I dry off and put on pajamas and get into bed. But when I close my eyes, I still feel his hands on my waist.
11
Chapter 11
MATEO
I can’t stop thinking about her hands in my hair.
I text Jess in the afternoon.Can we talk?and she repliessure. I walk over and she opens the door and takes one look at my face and says, “come in,” in a tone that tells me she already knows why I’m there.
She pours herself a glass of water and leans against the kitchen counter and looks at me with those calm, clear eyes and waits.
“Jess,” I start.
“Is it the skating coach?”
I open my mouth. Then close it again.
She nods slowly, like my silence has confirmed what she’s known for a while. “I saw your face at the bar the other night. When you saw them together.”
“It’s not - it’s complicated.”
“I’m sure it is.” She takes a sip of water. “Are you in love with her?”
I don’t answer quickly enough, which is its own answer, and something moves across Jess’s face that I’ll feel bad about for a long time.
“I think I’m going that direction,” I say finally.
“I’m not angry. I knew we were casual, it’s not like you’re the only guy I’m seeing. I thought you weren’t ready for anything serious. Not that you weren’t ready withme. Kind of feels like you were just waiting for someone else.”
“I didn’t plan-”
“No one plans it.” She sets down her glass and looks at me directly. “Go, Mateo. Sort it out with her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know you are.” She pushes off the counter and picks up her glass and heads toward the other room, and at the doorway she stops without turning around. “She’s lucky. For what it’s worth.”
I don’t have anything adequate to say to that.
“Take care of yourself, Jess.”
“Always do,” she says.
I let myself out.
You were just waiting for someone else.
I think about what happened on the rink.
She’s not wrong.
But I didn’t see it coming.
ELIDA
The week before the away game passes in a blur.
