Kiss the Girl (36 page)

Mary Jane shook her head and got out of the Jeep. 

“Hey,
wait!” 

Mary Jane yanked open the front door and slid onto the
passenger seat
.

“Kiss me,
”
she said.

He stared.  “What?”

“Kiss me.  Right now.”  She leaned toward him, eyes closed and offered him her mouth.  The interior light glared down on her nose, illuminating skin as white and soft as Wonder Bread.
  She smelled like the soap they
scrubbed with
at the hospital.
 

“Didn’t you used to have freckles?” he asked.

Mary Jane’s eyes opened and she
gave him a
puzzled look
.  “No.”

“Never?”

“Nope.”

“Oh.”  He frowned.  “
I could have sworn.  Just a couple, right there, across the bridge of your nose.”

“Nixie has freckles, Erik.  Just a couple.  Right there.”  She tapped her nose.

“Oh.”  Erik stared at her, horrified
and embarrassed
. 

“Yeah.”  She
folded her arms and
gazed at him with sympathy.  “You’re in deeper than you thought, huh?  I’m sorry, Erik.  It sucks.  Trust me, I know.”  She shook her head.  “Can we call it quits now?”

“No.  I just need more time.”

“You’re only delaying the inevitable.”

“No, I’m not.  Nixie is absolutely wrong for me.  She’ll prove it if I just give her eno
ugh time.  Bear
with me
, okay?
  I swear to
God
, I’m a better boyfriend than this.”

Mary Jane pursed her mouth and studied him.  “Yeah, okay.  But only because I don’t have anything better to do.  And you’d better believe you’re going to make it up to me.” 

“I will.  I swear I will.”

She opened her door and slid out.  “Forge
tting me at a coffee shop. 
God
.” 

“I said I was sorry.”

She slammed the door and waved over her shoulder
as if to say
y
eah, yeah
.  Erik waited until she was safely in the building, then
pulled out his cell phone and dialed his mother
.
  She answered on the fourth ring.

“Hello, darling.”

“Hey, Mom.  You have a minute?”

“For you?  Always.”  She covered the phone and said, “
Whoever secures
the
Independent Party
vote on this
gets a summer intern.  Move, people.  Make it happen.” 

Erik smiled.  “You know it isn’t politically correct to bribe your staffers with
people
, right?”

“But it’s the only treat they really like.”  She covered the phone again.  “Gender of your choice,” she called out.  “Ivy Leaguers.  Ambitious and of questionable moral fiber.”  Erik heard
her smile.  “Ah, there they go.  I love
it when they
hop to like that.  Now, then.  What can I do for you?”

“Do you still have Grandma’s ring?”

“Her wedding ring?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course.  Why?”

“I need it.” 

There was a long pause.  “Oh, Erik.  Honey.  What’s her name and how far along is she?”

“
Jesus, Mom. 
I didn’
t get anybody pregnant
.”

“
Thank
God
.
”

“I just...there’s a girl.”

“Somebody serious?”

“I’m hoping it’ll get that way.  That’s why I need the ring.”

“
Who is it?”

“I’d
rather not say right now.”

“Ah.”  There was a significant pause.  “I understand.”

Erik frowned.  “You do?” 

“Of course, darling.  You’re a grown man.  I respect your privacy.”

“You never have in the past.  Why start now?”

“
For a start, w
e’re on cell phones, and are both in what I assume are public spaces.  I’m not interested in reading about your
engagement
in the paper before
I even give you the ring
.  Besides, I know you.  I know who this is about.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you do, Mom.”

“Honey, you are giving me zero credit fo
r basic human perception
. 
A blind woman could see the sparks you two throw when you’re together.
”

“It isn’t Nixie, Mom.”

“Did I say it was?
  But how interesting that she was the first person you thought of.
”  Her voice was arch, knowing.  “
It’s enough for me to know that y
our
...
girlfriend has issues with the press.  You do, too.  I completely understand that you two would want to stay low profile until you’ve come to an understanding.
”

“We do.  But Mom,
I’m serious
.
  It’s not Nixie.
”

“
Of course not, dear. 
So who is it?”

“
I can’t say yet.
  I...need time.” 

I need to kiss Mary Jane, he thought. 
Why
the hell didn’t he do it when she offered? 
He’d managed to kiss Nixie easily enough
without an engraved invitation
.  The blood drained from his head and rushed south at the memory. 
God
.  He was in trouble.

“
Mmm
hmmm.”
 

“I need to get my head on straight, and I think this will help.
  Can I have the ring?
”

“Oh, sweetheart.  Of course you can.  I’ll have it cleaned and you can pick it up whenever you like.”  She sniffed once, delicately.

“Are you crying, Mom?”

“Of course not.”  She sniffed again, a little less delicately.  “
Okay, maybe I am
.  But I’ve wanted this for you for so long.  All those years, all those girls.  I was running out of ways to sneak them under your radar, but I knew if I just kept...”

Erik’s brows drew together and he said, “If you just kept what?”

“My patience.”  She gave a watery chuckle.  “If I just kept my patience, you’d find one you liked.  And you have.  Haven’t you?”

“I hope so.”  Nixie’s million-dollar smile flashed through his mind, popped there like a flashbulb.  He pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed the image away.
  He thought of Mary Jane’s pale, soft skin, clear and freckle-free under the dome light of his Jeep.  “I really, really hope so.”
 

CHAPTER NINE
TEEN

Sloan Leighton peeked
through her lashes
at the
man
--
the
boy
, really
--
leading her into Senator Larsen’s private office
the following Monday
.  He was painfully young,
all
A
dam’s apple and wrists
. 

“Thanks so much for this,” she said, wrapping a hand around his arm and leaning in.  “I can’t believe I got the time wrong.  I’m such an air head sometimes.  You’re sure it’s okay if I just wait here?” She opened her eyes wide. 
And now I am sincere
. 

A
fl
ush stained the kid’s soft cheeks
as he gazed helplessly down at her.  “Sure.  Senator Larsen’s due back any minute.  I’m sure she’ll want to see you.”

Sloan gave his arm a little squeeze.  His eyes about rolled back in his head and she
hastily
let him go.  There was such a thing as over playing her hand.  “Well, thanks.
  I owe you one.
”

She tucked her
tailored
skirt under her knees and sat primly on the edge of the Senator’s soft leather loveseat.  The kid shook himself
out of the reverie he’d lapsed into
at the idea of Sloan Leighton owing him
and
promptly
backed into the door
fra
me
.
  His flush deepened alarmingly as he renegotiated
his exit
and disappeared.
  Sloan glanced around the room.  It wasn’t quite what she’d expected. 
The outer
office was
the usual
fluorescent business space, but this room was something else entirely.  The walls were a lush, smoky gray the exact
shade
of twilight, paired with a thick
cocoa-colored
carpet and this
creamy sofa that made Sloan want
to slip
off her
shoes
and stretch out. 

Framed photos lined the walls
--
the usual shots of the Senator shaking hands with other powerful politici
ans.  A closer inspection revealed
some unexpected black and whites mixed in,
though.  They all showed a
younger version of the Senator with her arm around various incarnations of Nixie’s new boyfriend.  Sloan smiled reluctantly.  Dr. Erik Larsen was a radically charismatic man, but he’d been a sweet and lost-looking child.  There was something so elusive and familiar in the way he stared into the camera.  Stared through the camera, really.  Like it wasn’t even there, like he was searching beyond it for something. 

Just like Nixie, she realized
with an unpleasant jolt
.  For a lon
g time, she’d thought Nixie
wasn’t
focusing on the camera when she
had her picture taken.  It had been years before she’d realized that Nixie was
actually
focusing on
the camera too hard.  Like she expected something from it.  And why wouldn’t she?  She’d watched her mother debase herself for the cameras for years.  Why wouldn’t she expect there to be a reason?