Page 24 of Carnal Desire

“That’ll be twenty-nine seventy-nine.”’

I reached for my wallet and so did Ariel.

“Let me get it,” she insisted. Ariel always insisted.

“It’s my turn to pay,” I shot back.

Before I could even open my wallet Ariel was shoving a black credit card at the man behind the counter.

“We only take cash, lady,” the unimpressed cart worker told us.

“What do you mean?” Ariel asked in obvious confusion.

“Good old American cash,” he said slowly, like he was pretty sure she was an idiot. “We don’t take plastic.”

Ariel frowned at her wallet. “I, uh I don’t carry cash.”

I pulled forty dollars out of my wallet and handed it to the guy. “Keep the change.”

He winked and got to work putting our order in.

Ariel seemed a little discombobulated. “I can’t believe they don’t take credit cards,” she said. “Who doesn’t take credit cards?”

“Small businesses who want to keep their costs down by avoiding credit card processing fees.”

“Hmm.” Clearly she’d never thought about it.

A few minutes later they called out our order, and we grabbed our bag of food and sodas and took them to a nearby bench to eat. The food was just as good as I’d heard and we wolfed down our tacos like it was our last meal on Earth.

“Holy shit,” Ariel breathed. “These really are good.”

She had a smudge ofcremaon her lips, and I reached over to wipe it with my napkin. At the last minute I changed my mind and leaned in to lick it off.

“Yum. Thatcremais delicious,” I said, smacking my lips. “Almost as delicious as you are.”

Ariel’s eyes darkened and she leaned closer, intent on kissing me, until we heard someone call her name.

“Ariel? Is that you? What on Earth are you doing eating in a park?”

Ariel

It figured that the one time I did something out of character I’d get busted by my mother. I’d stopped listening to her opinions years ago but that didn’t stop Mom from trying to tell me how to run my life whenever she got the chance.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed to Sadie before turning to greet my mother.

She was dressed in running clothes, my father at her side. Ever since Dad’s heart attack she’d been forcing him to go running with her. I guess I knew that sometimes they’d run along the lake front but in a city of over two million people, it never occurred to me that I’d run into her.

Then again, other than the social occasional events required for my job, it was pretty rare that I was anywhere but work, home,or my boat. I set my taco on the bench and stood up, Sadie doing the same.

“Hi Mom. Hi Dad.”

“Hey sweetheart,” Dad said, giving me an awkward little wave. “I’d give you a hug but I’m all sweaty.”

Dad hated sweating even more than he hated running, but my mother ruled the roost at home, and he did whatever she told him. Although in her defense, she was trying to help him get healthy.

My mother looked between me and Sadie, her eyes assessing as she looked Sadie over. I had no doubt that she’d seen the intimate position we were. Mom’s eyes fixed on Sadie’s grubby old gym shoes before she looked back at me.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, Ariel?”

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