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It was a little too much for me too, and yet I couldn’t drag myself away.
And after a long minute, her eyelids fluttered open, offering me a barely perceptible nod.
You feel this too?
When we finished our coffees, Gemma found her cover-up and bag on her way outside. Caroline and Frank were drinking wine on a swing. All the other guests had left, leaving their evidence on the ground.
“Hey, we didn’t know you were still here.” Caroline lifted her head off Frank’s shoulder.
“We’re leaving now.” I tossed my keys in my hand. “But this needs to be cleaned up. I can stay.”
“Yeah,” Gemma agreed, grabbing up a few napkins from a table.
Caroline stood up, taking the trash from her. “No, no, go home. It’s past midnight. You need your sleep. Your classes start this week.”
“Classes?” Frank asked, scratching his stomach.
Gemma threw two soda cans into the recycling bin. “I run an after-school art program that’s a couple days a week.”
“Oh, well then, get going. We’ll clean up tomorrow. This stuff isn’t going anywhere,” Frank said, and Caroline chased us out, waving and blowing kisses.
I opened the truck’s door for Gemma. “I didn’t know you were an art teacher.”
She imitated me in an absurdly low voice. “Maybe you should take time to get to know me,” then she closed the door on my chuckle. She dozed off on the ride home, only to wake up when I tapped her nose.
“Home already?” She yawned.
I nodded. “Now, what about that cheeseburger?”
“Not a funny joke.”
“No meat.” I drew an X over my heart. “Promise. But you’ll still come over for dinner? Sometime this week?”
She gave in after a long moment that had me holding my breath. “Yeah, okay. I teach yoga Tuesday and Thursday nights.”
“That’s quite a schedule you got, between the weird tofu shop, art class, yoga, and all the saving the world. Can you even fit me in?”
Her answer was garbled with another yawn. “I guess I could try.”
“Said so enthusiastically. Where’s your phone? I’ll give you my number.” When she took out a tiny cell phone from her bag, I practically yelped. “Where did you get this? It’s archaic.” I flipped it over in my hand. “Is this a first-generation? I can’t believe it. How is it still running? What’s the serial number on this? One?”
She quirked her lips to the side in a move I now knew meant she was fighting a laugh. “Don’t make fun. It’s been with me for many years.”
I typed in my number and called my phone before she snatched hers back. “I don’t like to throw away perfectly good items.”
“Right. Yeah. Makes total sense. Should I send you smoke signals instead? That might be easier.”
She opened her door and stuck one foot out. “No smoke signals. You’d have to burn down trees for that.”
“Okay, no smoke signals. A carrier pigeon?”
She jumped down to the ground and turned, resting her chin on her arm on the top of the open window. My cold dead heart melted at her sleepy smile.
“As long as it’s free-range. You know the address to send it to.”
CHAPTERNINE
Gem
