Page 69 of For The Weekend
Also. I never got to tell you, but I think your nipple piercings are super hot.
LOL
Sunshine
Shut up. Did you literally laugh out loud?
No.
Sunshine
Then why did you say LOL?
Isn’t that what people do when they think something’s funny?
Sunshine
Yeah, but I’ve only seen you laugh one time.
But I do think you’re funny.
She sends me another picture. This one of her face, her hand covering half of it, a pink blush on her skin.
Goddamn, you’re pretty.
Sunshine
Okay. I seriously am putting my phone down now because you’re going to make me fall in love with you, and I know you don’t want that to happen. So goodnight, Conan. See you tomorrow with your pastry!
I toss my phone down to pet Steve, shifting him up higher so I can breathe into his soft fur, nuzzle his tiny flank.
She is right. I don’t want her falling in love with me.
I…
Fuck.
I’m not surprised by much, but receiving a phone call from Camden Long manages that. He’s the starting tight end for the Philadelphia Founders and recently signed one of the biggest contracts in the league, and he apparently likes classic cars. That can race.
If I were in his position, I wouldn’t be risking it all with fucking drag racing. But then again, I wasted my chance in the bottom of bottles. So what do I know? I’m just the mechanic who agreed to soup up his Camaro ZL1.
By the time I hang up, I hear Luis call out, “My queen” and glance over my shoulder in time to see Eloise sashaying toward me, a burst of sunshine even on this gray October afternoon. My heart does that thing it always does when I see her, like it’strying to leap out of my chest and into her hands. It’s ridiculous, really, how smitten I am.
She’s carrying another one of her pink boxes from Sweet Cheeks, like she has been every day this last week. I truly didn’t need to be repaid for the wedding weekend. Not like fucking her into another universe was a hardship. But she insists, and since I can’t eat a pound of pastries a day, Luis and Shawn have been benefiting.
Luis intercepts her, taking the box from her hands, even as she playfully pushes him, jokingly calling him an asshole for stealing my treats. He merely winks and takes the box over to Shawn’s corner, where they both help themselves to my payment.
I check the time on my phone and note her visit is later than usual. She’s been coming in around lunch, but it’s after four.
“Hey, Roman,” she says, approaching me with a smile like I’m the best thing she’s seen all day. I want to kiss her right here, right now, but I hold back. We’re not alone, and I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.
“Hey, sunshine,” I reply, straightening up. My eyes drift down to her lips, then back up to her sparkling green eyes. “You’re late.”
“I didn’t know I was on the clock.” She plays it off like she doesn’t understand my meaning. Like we haven’t fallen into a pattern where she comes to see me at the same time every day and where we don’t text each other every night. “I came to see my favorite munchkin,” she says before spinning around to Mazie, who’s doodling on coloring pages. “There you are!”
My daughter tackles her with a hug, and Eloise lets herself be bowled over then listens intently as Mazie prattles on about school and Halloween.
She twirls in her pink costume. When it arrived in the mailyesterday afternoon, she pitched a fit about wanting to wear it to school, so I made her a deal that she could wear it after. Which is why she’s a fairy queen now. Crown and wings included.
