She presses a water bottle into my hand. “Drink.”
Memories float back to the surface, coming easier than they do when I’ve got pissed on bubbly.
“My parents?—”
“They’re gone, and they know what’ll happen if they come back.”
I stare at the woman in my bed. “Are you real?” I repeat.
She smiles, but the light is too dim for me to see more than a blurry flash of white teeth in the general shape of a smile.
Stupid eyesight in the dark.
I reach for her cheek, feeling—yes.
Yes, there it is.
A singular dimple.
“The next time you decide to drink, we’re staying home,” she tells me. “I was afraid to leave you alone.”
My vision clouds, but it’s not the wine, and it’s not the lingering effects of that horrific pasta—oh, bloody hell.
“You saw me on cheese.”
“Simon. I went through the full teenage boy experience twice, plus another half experience with Ryker. You on cheese doesn’t faze me.”
“I was…quite rude.”
“You were in pain, and whoever served you dairy deserves your hangover. How’s your stomach today?”
I take stock and find it tender, but no longer anywhere near the same level of uncomfortable. “Better. How are you the perfect woman?”
“You have very low standards.”
“Bea—”
“You bought a drive-in movie theater and showed my favorite movie,” she whispers.
I swallow hard. My nose burns, and my vision clouds again. “I did. And I would do it again if it would make you happy. Ten times over. Every day, even, until I could no longer afford it, and even then, I would find a way.”
She leans into me, looping her arm around my body. “I was trying to figure out what to wear to come here. To ask if I was too late or if you would still give us another chance even with me being a mess. Before I knew about the drive-in. You didn’t have to—but you did—because you’re you—and I love you and I want to make us work. I meant what I said last night. You are the best man I’ve ever known, and my dad set the bar so high, most of us mortals can’t even see it.”
“I didn’t dream that.”
She kisses my shoulder. “You didn’t dream that.”
“You told my parents to fuck off and threatened to make a terrible documentary about their life.”
“They were being unnecessarily rude.”
“Bah. It’s simply how they?—”
“Simon. No one—no onegets to speak to you like that. Ever. For any reason. And God help them if they try it in front of me.”
“You told Jake to fuck off.”
“Yes.”
