Page 119 of Give & Take

She whips my hat off and the hair goes with it.

“It’s meeee!” I say. I actually feel my eyes rolling up in my head. But I don’t care at this point, all I care about is that I’m face planting into the blessedly cool cup of ice water she’s set down in front of me.

Chapter 33

Lana

“You should slap him,” Chris says.

Under normal circumstances, I feel like that might be a good idea. Only I’m panicked, worry coursing through me.

“Help me get him out of this coat!” I say.

But Raph’s not a small guy. It takes me, Chris, and Chip the dishwasher to get the thing off. Under the coat he’s wearing a shirt that says in bold font I LOVE OLDER WOMEN with a heart-eye emoji.

I can’t even process that.

“That must have been part of the surprise,” Chris says, nearly dying as she tries to keep from laughing.

“He’s not waking up!” I exclaim. Panic has me breathing hard, not thinking clearly about anything except this man face down on the table, his mouth open like a puppy.

“Lana,” Chris says. “He’s overheated, that’s all.”

Overheated. I grab the glass of water he nearly knocked over as he fell and throw it in his face.

“Lana!” Chris exclaims.

But Raph chokes, spluttering water. He blinks, bracing himself on the table as he sits up. When he sees me, he grins wide. “Hey, Sunshine!”

“Unbelievable. It’s like nothing even happened.” I turn to Chris, whostilllooks like she’s trying not to laugh. “Can you believe this man?” I ask.

Chip sighs and heads back to the kitchen.

“Oh Lana,” Chris says. She leans in and whispers, “You’ve got it bad. And I love it.” She smiles at Raph, who’s struggling to get up. “Just rest a minute, honey. Then go and take Lana on whatever grand adventure you’ve got planned. I’ll cover your tables, Lana. As soon as he’s in walking condition, get out of here.”

I look at Raph, then I sigh, sliding into the bench beside him. He keels over so he’s lying in my lap. He lets out a contented sigh.

“She told me you were a savant, a chess champion raised in the spotlight as a child. Painfully shy with no social skills.”

“Or dress sense?” he asks.

“What the hell were you doing?”

“Trying to surprise you.”

I close my eyes, trying hard not to laugh. “You are… you’re unbelievable.”

“But it just makes you love me more, right?”

“Yes.” I laugh.

Then I suck in a breath, realizing what I’ve just said.

Luckily Raph seems to still be slightly delirious, because he just rolls onto his back so he’s facing me, butwith his eyes closed. “I just need a minute, okay? Then I have a surprise for you.”

“Is it this shirt?” I reach down and touch the letters on his ridiculous shirt.

“No. I mean maybe. But no. I got a truck.”

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