing after a second. She was still tense and watching my every move as I filled a bowl with dry kitten food, but it felt like progress.
That’s how I feel right now. My initial instinct when I see Vivian—with her hair up in a ponytail, in her jeans and slip-on sneakers and that tight little T-shirt under a wool cardigan, carrying a hooded jacket—my automatic response is fear. To armor up. But when those walls are halfway up, I realize thisdoesn’t make a lot of sense anymore. Not with this person. Not now.
And that fucking terrifies me.
“Well, look who’s here. So glad you could join us.” Larry doesn’t even bother to act surprised. “I believe you know my colleague, Mitch,” he says to Vivian.
“Oh now, let’s not even try to pretend we aren’t delightfully helpful wingpeople,” Cindy calls out as she takes Vivian’s hand and leads her down to the slip. “You know, even though we’re in our lingam phase.”
“Limerence,” I correct her.
“Right. That too. Even though we’re busy limerencing the lingam twenty-four seven, we do enjoy the company of other couples.”
