Page 34 of Enemies to Lobsters
Oh, Diana. She doesn’t hear herself. “Married people do a lot of stuff—”
“Ike.” There’s a warning in her voice. “What time are you thinking on Friday?”
I reach up to brush the hair away from her face again. “What happens if you eat pineapple?”
She wraps a hand around my wrist. “Not a chance. That’s privileged information.” Is she leaning toward me? She is. “What time on Friday?”
I’ll be Googling pineapple intolerance tonight, along with date ideas. I need to crowdsource this one. I only get one shot at a first date with my wife, and I need to make it count. “Let’s say six thirty. That work?”
Her hand is still wrapped around my wrist, but she doesn’t pull it away. It’s like she’s holding me in place.
“Six thirty is good.” She nods.
She’s still clinging to my wrist, and I’m not about to shake her off. I can feel her warmth, and I love the way her dark lashes lie against her cheeks from this angle. Diana is sort of painfully beautiful. She always has been, only now it doesn’t annoy me. I get to live with this woman. I want to shoot my shot with her. This is happening. I inhale deeply, letting her peach scent fill me. I don’t deserve any of this. I’ve been terrible to her, and I need to say something. “Diana—”
“What are you guys doing?” Stevie hollers up the stairs. “Please tell me you’re making out up there.”
Diana yanks her hand off of my wrist like she’s pulling it out of an unattended cash register. She’s blushing from head to toe.
I groan. I’m going to push Stevie into the ocean. “We’re doing married people stuff,” I yell down the stairs. “Lots of it.”
Stevie’s answering gag echoes up the stairs.
“That’s it.” Diana shoves my chest. “Get out of my room.”
I will. For now. “Friday night?” Why do I need to double check? She already said yes.
She nods. “Friday night.”
Chapter 17
Diana
I’ve never gone on a date with a man I’m married to before. I don’t know how to dress or how to act. Ike is getting comfortable with me, and I am getting way too cozy with him. This arrangement has an expiration date, and I don’t want to get hurt by a man who is more than capable of hurting me. I have years of evidence of that. We need boundaries, or this is going to get dangerous fast.
“Good grief. Breathe.” Marlow switches off the blow drier and smacks my shoulder with her round brush. “You’re overthinking again.”
“This is worthy of overthinking.” I frown at my friends in the mirror. “You understand what a huge deal this is.”
“We get it.” Stevie is sitting on the edge of the tub, smirking. “But I still don’t understand why you won’t let us tell anyone you’re going on a date with Ike. You guys are married. Isn’t that cat out of the bag?”
She’s right. As far as Cape Georgeana knows our marriage is a business arrangement, though. If they find out Ike is taking me on an actual date, they’ll revolt. The town golden boy is notallowed to date the town witch. It just isn’t done. Plus, they might think this marriage is real, and I have my hopes up.
I don’t have my hopes up. I don’t know why I agreed to this. I don’t want to stay married, I just like the guy. Am I not allowed to like and spend time with the man I’m married to? And when Ike realizes I’m all wrong for him and rejects me? I groan, running my hands down my face.
“Oh my gosh, knock it off,” Stevie yells over the dryer. She and Marlow are both cackling now while Marlow works on my blowout.
I shout back. “You guys aren’t taking this seriously enough.”
That only makes them laugh harder. Marlow shakes her head, turning off the dryer to comb another section of hair. “And as usual, you’re being seriously dramatic.”
I repeat some of my thoughts about how the town will react if they think I’m making an honest-to-goodness shot at their crowned prince, leaving out my fears of being rejected by Ike. “The town hates me. They’ll hate me more if I date Ike. They’ll think I have my hopes up.”
“So?” Stevie shrugs. “Let them be wrong about you.”
Marlow grins at me in the mirror. “Yeah, what’s new?”
“It’s easy for you two to say. Everyone likes you. No one has accused you of shooting out the lights in the football stadium lately.”
