Page 138 of Come Back to Me
“Idon’t have to, but I want to.”
We shovel as much as we can on our forks.
She puts her fork against mine from a small distance. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
We eat the food at the same time. My immediate physical reaction is rolling my eyes and slumping my body in my chair. She rolls her eyes and throws her head back.
“Goddamn,” I say.
“Goddamn is right.” She takes another bite of dinner and swallows it. “What seasoning did you use for the ground turkey?”
“The same as what we used on the potatoes, plus chili powder and cumin.”
I watch her as she takes yet another bite of her taco bowl, and she ends up with sour cream all over her lips.
I hope you don't think I’m staring at your lips for all the wrong reasons because I swear I’m not.
“Is everything okay?” she asks, her eyebrows lowering themselves.
A lump travels down my throat. “You’ve got sour cream on your lip…” I trail off as I show her where it is on her face.
She firmly runs her thumb across her bottom lip a few times. “Did I get it?”
“Yeah.”
I had two options here.
One: wipe the sour cream off her lips for her and suck it off my finger.
Two: show her where it was on her face and have her do it herself.
Option one would’ve been what Noah told me not to do. I went for option two, which was safer and not stupid.
You’rewelcome, Noah.
now
VIOLET
Silence takes over the kitchen as we finish eating our taco bowls.
Part of me was convinced he was going to wipe the sour cream off my face the same way I wiped barbecue sauce off his when we went to Coastal Shores last weekend.
I’m relieved he took the safe way out because I don’t know what would’ve happened if he chose the dangerous route instead.
“I’m going to wash the dishes,” he says.
“Okay. I’ll go set up the movie.”
After Grayson finishes cleaning up from dinner, he walks over and sits down on the sofa. I have the movie paused on the TV.
“Are you ready to watch the movie?” I ask him.
“Mm-hm,” he says without making any eye contact.
“Is everything okay? You seem quieter than usual.”
