Page 87 of The Write Stuff

His eyebrows moved toward his hairline. “What now?”

I grinned. “It’s just a suggestion, but Bree told me about a game she likes to play with Brody. I think it sounds fun.”

“There’s no way you’re going to risk getting naked in a spot where other people can see you.”

“Do you want to bet?”

He leaned forward, his eyes never leaving mine. “You’re on.”

I took his hand to shake it, but he tugged me so our lips met halfway over the table.

“The big kids seal it with a kiss,” he whispered.

I was suddenly breathless, again. He always did that to me. “Good to know.”

23

TWENTY-THREE

Weeks spent with Wylie flew by, almost as if time wasn’t a set point. When I sat down to do the math one morning in Wylie’s apartment — we still spent more time at her apartment than my house because everything we wanted to do was downtown — I realized we’d been together a solid six weeks, even though there were times it felt like only six hours.

I was still excited by every moment we spent together. She was feeling more comfortable with me, which meant she would drop little tidbits about herself into conversation, no longer worried that it would make her look like a geek. I’d told her over and over that I liked it when she was a geek, but she was only now coming to grips with it.

I knew that she liked horror movies and could hold conversations with Bella and Nathan, who had apparently seen every horror movie ever made. Wylie preferred movies like The Ring, Hereditary, and Weapons. She made the mistake of telling them she liked Us, which led to an hour of ranting about everything wrong with the movie. Apparently, there were plot holes big enough to drive a truck through — literally — and they were somehow egregious in nature. Nathan and Bella snickered when they said the “literally” part about the truck, which suggested it was some inside joke only they got.

Wylie could talk about Star Trek for hours. I’d never watched a lot of Star Trek, but we’d started watching the movies and shows so I could keep up. The original show was extremely difficult because of how old it was, so Wylie broke down and picked the 10 best episodes to show me. They weren’t terrible, but they weren’t my favorites either.

Then we started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and things got better. She skipped around in the first season, explaining the show was finding its footing, and most of it was crap, and then we settled in with the second season. Weirdly, I found I enjoyed it. I made a big show of letting Wylie think it was torture for me, though. It was part of a game we were playing.

In exchange, I picked movies for us to go to.

We saw Project Hail Mary, which we both loved. We saw Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, which we both hated. We both enjoyed the humor of The Drama and walked away from Michael scratching our heads.

We still went on outings, too. Once a week, we took a day and did no work so we could explore the downtown area. One of my favorite things was that I could write with Wylie sitting across the table from me. After the first few weeks, I managed to settle in and get a lot done. She was always tapping away on her keyboard, so I figured it was the same for her. Weirdly, we never talked about what we were working on.

Today was an off day, so I was debating what we would do with our time. The riverboat was still an option, although I had a feeling I needed to get those tickets in advance. The hop-on hop-off trolley tour seemed like a solid choice. We still hadn’t visited Bonaventure Cemetery, but that required leaving the immediate downtown area. The good food, which was always a consideration, was in the downtown area, so the trolley was definitely the best option.

I knew when I heard the footsteps as I sat on the living room couch that they didn’t belong to Wylie. She was still in the bedroom getting ready. Her hair, however glorious, took forever to dry. I didn’t care if she wore it up or down. She looked beautiful either way. I just liked running my fingers through it at night.

When I lifted my chin, I found Lucy staring at me.

“May I help you?” I asked.

She was in pajamas, obviously having just woken up, and her hair stood out in a variety of directions. It was the same color as Wylie’s hair, but shorter. Her eyes were one shade off from Wylie’s as well. You could tell they were sisters. As far as I was concerned, I’d gotten the superior model.

“Are you and Wylie going out?” she asked, looking around.

I nodded. “She’s getting ready.”

“Where are you going?”

Was this her attempt at making conversation? I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her — frankly, the fact that she’d tried to blackmail her sister was enough to ensure I never wanted to talk to her — but for Wylie’s sake, I made the attempt. “We’re going to breakfast, and then I’m thinking the trolley that you can get on and off. There are parts of the downtown we haven’t seen yet.”

“Really?” Lucy made a face as she threw herself into the chair that was opposite the couch. “I would have thought you guys had seen everything by now.”

“Not so much.” I took a moment to study her, debating what I wanted to say. “How is work?” I asked, going for the first question that bubbled up.

“Work is work,” she replied. “I’m pretty sure that I don’t want to be a server my entire life.”