Page 23 of Rootbound
“Oh, come on. You seem like the kind of guy who’d love getting to know new people. Veeerrryyyy approachable, you are.” She laughed.
“Har-har, Yoda. What about you? Do you sign into a profile while trekking the globe and check out the market in that area?” I winced, because I was trying to keep it light, but I’m so out of practice that it came out harsh, judgmental.
Her face fell, but she covered it with a sad smile. “Nah. The idea of dating anyone ever again sounds… exhausting.”
I laughed through my nose but looked down at my cards, understanding her meaning but also feeling… sad about it. She continued on before I could come up with a subject change.
“My sister, Ava, is married to her best friend, and he’s incredible. Jesus, he loves her so much. But they’ve been together for a billion years now, and Ava always tries to tell me ‘God, Tait, I miss the newness. You get to have that exciting feeling again when you’re infatuated with someone and want to see them all the time, when they want to see you all the time and skip things just to be together. That’s the best part.’ She tells me she missesthat part, but I know better. I KNOW what comes with that. The idea of all that useless shit in the beginning just exhausts me. Always needing to look your best, smell your best, show your best angles, be hairless—oh but still be fun, can’t seem high-maintenance or anything. Heaven forbid the guy knows I have a functioning butthole. And all those mindless, meaningless questions…” She made a disgusted face and groaned. “‘What’s your favorite color?’ Barf. Give me a fucking break. That’s not the best part. The best part is when you get past all that and get to feel that peace, when you know the other person feels for you what you feel for them, and they’ve already seen you at your worst, smelliest self, or love the effort you’ve put into being high-maintenance and can actually appreciate it. When someone’s gotten to know all of that and still wants to get to know you more as you change and grow—to figure out the changing you, and you them. That’s the most intense and best feeling.”
Holy shit… our eyes locked, and I hoped she could see that I knew what she was saying. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask how you get to that point without the other shit, though, and what the fuck you do when you get there and find out it’s all a lie, when she laughed, and made a swiping motion with her hand.
“Did I lose you when I said ‘functioning butthole’?” she said with another forced laugh and pleading eyes, and that was my cue for that subject change.
“So… uhh… what’s your favorite color?”
The night stayed pretty surface-level from there, but every time she laughed, it was all I could do to not immediatelytry to elicit another. I swear each one is different, full of unbridled, cackling joy.
And while I’m glad to be on friendly terms, I’m in touch with myself enough to be annoyed at how much I look forward to seeing her again and spending time with the woman while she is here. Obviously, I need to get out and do some socializing. Maybe I’ll make plans with Duke… Maybe she’d want to join?
“Fuck, idiot, give her some space. Youwouldpick the most unavailable woman to start showing interest in. She needs a friend, not some moron drooling over her,” I say to my own reflection.
She is, in the most literal sense, a woman of the world. She’s traveled far and wide, and she’s obviously tenacious when it comes to her goals and aspirations. I’m confident in myself in plenty areas of life, but I’m way too simple for her.
I decide I would rather not test our newfound friendship over awkward coffee, so I move to head out as quietly as I can to take on some of the earlier chores before I have to head into town with her. I’m confident that she can let herself out.
As soon as I take care of my human needs and get my jeans on, I hear a banging on the door. I try to skirt down the stairs as quick as possible, but as soon as I get to the bottom, I look across the great room to see Tait already there, opening the door.
To Charlie Logan.
He sucks in a breath and looks at her, then over to me, with my belt unbuckled and shirtless. I swear his eyes go back and forth at least ten times. Tait glances over at me, and then must realize what Charlie is seeing because she does a double take, and then looks back at him and crossesher arms.Is she…?Yep, she’s going to go ahead and let him come to his own conclusion here, something that immediately has me flustered.
“Nn-Nnnnn.” (Shit, I haven’t stuttered in years.) “Charlie, hey. This is not what it looks like.” The look he spares me is humorless, though, so I give Tait a look that I hope conveys‘pleasefortheloveofGodhelpmewoman.’She rolls her eyes and looks back to Charlie.
He visibly flinches underherglare and says, “I wasn’t expecting you here.”
Oof.
“Ahhh, yes. Funnily enough, I wasn’t expecting you here either. I didn’t know if I should expect you anywhere, at all, actually since you didn’t deign to come by yesterday when I got here, despite not seeing me in—oh, what has it been—twenty-plus years?”
She’s not beingcompletelyunfair, I guess.
He takes off his hat and shuffles awkwardly on his feet. To his credit, he meets her eyes again before he replies, “You look so much like your mother.”
Fuuuuuckkkk.
I’ve never been (nor do I suspect that I’ll ever be) the guy that knows the right things to say to women, at the right time. But, evenIknow that this was the wrong thing to say. The rage on her face and the color change of it has me turning around to head back upstairs.
“Don’t you dare leave. I am,” she says quietly without turning my way. Shit, how do women do that? In one swift movement she scoops up her coat and backpack, and is out the door and on the march.
I expect Charlie to head out after her, but he doesn’t. Just eventually blows out a long breath and steps inside.
“Well, that went about as good as I thought it would,” he declares.
I take that moment to finish getting dressed, not sure if I should admonish him for not going by her cabin, surprised that I feel a bit defensive over Tait, nasty retort or not.…
I come back out to find him wearing that same humorless look on his face from before, though.
“Whatwasshe doing here, though? Grace told me you got her from the airport, but that should have been pretty early still?”