Page 34 of For The Weekend
He nods, his gaze sweeping over my face, and somehow I know he’s remembering that day. When he carried my bag of flour inside for me.
“You were thinking about this then?”
“No.”Yes.
“I say random shit all the time.” I flail my hands out. “Like asking you to pretend to be my pretend boyfriend. Forget I said anything, all right?”
I make for the door, but he stops me. “I like you, Eloise.”
I force a giggle. “Stop.”
He shakes his head.
“You can’t say random stuff like that to me. I’ll believe it.”
He stares at me. As if I should believe him.
“You can’t come to the wedding with me,” I say, thinking of him next to me, all tatted and mean-looking. My mother wouldflip.
My mother would flip!
“Okay, so, don’t forget I asked for you to be my pretend boyfriend? But maybe take the night and think about it. Only one of us can blurt out stuff in this relationship.”
“I like that you blurt stuff.”
“See? Don’t say that. Makes it too real.” I hike my thumb over my shoulder. “Can you open the trunk so I can get my bike?”
Of course he doesn’t answer. Only steps out of the car like it isn’t fourteen feet off the ground. Then again, he has no problem reaching it with his redwood legs. I hop down to the pavement and scamper to the back, holding my hand over my head as if that’ll keep the rain away.
“I’ll take it for you,” he says, referring to my bike, and when he stalks off to the entrance, I dutifully follow.
Might as well put a collar on me.
“I appreciate it,” I tell him once we’re on the sidewalk. I use my keycard to unlock the door and take hold of my bike to walk inside.
Roman stands, watching like a soldier, hands at his sides,eyes ahead. It’s when the door’s about to close that he calls out, “Hey.” When I turn to look over my shoulder, he tells me, “I don’t do anything by accident, and I say what I mean.”
I gulp. He’s serious.
The beautiful refrigeratorlikesme?
The beautiful refrigerator likes me.
“Just think about it, okay? We can talk tomorrow,” I suggest, but he shakes his head.
“I won’t be working tomorrow.”
“Sunday, I have to go to my cousin’s shower.” Two days without seeing him suddenly feels like two years.
“So we’ll see each other Monday,” he says, all cool and calm.
“Okay,” I blurt, like it’s a date. “We’ll talk Monday.”
Chapter 10
Roman
Iwake up with Eloise on my mind.Again.
