AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay.” Jonah sounded disappointed, but quickly made another suggestion. “What about the old drive-in movie theater? That’s within the city limits, right?”
“I think so, but Mr. Udall hates when people trespass, especially in the fall and winter months when it’s closed.” I knew this from experience. I might have snuck in with a few friends to engage in some underage drinking a long time ago. Though we had deserved to get caught, we were all fast runners. It wasn’t my proudest moment. “And I’m not even sure we could get in. We would be sitting ducks out in front.” I was pretty competitive when it came to vehicle hide-and-go-seek, or basically any game I played.
Jonah patted my leg. “Don’t worry. I’ve got a plan.”
“You do?”
“Mr. Udall is a patient of mine.”
“Oh. Did you ask him for permission?”
Jonah squeezed my leg. “Something like that.”
“Mind elaborating?”
“Just message the group, ‘But now, the only thing he can’t do is walk away.’”
I scrunched my nose. “What kind of clue is that?”
He glanced my way before turning down Orchard Street toward the drive-in. “You don’t remember? That hurts.”
I thought for a moment, and a memory of us watching TV came to mind. I had never seen Jonah get so excited as when they announced what was playing next. “Is that part of the tagline from Rocky IV?” Jonah loved all the Rocky movies, but that was his favorite by far. I had watched them all with him.
Jonah grabbed my hand. “You do remember. It’s very apropos don’t you think?”
I bit my lip. “Is that how you feel?” That the only thing he couldn’t do was walk away?
“It’s exactly how I feel.”
I looked out the window at the leafless trees. I felt as stripped bare as they looked. “Jonah, you can’t even know if you like me anymore. Nine years is a long time.”
He ran a finger down my cheek, leaving a trail of long forgotten desire behind as he went. “It is a long time, but it hasn’t changed how I feel about you. Did you think I would leave here and magically get over you?”
“You got married,” I spoke into the window.
“Yes, I did. I’ve been lucky enough to love two women.”
“Do you still love Eliza?” I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know.
“Of course I do. She’s the mother of my child and a good friend. But that’s all she is to me.”
As he pulled into the entrance of the drive-in, I turned toward him, wondering if that was really true. He threw his car into park and faced me.
“What do you want from me?” is all I could ask.
He reached out and rested his warm hand on my cheek. His thumb gently swiped my skin. “I want you to watch a movie with me and eat popcorn and Skittles.”
“Right now?”
He leaned in. “I have a confession to make. We aren’t playing hide-and-go-seek.”
“We aren’t? Where did everyone else go?”
“I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t really care.” Our foreheads met. His warm breath tickled my nose. “All I care about right now is us in this moment, getting to know each other again. So what do you say? Will you go to the movies with me?”
“I made an appointment with a therapist,” I blurted like an idiot.
“For right now?”
“No,” I laughed.
“Then you’re free to watch the best movie ever made on the big screen.”
“We’re watching the movie here at the drive-in?”
He leaned away with a big goofy grin on his face. “I told you, Mr. Udall is my patient. And apparently a closet romantic, but don’t tell Mrs. Udall. He doesn’t want the expectations.”
“You know, you could have just asked me out.”
“This was a lot more fun, and I was pretty sure you would have said no.”
“It’s not that I want to say no; it’s just the right thing to do. I don’t want to hurt you again. I need to figure myself out. It’s why I’m seeing a therapist.”
“Ariana, I’m not in any rush. I just want to spend some time with you. I want to talk to you. I want to look at you and touch you.” He brushed my hair back. “You’re so beautiful.”
“I’m wearing a turkey sweatshirt that says, Gobble Until You Wobble.”
“And I love it. It’s so you.”
“I’m not sure what that says about me.”
“It’s says you’re still the same woman I shouldn’t have left nine years ago.”
“No, Jonah, you did the right thing. Don’t you see? The way we left things meant never hating each other. It means we can sit here with no malice and only good feelings.” I needed him to understand.
“You’re looking at it all wrong. We missed out on nine years of loving each other and growing closer together,” he countered.
“You don’t know that. For all we know, you could have been introducing me as your ex-wife tonight, and I can’t bear that thought. I don’t want to return you.”
