Falling Away (27 page)
“What do you mean we have nothing in common? We both like sex.”
I kicked him this time and he playfully batted me away. “I’m serious!”
“So am I.” He chuckled, so it was hard to believe. “Is this one of those questions you women use to entrap men? Where no matter what we say, it’s going to be the wrong answer? Because we have plenty in common.”
Ignoring him, I began ticking off my fingers. “We like different kinds of movies.”
“We both like to watch TV,” he countered.
“We can’t stand the other’s tastes in books.”
“We both like to read.”
I chucked another M&M at his chest. “You like sports, I hate sports.”
“But you like to watch
me
play sports.”
I shook my head and gritted my teeth. That playful smile was irresistible, but it was also pissing me off that he was twisting everything in his favor. I glared as he stuck the tip of his tongue out, lay the M&M atop, and slowly flick it into his mouth, cocking his eyes suggestively. I instinctively licked my lips.
“
Aaaand
we’re back to sex. See? It’s the backbone of any healthy relationship.”
“What?”
“Admit it. What I just did there, had you thinking something dirty. Didn’t it?” I rolled my eyes dramatically, but yeah, he totally had me. “What does it matter how much we have in common? Ever heard of the expression opposites attract?”
I chucked
my H
arlequin paperback at him. “Oh, yeah? That’s an opposite. You find that attractive?”
A wicked smile spread across his face as he flipped through the pages. “Well, maybe. Anything in here you’d like to reenact in the bedroom later?”
Quite a few, actually, but that was neither here nor there. Instead, I kicked the book in his hand. “Are you capable of having a conversation without thinking or talking about sex?”
“Not when you’re throwing pornography at me, no.”
“It’s erotica.”
“Women’s speak for porn. Give me five minutes and I’ll find something comparable to a scene in a porn movie.”
My cheeks flushed when I realized he was seriously flipping through the pages looking for one. I sat up and yanked it from his grasp, terrified of what he’d find. I was already horrified that he might suggest we read it together tonight. “Don’t you have a Frisbee game to get in on or something?” I evaded.
He checked the time on his phone, then reached to pull his shirt on. “Can’t. If we’re going to squeeze in a dinner, we need to get going. I have to work tonight.”
“Tonight?” On a Sunday? He never worked on Sundays. I sat up, pulling my tank on over my bikini top. “I
wanna
come.”
“Jenna, what I do is incredibly boring. I sit in a car for what could be hours at a time and I may not even see who I’m looking for.” I stuffed our things into my old book bag as Evan lazily folded the Mexican blanket.
“I don’t care. Just let me come with?”
“Yeah, sure. Just don’t expect anything exciting.”
After dinner at our favorite bistro, we took his mother’s car ‘cause it was apparently less conspicuous than his old, red truck, and most people would hardly think twice about seeing a silver Taurus, since it was a common car in the area. Adulterers must be paranoid about their surroundings if Evan and his father had to rearrange their cars just to avoid being recognized.
“So what are we doing here?” I asked when he pulled to a stop on a residential street and cut the engine.
“One of my dad’s clients thinks her husband is cheating, and he’s apparently going to the office tonight to work on some big presentation he has this week.”
“And she doesn’t believe him.” Good girl. “But isn’t Sunday a weird night to be going on a date?”
“No more than going to work. And look. Right now, we’re doing both work and a date,” he added, reaching over to squeeze my knee. Touché.
“So what happens next?”
He pointed down the lane. “See that two-story red brick house with the swing on the front porch? That’s where the guy lives. His wife says he’ll leave sometime around seven, so we’ll just follow him and see if he actually goes to work like he says.”
I looked to the dash. Six-thirty. “I wonder what made her think he was cheating?”
I was really just thinking aloud, but Evan replied, “Maybe the guy was stupid enough to put
cologne on for one of his late-
night work sessions. Or maybe, for someone forced to spend part of their weekend at the office, he was a little too cheerful going out the door. Who knows? All I know is that the majority of jobs my father does are for suspected adultery. It’s sad that kind of job pays the bills, but I guess someone’s got to do it.”
“So I take it you don’t
wanna
do this forever?”
“God, no. It’s something I would consider on the side for extra cash, but I hate sitting on my ass in the car all night.” He turned his attention from the road to me. “But I’m glad you came. It’s nice to have someone to talk to for once.”
“Eh. Least I can do. You always show up at my job, and it makes the day go by a little quicker.” I leaned over and kissed him softly, letting the tip of my tongue dance around with his.
At six-forty-five, a black car left the residence and headed in the opposite direction. Evan started the car and began trailing behind at a safe distance. A few minutes later we pulled off across the street of a six-story office building. “Oh, well,” I said, watching the guy park next to several other cars in the lot. “Guess he actually is working tonight.” I leaned back and dug through my bag in search of gum.
“Oh, yeah? Then why’s he getting into another car?” I heard the quick
snap-snap-snap
of Evan’s camera.
“Huh?” I asked, leaning forward again. Sure enough, the guy was actually getting into the driver’s side of another vehicle, and in a few seconds was pulling out of the lot again. “Sneaky little shit. If his wife ever got suspicious and came to check, she’d find his car in the parking lot, feel guilty for thinking badly of him, and probably turn around and go home again without going inside.”
“People suck.” Evan pulled out amongst the traffic and continued following, this time a four
-
door silver sedan with a personalized license plate that read PRM-4.
“Company car?”
“Yep.”
“Awesome. Not only is he probably screwing around behind his wife’s back, but he’s screwing the company by using their car to do it.”
“Like I said. People suck.”
A few minutes later we were heading west out of town on US-4, a long stretch of nothing but trees. “Great. So is it time to play twenty questions yet?”
“I have one for you. Isn’t Sophie’s wedding this summer?”
“Uh, yeah, it’s next month.” I didn’t like the way he nodded knowingly.
“So tell me. Is Robert a friend of Sophie’s?” Yep. Totally figured this was gonna come up eventually. “Because you haven’t asked me to go with you yet, and you’re the maid of honor. So I’m left wondering why not, and if you’re even going to.”
I heard the internal groan, as it was particularly loud in my ears. Thankfully, I thought the noise from the road kept him from hearing it too. “Well…here’s the thing about that. Robert is her fiancé’s best friend…and the best man in the wedding.”
“Best man,” he repeated. “As in the guy you’ll be paired with for all the wedding shit.”
“Yeah,” I answered uncomfortably.
“Well, that’s just…fucking fantastic. No wonder you haven’t been talking any wedding shit around me. When were you going to tell me?” He kept looking between me and the road, waiting for the answer I was slow to give.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay. I just
wanna
get in, get out, drama-free. And I’m afraid if I take you, it’ll cause unnecessary tension.”
“So you’re leaving me behind?”
“It’s nothing personal, Evan. You’re still the one I’m coming home to at the end of the weekend. Robert and I have to be there. You don’t. And it’s better for all concerned if the two of you aren’t within striking range. I’m not gonna let our fucked up problem become Sophie and
Jhett’s
problem, too. Not at their wedding.”
It took him several seconds, but he finally muttered something to the effect of, “Whatever.”
We sat in silence for another ten minutes before rolling into a town called New Haven. The silver sedan pulled into the parking lot of a small Japanese restaurant. Evan quickly pulled into a parallel spot on the main road and hit the button to roll my window down automatically. From his seat, he zoomed his camera, snapping shots as the man met a woman in the parking lot and kissed her before going in. Evan reviewed the
pics
, a beep going off for each one as it passed across the screen. He shook his head at what he saw.
Guess I was feeling a little bitter over our previous conversation, ‘cause I said, “Don’t you love how I’m not rubbing it in your face how you did something similar by kissing me when I belonged to someone else at the time?”
He released a long breath before turning his body to face me, putting the camera on the floor behind us, and leaving his arm behind my head rest. It was starting to get dark out, and it was really hard to read his eyes. “First off, I never meant to do that. I had every intention of just talking to you that night. I wanted you to leave him and be with me because that’s what you wanted. And yes, I feel like a shit for how it went down.” A car in the lot turned on their headlights, and I saw his features soften as his hand reached out to brush a stray wisp of hair off my forehead. “But you’re mine now, and I don’t regret that for a second.”
His lips leaned in and gently
kissed
mine for a good minute before he put the car into drive again. Guess he had all he needed for the job ‘cause we were back on US-4 headed east in no time. Five minutes down the road, he said, “So I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier. About why our relationship works even though the only thing we seem to have in common are favorite pizza toppings.”
“Oh, yeah? Did you come up with something?”
“I don’t know why I’m attracted to you, if I’m being honest.” Um…thanks? “I just feel this magnetic pull towards you. Just like when we met in that limbo place. I think most people would be concerned with why they’re there, where to go or what to do.” I nodded my head in agreement. “
I may have too, f
or about five seconds.
But then
I felt
this
need
to move in
one
particular
direction, and
I
soon came across you. I didn’t care where I was or why
I was there
. I just wanted to
be beside you
.
“Maybe you were right about our spirits connecting in that place, because I went in search for you in your dreams, and when my memory returned last winter, I felt this urge to find you again.” His shoulders shrugged softly. “So maybe it
’
s our spirits that are so determined to be together,
our
differences be damned.”
I held my smile long after he caught it. “I like that idea.”
