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“You’re so good at this.” Her voice had gone breathy again, and it was all I could do not to pull over and do all kinds of dirty things to her on the side of the road.
I shot her a smug grin. “You said that to me this morning.”
“Yes…well, you’re good at making me come, but you’re also really good at wooing me.”
“Damn, I still have to woo you? I thought I’d already bagged you.” She slugged me for the third time, just a little bit harder than before, forcing a laugh out of me. “All right, all right, don’t hurt me. I’ll come in hard with the woo, no worries.”
“You don’t have to. I’m here. I do want to know if you were ever going to act. I mean, if all this hadn’t happened, would you have gone to your deathbed with this?” she asked.
“Yael...I acted. I got shot down a lot of times and didn’t walk away from that. I crawled, hobbled if I was lucky. So maybe, one day, when I’d built my strength back up, I might’ve tried again, but I don’t know. I might’ve died at one-hundred-and-two still thinking about the girl at the end of the driveway.”
“That’s sad. I hope this weekend at least replaced your deathbed vision of me,” she teased, bringing our joined hands to her chest and hugging my arm.
“Yep. Now I’ll be envisioning the girl wearing the collared sweatshirt in the rowboat.”
She nodded, satisfied with that. “As you should. Make sure in your memory my tits are huge and my hair is softly flowing in the breeze.”
I grinned at her. “Obviously.”
For a while, we listened to music and talked about the other parts of the weekend. Talking to Yael was just as easy as Mo or Maeve. We’d spent a good portion of our lives in the same circle of people, sharing a lot of the same experiences, but we’d never talked to each other, not like this—like we were friends who really enjoyed each other’s company.
And I did enjoy her. Her brash, sometimes over-the-top attitude was balanced by just the right amount of tenderness. For the first time, she allowed me to see that she liked me too. She never stopped touching me or letting me touch her. Her laughter was free. Her comebacks were quick and witty without being cutting.
“Are you ready to head into the studio tomorrow?” she asked as we drew near the city.
“Yeah, boo. I’m antsy for it. Are you going to be there?” We were starting to work on the new album tomorrow. Luckily, we were at the point in our career where we could take our time to get it right—within limits—but the pressure was also higher to be successful.
“I’m sure Mo has tasks for me to do, but yes, I’ll definitely come by at least for a while. Did you finish your song?”
“I did. Not sure how Mo feels about it. It’s in his hands and he said he’d get back to me, but that was a week ago, and nada.”
“Mo likes control. If you get Santi on your side, you’ll get your song on the album.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to have to force him into it. Maybe the song is shit, I don’t know.”
“From the one verse I heard, it isn’t. And knowing you, the rest isn’t either.”
“Knowing me?” I asked as I turned into my parking garage.
She nodded. “Yes, knowing how smart and witty you are and your musical skill, I doubt you could write a bad song even if you tried. Now, it’s another thing entirely if it doesn’t fit the feel of the album, but from the bits and pieces Mo has shared with me, I think it does.”
I glided into my parking spot, then turned to face Yael. I cupped her smooth cheeks and brought her mouth to mine, intending on a short kiss, but my intentions were thrown out the window the second my lips connected with hers.
When we finally pulled away, we were both breathless, hair and clothing askew, leaning into each other.
“I like when you talk business-y,” I said.
“Oh, that’s what that kiss was about? In that case, should I tell you about the spreadsheet I created last week? My lord, Mo’s personal appearances have never been so organized. Everything’s just there, in tidy little rows and—”
I kissed her again, not to shut her up, but because she drove me out of my mind and I had no choice.
“You have to get out of this car, Boo.” With great reluctance, I gently pushed her back.
“What about you?”
“I have to go see my dad.”
Her mouth pulled down with concern. “Should I come with you?”
“No. Sweet of you to ask, but when he’s flaring, he likes to keep it pretty private.”
“Makes sense.” Her hand went to the door, but she hesitated. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at some point. Say hi to Brian for me, okay?”
“Yeah...unless you want me to come by when I get back?”
“You should probably do that.” She leaned forward, giving me a flash of a kiss. “Bye, Alex.”
I drove away once she was on the elevator up to her apartment, and though I was looking forward to seeing my dad, I also couldn’t help worrying that somehow the spell of the weekend would be broken now that she was out of my sight.
It came down to trust. I had to believe we were now in this thing together and our time at the lake hadn’t been a fantastical dream.
