Page 97 of Is She Really Going Out with Him?
“They forced me to stay and eat dinner with them, then play charades,” he explains, shifting his weight from side to side, eyes scanning my face. “I’m sorry, I should go.”
“Don’t go,” says Lottie. “Anna is great at charades.”
“Yeah, it’s your go, Mum,” says Ethan.
“Aren’t you both supposed to be in bed?” I ask him, reaching across the sofa to tickle Ethan.
“That’s probably my fault,” says Will.
“No, it’s definitely mine,” says Lottie, grinning at me. “Come on, Anna, just do one.”
The children look up at me with pleading faces, so I agree to do one final charade. I opt for10 Things I Hate About You, because it’s Jess’s favorite movie, so I know she’ll get it quickly. She gets it on the first clue, so I clap my hands and insist it really is bedtime.
“I told Will about wanting an axolotl for my birthday,” says Ethan. “He says he’ll help us build the tank.” I look back and forth between Will and Ethan.
“Only if that would be helpful,” says Will, eyes shifting to the floor.
“Will’s brother has a pet tortoise that’s sixty years old. Sixty! Can we meet him? Can we? I’m great with animals,” Ethan says excitedly as I cajole him toward the stairs.
“I’ve got this,” says Lottie, putting her hands on Ethan’s shoulders to steer him upstairs. Turning to me and nodding her head toward Will, she silently mouths, “He’s great.”
“Let me see you out,” I tell Will, grabbing his coat from the hook and following him out onto the front doorstep.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stay so long,” he says once we’re alone on the doorstep. “Your sister is highly persuasive.”
“She is,” I say, then we smile at each other, politely.
“How was your date with the good-looking neighbor?” Will asks, eyes shifting from me to the doorframe.
“It was eye-opening. What’s wrong?”
“I hate the idea of you out with a man who isn’t me.”
“Is that why you’re here?” I ask, crossing my arms, lifting my chin to look up at him.
He steps forward, slipping his hands around my waist. “Can I do this?” he says, tugging me to him. I feel that magnetic pull, as though every cell in my body is supercharged, drawing toward him.
“I don’t know, you made the rules,” I tell him, allowing myself to sink into his embrace. His hands run up my back, holding me close.
“Youmade the rules,” he says.
“You said it should stay in the woods,” I remind him. “You said it should stay in the archive.”
“You said I wasn’t boyfriend material, that I wasn’t your type,” he counters, looking down into my face, jaw set, his eyes hopeful.
“Because you’re leaving,” I say, breaking away from him, dropping my gaze to his chest. “Now you’re here making my family like you.”
“I like them,” he says.
“Well, don’t promise them fish tanks, then disappoint them when you disappear.”
“Is it your kids you’re worried I’ll disappoint, or is it you?” he asks, his voice low, eyes trained on me like laser beams. “What do you want, Anna? Just tell me what you want this to be.”
“I don’t know, I don’t want you to go—” I say, feeling my eyes well up, and then, before I can anticipate it, he lifts his hands to my face and leans forward to kiss me. His hot, firm lips on mine, possessive, transport me straight back to the woods, to the archive, to the only place I want to be. As he opens to me, I feel myself melt, the flutter of a thousand wings beating in my belly, all my senses overwhelmed. When he pulls back to look at me, I step away, trying to put space between us so I can think straight.
“You didn’t let me finish.” I reach backward for the door to steady myself. “I don’t want you to go, but I wouldn’t want you to stay either, not for me. I can’t see how this works—we want such different things.”
His face falls. “Are you serious?”
