Page 91 of Raised On It

“He calls it thecrackle.”

My knee is bumped by his under the table, and I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t have shared.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I was just…” I start to take it back and tell them I was just joking, but as I have learned about Miles, he doesn’t shy away from his feelings, and he has no problem sharing.

“You know that feeling you get when the atmosphere in the room changes the moment your person enters? You feel them before you see them. Like there’s some sort of crackle in the air.” All three of them stare at him like he’s speaking a different language. “You’re telling me none of you have ever felt it before?”

Crickets.

My friends are taken aback, and these feisty New Yorkers, who are never short on words, are having trouble coming up with any.

“I think you’ve bewitched them with your too good to be true farm boy charm.”

He kisses the corner of my mouth. “All that matters is that I’ve done the same to you.”

“You sure have.”

“And I’ll do whatever it takes to make you stay under my spell until the end of my days.”

“Okay, yep. I get it. Just felt it. The crackle is real, and you two have it.” Jackie holds her phone up and takes a picture of us. “Sorry, just need a picture of what the crackle looks like.”

“Babe, make sure you give her my number so she can send that to me.”

“You have got to be kidding. You have more selfies of us and pictures of me to fill your phone to max capacity. The last thing you need is another picture.”

“No worries. Jackie, make sure I give you my number before we go.”

“You are ridiculous. I mean, really, what are you going to do with all of those pictures? You don’t do social media. I seriously doubt you’re going to have them printed and put in a photo album.”

“You don’t know everything, City Mouse. I may just surprise you,” he says, lifting my hand and kissing the back of it.

“Speaking of knowing everything or each other really. I mean, how much time could you really have spent together in the past couple of months when you’re running your company?” Arianna asks, always the pragmatic one.

And again, before I can speak, he does.

“Well, luckily for me, I have an assistant who kicks ass and takes names. I have a great team working for me, and for a couple of weeks during the harvest and my wooing my little City Mouse here, they were really picking up the slack. Things have gotten back to normal, and I’m doing the old nine to five while this one writes all day long. Also, it helps to be the boss. Means I can work when and where I want. It also means I work all day and night. There have been many nights I’ve been on my phone or my laptop while we’re watching a movie or…”

Interrupting, I make sure the girls know that no matter what when we are eating dinner, or any meal for that matter, no electronics. No interruptions. I also clarify that his after hoursworking isn’t that bad, and that I am always writing anyway, so it all works out.

“So, really it’s like any couple. We work and see each other every night and on the weekends. Thank God, I can bust out of the office when I get the urge to see her. I mean, who’s gonna fire me?”

“True, but how well do you really know her?” Billie leans in conspiratorially, whispering like I can’t hear her. “I mean, your little city mouse has some serious issues.”

“Is that so? Do tell, Billie. I’d love to hear this.” I kid, knowing she would never sell me out for real but also knowing I have nothing to hide from Miles, and I’m fine with whatever she tells him.

“Well, for starters, she lives in a penthouse while being deathly afraid of heights. I mean, what’s that about? Why live on the top of a high-rise if you’re too scared to stand next to your windows and enjoy the view you spent all your hard-earned money on?”

“I did know that, but I do believe she’s overcoming her fear. At least from the safety of her own home.” We look at each other, the crackle between us loud enough for the whole place to hear. “You’re rather fond of the view from your windows lately, aren’t you, Mase?”

“No, you didn’t!” Jackie yells. “You did her up against the windows of her apartment! Mason, I’m so proud of you!”

“Eww…stop it. I don’t need to imagine that. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.”

“Arianna, don’t pretend to be a prude just because there’s a boy at girls’ night,” Jackie says, calling her out since she is usually the biggest perv of the group.

“But they’re sitting right there. It’s bad enough that I’m going to picture them naked up against those windows every time I’m there. You guys suck.”

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