Then my cell phone rings.
I jump and glance at the clock, certain it must be the middle of the night.
“It’s only nine?” I say to Jenson as I grab my phone.
“Hi, Mom,” I say into the receiver.
“Hi, honey,” she says. “How are you doing in New York?”
“I’m great. How are you?”
“Everything’s fine here. Auntie Sue’s doing as well as can be expected. I just hope she can make it to Sheldon and Cara’s wedding.”
“I hope so too.”
“I figured you were done with dinner, and I thought maybe you were lonely in the city all by yourself.”
“Oh.” I pull the sheet up over me and lean back against the pillows. I feel like she can see my naked body through the phone. “No, I’m okay, Mom. Not lonely.” I look over at Jenson, who smiles and starts pulling the sheet back down so he can kiss my stomach.
I push him away as Mom keeps talking. “And with the whole Nate business that took place there…”
“It’s okay, Mom.”
“I know. But the city can be very lonesome. So many people but no connections, you know? No green grass to lie down in, no trees to stand by you as you take walks…”
I have no clue what she’s even talking about. “Mom, the trees don’t stand by you as you walk. They stand still, and you walk by them.”
Jenson starts laughing. I push his head to get him to stay quiet and press the phone closer to my ear.
“But nature is so comforting,” Mom waxes. “I remember the year Dad and I lived in Philly while he was an adjunct at the university. It was terrifying.”
“There’s nothing to be scared of around here, Mom,” I assure her.
Jenson leans closer to the phone and whispers, “What the hell is she talking about?”
I put my hand over his mouth as I say into the phone, “I’m safe and secure in my hotel in a very safe part of the city. Don’t worry, but I’ve got to go, okay? I’ll call you when I get back. Love you.”
Jenson’s kissing the hand I’m pressing over his mouth, and he keeps kissing it until I hang up the phone. I turn it off and throw it across the room to the couch, and then I scoot back down under the sheet and climb on top of him.
“That was not fun.” I kiss his neck and run my hands through his hair. “You made that very distracting.”
“I’m sorry.” He puts his arms around me and reaches for my mouth with his. “But you’re irresistible.”
And then everything grows fuzzy, and love feels easy. Jenson and I waited so long to get to this point, and all of a sudden, in a different state and a different place, it all feels so easy.
* * *
A while later, I stand in Jenson’s t-shirt in the dark room and open the curtains to look out at the city lights of New York below me.
“It’s weird being this high up,” I say as Jenson leans his head on my shoulder and puts his arms around me from behind.
“I called Donald Waverly today,” he says abruptly.
The mood in the room changes in an instant.
I whip my head around so I can face him. “What? When?”
“While you were in your meeting.” He sits down on the edge of the bed, wearing nothing but his black boxer briefs. “I guess being in Manhattan felt far enough away…like I could be anonymous.”
