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“What? Paulette didn’t text you immediately?” I was shocked to hear that the gossip of the century didn’t kiss and tell. “I didn’t say anything ’cause I assumed you already knew.”
“No!” Marley cried. “What did Ginger say about it? Does she like her?”
“She slept with her,” I said, combing my fingers through my hair. “So I assume so.”
“Oh, come on. You know that’s not how I mean.”
“Marley, sweetheart, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Ginge is not the most forthcoming when it comes to her feelings,” I said. “I’m not even sure if she likes me half the time.”
Marley pursed her lips. “I guess that’s true. She’s pretty dry,” she allowed. “God, I can’t believe Paulette didn’t tell me after she was all up in my business about you! I’m gonna kick her butt!”
“I think it’s adorable that you still barely swear even when kids aren’t around,” I teased.
“I feel like I sound weird when I swear,” she said. “You and Lana and everyone else always sound so natural when you curse. I can only do it when I’m really, really mad, with the exception of a couple of words. I swear in my head a lot, though.”
“Yeah?” I asked, chuckling as we moseyed onto an escalator. “Sounds like something you’d do.”
“I am nothing if not predictable.”
“Baby,” I said, “nothing in that adorable little body of yours has ever been predictable. You surprise me every damn day. I just like to think I’ve gotten to know quite a bit about you at this point.”
“Hmm,” she said. “Well then, I suppose I’ll have to find new ways to keep you on your toes.”
“Tell you what. How about we make a wager?”
“What kind of wager?”
“Let’s have a competition to see who can surprise the other more by the end of the month,” I said. “We’ll both pull out all the stops and keep the other guessing.”
“Like funny surprises, scary surprises, or romantic surprises?”
“All of the above.”
“I don’t know if I want to agree to scary surprises. You’ll beat me at that every time,” she pointed out. “Also, I don’t want to be walking around all jumpy.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Fine. Silly or romantic only.”
“You’re on—wait, what do we win?”
“Bragging rights.”
“Boo! That’s boring.”
“Fine. What do you want to win, then?”
She pursed her lips and tapped her chin. “Winner gets to pick the location of our next trip. Anywhere in the world.”
“Oh, fancy,” I said. “Is this your way of saying you want me to take you on a vacation?”
She shrank a little bit. “Oh. I mean, you don’t have to.”
“Marley, I’m teasing you,” I said as we reached the bottom of the escalator. I grabbed her waist and lifted her over the grate where the contraption sank back into the floor. She giggled, and I took her hand, keeping a lazy pace behind Jack and Travis. “I would love to take you on a trip.”
“It’d be a lot of fun,” she said. “And I won’t ask you to go anywhere too crazy. Not like...Italy or France or something.”
“Oh, so you’re assuming you can win?”
“The best way to win is to believe you can,” she said, swinging our hands between us.
