“Did you just say ‘Thane’?”
A giggle escaped her lips. “I told you I have a retainer in my mouth!”
He laughed, his big hearty one. “Can you say my name one more time? Please?”
“No!”
His gaze challenged her. “Fine, then just say, ‘Suffering succotash.’”
“Zane!” Almost before it even left her lips, Mabel saw what he’d done and the mistake she’d made.
He laughed again. “Music to my ears. Will you always call me ‘Thane’?”
“I can think of several names I’d like to call you right now.” Mabel rubbed her cheeks. Of course, she’d lisped when she said “several.” Her cheeks were beginning to hurt from all the smiling. “I am so mad.” But she wasn’t. A bit embarrassed? Yes. But these happy, carefree moments with Zane were everything to her.
“I’ll stop.” His tone grew serious. “Besides, this could get into ableist territory, and we can’t have that.”
The pause in the air was comfortable. This. This was what she’d spent half her life craving a return to. Maybe they really were meant to be friends. Like this.
Except I’ll never stop wanting more with Zane Taylor.
“Can I be honest with you?” Mabel’s voice sounded small in her own head. Vulnerable. She rested her temple against the door.
“I thought that was the deal from now on.”
“Yes. Right. It’s just that…” She glanced back down at the app, and her stomach wrenched at the look of agony on his face.
She rushed to continue. “I really like you. You know that, right? But I’m at my dad’s house, and he’s a light sleeper. And I’m unable to even say my S’s.”
That lisp!She swallowed hard. She was either on the verge of losing it to laughter or tears becauseZane, the man of her dreams, wanted to see her. Wanted to kiss her. But they’d just decided to take things slow. He’d said he wanted to prove to her that he wouldn’t run away again, and that would take some time.
He nodded, his smile fading, but there was still peace in his eyes. “I get it. And it’s fine. Can we…talk about this soon?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe you should say ‘yes’ instead of ‘yeah.’ Sounds more official.”
“Zane!”
Ugh. She’d done it again! He was bound and determined to get her to say the “z” sound at all costs, wasn’t he?
“Mabel, just know that I want to break down this door to see you.” He paused. “I won’t. But I could.”
A warm thrill traveled through her. He could break the door down without a thought.
She grasped the tiny bottle of sand hanging inside her sweatshirt. Just that he wanted to had to be enough right now, because as frustrating as it was, she was reliving her fourteenth year, that trigger sliding over her skull and freezing her in place. She’d lost her mom and the boy she loved did a one-eighty. There was a block there that she couldn’t quite figure out to fix.
“I want you to come in. I promise you I do. I’m stuck, Zane.”
“Stuck?” he whispered.
“I don’t know if I’m ready. I want to be. But kissing you last time is all jumbled in my brain. I think taking things slowly, like you said,might help me get unstuck.” She swallowed down the ball in her throat. She cringed at her next thought but decided to say it anyway. “Besides, I already took my bra off, okay? And that thing is not coming back on.” She didn’t mention the dot of zit cream she’d applied to a very unfortunate problem spot on her forehead.
He growled and pounded a fist softly on the door. “Seriously, Mabel? What are you doing to me? That’s the worst thing you could have said to me right now.”
He waited for a response. “Are you smiling right now?”
A laugh burst from her. “A little.”
