“Yourgame,” said AJ, gently nudging him with her elbow. “You pretend to think you’re bad at acting so people will tell you howmarvelousyou are.”
Noah opened his mouth in mock outrage. “That is just great,” he said. “I share my sacred texts with you, and you use them against me.”
AJ laughed. “Uh-oh, did the angry cherub forget to eat?” she said, aware that she still hadn’t returned his book.
Noah cracked the first real smile she’d seen from him in recent memory. He had one dimple that AJ absolutely loved. “That’s it, you’re done,” he said, reaching for her.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” she said, but he had already started to tickle her. As his long fingers made contact with her ribs, AJ fell onto the grass, shrieking her apologies. After what felt like an eternity, Noah hit the ground beside her.
Their eyes connected, still laughing. Hours in the garden had given Noah a light tan, but right now a faint pink played across his cheekbones.
AJ knew every turn of his face, every line of his figure. BetweenA&M GoldandNOW 4,they had danced over a thousand dances together, and there wasn’t a body she was more comfortable with. She could have told you the time of day from the smell of his shirt: the clean laundry scent of morning or the dark, salty aroma of early afternoon, after they’d been working in the sun.
His lips were a feature she was careful not to linger on—full and expressive and just a little bee-stung. She was looking at them now,though, feeling Noah’s familiar weight shift beside her as he rolled onto his arm. His eyes swept over her contemplatively. Then Hortense II ran up to him and started licking his face.
“Agh,” he said, sitting up and grasping the dog. She looked tiny in his hands.
AJ roused herself slowly, watching Hortense II swipe at Noah’s shoes.
“That’s your dog,” she said.
“No she’s not,” said Noah, releasing the pup, who beelined for his laces.
“She is,” AJ pressed.
“Age.” He held her gaze, eyes burning. In one precise movement, he reached over and snatched a blade of grass from her hair. AJ willed herself not to blush as he examined it, then let it twirl onto the ground. He cleared his throat. “She needs a real home. I don’t know if I can give her that.”
AJ bit the inside of her cheek. She picked up the pup and gave her a squeeze. “She’ll be happy as long as she’s with you,” she said, and handed her to Noah.
Noah tried to look severe, but then Hortense II licked his nose. As an uncontrollable grin spread across his face, AJ knew she’d won.
From then on, thepup was Bud. Whether this was in reference toAir Budor something more fringe, likerough winds do shake the darling buds of May,AJ couldn’t say.
“I’m afraid she misses her brothers and sisters,” Noah confided the next week during warm-ups as Bud lay at his feet, chewing a bully stick.
“In hair dryers!” Eudora insisted from her customary chair.
“Hair drying, hair dryer, hair dryer dryer,” said AJ.I’m afraid Emily will feel the same when I go.
Noah shrugged. “Hair dryer dryer.”Emily will be fine.
Though Bud brought some added comfort, nothing could distract Noah from his mother’s deterioration for long. As August wore on, his nerves continued to fray.
“How’s it going with your mom?” AJ always asked.
Noah would offer her one of several rotating responses, like a doll with a cord in its back. He might shrug and give her a tired smile. Other times he’d say, “She’s the same.” Once AJ directly asked what was going on, and he told her “They’re running more tests” in this way that made her so sad, she had to excuse herself to cry in the bathroom.
Then one day when she checked in, heblushed.
“You can absolutely say no to this,” he said sheepishly, “but she asked if she could meet you.”
AJ had never even considered this a possibility. “Really? Why?”
Noah cleared his throat, glancing atEraserheadon the Panasonic. “I sometimes talk about you.”
“Oh, right,” said AJ, heat sweeping her own cheeks. “I mean, yeah, okay.”
“You sure?” said Noah, finally looking at her. AJ was not used to seeing him uncertain.
