“And you’re a romantic.”
“Exactly. Sometimes I think I could ditch the romantic thing and hook up with someone, but I’m afraid she’d be disappointed. I’ve built my career on too-much-of-a-good-thing-is-fabulous, but my sex life is stale saltine crackers.”
“You couldn’t be a disappointment, and nothing about you is like stale saltine crackers.”
“You’ve never slept with me.”
The intensity of the moment was palpable, and the silence hung between them for so long Sullivan could have counted the motes of dust shimmering in the air if she could have torn her gaze away from Kia’s beautiful, serious face. Sullivan considered just how much more complicated her life could get.
“Kia?”
Sullivan thought she saw a shy smile at the corner of Kia’s lips. God, she’d love to feel Kia’s thigh between her legs, grinding against her. And it would feel even better to make Kia feel good, feel confident, feel like the goddess she was.
“Yes?” Kia’s smile spread into eagerness. She reached for Sullivan’s hand and lightly stroked each one of Sullivan’s fingers.
It wouldn’t matter if Kia had no experience. Sullivan would love to guide her. Would love to explore Kia’s body, touching all the places Gretchen had neglected. Sullivan looked into Kia’s eyes.
“I showed you how to cuddle on a sofa, and you were a natural. Would it be wrong to make this all more complicated?” Sullivan hadn’t noticed when they both set down their sandwiches and wiped their hands, but they had. Against her best judgment, Sullivan traced her fingertips down Kia’s thigh, watching Kia’s face for any expression that said Kia didn’t want to be touched. “We’re consenting adults and we’re married.”
Kia’s grin was sunlight on a brand-new convertible cruising down Highway 101. She rested her head on Sullivan’s shoulder, then turned and planted an awkward kiss on Sullivan’s neck. And Sullivan knew how much fun they would have learning each other’s bodies. Sullivan began to speak, but her phone went off with Miriam Makeba’s “Pata Pata” playing at full volume.
“Miss Brenda.” She shook her head and silenced the phone. “She gets a special ringtone.”
Of course the outside world would interrupt just as she was waiting for Kia’s official answer to her barely spoken question.
“Do I get a special ringtone?” Kia asked, grinning.
“What’s your special song?”
Sullivan’s phone buzzed again. Sullivan pulled it out again to silence the vibrations. Why were there so many ways for your phone to take you away from the moment?
She caught the first lines of a text from Brenda.
Brenda:HELP Roof is flooding
chapter 24
Kia watched Sullivantake the call, hating Miss Brenda for the interruption. Sullivan tapped her lips nervously as she spoke.
“That’s not alittleproblem. No, it’s—yes, that’s—” Finally she interrupted the speaker. “If it keeps raining, you’re going to have leaks in every corner of the restaurant. I’m coming over.” She hung up the phone. “I’m so sorry. I have to go.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Miss Brenda, you remember my grandfather’s friend, owns the Biscuit Box, and her green roof is flooding again.”
“What are you going to do?” Kia tried not to sound sullen.
Sullivan was already getting up. “Bail her out. Literally.”
For the first time in Kia’s life, she was not in favor of supporting a small, Black-owned business.
“I’m so sorry, Kia. This”—Sullivan gestured to the gallery—“was the best date anyone’s taken me on.”
Sullivan had referred to their afternoon like a realdate. There were no implied quotation marks around the word. And Sullivan had just asked her to have sex.HadSullivan asked her if she wanted to have sex? God, Kia wished she were better at this stuff.
“Miss Brenda had her nephew install it,” Sullivan said, gathering her coat from the floor. “Jersey is a sweet kid who watched a lot of YouTube videos. But you need horticulture, engineering, ecology. You can’t get that just by watching YouTube. Fuck. Miss Brenda should have hired a professional.”
Yes. Miss Brenda should have. Kia had wanted Alice Sullivan since she was twenty.Twenty.She couldn’t even drink the first time she’d fantasized about Sullivan. And they’d had a moment, and now Sullivan was fumbling with her phone.
