Page 50 of Sizzle
“Sunshine, this—” he mimics my wave. “This has been my life since the day I met you. Tonight is no different.” He stops. “Well, maybe a little different. My point is, you should stay.”
“Okay.” I lose the battle to keep my hands to myself and run a hand down his back. I can feel his muscles flexing as I touch.
“Come home with me,” he says. His voice is so low, I think I must have misheard him.
“What did you say?”
“Come home with me. After the party. We can finish this conversation. And—”
“And Alex will be there,” I finish for him. He meets my eyes and nods.
Another clatter from the kitchen has me pulling back, pressing my back against the cold metal door. Now that we’re no longer touching, I can think again. And maybe it’s a bad idea but I want the questions between us settled once and for all.
“Yes,” I tell him. “I’d like that.”
Elliot checks the clock on the wall next to me.
“This is going to be the longest two hours of my life,” he says.
He’s not wrong. The next two hours are a blur, but a slow-motion blur. I figure I’m supposed to play hostess to Elliot’s manager/host so I circle the room, making small talk with the customers I don’t recognize, laughing with the regulars I do. They offer me drinks so often that I have to stop by the bar to let Meg switch out the cocktails with ice water so I don’t get completely shitfaced. It occurs to me that maybe I should have a clear head for the conversation that’s going to happen later tonight.
On the other hand, I’d rather have liquid courage than a clear head. I trust Alex and Elliot to keep me safe. That I trust them that much strikes some chord in me. I guess tonight we’ll find out how far that trust goes.
I wanted to touch base at home before I lose my head altogether, so I excuse myself from the older married couple I’d been chatting with and step out onto the patio to make the call.
It rings four times before Dad answers, which absolutely never happens. Not once in the last five years.
“Hello?” he says.
“Dad, are you okay?” I’m already starting to panic, wondering how fast I can get a ride home to help him.
“Oh, hey, Joelle,” he says. He’s… laughing? “Yes, I’m okay. How are you doing? How’s your big party going?”
I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at it.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m great,” he says. “Me and Connie are just watching a movie.”
“Connie’s there.” On a Friday night, which is sure as hell not her scheduled time. Or day.
Hey, if they’re becoming friends that’s great news, right? That was the whole point of getting somebody to come and talk to him, to remind Dad he’s human and that he needs to socialize with other humans. So it’s good.
“Yeah, so if everything’s okay, Jo, I’m going to let you go,” Dad’s saying as I process all of this. “I think the bus is about to explode.”
“What bus?”
“You’ve never seen Speed either? We’ll Netflix it again sometime so you can watch it. It’s great.”
Dad and Connie are watching Netflix.
No. Nope. Not going there.
“Wait, Dad, don’t hang up yet. I just wanted to let you know I’m staying out tonight. One of the girls at the bar is having an afterparty and she’s offered to let me sleep on her couch.”
It was technically true. And yes, I’m too old to have to lie to my dad about where I’m spending the night. But since I’m not quite sure where else I might be staying, I figure letting him know the backup plan would keep me even on karma tonight.
“Okay, honey, have a good time,” says Dad. “I’ll see you in the morning.”