George gives me a deadpan stare.
I hiss at him.
He cracks a smile.
I want to lick his mouth, but I know that once I start, I won’t stop. Best to get my curiosity out of the way first. So, I slip free of his hold and shoo him forward.
“I want to look at all of your stuff and judge you,” I announce.
“Silently, or out loud?”
“Which would you prefer?”
“Please, share your insights.” George leads me into a high-ceilinged, open-floor-plan space and leans against the granite counter in his kitchen. The layout is similar to Shawn’s place, but this condo issmaller. Although I still wouldn’t call itsmall. George waves for me to start my snooping.
I point at a giant wooden propeller decoratively hanging on the dark green wall. “Someone is obsessed with airplanes.”
“You’re jealous and contemplating how you can steal it.”
“Damn it,” I mutter while sauntering up to a bookshelf beneath the prop. “Don’t read my mind, you creep.”
I smile when I realize we have a lot of the same books, although the pilot autobiographies on my shelf are worn and from secondhand stores, while his are shiny new with minimal creases in the spine. Eagerly, I slip a few I haven’t gotten to off the shelf.
“I’m borrowing these.”
“Borrowing means giving them back at some point.”
I pout. “Fine.”
“You can write in them, though. If you want.”
I glance toward George, surprised to see a light flush high on his cheeks. His bicep flexes as he scratches the back of his neck.
“I mainly write in book club books.”
“I know.” He clears his throat. “I like your notes.”
“You want to know if I’d smash or pass?”
He barks a laugh. “Sure. And any other thoughts you have.”
My mind brings up a memory of Shawn’s shelf, with all the books I’ve notated. “I’m cynical.”
The thought came out of my mouth the same moment it popped into my mind. But it’s the truth. Compare my notes to Shawn’s, and mine are always a touch darker. Less hopeful. More judgmental.
Shawn will say a character is adventurous.
I’ll say they’re reckless.
He’ll claim a character is curious.
I’ll retort that they’re destructive.
Shawn will call a passage romantic.
I’ll refute that making out in a cave while they’re running from the bad guys is a poor use of their precious escape time and maybe they deserve to get caught and fed to sharks.
Hence our constant wars.
