Page 40 of This Life and All the Rest
“And you probably can’t paint in a stuffy, old hotel,” Casper adds.
“You can use his studio!” Payton shouts, clapping her hands together. “He’s an artist too. He’s got an art studio in his apartment and everything.”
She whips her eyes excitedly between me and Lennon.
“She could use your studio, right, Macon?”
“A studio?” Lennon says curiously, cocking her head to the side. I nod slowly, biting my lip to hide my smile. Got her. It was almost too easy.
“Great natural lighting,” I tell her. “South-facing. Huge windows.”
I say the words slowly, dragging them out, like foreplay. I’m seducing her creative mind with the architectural elements of my in-home art studio. I know she’s dying to see it for herself.
I watch her face as she considers it, and I know she’s going back and forth in her head, trying to talk herself out of it.
She opens her mouth, to accept or decline I don’t know, when her phone vibrates in front of her. She picks it up and types in her passcode. Casper reads the message over her shoulder, and I can tell by the way her shoulders fall and his smile grows that my place is now her best option.
“Sam’s house isn’t going to work,” she says, and twists her lips up to the side.
“Stay with me,Capri,” I say, emphasizing the name with just a hint of sarcasm, so the phrase before it doesn’t gut me.
It’s too close to before. Words written. Words ignored.
Lennon narrows her eyes at me, either at the way I say her name or my nod to our past. It doesn’t matter which. We’re here now.
“I don’t want to cramp your style,” she says, lowering her eyes to my drink. “I’m not really into the party scene.”
Casper snorts another laugh, covering his face with his hand.
“What’s so funny?” she asks, looking from Casper to me. I smile and raise my glass.
“This is Dr. Pepper and lime juice,” I tell her. “I don’t drink.”
“At all?” she asks, and I shake my head.
“Three and a half years clean and sober,” I tell her proudly.
I want to reach into my pocket and show her the recovery medallion my sponsor gave me when I hit three years, but I don’t move. I don’t want to spook her. I just let her absorb the information I gave her.
“I don’t want to upset your girlfriend,” she says after a moment, and I shrug.
“No girlfriend.”
Lennon flicks her eyes to Payton, as if waiting for her to dispute my claim, but Payton stays quiet. Payton might not want it to be true, but she knows I’m single.
“No girlfriend. No partying. No cats,” I say, placing my glass on the table and making a show of checking my watch.
“But I do have to be up early to babysit my adorable little sister, so if you’re going to crash at my place, you gotta make a decision fast.”
She’s quiet, and I try like hell not to look eager. My heart is pounding in my chest. This could be the dumbest fucking thing I have done in a long time, but I have to follow through now.
Casper gives Lennon a nudge with his elbow.
“Go on,” he teases. “You were just yawning like five minutes ago. Go crash at Macon’s. He’s your best option.”
I know the minute she caves. She looks back at me with the same hazel eyes I see in my dreams, and grimaces.
“You sure you won’t mind? It will only be for a few days.”
