Page 101 of Lick
“About what?”
“You two, mostly. She gave me some things to think about. Are you busy tonight?”
His eyes widened slightly. “No. Would you like to do something?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I missed you this morning when I woke up, when I realized you’d gone. I’ve missed you a lot, the last month. I don’t think I ever told you that.”
He exhaled hard. “No… no, you haven’t. I missed you too. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay this morning.”
“Another time.”
“Definitely.” He took a step closer till the toes of his boots touched mine. No one had ever been more welcome in my personal space. “I’d promised we’d start here early or I would have been there when you woke.”
“You didn’t tell me about the band recording here.”
“We’ve had other things to deal with. I thought it could wait.”
“Right. That makes sense.” I stared at the wall beside me, trying to get my thoughts in order. After a whole lot of slow and painful, everything seemed to be happening at once.
“… About tonight, Ev?”
“Oh, I’m going to dinner at my parents’.”
“Am I invited?”
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, you are.”
“Okay. Great.”
“Did you actually buy a house here?”
“A three-bedroom condo a couple of blocks up. I figured it was close to your work and not too far from your school… you know, just in case.” He studied my face. “Would you like to see it?”
“Wow.” I changed the subject to buy some time. “Uh, Jimmy’s looking well.”
He smiled and put his hands either side of my head, closing the distance between us. “Yeah. He’s doing good. Relocating up here is working out well for pretty much everyone. Seems I wasn’t the only one ready for a break from all the fuckwittery in LA. Our playing’s sharper than it’s been in years. We’re focusing on the important stuff again.”
“That’s great.”
“Now, what did Martha say to you, baby?”
The endearment came accompanied by the warm old familiar feeling. I almost swayed, I was so grateful. “Well, we talked about you.”
“I get that.”
“I guess I’m still making sense of everything.”
He nodded slowly, leaning in until our noses almost brushed. The perfect intimacy of it, the faint feel of his breath against my face. My need to get close to him had never disappeared. No matter how I’d tried to shut it down. Love and heartbreak made you breathtakingly stupid, desperate, even. The things you’d try to tell yourself to make it through, hoping one day you’d believe it.
“All right,” he said. “Anything I can help you with?”
“No. I just wanted to check you were really here, I think.”
“I’m here.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not changing, Evelyn.”
