by S. E. Rose
“Not at all. I needed a second cup, too.”
He sits and looks at me as though trying to gauge my reaction to his being here.
I clear my throat. “So, what do you think of the ideas?”
He shrugs. “I feel like bake sales are overdone.”
I frown but nod in agreement. “I suppose that’s true.”
“Let’s stew on it for a few days. The costume contest was a good idea. We can talk at the end of the week.”
I pull up the calendar on my phone and frown. “We’re really cutting it short if we wait a whole week just to come up with an idea.”
“We have time,” he says. I look at him. He’s the picture of relaxation. He’s wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt again that clings to his body in all the right places. Curse him and his t-shirts for making him look so sexy. He looks like he might have gone for a run earlier too. But unlike me, he looks like he could curl up here for a few hours without a care in the world.
“Do we?” I ask, not sure why the words leave my mouth.
He tilts his head to the side and looks at me. “Sure. What’s the rush?”
I sigh and turn my mug in a circle. “I don’t know.”
“Good, then it’s settled. Maybe we can grab a coffee next Saturday and chat about it.”
“I guess,” I mumble, staring into my coffee like it’s gonna show my future.
I see Garrett’s hand move into my field of vision as he grabs mine. My eyes shoot up to look at him.
“You OK?” he asks.
I want to yell, NO! I want to run away, screaming, “How could you date my sister?” But I pull my shit together. “Yep, I’m fine.”
I press my lips together to keep myself from saying anything else.
“Would you feel better if we go over to your place now and make a list of ideas to consider?” he suggests.
I shrug. “I mean, it’s not a bad idea.”
“Finish your coffee, let’s go.”
I take a large gulp of slightly hot coffee and stand, immediately regretting chugging the hot liquid as I wince.
“Damn, Moore. Don’t burn your mouth.”
I quickly compose myself. “All good. Let’s go.”
He follows me outside and down the street. We are greeted with the normal “hellos” and “how are yous” that are typical in our small town.
When we are seated on the sofa in my apartment, I turn to him and grab a notepad from the drawer in my coffee table.
“OK, so I’ll write down my ideas. What do you want to add to the list?” I ask as I look back up at him.
He puts his hand out and I pass him the pen and notebook. “I’ll put on more coffee,” I add as he taps the pen on the paper.
I walk over to my kitchen and start pulling out things for coffee. I like it the old-fashioned way in a French press. I think the only one of us who doesn’t use one is Clark, who requested a single-cup coffee maker last year.
I turn to see if Garrett has finished with the list, but I find him standing in front of one of the giant bookcases adorning the sides of the room. He reaches out and pulls down a book and reads the back.
As he opens it, I get a look at the cover and I freeze. “Oh, I don’t think you’ll like…” I trail off as he begins to read a very sexy scene.
I run to grab the book, but he holds it up high and continues reading. He doesn’t stumble over words like “cock” or “pussy” as he recites the sex scene. In fact, he does the voices, which I think might be worse because now he’s voicing their cries during sex and I want to bury my head in a pillow, maybe forever.
“Stop!” I cry out, laughing as I try to reach the book again. I’m half laughing because it’s funny and half laughing out of total mortification.
He stops once the characters reach climax and hands me the book. “Why not just watch porn?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Why not mind your damn business?” I retort, which comes out more like a growl of a feral animal.
He chuckles and starts to pull down another book. I step in front of him and swat his hand away. “Uh-uh. Nope. We are working. If you want to read a romance novel, I’ll give you one for the road, later, after we work.”
“Seriously though, I don’t get it,” he says, motioning to the over four hundred romance novels on my shelves.
I sigh. “I like a good romance story, OK? It’s fiction. It’s my escape.”
“I thought you gave up on romance?”
I sigh again and plop down on the sofa. “I did. But I own the books, I’m not going to have some crazy book burning because I’m taking a break from romance. Plus, I bought a lot of these books at signings. And they are reminders of fun trips that I took with Bailey or other friends. And who knows, some of them might even be worth something someday, I mean over half of them are signed.”
He pulls out a book and looks at the first page, running a long finger over the author’s signature. “OK, that is kind of cool. It reminds me of when I was obsessed with superheroes and made my dad take me to Comic-Con.”
I look up at him with wide eyes. “You’ve been to Comic-Con?”
He nods, cocking his head to the side in confusion. His eyebrows furrow and damn it if that doesn’t make him look sexier.
“My parents met at Comic-Con,” I mutter as I sit down.
“Wait, what?” he asks, taking a seat next to me.
“My parents…that’s where they met.”
“But…they like superheroes and stuff?”
I nod. “My dad does. My mom had gone because this actor from a horror movie that she was obsessed with was going to be there. And the rest is history.”
He stares at me for the longest time and I know the moment he realizes the meaning of my name.
“Superwoman,” he says, his eyes large with excitement. “And Poltergeist!”
I chuckle under my breath. “Yep and yep. Ding, ding. You’re a winner.”
“Wow…hold on, let me guess the others,” he says as though we just created a new exciting game. I lean back, placing my elbow on the back of the couch and my head in my hand.
“Kent and Clark, those are easy, that’s Superman. I bet their middle names are horror movie characters too,” he says.
I nod. “Jason and Michael.”
“I love that. OK, uh, Lanie…Lanie…oh, duh, Lane, Lois Lane from Superman,” he says. I nod again.
“And Kylie,” he frowns deep in thought.
“Give up?” I ask, stifling a yawn.
“Give me a clue,” he demands. Curly comes up and jumps in my lap as if on cue.
I point to him and Garrett laughs. “Catwoman.”
I nod again. “Yep, you win.”
“Wait, what about middle names for your sisters?” he asks.
“Kylie Marron, as in the movie Psycho and Lane Laurie, as in Halloween,” I say, wanting to finish this game of guess the meaning of our names. I’ve been through it a million times. People who know us always figure it out eventually, if we don’t tell them.
“That’s awesome. I like your parents even more now.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I guess.”
“What? You don’t think they’re cool?”
“I do, but…let’s just get back to the point of this whole thing,” I motion between us.
“Oh, right. Well, I was thinking, how about a charity 5k?” he suggests.
I pause, considering his idea. “I…it’s not a bad idea,” I admit.
“Well, thanks for that vote of confidence.”
I curl my legs under me as I reach for one of the coffee mugs that I managed to get to the coffee table before having to protect my romance book collection from prying eyes.
“I’m serious. It’s a good idea. I’ve never run one, but I’ve participated in many of them. It’d be fun for the kids if we had a family 1k as well.”
“I like that,” he says. “I think we should roll with this idea. Hold on.” He holds up his hand and types something into his phone
, then turns it around. “Look, we could start at the high school, they can run down to the river park, around the loop there, and back up Main Street, down your street and over to the high school. That’s 5k exactly. The 1k can just loop over here to Main Street and then back around to the high school. I bet we could get some of the shops to offer some drinks and food. It’d be fun.”
“We could see if the Hodges family will donate some little pumpkins from the farm. We could give that out with ribbons for people who finish,” I suggest.
“Yeah, I like that. An autumn theme. Maybe some of the high school kids can set up a booth and do face painting and free babysitting for parents who want to do the 5k,” he says as he sips the coffee I’ve brought him.
We launch into more details and, pretty soon, we have a whole list of ideas for the run.
“I’ll type these up in an email and send them to Caris and Chrissy,” I say as I set the notebook down on the table.
“Cool. I’m glad I ran into you. I’m feeling productive now, I might try to go finish my lesson plans for the week,” he says with a giant grin.
“Good, go be productive. I need to get work done too.” We stand and he walks over to put the mug in my sink. I smile because no guys, including my brothers, ever do that.
“See you tomorrow,” he says.
“Later, have a good rest of your day,” I call out as he shuts the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my cats.
Chapter Eleven
Garrett
“Dude, I’ve never been more confused in my life,” I lament as I reach for the beer on the table.
“Meaning?” Adam asks.
We’ve arrived early for happy hour, so I’m catching him up on my love life or lack thereof or whatever the heck is currently happening.
“Well, I’m supposed to get coffee with Di’s sister tomorrow. Kylie texted me out of the blue. I mean, she’s cute and nice and all, but I don’t know. And then there’s Di. It’s like she says one thing but gives me body language that is totally the opposite. But I still think she’s all into romance. I was at her apartment this weekend and she has tons of romance novels. I can’t live up to that shit.”
“Man, that’s a dilemma. I mean, Di’s pretty hot. I’d ask her out if it wasn’t breaking some unspoken guy code.”
I glare at him.
“Hey, why don’t I ask her out and we can go on a double date?” he suggests, waggling his eyebrows.
“No, just no, dude. You are a total man whore. I’m definitely not siccing you on Di. You’d break her motherfucking heart and I’d never hear the end of it,” I say to him with a pointed look.
He puts his hands up defensively. “OK, OK.”
He leans into me as I sip my beer. “So then, why aren’t you asking her out?”
I lean into him. “Because I don’t want to break her motherfucking heart either. She’s a good person.”
“Jesus, you aren’t back to this whole ‘love isn’t real, and if it is, it’s not for me’ bullshit, are you?”
I shrug. “I never stopped thinking that.”
“Whatever, you’re as hopeless as she is,” he says while munching on some chips that are sitting at the table.
“Who’s hopeless?” Di’s voice calls out as she walks toward us. Fuck. I turn and she looks adorable as always. I haven’t seen her all day as her class had some sort of speaker and ate lunch in the classroom so they could work on a group project. She’s wearing a pleated knee-length skirt and fitted top. Her ballet flats, which I only know the name of because of my sister, are bright red, as is her lipstick. Fuck me. She looks like a naughty schoolgirl in all the best ways possible.
“Oh, just a friend of ours. You ready to throw some axes?” Adam asks her, saving us from further conversation.
“Uh, yeah, sure,” she says, setting down a bag next to a chair. We have two small tables in front of the area where you can throw axes. We turn to watch a man taking his turn in a group sitting nearby.
“That’s intense,” she says quietly.
“Come on, Spidey, let’s get you set up,” I say to her. We walk over to our area and I show her how to do it. She picks up an ax and her eyes grow wide.
“Shit, that’s really heavy,” she says.
I laugh. “Yep, they aren’t light.”
I see her face scrunch up in concentration as she attempts her first ax throw. It lands with a thud on the floor.
“Shoot. That’s hard,” she whispers.
I walk up behind her and take her hand in mine, showing her the proper motion. I won’t deny that having her back pressed against my front is altogether intoxicating. Her lavender and honeysuckle scents fill my nostrils as my hand wraps around her small wrist and guides her arm motion.
“Like this,” I say softly into her ear.
“OK,” she answers in a breathy voice.
I step back and let her try again. This time she manages to hit the wall, but the ax doesn’t stay.
“Try again,” I encourage her.
She rolls out her shoulders and picks up the third ax. This time, Adam calls out some pointers from behind us.
“You got this,” I encourage. She gives me one last look before getting into the position I just showed her and then she lets the ax fly. It hits the target. Not in the center, but it hits it.
She jumps up and down and claps her hands before pumping her fist in the air. “I did it!” she squeals and runs to me, throwing her arms around my neck. I spin us in a circle and then set her down, giving her a high five.
“Way to go!” I say to her with a giant grin. She steps back and blushes.
“Do you guys mind if I try again?” she asks.
“Go for it, we have it for the next two hours,” Adam says. He smirks at me as she walks back to throw another round of axes. I flick him off and stand in the safety zone behind her.
By the time she finishes, hitting the target twice, a few other teachers have begun to trickle in, including Di’s best friend, Bailey.
She walks over and hugs her friend and they sit down and order a beer.
“This place is cool. I haven’t been here before,” Bailey says.
“It’s new,” I tell them. “They have another location in Baltimore, and Adam and I have been there.”
Bailey and Adam launch into a discussion about a bar in Fells Point. I study Di from across the table as she drinks her beer and nods at Bailey’s comments.
I’ve been nervous to tell her that I’m having coffee with her sister tomorrow, but I feel like I should. Why am I so freaking nervous about this?
I decide to rip off the Band-Aid when Adam goes up to throw the axes and Bailey follows to watch him.
“Hey, I’m meeting Kylie for coffee tomorrow,” I say to her, watching closely in an attempt to gauge her reaction.
“I know,” she says, keeping her eyes on a menu in the middle of the table.
“Oh,” I state.
“I hope that’s OK,” I offer.
She shrugs. “You’re both adults. Do what you want.”
Her words say it’s OK, but they also say, it’s not OK. Shit. Now, I’m super confused.
“Well, I wasn’t going to go, to be honest,” I start. She looks over at me. “But I felt bad saying no.”
“You don’t like Kylie?” she asks.
“I don’t really know her,” I admit, running a hand through my hair.
“She’s nice and she’s pretty,” Di says.
“I know those things, but I didn’t get to talk with her for very long the other night.”
“You’ll like her. She’s fun and she doesn’t take things as seriously as Lanie, Kent, and I do. She’s not as chill as Clark, but she’s a pretty fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants type of woman.”
I cringe because I’m not like that at all. Does Di think I am?
I shrug. “I like plans,” I declare.
“Well, you’ll have fun,” she says, essentially shutting down the conversation. I’m about to say more
. I’m about to say that I feel weird going out with her sister when I want to spend more time with her, but Caris plops down in the seat next to Di and starts gushing over our charity 5k run idea. I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse, but in either case, I not going to spill any brewing feelings I have tonight. I settle into my chair because it’s going to be a long evening watching Di but not being able to really talk with her.
Di
I’m sort of glad that Caris interrupted us because that conversation was about to get awkward as fuck. I still don’t know how I feel about this whole Kylie and Garrett coffee situation. The way Garrett was gripping my wrist earlier had all my lady parts lighting up like a Christmas tree. I shouldn’t feel this way about him. But every time he’s touched me over the last week, it’s been difficult to not react. Hell, maybe it’s better that Kylie dates him and I can go on with my celibate existence. He’s a good friend now, and I don’t want to ruin that.
I think I’ve managed to dodge a bullet when with ten minutes left of our time with the axes, Garrett comes up to me as I finish hitting the target with all three axes.
“Great job, Spidey!” he says as he puts out his knuckles for a fist bump.
I oblige. “Thanks.”
“So, did we find you a new hobby?” he asks as he crosses his arms. His pectoral muscles seem to grow under the pressure of his forearms and his biceps seem to pop out as well.
“Uh…I don’t know. Maybe…” I stammer as I try to find my powers of speech.
“Oh, should we try something else? I’ll have to think of ideas,” he says.
“No worries. I appreciate you taking me to hike and ax throw. It’s been fun,” I admit.
“Sure. Anytime,” he says. I feel like he’s about to say something else, but then Adam yells at him to come to try a beer and the moment is lost.
I talk with a few people before Bailey and I decide to head back home. I give her a ride since she came with some other teachers.
“You seem cozy with Garrett,” she says as I turn onto a highway.
I glare at her. “I’m not ‘cozy’ with anyone.”