Page 98 of The Checklist
Mike looked momentarily surprised, rocking back on his heels and studying her. For a beat it looked like he might head for the door; thenhe dropped his shoulders, coming back to his relaxed stance. “It’s okay. Given that guy’s outburst just now, it looks like you had a lot going on.”
“I mean, yes. But that is no excuse. I was wrong. And I knew I was wrong when I called you, but instead of giving you the apology you deserved, I was mean to you.”
“You were kinda mean,” Mike said, humor playing in his eyes.
“Kinda?” Dylan laughed. “I was so mean. Like, I was possessed kind of mean.”
“You basically ate me alive. I low-key wanted to cry when I got off the phone.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t. I did, and I was the demon on the other end of the line.”
Mike pursed his lips and shrugged. Dylan squinted up at him as his shoulders shook.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“It’s just the mental image of your head spinning and vomit flying everywhere.”
“Nice. Now I’m the possessed girl fromThe Exorcistin your mind. Very sexy.”
“It’s better than toe emojis.”
“Low blow, man. Don’t make me regret being nice to you.”
“I noticed your toes are no longer smiling at me.” Mike grinned as Dylan chuckled and shook her head. “All right. I’m sorry I made fun of your poor taste in pedicures. Continue.”
“Anyway. It’s ...” Dylan trailed off, letting the last of her laughter fall away as she collected confidence from every corner of her body. He stepped a few inches into her sphere. His expression betraying his intent, as if listening to her were the only thing he needed to do for the rest of his life. “It’s funny. When you weren’t around, you were on my mind.”
“How do you mean?” Mike asked, a tender confusion on his face.
Dylan paused to take the last sip of her champagne before setting the glass on a nearby table. “I used to need lists to get by. And you were at the very top of my no-go list.”
The turn caught Mike off guard, and she rushed to make sense of herself, her words messy and fast. “But all my careful organizing let me down. I wanted to be different from my family so badly that I missed the good things in front of me. You were the bridge between chaos and the order I was looking for.” She circled her hands in front of her to help her think, then added, “The feud, my family, your family. They are all easier to navigate when you are around. Everything is just easier.”
Mike’s confusion lessened into something sweeter. He smiled with one half of his mouth, showing off a dimple in his cheek.
“That is a lot for me, being with someone who doesn’t feel like a safety item on a checklist. I wasn’t sure that I could trust the feeling. Or you. But you didn’t spend time with me in order to make my parents stop howling at the moon. I can just be with you and have no plan. I know that nothing will explode, or you won’t forget and leave me at Costco if we improvise. It’s new to me, but I think I like it,” she said, feeling apprehension take root in her shoulders. “Does any of this make sense?”
“Dylan Delacroix, are you saying you like me?” Mike’s half smile transformed into something bigger and more reassuring.
“I guess I am.” Dylan felt herself settle into the warmth of his presence. Taking one step closer, she looked up at him.
“It’s funny, because I noticed something similar.” He looked up for a moment, watching the ceiling transition from the desert sun to a moonlit sky before looking back down at her. “I resolved to just leave you across the street where I found you. I didn’t want that spontaneity in my life. One minute it was all tuneless karaoke and emoji toes. And the next, I was getting yelled at. Then I missed you. And I couldn’t bring myself to cut you off. Hence Susan.”
Dylan groaned, dropping her head to her chest.
“Hey.” Mike gently placed a hand under her chin and tilted her face upward. “That is not where this is going.”
He moved his hand to her arm, the touch sending shivers up and down her back. She risked looking up at his face, surprised to find contentment where she expected pain.
“Here is the thing about your lists. You bring a kind of creative energy to them. I mean, I thought I was ambitious. But this ...” He shook his head, watching the sky overhead, then continued, “You put this together in two weeks with nothing but willpower, a lot of organization, and a few highly motivated friends.”
“And Susan.”
Mike laughed, gesturing around the room before letting his hand come to rest on her other arm. “It’s what I missed about you. Why I didn’t cuss you out and leave you across the street. Sure, aspects of your life are hectic, but you seem to have a system all your own for the disarray.”
Joy pulsed through her as he spoke, and she instinctively leaned toward him, closing the gap between them without her mind asking her body to. She’d spent so long trying to put barriers between them, pretending her emotions were a product of chaos and his feelings some sort of mystery that was bound to dissipate. But here he was, and she couldn’t rationalize or explain him away.
“Dylan, you are brave. It takes guts to be different from the people who raised you. But you being brave makes everyone around you bolder, including me. When you are around, people dream as big as you do, and they work just a little harder because they see you going after it. I was ready to give up on this dream. I wouldn’t have been this brave or creative enough to chase this without you.”
