Carrie turned around completely and let the blanket that had been covering her fall behind her.
“I am, huh?” Carrie smiled at her. “I thought this was just a date, not that we were dating – as in we’re doing this again and again.”
“I want that,” Gage replied. “I can’t describe it, Carrie, but I feel it. Is that bad that I can’t tell you in words how it feels to be with you?”
“No, but can you try? I’d love to hear it.”
Gage leaned back on her hands and said, “Okay. Um… It’s like I… I want to make you chicken soup when you’re sick.”
“What?” Carrie laughed a little.
“With other women, I wanted sex. That was it. I usually left right after unless we fell asleep, but that was all I wanted.”
“Okay.”
“I spent one night with you, and I guess one day today, too, but I’m sitting here, staring into your eyes, and I know I want to be there if you get sick because I want to make you chicken soup and check your temperature. I want to tell you not to bestubborn and to take your damn medicine because you seem like the kind of person who might be stubborn about that stuff.”
“Hey!” Carrie laughed.
“I call them like I see them.” Gage smiled at her. “I want to take you on dates like this one and go home with you, but not leave. I want to still be there in the morning, and we also don’t have to have sex for me to stay the night. God, help me, I think I want to binge-watch TV with you and get mad when you Netflix-cheat on me.”
Carrie laughed loudly but then covered her mouth and looked around to see if anyone had heard her.
“I wouldn’t Netflix-cheat on you,” she said after seeing that the coast was clear. “I promise.”
“So, that’s how it feels. I’m not a poet or anything. I’m a pool cleaner.” Gage shrugged. “Feelings aren’t something I deal with often. Honestly, I kind of pushed feelings down and away when I lost my parents and again when my sister didn’t like the fact that I was gay, so I’m in unfamiliar territory here, but that’s how it feels.”
“Gage?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you still want to sleep with Sasha if we’re dating?”
Gage shook her head.
“Then, I don’t want you to, either.”
“And you won’t be with anyone else?”
“I haven’t even been withyouyet,” Carrie stated.
“You know what I mean.”
“I do. And no. I told you, I came here for one person. I’m good with that. I don’t feel the need to explore anything with multiple women. If I did, I wouldn’t be here, looking for love. I would’ve done that at home.”
Gage smiled and asked, “Will you lie back against me again? I really like that.”
“I can, but…” Carrie looked around again. “Um… We can…”
Gage swallowed, realizing what Carrie was suggesting they do instead.
CHAPTER 42
Carrie
“I can ask Nia to have the rest of the week be just us,” Gage said. “We don’t have to do anything tonight.”
“Yes,” she replied.
