I was afraid I’d never be able to have her. That I would lose her, long before I could figure out how to make her mine.
I walked over to the bar. She was handing out her creations; glowing, bright-blue martinis. Johnny and Shane already had one. She gave one to Noah, then paused, her eyes catching mine as I stepped up to the bar between Johnny and Noah.
Devi picked up the last cocktail and offered it to me. “It’s Blue Curaçao,” she said with a slight smile. “And a whole bunch of other stuff.”
“No, thanks.” I held her eyes, like there was no one here but us. No one in the room who mattered but her. “I was thinking we should go. Soon.”
She took a sip of the cocktail, considering. “Two more drinks?”
“One.”
“But I’m making my amazing Cosmo after this. It’s my favorite drink.”
I didn’t even know she had a favorite drink, much less that it was a Cosmopolitan. Had I ever seen her drinking one?
Why did it bother me so much that I didn’t even know that about her?
“Fine,” I said. “But then we’re going home.”
“Can we get poutine on the way? I want poutine.”
And now she liked poutine? Why did it irritate me that I didn’t know that? That I didn’t know everything there was to know about her already? That every moment I spent with her I learned more… and I just liked her more.
I liked everything about her.
Even her Tina Turner fetish and her blinding fashion choices and now, her apparent need for middle-of-the-night poutine.
“We’ll get something delivered to the penthouse,” I grumbled. I could feel Shane listening, and it was pissing me off.
“I want fries smothered in cheese and gravy,” she informed me, her nose tipping in the air. “The guys are getting some.”
I glanced at Noah, right next to me. He raised his eyebrows and dipped his face into his martini glass, likeYou’re on your own here. When I caught Johnny’s eye, he smirked, then looked away, likeTotally not eavesdropping.
I looked at my wife, standing there busting my balls behind Johnny O’s bar in her sexy teal dress with her blue martini in-hand, and loving every second of it. “Fine,” I said, leaning over the bar, my face just inches from hers. “But you’re wearing a strappy red thing I bought you in Toronto when we get home.”
“While I eat poutine?” she said.
“Yup.”
“Fine. But you’ll rub my feet. These shoes you bought for me are killing me.”
I stared at her. We were both kind of drunk. We were both junkies, actually; negotiation junkies. It was like fucking foreplay with this woman.
I could feel my friends watching us, pretending not to watch.
“And you’ll do that thing you do in my lap,” I growled, my mouth so close to hers I could taste her blue cocktail. “For as long as I want you to.” I took the drink from her hand, took a sip and handed it back to her. “Not bad.”
She shrugged nonchalantly, and rubbed the rim of the glass idly against her wet bottom lip. “I could make it bad if you want me to.”
“I thought you were a good girl.”
Her eyes sparked. Maybe she just made the connection, that I remembered her stupid license plate in high school. I remembered everything about her.
“We’ll see,” she said. “Now sit your ass down while I finish my drinks.”
I finally gave in and had another beer that Johnny offered me. And as I sat there nursing my beer and talking to Johnny and Noah, I watched Shane out of the corner of my eye. I watched him talking to Devi while she made a round of Cosmos, and it still made me uncomfortable.
I was still jealous that she might’ve liked him, even if it was only back in high school. Maybe because I really could’ve seen her ending up with a guy like him. A guy who worked hard to earn everything he had. A guy who hadn’t just been given everything in life.
