Page 19 of Change My Mind
That mademesmile down at my phone, a warmth flooding through my veins.
Addie was appraisinga frame when I got in from work.
“Hey, does this thing look straight to you?”
I stepped further into the living room and walked around behind her to see it how she was seeing it.
There were a good couple of feet between us, but I could still smell the almond scent from one of the products she used. Her glasses were on top of her head, threaded in her braids, which fell just past her shoulder blades. A purple silk scrunchie was high on her bicep, acting like a cuff on her oversized greyKim PossibleT-shirt.
The frame in question was almost like a mirror of the Hampstead Heath one I had already put up, only it was for Martinique. Even though one was mine and the other hers, they both encompassed parts of her.
“It’s straight,” I said quietly.
Addie turned around, and our eyes locked. When we were teenagers, she’d been a few inches taller than me, but now, we were the exact same height.
“Thanks. I was thinking we should maybe furnish this place and make it look like real people live here, rather than some kind of pseudo show home. You know, get cushions and blankets or just…something. Unless you’re stashing that kind of stuff somewhere and were waiting until I got here?”
Her eyes looked like grass in the early morning springsunshine—an impossibly bright green that was made brighter by dawn dew.
It took me a moment to catch up to what she said.
“No. I came back with the bare bones. I’m not stashing anything anywhere. Shopping sounds good. Could we wait until I get everything off the ground in a couple of weeks?”
She nodded slowly. “Sure. I’ll make a list of potential things we need, and we can review it then. How are things going at Vivi’s?” she asked as she walked past me and into the kitchen.
I was really going to have to stop startling every time someone dared to ask me how my day was. Thankfully, Addie didn’t notice.
Fourteen
ADDIE
“Iknew she was going to choose looks over personality,” I said as I dunked a pizza crust into my garlic mayo before shoving it in my mouth.
Eli and I were sprawled out on the floor, two pizzas between us with an abundance of dips because I’d panicked and bought two of all the ones available in the shop. Eli had become so engaged in this new-to-him dating show,Sight Unseen, that he had stopped eating and was instead nursing his mug of gin and tonic between his hands.
“But Karl is also an attractive man. She could have had both looks and personality,” Eli said slowly.
I swallowed my mouthful. “This is what I mean about losing hope. Of course, she could have picked Karl, but he’s not attractive in the way that she is used to, and so he’s just not an option when Brad is right there. I mean, could you get any more frat boy than someone called Brad?”
He reached for a slice of pizza. “How many episodes are left? Can she still see the light that is Karl?”
“We’re halfway. In theory, there is still hope that she’ll see who the right choice is, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.” I finished my crust and picked up another.
He paused, pizza slice hanging in the air, his mouth slightly open. His lower lip was wet and plump, the tip of his tongue resting on it. He closed his mouth, and I looked down at my garlic mayo like it held the secrets to the meaning of life.
“Maybe I might do that, though, seeing as I can hold my breath for nearly five minutes,” he said.
My gaze snapped back to him. “What? Why?”
“I used to free dive. I might not be able to anymore, but I could definitely hold it for that long once upon a time.” He dropped the slice into his open mouth and bit down.
“Why?” I asked again.
A line formed between Eli’s eyebrows. “Why did I free dive?”
“Yeah, I don’t understand why anyone wants to fuck with the ocean like that. I mean, I love it, but I will only paddle. I respect it enough to leave it the fuck alone. Its depths are terrifying. I want no part of them.”
Eli paused mid-chew. A sadness clouded his eyes. I almost asked another question because it felt like the answer to this one was costing him, and after the name debacle, I didn’t want to force him to tell me things like that ever again.
