Page 36 of Pretend You're Mine
“Xander!” Papa said. “We’re all waiting for you.”
I highly doubted that, although all I could muster was a weak, “Why?”
Right now, I could barely prop one eye open. Last night, instead of going to bed like a reasonable person, I’d stayed up late watching The Shining.
Now, over the phone Papa had been saying something, but I’d missed all of it, so he settled on, “See you soon!”
This was when I cut in. “I can’t make it Papa.”
A disapproving silence, then, “Why not?”
My still sleep-squinted-gaze made the rounds of my room. There was no immediate reason in sight, other than Walter who was definitely due for a walk.
“I have plans,” I said finally, hanging up.
I sat there for a moment, going through different things to do before deciding. Whatever I chose, I’d need to do my morning rituals – the whole brush teeth, put on clothes and walk Walter thing.
As I autopolited through them, my mind went back to Papa’s unexpected call and my abrupt response.
Maybe I’d been a bit of a dick, but I was tired of my family assuming that I’d drop whatever plans I had at a moment’s notice to be with them. Not to mention that their idea of ‘family time’ was shoving a woman in my face that they thought was more appropriate than the one I’d married. Assholes.
Once I’d brushed my teeth, eaten, and given Walter a good thirty-minute walk, I came home. I opened the door, filled with a lazy sort of satisfaction. This was my Sunday. No work, no family, no nothing. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I had a day entirely to myself.
I strode into my room like the Trojans marching to Troy and sat myself down in my favorite armchair. Beside it, lay the Jack Reacher book I hadn’t managed to start since I’d picked it up at Border’s almost half a year ago. Well, now I could.
Picking it up though, I felt my gaze drawn to the TV remote. Although reaching for that didn’t feel right either. The longer I sat, the more I found my hand inching to my phone irresistibly.
I scowled. I just couldn’t get the girl off my mind.
As soon as I got my phone out and started dialing, I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. On my first day off in as long as I could remember, I wanted nothing more than to spend it with Naomi.
“Hello?” she said on the first ring.
“Hey,” I said. “Got any plans today?”
“No, why?”
“Because you do now. We’re going for a picnic.”
“Is that your way of inviting me out?”
“Yep, it is. Charming, aren’t I?” I said. When she didn’t answer, I tried again. “Naomi, would you like to come have a picnic with me today?”
“Is this some kind of family thing again?”
“Can’t I just want to see you?”
“I don’t know Xander. Can’t you?”
She was prickly this morning and I deserved it. Hopefully the picnic would soften her up.
“I’ll pick you up in thirty.”
Thirty minutes later, my Porsche was in front of her building, and she was a vision walking toward me. She had on a massive sun hat and a blazing poppy-red dress with so many of the flowers that the pattern was almost hypnotizing.
“Nice sun hat.” As she got in beside me, I gave it a tap. “Looks like it doubles as an umbrella too.”
“We can stop by where I got it from and pick one up for you too,” Naomi offered sweetly.
At her evil smile, I got driving. “No thanks. One of us with a special hat is enough.”
I pressed a button on the dash and the sunroof unfurled. The delighted expression on Naomi’s face was payment enough for me.
I pressed another button and cranked up the radio. The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love was playing.
And so, as I merged onto the highway and my foot nestled into the gas, the wind whipped through our hair as we flung our heads back and sang along. Couldn’t have been the right lyrics, since ours never seemed to match up with the ones on the radio, but we laughed and sang badly and laughed some more. And whenever I managed to sneak a glance over, Naomi looked so invigorated, energy sparkling in her face, that the want to kiss her was all-encompassing, like an addiction.
Even several minutes later, as we got off the highway and neared our destination, I could feel the want pulsing in me still. It was another song now, some Bob Dylan one that we were also butchering with our sing-along. When we stopped at a red light, and Naomi gave me her most beaming smile yet, I couldn’t stop myself anymore.
As my lips claimed hers, all rational thought fell away. I wanted this. Just this.
Naomi’s fingers tugged at my collar. My hands cupped her face.
