Page 126 of Play With Me
“Jude!” Nora whispers.
I hitch the shorts up.
She lets out an exasperated sound and takes her sheet, wrapping it around me like a toga, all the while the sound outside is close to deafening.
I love her fussing over me.
Carolina seems able to breathe again because she trains her eyes on Nora. “Madam,” she shouts. “We received a call this morning indicating a transportation will be arriving for you outside. We did not understand this meant now, or that it would be”—she points her hand to the window—“this.”
The helicopter must be landing because it sounds as if it’s in the room with us. I pull open the curtain to see a giant, shiny black bird just lowering itself onto the giant expanse of snow behind the building.
Snow whirls everywhere, flying so high it obscures the craft from sight.
I wonder, inanely, what kind of helicopter that is. Griff would know. Then it hits me, a moment later than it should. “Uh, that’s probably my brother.”
Carolina still won’t look me in the eye. I peek down to see if I’ve got morning wood or something, but everything’s in place.
“We’ll be out in a minute,” Nora assures her.
Carolina nods and lifts the chair back to its feet before slipping from the room. Somehow, it’s this part—the sister setting my failed door lock back on its feet—that makes me crack. When I meet Nora’s eyes, we both grin, then we both lose it, falling over each other as we laugh so hard we can’t breathe. This goes on several seconds before I say, “Guess we better see what Griff wants,” which only makes Nora laugh harder.
Until she sucks in a breath, crying out in almost a shriek. She bends down and picks up the purple vibrator, the one we didn’t use.
She throws it at me. “I can’t believe you brought these!”
Of course it bounces off me and lands on the ground and goes off again, then we’re both wheezing. I pick it up and turn it off. “Want to test it out?”
“Jude,” Nora manages after a moment. “We have to go!”
I nod, then I toss it over my shoulder dramatically and pull her, laughing, into my arms. It’s the most glorious release after the tension, and thank God it shifts the tone from what could have been an awkward-as-fuck morning.
We’re both dressed and out at the entrance of the building a few minutes later, the nuns all tittering as they gather around us. Even Sister Ilsa is there, with a fuzzy orange coat wrapped around her shoulders. She smiles at both of us and laughs when I try to hand her some euros for their trouble.
Nora has her camera out, filming the sisters as they swarm around us and point at the helicopter.
I exchange her information with Sister Carolina so they can stay in contact.
Carolina blushes as she takes the pen and paper I asked her for. “I hope you and Nora have many more happy years between you,” she says over the sound of the rotors. “And many more babies, too!”
My stomach clenches as Nora and I exchange a look.
Carolina looks confused, so I nod. “Thank you. You too.”
“Jude!” Nora exclaims.
Shit. I just wished a woman married to God many babies. “I mean, no kids for you. I hope. Right? Unless you want them?” Can nuns have babies if they want?
Carolina’s looking at me like I’ve lost my mind, which I probably have.
“Well, bye!” I say, then wrap my arms around the stunned nun.
When I release her, her face looks so shocked I wonder if I accidentally left the vibrators on in my pockets or something.
Oh shit.
I pat my jacket. My hand claps down on only one additional lump besides my dead phone and wallet.
I lean in and whisper in Nora’s ear. “I forgot the purple rose.”
