“Hi yourself. What’s up with you?”
They’d parked themselves on one of the comfortable-as-a-wooden-log couches in the gym lobby, which was swarming with people there for their Saturday-morning workout. Thea bit her lip and stared down at her hands, which were fidgeting with the strings of her hoodie.
“Oh my God,what?” Mabel asked. “Is somebody dead? AmIdead?”
That, at least, pulled a smile out of her. “You’re not Bruce Willis, no.” Then she took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m not sure whether I should even bring this up, but were you with Jake last night?”
How could she possibly have guessed that? Mabel’s surprise must’ve registered as a no, because Thea covered her face in her hands with a wail. “Oh God, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
Mabel gripped Thea’s knees to get her attention. “Broughtwhatup?”
She lifted her head slowly, then her words tumbled out in a rush. “Okay, so in that case, I don’t know if I should tell you, but I bumped into the lady across the hall on my way out this morning, and she complained that some, and I’m quoting here, ‘trampy tramp’ snuck out of Jake’s apartment a few hours ago.” Thea leaned forward and squeezed Mabel’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I guess she was barefoot and her hair was absolutely wild. And, well, he and I share an apartment wall, and last night I did hear some, um, things…”
Thea’s voice trailed off as Mabel collapsed sideways into a quivering mass of embarrassed horror. “Oh myGod.You guys share a wall?”
“I’m so sorry!” Thea cried. “IknewI shouldn’t have told you. Maybe she made a mistake and saw somebody leaving a different apartment.”
“No, it was Jake’s.” Mabel clapped her hands over her face and spoke from between her fingers. “I’m the trampy tramp. And oh my God,you heard us?”
Thea’s mouth formed a perfectOfor a solid twenty seconds before she dissolved into giggles. “You trampy trampy tramp!” she crowed, nudging Mabel’s shin with her toe. “So? How was it?”
Mabel’s whole body melted into boneless satisfaction, and she grinned dreamily up at Thea. “So good. So incredibly good. So unbelievably, brain-meltingly good.”
“Uggghhh, jealous.” Thea stood and matter-of-factly zipped up her hoodie. “Come on. Today is not a day for yoga. Today is a day for donuts and coffee and gossip. I’m buying.”
Thirty-Two
Jake wasn’t terribly surprised to find himself alone in bed on Saturday morning. Disappointed, yes. But not surprised. He’d hoped Mabel would stick around after they both dropped to sleep exhausted; Mabel first thing in the morning was something he was dying to see. And kiss. And touch.
Okay, he was also dying for a repeat of the previous night, although maybe less frenzied this time. He wanted more savoring.
But her side of the bed had long grown cold by the time he woke up. He tamped down the hurt that bloomed in his chest; she’d been resisting the pull between them for so long that her bolting at the first opportunity made a weird sort of sense.
It still stung of course. But he wasn’t going to take it lying down, although it did take a slight struggle to disentangle himself from the mess they’d made of his sheets. He wandered through his apartment, looking for any sign that last night had actually happened and hadn’t been an especially vivid fantasy. He found his T-shirt crumpled on the bedroom floor and his jeans in the living room. Nothing of Mabel’s though, not until he spotted the note on the table. Barely a note actually. A few terse words that did nothing to ease his growing concern.
The last time he’d had skin-to-skin contact with Mabel, he hadn’t sought her out the following day, and on Monday everything exploded. He didn’t think they had any remaining undetonated grenades lurking in their lives, but just in case, he wasn’t going to leave their next meeting to chance or put it off until he bumped into her at the station. He needed to see her. Today, if she’d let him.
He sat on the couch and spent way too long laboring over a text message that conveyed the right amount of warmth without crossing into desperation.
Jake:Missed you this morning. Free for dinner later?
He hit Send and stared at the screen, relieved when her response zipped back almost instantly.
Mabel:Yes to dinner. Yes to missing you too.
Good. That was friendlier than her note at least.
Mabel:Will you wear your pink apron?
She remembered the apron. He grinned down at his phone. His cousin Brandy had draped it around his neck and snapped that shot during the lead-up to their family Thanksgiving, and he almost hadn’t sent it to Mabel because they’d left things in such a weird place, but God, he was glad he had.
Jake:Your place okay? Mine lacks kitchen supplies.
Mabel:And mine doesn’t? But sure, come by whenever. Can I pick anything up?
Jake:Nope. See you around 5.
He didn’t want to wait until five. He didn’t want to wait at all. But she clearly needed space, and he’d give it to her. He’d just have to fill the interminable hours in between with busywork so he wouldn’t claw his way out of his skin.
