Page 25 of Trusting You
“Regardless, it is def not happening again.” I downed the last of my wine from the Havenport Annual Summer Festival 2003 mug I was drinking out of. My mother owned plenty of wine glasses, but Nora and I used to sneak white wine and drink it out of coffee mugs in high school, so even as adults, we insisted on continuing our tradition.
Nora leaned over to my nightstand and grabbed the bottle to refill me. “Do you want it to happen again?”
“No. I mean yes. No, really no.”
“Wow, you are really selling this, kid.”
I took a big sip of my wine. “Well, he’s undeniably hot and smart and fun to hang out with. I like him as a person, and when he kissed me I felt things. Things I’m not sure I’ve felt before. It was unsettling.”
“But also unbelievably hot?”
“Oh yeah. Crazy hot. Brain-meltingly hot. I was ready to rip off my panties right there. And you know I’m not that type of girl.”
“Yes, dear. We know you are super vanilla and boring.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “But anyway. He is clearly not into me.”
Nora smiled at me and nodded into her wine mug like she was not buying anything I was selling right now. “You know,” she said cautiously, “he doesn’t have the best reputation. He has dated a few people that I know, friends of friends and that sort of thing.”
“What do you mean?” It came out a bit harsher than I was intending, but I felt strangely protective of Liam.
“Nothing bad. Just that he’s not a relationship type of guy. Really focused on work, doesn’t make much time for other stuff. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him, but just that he’s not settling down material.”
“Well, that’s good news for me. Because I have no intention of settling down, and at least I know he won’t get the wrong idea.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. I just don’t want you to get hurt. You aren’t exactly the “hit it and quit it” type, Cece.”
I sighed. “I appreciate your concern, Nora, but I don’t know what ‘type’ I am anymore. I came here to work some stuff out and get out of New York. I am not interested in dating. I am off men. I need to focus on myself. And that’s fine. I like this job. I have a mission to complete. I am going to market the shit out of this brewery for the next few months and then move onto something else.”
It was the truth. I was learning a lot and having a blast. “I like a challenge. It’s nice not working nine to five behind a desk every damn day.”
“A-women, sister. I hear you on that front.” She raised her mug. “And I respect the hell out of what you are doing. And clearly Liam does too. Which is probably why he doesn’t want to make a move and compromise that.”
“Maybe. But the reasons don’t really matter, do they? Nothing can happen. I don’t want to be in a relationship. And I don’t want to compromise my new job by hooking up with the boss.”
“True.”
“And I’m going to leave town anyway. I have to go back to New York in January and restart my life. There is no way my next chapter is starting in Havenport.”
“You say that. But maybe the next chapter has already started?”
Her comment unsettled me. I decided to push the feeling away and deal with it later. “Oh, stop philosophizing and focus on Channing Tatum.” I grabbed the remote and clicked play on the tiny twenty-year-old TV.
We were rewatching one of our high school favorites,She’s the Man, which was the genesis of our Channing Tatum obsession.
After about twenty minutes of drinking and enjoying Channing playing soccer shirtless, Nora turned to me.
“So tell me about his dick.”
I playfully hit her shoulder. “Gross, Nora. No!”
“So it was gross? Such a shame.”
“No.” I was exasperated and did not want to continue this conversation. “I didn’t see it or anything. I just briefly felt it and it felt good.”
“Like long and strong good?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
I laughed. “Yeah. Really long and really strong if you know what I mean.”
