Page 14 of Pretend You're Mine
I shrugged. “We used to be,” I said, unsure why I shared that and didn’t just give a perfunctory “yes”.
Naomi’s gaze rested on me for several beats longer, before she let the subject die. Good. Just because we were getting to know each other didn’t mean that we had to tell each other our life stories in all their gory unsavory detail.
Although I had to admit, the heat of Naomi’s hand in mine was reassuring and I felt myself being pulled into her more and more the more time I spent with her.
As we strolled on, a voice hailed us. “Naomi!”
Naomi stiffened as it came again, “Naomi!”
We turned to see a stooping man in a plaid shirt who looked somewhat like Walter White from Breaking Bad.
“You almost missed my table.” His long fingers swept down the length of the fanny packs he had on display. There were a damn lot of them. Christmas red and green fanny packs, sparkly blue fanny packs, yellow elephant-covered fanny packs. There was even a fanny pack ‘fanny pack’ embroidered across the front as if one might have trouble figuring out what it was.
“Oops,” Naomi said, and I almost laughed out loud.
Her gaze sought out an escape in vain as the man started saying, “So which one would you like? Told you, I can get you guys a deal. And did you try Mrs. Schaefer’s tapioca pudding?”
I followed her gaze to the far end of the church, where a man was playing the piano and some kids and their mom were starting to dance to the music.
“Oh, this is my favorite song!” she exclaimed.
Although I doubted that, I allowed her to pull me along as she said, “Come on!”
The snowman-sweatered kids were stomping away in their oversized boots, while their leg-warmer-arrayed mom kept them in tow by holding their hands. No sooner were we within ten feet of them, Naomi started dancing. She was purposely getting so into it that it took her a few seconds to realize that I wasn’t doing the same.
Naomi gave my arm an insistent tug. “Come on!”
“I don’t dance,” I said.
I certainly didn’t dance to Christmas music.
Naomi let it go for the rest of the song, Jingle Bell Rock apparently having lifted her spirits enough for her to not care that I wasn’t dancing. The song ended, and another began; a slow crooned version of “I’ll be Home for Christmas.”
Naomi looked over to see Captain Fanny Pack staring at us and her eyes turned pleadingly to me. I sighed inwardly and reached out to take her hand. I reminded myself that we were supposed to be a convincing couple, not only to my family, but to hers as well.
I twirled her in a circle and pulled her in close to me. My other arm when around her waist and I held her to me, feeling her breath against my neck. I tipped my head down to look at her and realized just how close she was. Close enough to kiss.
Our eyes met just as the song stopped. The applause from the other couples around us broke us from our reverie.
I cleared my throat, stepping away. “I think we proved our point,” I said.
Naomi was already pulling me over to another table of variously metallic-wrapped chocolates. “Don’t pretend you didn’t like it.”
There wasn’t much time left in the bazaar in any case. We had just enough time to grab some caramel popcorn samples, for Naomi to buy some peanut butter brittle, and wave goodbye to her family who looked to be embroiled in a discussion with an elderly couple (Teren clearly having snuck out beforehand since he was nowhere in sight), before people started taking down their tables and we headed out.
We got back in my car and I prepared to take her home, but for some reason I couldn’t start the engine. I didn’t want the night to end just yet. Having Naomi in my arms just a few moments earlier had rattled me in a way I wasn’t expecting. Sure, we’d had drunken sex on our wedding night, but that dance had felt intimate.
I turned my head to look at her and found her eyes were already on me.
“Want to go out for dinner? I know a place,” I said.
She quirked her head at me, as if daring me to voice the impression nibbling on the edges of my consciousness.
But then she said, “Sure”, and I was glad, because I wasn’t sure I wanted the warmth in my chest to land. Not yet.
7
Naomi
It’s not real, I reminded myself as Xander expertly wove us through traffic toward whatever restaurant we were going to. Part of me wanted to ask, to know what to expect. But another part of me just wanted to give myself time to think, to mull over everything that had happened.
