Page 11 of Sip
“I thought about that, but a layer feeds twelve people and we have twelve people, so that would be wasteful.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “We can afford it.”
The frown drawing down her face confuses me. There’s no fucking way she doesn’t understand how wealthy we are.
“It’s not just the money. I don’t want to waste food.”
Ah, the do gooder. I forgot she cares about everything with her generous heart. Too bad I’m not as moral. I pick what I like. “How about red velvet?”
She bounces in her seat a little as her face lights up. “Oh! With cream cheese icing. That sounds really good.”
Her throaty moan stirs up my dick again. Why is she so damn sexy?
“You have no idea how much I appreciate how easy-going you guys are. He didn’t even argue about not having fresh flowers because you know…”
No, I don’t know. I’m absolutely sure though she has some idiotic environment-saving reason for her choice.
“My sister’s husband is very strict with her, so this freedom is such a relief.”
She finishes tapping a message on her phone and then slides the cell into her cup holder, smiling and seemingly satisfied.
“Well, that’s it— the last decision for the wedding is made. I guess we’re officially getting married.”
An irrational and unfamiliar part of me rages with jealousy from her proclamation. She’s accepted her fate, and I should too. Yet somehow, I can’t.
The sensation bothers me more than I can comprehend, and I focus on parking rather than on her. Which is pretty much fucking impossible with her bounding out of the car and around to my side to keep the conversation going after we stop. She knows better but I don’t have it in me to reprimand her for not waiting for me to open her door.
“I can’t wait to meet your sister and her family. She lives in Denver and has twin girls, right?”
Yeah, far away and out of this life. I nod, reminded of the mixed blessing of daughters keeps them safe but leaves us without an heir. Realizing once again Grace wouldn’t be in our lives without this perfect shit storm of circumstances.
“I bet you miss them.”
Her small hand slides into mine and squeezes. Mistaking my guilt for grieving, she offers empathy I don’t deserve.
“I’m glad you’re going to see them soon. They’ll make adorable flower girls…even though we won’t have any flowers.”
I like that she can laugh at herself. She’s a nerd, and she owns her geekiness. Very few people can accept themselves for who they are, especially giggling and lunging simultaneously. I wish I could chuckle as well.
“As a warm up, we’ll speed walk to that sign….” She points to the post warning against swimming due the logs on the bottom. “…and then we’ll go around the lake in a slow jog. We can pick up the pace once we pass the playground and–.”
“Or we could just start running right now.”
I take off leaving her luscious mouth gaping open in shock. Usually I’m a bored, brooding asshole. Now with her I’m in a good mood I sure as hell don’t deserve. I’m having fun which I didn’t think was possible.
Less than thirty seconds pass before she catches up. Probably only delayed that long because we’re both laughing so hard. I barely recognize the sound in myself.
“You are really sneaky!”
Sure, that’s one way to describe me. “I’m impatient. I have to jump right in.”
“I can tell.”
Her grin never falters as we follow the path around the water. “This is where we hosted a carboard regatta last September. Have you ever participated in one?”
I shake my head. “I’ve never even heard of one.”
“It’s so much fun. You build a boat out of cardboard and race against other teams for charity. We won but with my teammates, I still ended up in the water.”
