Page 29 of Intersect

“Fuck,” he whispers. “I shouldn’t have asked.” His eyes are hazy as he leans down to kiss me. My hands slide into his hair, tugging at it, and with a low groan, his mouth opens, pressing mine to do the same. My fingers slide over his warm skin and land at his waistband before I even realize what I’m doing. I flinch and break the connection, feeling the hum of his skittering heartbeat pressed to mine. We move in together next weekend. I hope I learn a little more restraint before then, or we are really going to be in trouble.

11

NICK

After lunch, I get back to the office and call my mother. I don’t even fully admit to myself why I’m calling because it’s insane that I’m already thinking the things I am with Quinn.

My mother, as always, sounds both relieved and irritated when she answers. I try to be decent about calling home, but it’s never enough—especially the past month. I should have been better about it. If things were different, she’d have two sons and possibly a few grandkids. I’m sure her retirement is a lot less full than she imagined. “I haven’t heard from you in ages,” she says. “You’re avoiding us.”

I can’t deny it. Her questions always seem to focus on my personal life, and for the better part of the past month I wasn’t sure how I’d answer. “I texted.”

“That’s not the same. When you don’t call it’s because there’s something you don’t want me to know. So go ahead and give me the bad news.”

I laugh wearily. “There’s no bad news. I just had a question. I was wondering if you or Dad might have inherited a ring from Grandma Reilly or Grandma Sawyer?”

“What kind of ring?”

I feel idiotic even bringing it up. But Quinn hasn’t been wrong once. “An engagement ring.”

“Engagement?” she asks, her voice kicking up an octave or two. “Finally! If you need money for a ring you know we’re happy to help, although with as much as you make I can’t imagine you need it. Does Meg have any idea? I thought this day would never come.”

I sigh, rubbing the back of my neck. How could I have forgotten what a big deal this will be to my mother? She’s had her hopes pinned on Meg for a long time, no matter how many times I told her to unpin them. “I broke up with Meg.”

“What?” she cries. “No! Meg was perfect for you.”

I lean back in my chair and close my eyes. “You never thought she was perfect for me, Mom. You just thought she was good enough to provide you with a grandchild someday.”

She exhales heavily. “At the rate you’re going I might as well stop hoping for that at all. What happened? I thought everything was going so well.”

“I met someone,” I admit. “Before you jump all over me, I didn’t cheat. I didn’t even think she was a possibility…but meeting her just confirmed I didn’t feel the right way about Meg.”

“So you’re already with someone else and you want to propose?”

Yes. I’d marry Quinn tomorrow if I thought she’d say yes, if it wouldn’t be so fucking insane to ask when we haven’t even been together for two weeks. I don’t expect my mother to understand this, and while I’m slightly embarrassed by how irrational it must seem, I’m not embarrassed enough to drop it. Quinn will want that ring and no other. I’m sure of it.

“It’s kind of complicated, but…it’s something I can see happening.”

“Nicholas, I cannot believe you’re this serious with someone and you never even mentioned her to us.”

Part of me wants to keep Quinn a secret and part of me wants to tell everyone I meet that she is mine. I opt for the middle road with my mother. “Like I said, it’s been…complicated. Her name is Quinn. She—”

“Quinn?” my mother demands. Her voice is sharp, startled.

I sit bolt upright in my chair. “Yes. Why?”

She is silent for a moment. “No reason.”

She’s lying. She wouldn’t have cut me off like that if it was really nothing. “Mom,” I plead, “is there something you’re not telling me? Did you already know about her somehow?”

“No,” she replies. “I just…I have dreams occasionally, about you and Ryan, fighting over a girl.”

I inhale deeply. Somewhere inside, my mom holds memories of Quinn too. There’s not a doubt in my mind that Ryan and I would have fought over her. We fought over everything. “And the girl’s name is Quinn?”

There’s a long moment of silence. “Yes,” she finally says. “I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s just an unusual name so it’s kind of odd.”

“What happens in these dreams?”

She hesitates again, reluctant to say it aloud. “They’re just a combination of make believe and real life, like all dreams are. You and Ryan are younger at first and you’re in this fistfight over her, and then all of a sudden Ryan is older and getting in that truck with Tyler, but I know it’s because of her. I always just figured she was kind of symbolic.”