I blush, shrugging. “Sort of?”
She shakes her head. “Nobody on this planet could ever see you topless and be disappointed by what they saw.”
I preen from her praise. “Really?”
“Yes, really. If anyone should feel self-conscious out there, it’s me.”
Lex turns to leave, but I grab her by the arm and turn her back toward me. “Hey, don’t say shit like that.” She eyes me, uncertain. My grip on her arm softens, my thumb sliding up the inside of her wrist. “You are ridiculously stunning.”
“You really don’t have to—” She tries to turn away again, but I stop her.
“I’m serious! You are hot as shit. I’ve been checking you out all day.”
Her eyes brighten. “You have?”
“Hell yes. You’re a fuckingeleven, babe.” Lex glows. I release her arm and give her ass a slap. “Now let’s go get some ice cream and make that lazy river our bitch.”
Lex shakes her head as she laughs, my compliment and ass slap having done the trick to make her feel better, as they should. I meant every word. Her ex-husband is an idiot for not realizing that and letting her go. Lex deserves someone who will worship her day and night, to prove to her how beautiful she is over, and over, and over again.
After paying for the suit, I take Lex’s arm and we walk back out into the sunshine to enjoy the rest of our afternoon. Well, for the most part. Despite me not being on a date at all, the curse isn’t taking any chances of Olsen catching feelings for me, finding new and creative ways to make my life hell—likewhen I dropped my ice cream onto my lap, or when I came out of the bathroom with toilet paper clinging to the bottom of my foot, or when Lex made me laugh and I choked on a hunk of corn dog, only to cough it up and launch it across the picnic blanket to snipe her right in the middle of her forehead. Thankfully, Lex is one step behind me to mitigate every crisis, prepared with wet wipes, hand sanitizer, and a shared laugh ready at every turn.
When Olsen and Gabe have tackled every slide five times, and Lex and I have meandered between the lazy river and the snack shack more times than I’m willing to admit, we call it a day. My skin is perfectly tanned thanks to Lex’s anxious reapplying of sunscreen on me every thirty minutes, my tummy is satisfied from all the ice cream and corn dogs, and my heart is full from spending a day with my favourite person. Even being around Olsen wasn’t too weird, other than all the awkward shit that happened. He doesn’t seem to have harboured any ill feelings toward me, despite me nearly destroying his penis. Everything seems... normal. Better than normal. Great.
And as we follow the setting sun along the Trans-Canada Highway back to Langley, looking between all the people who have somehow found their way into my messy, weird life, I can honestly say I’ve never been happier.
Maybe lifedoesget to be this good.
chapter fifteen
True Love’s Fuck
“You’re torturing me on purpose, aren’t you?” I plunge my hands back into the soapy water with another dish.
Lex laughs. “Torture is cleaning dishes after the food’s gone dry and crusty. This will only take five minutes, and you’ll thank me later.”
It’s a week and a half after our Cultus trip, and aside from texts and phone calls it’s the first time Lex and I have been together, just us. With Gabe at his dad’s, I didn’t have to worry about his sensitive palate and treated Lex to a delicious dinner of baked salmon with watermelon basil salad. I’d splurged on a tiny patio set for the backyard, and we soaked up some gorgeous summer weather beneath the shade of my maple tree while splitting a bottle of rosé and taking our time through dinner, despite how eager I am to learn about the results of her data analysis.
I hand Lex another plate.
“You need to get all the suds off your dishes,” Lex scolds. “Rinse that thing.”
I push the perfectly fine plate back toward Lex. “It’s fine, just dry it off with the tea towel.”
She refuses it with a flat palm. “There’s bacteria in the suds. You have to rinse it all off.”
“It’s fine!”
Lex points at the bubbles. “If I dry the suds on the towel then I’m literally transferring all the nasties onto the towel, and then using said towel to spread those nasties all over the other dishes.”
“What a waste of water.” I rinse it extra thoroughly under the faucet. “There are Canadians on boil water advisories, you know.”
Her brows furrow. “What does that have to do with us getting listeria?”
After rinsing the plate for a good thirty seconds I proffer it to her. “Clean enough, your majesty?”
Lex takes the plate, inspects it, and gives me a small, approving nod before drying it and stacking it next to her.
I move on to the next one, eyeing the stack of bakeware we still have to wash. “I swear, woman, I’m going to die of old age by the time we get through these dishes with how nitpicky you are.”
