Page 97 of Rebound
I lean in, kissing the corner of her mouth. Lavinia makes a sound as I pull back and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.
“I was thinking, if you don’t have plans tonight,” I say, “you can come over. I can order Delucia’s and we can watch Practical Magic.”
I swear, her eyes dilate.
“You had me at Delucia’s and Practical Magic,” she says.
Yeah, I know my girl. I know what she likes and I also know that when she likes something or someone, she’s loyal to a fault.
I lean forward over the boards, close enough to kiss her and then pull back. Lavinia’s eyes narrow.
“I’ll see you tonight.” I skate backwards.
“Will Kita be joining us?”
“I’m going to lock the door. Tell your boys not to come knocking.”
“I don’t control them, Roman.”
It’s the last thing she says before I disappear into the tunnel and towards the dressing room. I’m suddenly nervous. The last time I went on a date, I was a teenager, and that date didn’t come with as many expectations as this one.
THIRTY-ONE
LAVINIA
“So, how was it?” I ask. “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to.”
I signal left and come to a stop at the light before glancing over at the passenger seat. Kai has his head resting against the seat rest. His normally neat dark blonde hair is a mess from where he was probably running his hand through it. He glances at me with tired brown eyes.
“It’s the same it always is. Exhausting. Why do they make us talk so much?”
I chuckle a little. “Because they’re therapists. If they don’t learn our trauma, they can’t find out why we only have cinnamon flavored coffee or why we can’t eat French toast anymore.”
I realize I might sound bitter and that’s the last thing I want to project when Kai is already struggling with therapy. But when he laughs, I relax.
“Yeah, or why we have a difficult time with authority figures,” Kai jokes.
“Why we have a difficult time letting people in.”
Kai laughs. “Why we have weird dreams about clowns.”
The light turns green, and I move the car forward to wait for oncoming traffic to disperse.
“Okay, all dreams about clowns are weird. Clowns shouldn’t even exist,” I say.
The traffic slows down and I turn left into the strip mall that houses our favorite local coffee shop. I pull into the drive thru and then we idle. There’s a long line of cars, as always.
“I thought you like horror movies,” Kai says.
“I likeparanormalmovies, and cute ones. Like Practical Magic, Halloweentown, Twilight, Hocus Pocus. Nothing that’s going to keep me up at night and give me nightmares.”
I inch forward a little. This has been a ritual of ours since I first started taking Kai to therapy six months ago.
“Can I ask you something?” Kai asks.
“Sure.” I shrug.
“Why did you marry Roman?”
