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“Tell him late, we’re getting pizza and ice cream.”
I startle, almost jumping out of my seat because I have no idea when he appeared next to me. “I’m not coming for pizza and ice cream.”
He smiles at me and I notice the eyes of the parents around us gauging our interactions. I shuffle to the left, putting a foot of distance between us. His smile doesn’t fade so I know he’s not offended. “Do I smell?”
“Yes,” I lie… well… a kind of lie. If he asks me how he smells I won’t be able to say bad.
Chuckling he leans in. “What do I smell of?”
“Stop it, people are looking,” I hiss, giving him a wide-eyed “back off” look.
He scans the people around us and then shrugs. “So?”
“So most of these people know your wife directly.”
“Again… So? Are we doing something wrong?”
Are we? “No… I just don’t want to give them any ammunition.”
He claps when everybody else claps but he’s not watching the game anymore than I am, so he has no idea what he’s clapping for.
I look back at my phone and reply to Pax.
Rose: I don’t know.
Pax: Is he there? Are you with him right now?
“A little paranoid, isn’t he?”
I turn my phone away. “Don’t read my text messages.”
“Don’t open them beside me then.”
I gape at him. “You’re so rude.”
He smiles like the cat that got the cream but only until his next question when he looks concerned, wary almost. “How are things going with Pax? You’ve been a bit… forlorn since you got back together a few weeks ago.”
“I feel like… if I talk about it with you it’ll betray him.”
“I’m guessing I’m the catalyst then?”
I nod, peering up at him. “We’re friends, right?”
“Of course.”
“So, you promise me you won’t say anything? You’ll just listen and offer me advice or something?”
His smile is kind and warm and everything I love about him. Like, not love. “Of course.”
My fingers tap against my knee. “He thinks we’re you know and… well… it’s making him paranoid,” I admit.
“What exactly is, you know?”
I want to flick him on the nose. “You know what it is.”
“Not sure I do.” His smile is just getting bigger and more mischievous by the second. Sometimes I find it hard to believe he’s almost thirty-eight. He certainly doesn’t act it. “You’ll have to tell me.”
“You’re an ass,” I grumble, looking ahead again. “You know what I mean…”
“Eating sandwiches?”
I discreetly pinch his outer thigh; he yelps and lifts his leg a bit to get me to stop.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t stop. “Baking cakes?” And then he leans into my ear and whispers softly, “Thinking of the number six?”
A chill runs down my spine and my eyes ping wide open. My breath shoots into my lungs with a sharp inhale that makes me feel dizzy.
I can’t tear my eyes away from his and his smile just stays in place.
The referee blows his whistle, breaking the connection.
He was definitely flirting with me then… or he’s just being banter rude or something, because… fuck.
Mr. Conti breaks the silence but I still can’t breathe. “Want me to have a word?”
“NO!” I blurt grabbing his arm. “Please don’t.”
He looks down at where my hand is gripping him and nods to the crowd. “That’s going to give them something to talk about.”
I release him immediately and he just smiles that smug, happy smile again. Is he happy that my relationship has become hell on earth? Or is he just really enjoying, tormenting me?
Wiping his hands on his thighs, he says quietly, “Okay, as far as I’m concerned, I know nothing. So, tell me about it. What’s going on?”
When I’m satisfied that he’s not about to spill my secrets I continue with a slight sneer. “He keeps telling me I have to quit my job or he’s going to leave me.”
He tenses by my side and I keep my eyes on the field, waving at Maria when she looks my way. “That’s not okay.”
“No, you’re right, it isn’t, but I’ve been considering it just to keep the peace.” Before he can argue I look at him, eyes filling with tears. “But then all I can think of is five months from now when I’m working with another man and he’s upset about him too. Am I expected to keep changing my life to fit his paranoid narrative?”
“Absolutely not. Don’t give in to him. Break up with him. That’s…” He shakes his head, looking at me like I’m crazy. “No. You’re not leaving me because some guy told you to.”
Not leaving him?
“Like you can talk,” I jest, nudging his shoulder with mine, somehow, we have shifted closer together again, like magnets. Unaware magnets. Unaware magnets with touching thighs. My God why am I burning? “If I was any prettier you never would have hired me.”
His eyes scan my face, an incredulous look on his. “You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?”
