Page 129 of Nothing to You
“Have you spoken to the facility in California?”she asked.“Are they even ready to accept Mom?”
“One of their people is arriving tomorrow.They were going to come today, but I told them to put it off for twenty-four hours.I didn’t want her overwhelmed.”
No one gave him credit for how considerate he could be.Her included.
“Freya envies the way you think,” she said, complimenting him by proxy.“She envies your brain.”
“Yeah, she always did.They all did.”The swagger on his expression was all front.“You’ve got yourself a catch, Rad.”
“Yes, I did, maybe I should shave my legs at least once every couple of weeks for you too.Just to show my dedication and gratitude.”
“Stubble, mmm.You know how to get me going, Babycakes.”
Goddamnit, she’d missed him.“We need a timeout.”
“What did we do wrong?We like being bad.”
Except when anything went, there really weren’t any rules to break.
“No,” she said on an exhale of a laugh.“In a timeout we can say anything we want to say, and it can never be repeated or used against us.By us.”
“You’re going to tell me you love me, right?Man, I knew it was your life’s mission to tie a guy down.”
“And you claimed it was your life’s mission to never be tied down.Which of us is really the loser right now?”
“Say what you want to say in your timeout.Go on.”
Did she trust him?Oh, he’d taunt, but he’d get his share too.“I want us to travel together.”
“Travel where?Bali?”
“You’re obsessed with Bali.No.Wherever we have to be.Wherever we have to go.”
“You missed me this week?”he badgered.“It’s okay, we’re in our timeout, you can say it.”
“Sometimes it’s like dating a thirteen-year-old.”
“Which you would only know if you had experience dating a thirteen-year-old.”
“I do have experience,” she said, earning herself a double take.“I used to be thirteen.Didn’t you?”
“Okay, where does the timeout begin and end because—”
“Some people have normal conversations without riling and mocking each other.”
“Sounds boring.”
Anywhere he wasn’t was boring.
“No more parties at the house unless they have a function or a reason.And we only invite people we know.Scratch that, people we like.”
“Could put a lot of the help out of work,” he said.
“Just change the address a little.Dyce is never home, would he know?”
He laughed.“Send a party to his house?I like it.Good call, Radley.”He drummed his fingertips on her thigh.“Can’t wait ‘til he comes home to that.We should send strippers.”
“Okay, you’re soon to be a married man.”
