“I’m buying you a Christmas present.”
“You’re buying me shoes?” Immediately I pictured sky-high platform stilettos in red patent leather.
He laughed, and the sound warmed me all over. “Not exactly. Are you busy Saturday?”
“I have to be at the studio until one.”
“After that, then. I’ll pick you up.”
What was this? A date? “OK. What are we doing?”
“It’s a surprise. Dress warmly.”
Suddenly it added up. “Wait a minute. You’re not really going to make me go skating are you?”
“Be ready at two.”
“Hold it, are we—”
“Bye.” He ended the call.
“Ugh, you big jerk.” Sighing, I punched end on my phone and dialed Coco.
“Hello?”
“Hi. I just got a call from Charlie.” I pulled my plate out of the microwave, set it on the island and grabbed a fork.
“Ooooh. What’s up?”
“He’s being all cryptic about it, but I think he wants to take me skating on Saturday.”
“Fun!”
I grimaced, forking some penne with more vehemence than necessary. “Not if you’re me.” God, couldn’t we just skip the friendly activity bit and get right to the no-strings sex?
“Do you even have skates?”
“No. I think he’s buying me a pair. For Christmas or something.” I shoved some pasta in my mouth.
“That’s so sweet!”
“I know, but now I have to buy him something, don’t I? And what is this? Are we friends or something more? I’m frustrated. I can’t get a read on him.”
“You sound frustrated. Listen, don’t worry about what it is. Just have fun with him. Do what you want to do. And don’t worry about painting Saturday, either, I think we might finish tonight anyway. God, I can’t believe the wedding is next weekend. It’s insane.”
I reached for my wine. “Are you ready?”
“Who knows? I mean, I think so. But Mia’s so out of it with the pregnancy and everything, I just hope we haven’t forgotten stuff.”
“You haven’t. You guys could plan a wedding in your sleep.” Mia was a little out of it, but who could blame her? Lucas, as we expected, had been shocked but thrilled by the news of her pregnancy. Now it was hard to tell which of them was more excited.
“Sleep, what’s that? I feel like I haven’t slept in days. Hold on, Erin. Nick, don’t you dare set that hammer on top of the programs. And don’t run away from me either, we have to figure out the parking thing.”
I smiled. “I’ll let you go. I just wanted to ask you if it was OK if I didn’t come over to paint Saturday.”
“Totally fine,” she assured me. “Call me, though, and let me know how it went. And don’t forget, if you want to bring him to the wedding, it’s no problem.”
“I don’t, but thanks.” Inviting Charlie to the wedding seemed like too girlfriendly a move. He might take that the wrong way. I wanted to show him that I could handle casual sex since I’d spoken out against it before, and I had to do it in a way that left no doubt as to my expectations.
Coco’s words rang out in my head. Just have fun with him. Do what you want to do.
Seduce him. That’s what I wanted to do. Then I laughed a little. The question was, what didn’t I want to do with him?
I couldn’t think of one thing.
#
Skating. That was one thing.
“Oh God. Do I have to?” I stood at the side of the ice rink in Campus Martius, watching little children in snow pants glide easily over the smooth, glassy surface. I had no illusions I would be either that skilled or that cute. My feet were tightly laced into the skates Charlie had bought for me, even though I’d prayed they wouldn’t fit. “I should have worn snow pants. My butt needs more cushioning.”
“Jesus, do you want a helmet too? You don’t need snow pants. Come on.” Charlie took my gloved hand and dragged me out on the ice, and I stiffened my legs into tree trunks and let him pull me along like a toy. “You have to move your feet to skate, Erin. Like this.” He dropped my hand and skated away from me, his legs stroking out to the sides slowly and surely. I scrambled over to the wall, barely making it without going down. This was so not the way to appear sexy, carefree, and fun.
Of course Charlie was a beautiful skater, making it look smooth and effortless. He even stopped on a dime to help a little girl up that fell right in front of him, brushing off her snow pants and jacket and setting her on her little skates again. It was such a sweet thing to do, and it looked so natural on him, I had to squint and make sure it was actually Charlie. He watched her waddle away on double blades and made his way back to me.
“That was nice of you,” I said.
He shrugged. “I’m a nice guy sometimes.”
“Ask that girl what she wants for those double blade things. I need them.”
“No, you don’t. Come on,” he coaxed. “Try coming off the wall.”
“No.” But I glanced at some of the kids along the wall in front of me and saw that they were moving along OK doing something more like marching, so I held on and tried that, praying I didn’t look as goofy as I felt. My seduction plans were rapidly unraveling here.
Charlie burst out laughing. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. You really are a horrible skater.”