Page 68 of Business Casual
“What, what?”
“That look on your face.”
She shrugs, one shoulder inching up to her ear. She drizzles some hot sauce on top of her slice and takes a massive bite. Tomato clings to the corner of her mouth. “You don’t strike me as a classic movie guy,” she manages around a mouthful. She swallows and swipes her thumb along her bottom lip, missing the spot of sauce completely. I am acutely focused on it.
“I think you’ll find that I’m a man of taste,” I manage.
She chuckles. “That you are.”
Dinner is quiet as we avoid any conversational landmines. We watch TV and talk about inconsequential things. Gus and Montgomery and their desire for a pumpkin art display. Ms. Beatrice and her brown sugar lattes. Sheriff Dane and his husband, Matty, and whether or not Beckett will force them to adopt a dog sooner rather than later.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t yet.”
Nova nods. “I think Evie getting him that cow has settled him down. For now.”
It’s calming in a way that’s usually difficult for me to find, sitting here on the too-small couch with Nova’s knee nudging mine, the edge of the pizza box digging into my thigh—hot sauce passed back and forth and a beer split between two mismatched mugs on the table in front of us.
“So.” I settle my mug on the arm of the couch, watching Katharine Hepburn spin around the room with a glass of champagne. “When can you pencil me into your schedule? For my tattoo.”
“Still on that kick, huh?”
“It’s not a kick. I really do want a tattoo.” I roll my head againstthe back of the couch and poke at her knee. She nudges me back with her sock-covered foot and leaves it there, tucking it beneath my thigh when I don’t protest.
She narrows her eyes. “What do you want?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where do you want it?”
“Don’t know that either.”
“Typically, in my professional experience, if someone doesn’t know what sort of tattoo they want or where they want to get it, they’re not ready for a tattoo.”
I take a sip of my lukewarm beer from a mug shaped like a nutcracker and keep my eyes on hers. Her skin glows blue and gray in the light of the TV, her hair a silver wave over her shoulder. Her hat is on the table in the kitchen. Her shoes are stacked right next to mine.
“What would you pick for me?” I ask.
“A scorpion,” she says, right away. “On your ass.”
My smile feels stupid on my face. Too big. Too much.
“If you want to see my ass again, Nova girl”—I take another pull from the mug—“all you need to do is ask.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she laughs. The look in her blue-green eyes is a flash of heat. Smoke over rolling water.
My brain trips right back to our night together with enthusiasm, remembering the way she spread out beneath me, one of her knees at my hip and her hands above her head. She had looked at me like that then too. The same sort of calculated interest. Like she’s thinking about what she wants to do first.
One night, I tell myself.Out of our systems. Don’t impose. Don’t be too much. Take what you’re given and don’t ask for more. Don’t push.
I clear my throat and look away. I take another sip from my mug just for something to do with my hands. “How did you decide what to give Beckett? He didn’t know what he wanted, right?”
She shakes her head. A tiny frown line appears at the bridge of hernose. I want to press my thumb to it until it disappears. Chase away the thoughts that put it there. I’ve always been quick to empty everything in my head, but I think Nova holds on to too much. She keeps her thoughts and her insecurities and worries close, letting them buzz around her brain.
“No,” she says thoughtfully. “That’s a good point. He just told me to do whatever I wanted.”
I remember what she said last night about the weight of someone else’s expectations, how she feels the crush of it. “And you wanted to give him flowers and stars?”
On Beckett’s left arm, he has a full sleeve of constellations and planets, swirling purples and blues from his shoulder to his wrist. And on his right arm, he has the forest. Flowers and vines and towering trees. All the things I now know are Nova’s specialties, color and delicate lines and seamless, beautiful shading. Her work really is incredible.
