Page 104 of The Overtime Kiss

Tyler: Tell me your fingers are in your panties.

Tyler: Tell me now.

I type out a desperateyes, then slide my hand into my panties and finish what westarted in his car.

When I see Elena the next day, I don’t mention the sex diary, or the football game, or the night with Tyler. Instead I focus on a new skating student who’s eager to compete at the highest levels. I ask questions about how I can coach her differently than I was coached.

And really, that’s a good use of this hour. Maybe even a better one than if I’d spent the time confessing my sins. Since I’m not exactly sure how I’d tell her thatI’m sleeping with my boss, but don’t worry, we have a game plan on how not to fall.

It’s one thing to tell my friends. It’s entirely another to tell someone who’s been helping me navigate complicated emotions for the last six years.

But maybe if I can keep this thing with Tyler entirelyun-complicatedI’ll be just fine.

26

SHREK DADDY

Tyler

Admittedly, I’ve been spoiled by Sabrina and Agatha. I’ve hardly set foot in a grocery store in years. But with Thanksgiving coming up, I don’t feel right handing Sabrina a list of the things I’ll need to cook.

And it’s not just because I’m hosting this year—pray for me—but because I want to make sure I do right by the vegetarians in my life.

Luna and Sabrina.

Since my brother is the real cook in the family, he’s handling most of the meal, but I still want to contribute. So I enlist my sister one afternoon when she’s in the city for a meeting with business partners for her punk rock bar. She’s been a vegetarian her whole life, and I figure she’s my best shot at getting this right.

We head to Natural Foods while Sabrina is at the rink for her skating lessons. As I push the cart down the nut aisle—since Charlie assures me that the best stuffing is made withnuts—I brace myself for her sisterly inquisition about my true motives. After all, she gave me the third degree about my unrequited crush when I hired Sabrina. But she’s too busy singing the praises of pecans and pistachios.

“I could marry mixed nuts,” she says, grabbing a bag and tossing it in my cart.

As we leave the aisle, my phone buzzes with a text, and I pull it out.

Sabrina: While you’re at the store, could you please get me some Popsicles?

Popsicles? It’s an unusual request. But one I like.

“Who’s that?” Charlie nods to my phone and I quickly stuff it back in my pocket.

“Sabrina,” I reply, then hightail it out of that conversation and head to the frozen meat section, figuring that’s where the fake meat is too, like the veggie sausages Luna likes. I stop in front of a display case of Tofurky, scrubbing a hand over the back of my neck, trying to decide which one of these fake turkeys to get.

“So, how do you choose?”

Charlie laughs and flicks her pink-tipped hair off her shoulder. “You don’t, unless you want to train the vegetarians in your life to secretly hate you. Let’s go.”

I furrow my brow. “What do you mean? It’s Tofurky.”

“It’s an abomination of food,” she says.

“Ouch. I’ll make sure the Tofurky people don’t hear you say that.” I glance at some other options—ham substitutes, Cornish game hen made of rice and mushrooms, a loaf of something with wheat protein and lentils—then a… “How about a Field Roast?” I ask, looking at the vaguely ham-like thing.

She pretends to gag.

I hold up my hands. “I’m so lost. I have no idea what I’m supposed to get. Don’t I just buy a fake turkey?”

She pats my shoulder, her expression shifting from playful to understanding. “First of all, I love the sentiment. But here’s the thing—most people think vegetarians are climbing the walls for meat substitutes. We’re not. Most of us actually really and truly like vegetables and rice and lentils.”

I blink. “But isn’t that all the stuff in these things?”

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