“What?”
“About me being a complete hypocrite and protesting all the time about how I don’t want to be with you and then acting the total opposite of that. See, I thought of it like this, like Kevin left me and you found me, like I just washed up on your shore.”
“My shore?”
“Stay with me on this. I have a point. It may take a while, but there’s a point here.”
“Okay, I’ll trust you on that,” he said.
“This isn’t something that happened to me. I got up and approached you and asked you to have dinner with me and basically pursued you. I wanted your attention. I asked you questions all the time, just to keep you talking. I thought about you all the time.”
“All the ti
me?”
“I have this envelope...I went and got it right after you left, and it might as well say LIAR all over it. I ordered all this underwear, sexy underwear because I wanted you to see it and like it and want to have more sex with me. I never bought black lace underwear when I was with Kevin. One night with you and I was burning up my charge card in hopes of getting another night with you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I have all of this, and I need to send it back, just return it, I know. You’re going to Hong Kong, and I was a total bitch about it, so it’s not like the panties are going to get any action but...come back, okay? I’ll try to be less uptight about whatever we’re doing, as long as we’re in this together.”
“Was that an apology for the appalling ‘we had fun’ earlier?”
“Yes. You can consider that an apology. I’m sorry I said that. It was more than fun. You were wonderful, and I couldn’t make up my mind because I’m worried about what people will think.”
“I doubt people are as hard on you as you are on yourself. You struck me at first as a woman who made no apologies. Some guy dumped you, you picked up a better one and enjoyed your anniversary meal anyway. Your date gives you shit about your dress being too short, you play along and laugh instead of pouting. I like that. It’s the Jekyll and Hyde thing I can’t handle.”
“I’m going to try to tone that down. Maybe work on doing what makes me happy instead what I think SHOULD make me happy.”
“Didn’t you date what should make you happy for about six months?”
“Yeah. He was bad in bed. And also cheated on me. He gave me roses for my birthday.”
“What’s wrong with roses? They’re a classic.”
“They’re predictable. I could just see a future of roses on birthdays and anniversaries and a nice sensible sweater every Christmas. A Caribbean cruise for our twenty-fifth. It made me itch just thinking about it.”
“The sweater or the idea of the sweater.”
“Just the idea of it. I felt hemmed in.”
“I’m not trying to hem you in. I want to see you break loose and go wild.”
“I have the underwear for it,” she giggled. “I never thought of myself as wild until you got to me. Then the next thing I knew, I was hitting on young guys at the gym! I need guidance, direction if I’m going to succeed at being wild. Will you help me? So while you’re gone will you...message me or call me or something?”
“Everything. Yeah. I’d like to see where this can go, you and me.”
“Besides naked, you mean?”
“Never rule out naked as a possibility. We’re very good at it.”
“Better than good,” she agreed.
***
The following afternoon, Britt was entering receipts at her desk when her phone pinged. A message from Jack.
“Touched down in Hong Kong. I’d rather be touching you.”