Page 24 of Husband Material
"How did you know I was thinking about that? Can you read minds too?"
She laughed and shook her head. "No, I am not a mind reader, but I can connect the dots much of the time."
I'd have to agree with her. Even now, as she looked at me, her eyes appeared to have an all-seeing gift. "Do you still see me that way?" I asked with a casualness I didn't feel.
She frowned and bit her lip. Not a good sign—
"In some ways, yes." She slipped her hand around mine and squeezed it. "In a lot of ways, though, no." Her shy gaze found mine. "When we spend a lot of time together, sometimes I feel like you are a different person. So warm and genuine and…" Her face scrunched up, and she slapped a palm to her lips. "There I go again, insinuating that normal you is this cold monster."
I gave her a smile that I knew was only for her. Nobody else had a chance in hell of making me smile after pointing out my faults to my face. "Don't worry about it."
She pulled her hand from mine. "No, Iwillworry about it. I need to make you understand. How…I cannot pinpoint what it is, but sometimes when you have been with me for a long time or"—she peered up at me and held my face in both of her hands—"Like now. Your eyes look different. Happier."Because you make me fucking happy, and I hate that you’re leaving.
"Because I am happy when I'm with you, but please don't let it go to your head, Frenchy."
She pushed up on her toes and kissed me. "I will not, Surfeur américain."
The rest of our time sped by far too fast. More cute animals to admire. More kisses shared along with some strawberries when we ate lunch. Finally, when she slumped her head on my shoulder wearily, I swept her off her feet and carried her to the car as she squealed in protest.
Inside the car, I begged for forgiveness in the form of kisses.
"Stop, Gage." Her face the textbook definition of absolute glee, told a completely different story. "I mean it."
"Your mouth says stop, but your body says go," I said, flipping up her poufy skirt. She only laughed more uproariously. As I traced my hands up her thighs, I admitted, "I guess you're right. We need to get started on our grand finale before the day is over."
Even though I was laughing as I said it, as was she…the words sliced into my heart with painful precision.
* * *
Hours later,after wining and dining her, and our time was ticking away too fucking fast, I finally had her where I really wanted her. The two of us alone in my house with the cool night air blowing in through the open balcony doors.
"Oh, what is this?" Giselle asked when she spotted the teal-and-gold-wrapped gift on my bed.
My hand on the small of her back urged her forward. "It's just something for you to put to good use, and I know you will." No way was I ever going to admit that I'd actually told Old Bat Art Lady to find gift wrap that matched the color of Giselle's crochet dress and the dark gold of her hair the first time I saw her waving at me on the beach. That secret would have to go with me to my grave.
The image of the very first time you saw her will too.
Giselle began opening it carefully, as if to preserve the pretty paper, then abruptly said, "Oh, what the hell," before the rest of it was ripped away in a haphazard second.
When she saw what it was, she fell silent. Almost in slow motion, she turned to me and did something I'd never seen her do before.
Her eyes filled with tears and she…cried.
Slowly she sat on my bed, holding my gift in her lap like it was the most precious treasure. "Oh, Gage, you didn't…"
I sat down beside her as she focused her teary eyes on the drawing set I'd found at Elysium—a tiered mahogany box containing a selection of the highest quality graphite, charcoals and sepias money could buy.
"But I did."
Giselle traced her fingers over the glossy wooden box lovingly before hugging it to her chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She leaned into me and gave me the sweetest thank-you kiss I'd ever received from giving a gift. As we drew apart, her shining eyes still locked on me, she said, "No one has ever been better to me than you have."
Her brutally simplistic words left me speechless, because I didn't feel like I'd done much for her at all. A few dinners and some outings, where if I hadn't watched her carefully, she'd have snuck to pay while I was distracted by something? That was what she meant? She was so far off from my truth if that was what she believed. Giselle was the one who'd given me far more than I could ever give to her. And that was the part that bothered me the most…because I didn't know what to say or how to explain it in words.No one has ever been better… And there was so much finality in her words. She was leaving.
But being the mind reader she was, Giselle caught on. She sensed my discomfort and took me out of that uncomfortable place in my head and replaced it with something much better.
Carefully placing the drawing set on the bedside table, she then climbed to the middle of the bed and spread herself out like a decadent feast ready to be devoured.
"How may Ieverthank you?"
