Page 48 of The Reading

“Wyatt, you don’t have to do this,” she said as I pulled my phone from my back pocket. “I get that the kids might have-”

“Your kids have nothing to do with this,” I said as I unlocked my phone. “Now, what’s your phone number?”

Chanel graciously rattled off the digits to her phone. After saving her number to my phone, I dialed her number, so that she would have my phone number, too. I watched as she pulled her phone out of her purse, then saved my missed call to her contacts.

“Where’s your car?”

“Over there.” Chanel pointed to a silver Saturn Outlook a few parking spots over. Considering that she was a teacher, it seemed like the perfect car for her. Teaching a bunch of second graders, I imagined that she hauled a lot of shit around with her.

I jerked my head towards her vehicle. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

Those golden eyes of hers narrowed a bit. “You know, it’s 2022, men are no longer obligated to see to our safety or carry our bags.”

I did my best not to clench my teeth. I was very aware that it was 2022. I was very aware that it was frowned upon for a man to act masculine or do anything that might make a woman feel inferior. I was very aware of all that shit. However, those same crusaders were also preaching that people should feel free to be themselves and not give in to society’s demand to conform. So, not giving a fuck what other people thought of me or how I lived my life, I was living it the way that I’d been raised and the way that I was comfortable with. I might have ‘toxic masculinity’ traits, but I wasn’t a toxic person. I didn’t see taking care of the woman in your life as toxic. I saw it as being a decent partner.

Walking her towards her car, I said, “I know it’s 2022, Chanel. I also don’t give a fuck. Now, if it bothers you that I’m walking you to your car, then I won’t. However, I’m notnotgoing to do it simply because other people have their opinions about how a man should act.”

“Sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You didn’t,” I insisted, but if she was an extremist, then we were never going to work out.

*****

Chanel~

When we stopped at my car, I clicked my key fob to unlock the back. As soon as the door popped open, Wyatt lifted it the rest of the way, then placed my book bag in the back. I walked towards my driver side door as he shut andsecured the back.

I turned to face him as he walked towards me, and even though he’d said that I hadn’t offended him, I was pretty sure that I’d had. The air felt different, and our vibe felt off. I wasn’t sure what had changed, but I’d been joking with that comment. I hadn’t expected him to take me seriously.

When Wyatt was standing in front of me, I said, “You know, I think a lot of people confuse chauvinism with manners. When a man opens the door for me, I don’t think anything of it because I’ve held the door open for a lot of people entering someplace behind me.” I kind of shrugged. “I think…I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with a man having manners.”

Wyatt crowded me a bit, and his nearness had my entire body on high alert. While I wasn’t a virgin and had no problem with casual sex, Wyatt wasn’t just some random guy. He was my high school crush, and even if I didn’t watch hockey, I had made it a point to follow his career a bit. Wyatt Valinsky was the one and only what-if in my life, and even if it’s been fifteen years, the teenage girl in me could remember just how much we had liked him.

“So, you’re okay with me opening doors, carrying the heavy stuff, taking care of the cars, the yard, the cooking?”

“You cook?” I asked, surprised that he didn’t have a personal cook for some reason.

“I’m a single man, Chanel,” he reminded me. “I had to learn how to feed myself once I moved out of my parents’ home.”

“That makes sense,” I muttered, not daring to voice my assumptions about his wealth.

“I know that traditional gender roles are archaic these days, but I’m also not going to pretend to be someone that I’m not.”

“It was a joke,” I finally told him. “I was just teasing with that remark, Wyatt. I…I’m not caught up in all that…stuff. I don’t begrudge anyone their cause, but that doesn’t mean someone else’s causehasto be my cause, too. I’m not for or against a lot of stuff. I just try to mind my own business and live my life in a way that makes me happy.”

His face softened, and he looked relieved as hell. “Good,” he said. “I feel the same way. I don’t like anyone telling me how I should live my life, so I do them the curtesy of not telling them how to live theirs. If there’s an issue that I feel passionately enough about, then I’ll get involved. Other than that, I have no problem telling nosey people to fuck off.”

I let out a heavy sigh, ready to tackle the date thing. “As for our date-”

“Chanel, I didn’t ask you out because of your class,” he said, and the warmth of his hand on my hip had me dizzy. “I asked you out because I want to take you to dinner, talk, catch up, and just…spend some time with you.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, finally getting it together. “You’re Wyatt Valinsky. You…you…”

“Carly wasn’t lying when she said that I used to ask my brother aboutyou,” he said, and I could feel my entire face turning red. “I’ve liked you since high school, Chanel.” He let out a soft chuckle. “It’s just taken me fifteen years to ask you out is all.”

“This is insane,” I muttered. It wasn’t even that Wyatt was a retired professional hockey player that had me all twiddle pated. This wasn’t about him being rich, famous, or anything like that. This was about teenage Chanel being asked out by the most popular boy in school, and teenage Chanel was freaking out because this felt too good to be true.

“Maybe,” he conceded. “But I’ve done crazier things.”

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