Page 94 of Book and Ladder
We finish eating and I help wash the dishes. Then I pack things up and head back to my duplex.
The next day, after we run through shift change and start to work, Cody and I are in the bay doing morning checks. The rest of the guys are in the office with Captain reviewing a call they went on earlier this week.
“So …” I say to Cody in a low voice. The acoustics in here are far too good for this conversation, but keeping this to myself feels like holding a live grenade. “You know how you told me to make my move on Daisy?”
I can’t help glancing around to double check that we’re alone.
“Yeah?” His eyes go wide with anticipation.
“Yeah. Not like that. Don’t get excited. I … basically … well … I kissed her.”
Cody’s face scrunches. “Context?”
“That’s it. There was no context. She had her hands on her hips. She was scolding me about Dad’s trucks blocking her parking lot. I took one look at her and lost my mind. I stormed over to her and got right in her face, telling her how crazy she makes me. I meant to let off some of the steam—I don’t know what I was thinking, honestly. And then, she wasright there, inches away from me, smelling like cinnamon and temptation. One minute we were exchanging barbs. The next thing I know, she was licking her lips and leaning in. And … well …” I run my hand through my hair. “I kissed her.”
“That’s so out of character for you,” Cody muses. “Cinnamon and temptation!” He laughs. “That’s straight out of one of your books. Did she kiss you back?”
“Like I’ve never been kissed before.”
My lips hum with the memory. I shake my head as if I could dislodge the feeling of her in my arms, her wrist in my grasp. Her pulse thrumming under my fingertips.
“Okay, then.”
“No. Not okay. Because she pushed me away as quickly as she had relented.”
“Really?”
“I’ve still got whiplash. Not that I thought she wanted me … but for that one moment … I don’t know.”
“Whew.” Cody blows out a breath. “But she did kiss you back?”
“I think it was a physical thing for her. For me? It’s so much more.”
“What I wouldn’t have done to be a squirrel watching that go down.”
“A squirrel? Don’t you mean a fly?”
“Squirrels have better vision.” He says it as if his reasoning’s so obvious.
“Have you seen her since then?”
“I’ve sort of been … busy.”
“Avoiding her?”
“Mostly, yeah. If you’d have seen how she reacted, you’d be in hiding too.”
“Well, you’re going to have to face her at some point. You are neighbors. And this is Waterford.”
“I know. I’m giving the whole experience space. Maybe ina few days it will be easier for us to both pretend it didn’t ever happen.”
“Not exactly what I had in mind when I said make your move,” Cody says. “I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the self-controlled, disciplined Patrick losing his composure and kissing his nemesis.”
“Tell me about it.” I run my hand through my hair again, pulling my open palm down the back of my neck and letting it drop to my side.
I lift the medical kit and start sorting through the items, taking inventory.
“There’s more,” I confess, glancing over at Cody.
