Page 70 of Love, Lines, and Alibis
“Thanks for keeping my business afloat,” he said as I doused a taro chip with avocado and devoured it while making a very audible sound. “Hungry?” David joked, and I was glad he didn’t inquire whether any of those publications were theVoiceor theGazette. The truth was, I subscribed to both of them but had been actively avoiding any section where I could encounter his writing.
“More like famished,” I said, my mouth still full of food. “This whole investigating stuff is too stressful. There’s no time for anything! I don’t know how you can do it.”
“Well, it’s not always this...” David said, and I knew he was looking for the right term to describe it.
“Fucking crazy?”
“I couldn’t have put it better myself,” he conceded. “Plus, I’m normally not a suspect and wanted by the police. That also helps keep things a bit more manageable.”
“Don’t forget the part about the man-child following you around and then chasing us down, please.” I attacked the tomatoes from another dish that had just been served and avoided the chorizo in it.
“Technically, he wasn’t chasing us around,” David said with a smile. “He was just looking for answers about his beloved icon.”
“He still scared me to death,” I said. “But since we seem to be done with the frightening episodes. Do you want to talk?”
“Aren’t we talking?” David asked, playfully.
“You know what I mean,” I said, even if I knew he wouldn’t take that for an answer.
“I don’t actually,” David said as I rolled my eyes. I knew him so fucking well.
“Us, Scribe. Let’s talk about us.”
“Are you still mad at me for not finding the time to tell you I had been offered a job I wasn’t going to take?”
“I’m not mad,” I admitted then ate a mouthful of berries—only realizing what he’d just said after and being forced to speak again with my mouth still full of food. If only my mother could see me, she’d be so disappointed in my lack of table manners. “What do you mean you weren’t going to take the job?”
“I don’t think that’s relevant now. I heard Gloria Kingsley was offered the position,” he said.
“Gloria Fucking Kingsley.”
“Gloria Fucking Kingsley,” he repeated. “But since I’m still pretty much crazy about you, I don’t think I could have taken a job where one of the conditions was to stay away from you.”
I dropped a forkful of some veggie or other headed for my mouth. The food landed on my jeans, the table, and the restaurant’s floor. I grabbed a napkin and cleaned myself as well as I could. I suddenly had the urge to make myself a bit more presentable—and attractive, if possible. I took my hands to my eyebrows, combing them to make them look brushy. And I raked my fingers through my knotted, messy hair. Where was a mirror when one needed one?
“I’m happy to hear you’re still crazy about me,” I said, and I tried keeping my voice calm and sexy but I could hear my heart racing. “Because I too have a massive crush on you.”
“Do you think we could giveusa second chance given the reciprocating feelings?” You may be thinking: Nobody talks like this. Well, he does. And it’s definitely part of the turn-on for me.
“And disregarding the long list of grievances and irreconcilable differences?”
“I didn’t even know there was a long list,” he said.
“I can fill you in, if you really want, but I think I liked your last proposal a lot. It could work for us.”
“Remind me again?”
“No more fights but, especially and please, no more misunderstandings,” I said. “We need better communication from now on. It shouldn’t be so hard as we both specialize in communication, no?”
“No more secrets?” he asked.
“No more secrets,” I said, and there was an understanding between the two of us.
“So absolutely no misunderstandings but fights are okay-ish?” he said, jokingly.
“Not ideal, but from time to time and if they aren’t so massive that we can’t ever recover from them. They can help keep things interesting, no?” Not for nothing, our last big fight—our breakup—seemed to be bringing us closer together now. And it had been just what our sex life needed.
And that’s when we decided we wouldn’t be having dessert after all. We finished the rest of the food in record time, asked for the check, and headed home.
