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“My brothers dragged me to Barnacle Ben’s.”
“Oh no,” she said, laughing. “I’m familiar with Ben’s. Remember, I went to school nearby.”
“Right. Well, I’m miserable, so why don’t you let me come over?”
“You want to come back here? I’m about as boring as they get.”
“I’m boring, too. Let me sleep on your couch.”
“You want to sleep here?” she said, frowning.
“That’s all. I’ll run errands for you tomorrow. I’ll clean your apartment. I don’t want anything. But I just want to be around you.”
Their breathing exchanged over the phone. No guy had ever wanted to be with her like this. He was willing to come to her and not get anything in return.
“Okay, Jake, come over.” Her voice had a little quiver to it.
“See you in half an hour.”
Friday night ended up being the most fun she’d had since she was a teenager. Jake arrived with pizza, in spite of them both having a big family meal earlier that day.
“I didn’t eat that much,” he said. “Too many crying babies.”
“Me either. I was trying not to worry my mother, so that left limited safe topics. I won’t do that again if I can help it. She has to hear everything.”
“What did you have to avoid?”
“Well, I didn’t tell them about you, for one thing.”
“Ugh. Do we have to hide?”
“Not hide exactly, but even though we practically lived together for three solid days at the firehouse, it’s not enough time in their opinion. They’d have a cow if they knew you were going to sleep here tonight.”
She took the pizza box from him to place on the counter, and that was when he noticed her figure. It confused him at first; he wasn’t savvy about women and their undergarments, but since she wasn’t trussed up like she had been at work and during the day, she was curvier, almost voluptuous, although he didn’t know that word. She was just hot. Restraining himself from grabbing her, he had to forcibly look away from her breasts. They were round and perky and begged to be touched.
“Sit,” she said. “Pizza is perfect.”
He had to reorient himself, pulling his eyes back to her face. “You look pretty.”
“I do?” she asked, frowning. She had on a big, ratty long-sleeved T-shirt and yoga pants. “I should go to jail letting you see me like this.” She pulled out his chair and then sat across from him. “This looks wonderful.”
Taking a piece of pizza, he nodded. The molten cheese slid down off the crust, and he got it in his mouth in the nick of time, waving his hand trying to cool it off. “Whoa! That’s hot. We don’t have to make any announcements. Thanks to Bridget and my brothers, however, the family is already calling you my girlfriend. Or GF, as my sister-in-law said.”
“Who? Bridget?” She thought about Bridget asking about her sexuality.
“No. Joey’s wife, Candy.”
“Ha! Is she okay with it?”
“With us? Yes. Candy is a doctor. She has a brain. I mean, Bridget does too, but she’s sort of unsophisticated. I’m not sure that’s the right word.”
“She asked me if I was gay.”
Dropping the pizza to the plate, Jake glared at Geri, speechless.
“Yes. I was shocked. She didn’t come right out and ask me that. She said, ‘You like guys, right?’”
“No way!” he cried, slapping his palm on the table and looking around the room like he was searching for answers. “I just lost my appetite.”
