“Charlie Dwyer, if you’re not out of my house in ten seconds, I’m setting off the alarm.” I closed my eyes. “Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Fourthreetwoone.”
The back door slammed.
I opened my eyes.
He was still standing there.
“You are so annoying,” I seethed through my teeth.
“I’m sorry, OK? I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes and exhaled. “The truth is, Erin, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here.”
“You’re insulting me. That’s what you’re doing.”
“I’m sorry for that. I don’t mean to. I actually really like you, for whatever reason.”
I put my hands over my ears. “Oh my God, you just made it worse!”
He put a hand up. “Can I just say this, please? I know I’m fucking this up, I know we have very little in common, and I know you don’t want me here, but I like you and I did think about you all day. I really wanted to see you tonight.”
“Fine. Great. I was happy to see you. I even played your little game, asking you to fuck me after I’d tried to say no.”
“You didn’t enjoy it?”
“You know I did. But why’d you have to ruin it with all the bullshit about trapping you, like I’m just pretending to be cool with what we’re doing when really I’m…” I steepled my fingers and lowered my voice to a sinister whisper. “Picking out china patterns on the sly.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Yes, it is. It’s the same thing you did last night, warning me about the mistakes in your past and how emotionally incapable you are, so I better not get attached.” I held my palms up. “In all honesty here, Charlie, the danger here isn’t my falling in love with you. It’s going back to how I used to feel about you.”
“Which was?”
“I couldn’t stand you.”
That got a wry smile.
“And right now I’m barely tolerating you, so just quit with all the nonsense. If you want to be friends, let’s be friends, but I think we were right last night—no more sex. It muddies things.”
“We did say that, didn’t we?” Charlie slapped his gloves against his hand. “Why did we say that again?”
“Because of this.” I gestured back and forth between us. “This is not fun.”
“So let’s do something fun.”
I crossed my arms in front of my thighs. “No!”
“I don’t mean that. And I don’t mean right now. I mean another day. Let’s do something fun together. Like friends do. Let’s go…skating!” he finished, like it was the best idea in the world.
“Skating?” My upper lip curled. “Skating is not fun. For me, anyway.”
“It will be with me. We’ll go downtown to Campus Martius.”
“I’ll watch you.”
“No, you have to skate with me. I’ll buy you a hot chocolate afterward. Or one of those desserts in a cup you call coffee.”
I groaned. “Do I have to?”
“Yes. And then next time, you can pick the something fun.”
“Something to torture you with, you mean.”
He winced. “Just not opera. It hurts my ears.”
“Too bad—if I decide opera, that’s what we do.”
He pulled on his gloves. “Fair enough. I’ll call you.”
“I might answer. I might not.”
He grinned. “You’ll answer.” He was out the door before I could even say good night.
I locked the door, set the alarm, and turned off all the lights before going up to bed. Curled up in my cozy white flannel sheets that had been washed so many times they’d basically taken on the texture of fleece, I held my overfed stomach and hoped the roads were OK. I didn’t want Charlie to get into an accident.
God, he was irritating. One minute he was pouring himself into all my nooks and crannies like melted butter on an English muffin, the next minute he was all aloof. Rude, even. What the hell was his problem?
Thank God I had my head on straight where he was concerned. I liked him—mostly—and I liked sex with him, but he just had way too many wrongs to be right for me.
I grabbed my body pillow and held it close, tucking it between my knees and under my head, one arm looped around it. I’m glad he didn’t stay. He’d probably be a crappy cuddler anyway.
For heaven’s sake, the guy didn’t even know how to give someone a hug. He really had to get over that.
Maybe I could teach him.
#
The next morning, Nick and his friend in the construction business helped me take all the trash out to the dumpster, and Coco swept up. Lucas and Mia showed up around noon, full of apologies for being late, but explaining that Mia hadn’t been feeling well this morning.
Coco and I immediately turned our hawk eyes on Mia and then exchanged glances with each other. This was the second morning in the last week that Mia hadn’t been feeling well. She looked OK now, maybe a little pale, but she seemed in good spirits. Without speaking at all, Coco and I communicated that we had Suspicions that needed to be Discussed and we would sit Mia down later for a thorough Q & A.
While the guys and I laid the plywood sub floor, Coco and Mia ran out for sandwiches to bring back for lunch. We took a break when they got back, then worked through the afternoon and got the job done by the time Lucas and Nick had to leave to get ready for work. Mia, Coco, and I agreed to meet up at eight for a drink at The Green Hour, and Coco and I exchanged one last meaningful look that said If She Doesn’t Order Wine, She’s So Pregnant.