I didn't know what to say. "Uh…"
Normally, I talked to Aunt Gina at least once a week. But the last few weeks had been so crazy that most of our correspondence had been by text. All this time, I hadn't mentioned Joel at all – partly because I didn't want to jinx anything, and partly because it didn't feel like a text-kind of conversation.
But now that things were going so well, I was dying to tell her all about him, except this wasn't quite the way I envisioned it.
"So, who is he?" She gave a little gasp. "Oh, my God. Was it the cowboy? Please say it was the cowboy."
"What cowboy? Oh wait, you mean the stripper?" I had to laugh. "No. Definitely not."
"So, who then?"
I was still laughing. "Hey, I haven't even said you were right."
"You don’t have to say it. I can tell."
"But how?"
"You're laughing. And you've got a rosy glow."
"But you can't even see me."
"Yeah, but I can hear it."
Feeling suddenly naked, I wrapped my hoodie tighter around my torso.
As if hearing the motion, Aunt Gina said, "You can run, but you can't hide."
I had to smile. I missed her like crazy. And now, she lived five hours away. "Actually," I said, "thereissomeone I want you to meet."
"Oh yeah? So, it's serious, huh?"
It felt serious, but I still didn't want to jinx it. So I only said, "Well, actually it's a little soon to know."
"Is he cute?"
I considered her question. Joel wasn't cute. He was something else – something infinitely better, sexy and dangerous – and yeah, insanely beautiful. Still, I said, "Yeah. He's cute."
"How cute?"
"Verycute." I cleared my throat. "And the next time you visit, you'll get to meet him, since he'll be staying in the guest house."
"No kidding?" she said. "How'd that happen?"
I told her how Joel had earned one of the endowments, and how he'd be using my dad's old studio. I finished by telling her, "So, it just made sense for him to stay in the guest house, you know, because the studio's right above it."
My aunt paused. "But why wouldn't he stay with you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm just saying, why go halfway? Why not invite him to live in the main house?"
Ihadconsidered it. I loved having Joel near me. And from what I could tell, he felt the same way. But when it came to romance, I wasn't sure that living together was what I wanted.
I mean, we hadn't even said the L-word.
I said, "That's kind of rushing things, don't you think? And besides, I guess I'm kind of old-fashioned that way."
"Doesheknow that?" she asked.
