Page 127 of First-Time Caller
“Um. Excuse me?”
Grayson pulls out three glasses from one of the top cabinets and places them in a line. “She has a hickey on her neck.”
“She hastwohickeys on her neck.”
“I’m standing right here,” I try to interrupt. I have three hickeys on my neck, actually, and one on the inside of my thigh. I flush thinking about that one as they continue to talk like I’m not standing two feet in front of them. I take a careful sip of coffee from my bowl and think of the way Aiden curled around me in his sleep last night. His hand on my bare hip, his other arm wedged beneath his pillow. His body lean and relaxed beneath the blankets. Lines on his cheek from the pillow when his blue-gray eyes cracked open.
The first thing he did when he woke up was smile at me.
Then he rolled me on my stomach, pressed my knees wide, and made me see stars.
I sigh happily into my cereal bowl–coffee mug.
“Look at herface,” Patty hisses, shooting her mimosa like it’s a dollar shot at ladies’ night. She slams her glass on the countertop. “Does he have a big dick? He sounds like he has a big dick.”
“Patty.There are children in this house.”
“There isone childin this house, singing her little heart out to ‘Deja Vu.’ She can’t hear a word we’re saying. And even if she could, I was there when you walked her through the birds and the bees.” She pauses, flicking her eyes up and down my body. “You certainly look like you’ve been ravaged by a big dick.”
I shift on my feet. “Just because Maya is educated and empowered doesn’t mean she needs to hear about her mom and . . . dicks.”
Patty pours herself another mimosa. She adds a minimal amount of orange juice. “So he did dick you down, huh?” She lifts her glass in a toast. “Go ahead, girl. God, I’m proud of you.”
“You deserved this, Lu.” Grayson clinks his glass against hers. “We’ve been waiting for this moment.”
“You’ve been waiting for me to get . . .” I can’t bring myself to saydicked downaloud.
“Well, no. Not exactly that. I’m just happy you’re happy. You look happy.” He pats the stool next to him at the breakfast bar with an expectant look. “Come over here and tell us all about it.”
“No, thank you.”
He raises both eyebrows. “You want to wander down this road with me? You know I can be persistent. I won’t stop until I know all the juicy details.”
I know he won’t. Neither will Patty. The two of them together are about as subtle as a woodchipper. And with no Mateo, I am outmanned and outnumbered. I take another fortifying sip from my coffee bowl, my eyes darting between them.
I set it down primly on the countertop. “I can’t come over there.”
“Why not?”
I twist my hands in the oversized sleeves of the sweatshirt Aiden tugged over my head before I left his house this morning. He kissed my mouth and slapped my ass and I smiled the whole drive home. I clear my throat. “Because standing is easier than sitting at the moment.”
Patty and Grayson gape at me across the kitchen, their glasses raised halfway to their mouths. Then the pair of them burst into loud cackling laughter. Grayson laughs so hard he slips from the stool and onto the floor behind the breakfast bar they’ve set up shop at.
I hide my smile behind my hand.
Maya appears in the doorway of the kitchen, hair wet and Colonel Mustard mustache nowhere to be found. She steps over her dad without missing a beat and walks right into my open arms, slotting into the space that’s always fit her perfectly. I drop my chin on top of her head and squeeze.
“Did you have fun last night?” I ask over the obnoxious squawking on the other side of the kitchen. “Everyone liked your costume?”
Maya nods. “Yeah. The mustache was a hit and I got to be the murderer. Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick.” She mimes whacking someone over the head with a deadly instrument. “What’s going on with those two?”
I shrug. “Who knows?”
“It’s okay. I can guess.”
“So can I. They’re drinking champagne before noon. You know it makes your dad giggly.”
“The sweatshirt you’re wearing probably has him giggly too.”
