Page 57 of Desperate Haste
“This conversation isn’t over, Malcolm,” Bailey snaps from behind Hank’s chair. I can tell she wants more information, but she won’t be getting it from me.
“There was never a conversation to start with,Bailey,” I playfully snap back. She might scare Conrad but she doesn’t scare me. Hank does though, just a little.
“Alright, boys, let’s get this game started. Enjoy your movie,” Kolbi hums, looking up at Magnolia who leans down to give him a kiss. Hank and Bailey exchange the same and the girls head back to the couch in the other room.
“I believe it’s my start this week,” I say, grabbing the die from the center of the table and giving it a shake. “Oh, and just so everyone knows, I’m leaving at ten thirty. I have somewhere I need to be by eleven.”
hermosa
29
OPHELIA
“Ugh, I cannot wait for it to get warmer…and less depressing outside,” Bailey groans from where we’re sitting inside the coffee shop. She’d texted me asking if I wanted to meet her for coffee and since it had been a few weeks since we’d seen each other face to face, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. We are both so busy with work, and now her with Hank, that we haven’t seen each other nearly enough.
“This is the lowcountry in January. Give it a few more weeks and everything will warm up and start to bloom again.” It’s the last week of January and I’m literally counting down the days until the spring bloom will happen. Every spring between the final weeks of February and the middle of April, all of the flowers around the city seemed to explode all at once and you can see stunning shades of pink, purples, and blues everywhere you look. It’s as if Mother Nature is secretly jealous of the homes on Rainbow Row and is trying to put them to shame. And she does, year after year.
“So, how are things going with your boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I sing so I don’t come off as annoyed as I feel by her question. She’s hounded me a hundred times about what’s going on with Malcolm and I, and while I know it’s coming from a good place, I still want to smack her upside the head every time she brings it up.
“So then what is he, an exclusive fuck buddy?” She says it a little too loud and a woman standing behind us waiting for her order gives us a look, covering the ears of the small child who’s waiting with her. Bailey pulls her lips into an embarrassed expression before turning back to me. “So, what are you two if you’renotdating?”
“We’re…enjoying each other’s company,” I say, trying to find the right words for what we are. I’ve thought about this question a lot ever since he took me to the library. The whole thing kind of felt like a date, but he never called it that. And ever since I shared with him about Jarrett and my past, we’ve texted or talked on the phone almost daily. He even came to my place last week after campaign night and stayed the night after some of the best shower sex I’ve had in my life. The way he pressed me against the?—
“Ohhh, she’s blushing! Where did you go just now? Spill it, Ophie.” Her words rip me from the memory of how I cried out his name and plant me back into my current state of annoyance from the relentless pestering of my so-called best friend.
“There’s nothing to tell. We’re just having a good time.”
“I can assume things are anything but platonic,” she jests with a raised brow.
“I mean, yeah,” I scoff with a smile. “It’s us but…there’s been some pretty platonic stuff too. Just friends hanging out together, stuff.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Like, that time he came to my place to take care of me when I was sick. Nothing happened then.”
“Ophie you were puking your brains out from bad sushi, I wouldn’t have wanted to have sex with you either.” The horrified mother glares at us again and moves herself and her kid over to the other side of the coffee shop to prevent us from corrupting him any longer.
“Yeah, well, it was still a very friendly thing to do.”
“He didn’t do that because he’s your friend, he did that because he likes you.”
“And then one time he took me to get a sandwich at his favorite place.”
“Didn’t you fuck on the back of his truck afterwards?”
“Well…yeah,” I reply sheepishly. “But last weekend he took me to the library. And nothing happened there.”Even though something totally happened when you got home you little liar.
“He took you to the library?” Her eyes are squinted in disbelief as she raises her latte to her lips to take a sip. I match her movements and let the warmth of my own drink fill my insides.
“Yeah, it was sweet. After I met him where he trains, he took me to the library and we looked at books. He even helped me get a library card which I never thought I would do again.”
Her shoulders slump over as her eyes become round and mirror that of a puppy. When her bottom lip curves and pushes into her top, I know I’m in trouble. “Ophie, that is the cutest thing ever. He took you on a date,” she squeals.
“It wasn’t a date, that word was never used,” I quickly interject, trying to put an end to this entire conversation.
“He might not have called it that and Iknowyou would never call it that, but that’s what it was. My little girl is all grown up and going on dates now.” Her voice comes out more as a whine as she flings her arms around my neck. “I’m so happy for you, Ophie, when are you coming to game night? Next week? Magnolia and I are so excited to have you there with us.”
