Since being here, I’d adapted to the slow-paced way of life. It was a sustainable pace, unlike back in LA where it was all go, go, go. Some days I didn’t have a chance to take a breath, that pause most people had where they just got to stop and smell the roses or just do nothing.
My doing nothing involved going shopping or to the salon to get my hair done, and even those things were rushed. It was Vanessa who’d pointed all that out to me.
Noah had definitely hit the mark with her, and since I’d met her, there was hardly a week that went by that we didn’t either message or see each other briefly.
My best friend’s girlfriend had become my friend. The other day she’d taken one look at me and knew with certainty that there was a man in my life. Maybe it was the permanent glow in my cheeks or the way I kept zoning out when people spoke to me.
I couldn’t help it. The whole mindlessness thing was enhanced by the fact that I had the most gorgeous man ever all to myself for six months. Six whole months of him, the ridiculously hot single dad next door who could give me an orgasm just by looking at me.
It was crazy, and I was crazy to have become so obsessed with him, but I couldn’t help myself.
I took out my Ryan notebook and added number sixty to the left margin. Then I wrote:You like flowers that look beautiful when they bloom in the spring and have the same color scheme.
All the flowers in his garden were a soft pink. I loved it.
Sally came back out to the terrace where we’d been sitting. She carried a tray with a big jug of lemonade and some homemade cookies. She was looking heaps better than she had a few weeks ago.
She’d started this nutrition plan to build up her immunity, which had been knocked out by her chemo sessions. Those ended a few weeks ago and she said she was starting to feel more like her old self.
Everytime I saw her I marveled at how strong she was. This was the second bout of cancer she’d survived. It was amazing, but then there wasn’t anything about my childhood role model that hadn’t amazed me. This was just one more thing.
“Your skin is brighter than the sunshine, Missy.” She giggled and sat down opposite me, her eyes scanning over me with delight.
“Oh, it’s that new beauty cream I was telling you about.”
She laughed. “No cream on earth can make you look like that.” She gave me a pointed look with her eyes narrowed. “That look can only come from too much sex.”
I gasped then tried to bite back a smile. Sometimes I forgot the woman could totally cut through my bullshit.
“Hey, that’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair is you telling me some magical cream can give me a permanent afterglow.”
We both laughed.
“I don’t have a permanent afterglow.”
She pulled a compact mirror from her purse and handed it to me. I looked at my reflection and saw truth for myself: my skin was off-the-charts glowing, glowing and bronze like I’d just come back from a vacation in some place hot. That was from spending too much time in the sun with Ryan on the beach. The glow was from him too.
“You forget I’ve seen your guy. Are you still calling each other neighbors?”
“No.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
We’d run into Ryan at the supermarket in town the other week. I’d practically leapt into his arms and was then stupid enough to try to downplay my excitement by calling him my neighbor.
Sally had answered with a sarcastic, “Really?” and we’d all laughed.
She hadn’t even waited until he left before she started asking how long we’d been going out. We were that transparent, and that had been a whole two weeks before he’d asked me to be his.
That day was spent with me telling her about Ryan and Aria.
“We talked about us staying together for the next six months while I’m here.”
“Oh wow. So it’s serious then?” Her eyes brightened and she looked eager to hear more.
“For six months.” I nodded and smiled like it was the best news ever.
