AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I just wish I could be sure meeting my sister would go that well.”
My heart jumps up my esophagus again. She wants me to meet her family. Well, I suppose that makes sense since she’s meeting mine but that just seems more like a side effect of trying to help me patch things up with Julia.
Are we moving too fast? Am I ready for this? Is she?
“Are you sure you want to spend your night off cooking? I’d be fine with canceling dinner and grabbing a pizza and beer and crashing on the couch. Just you and me. And a box of magnums.”
“Daniel.” Riley blushes and eyes the people we pass.
“No one heard me. And so what if they did? Remember, you’re mine and I don’t care who knows it.”
“Well, yeah but they don’t need to know the intimate details.”
We go to the bistro we went to on our first date. Making it somewhat of a tradition. Fortunately, this time we finish our lunch without a surprise encounter with her sister’s friends. On our way home, we take a detour down a crowded alley to watch a pop-up concert. A local folk-rock band I’ve seen down this alley a few times before.
“They’re really good,” Riley says. Standing at my side, she wraps her arms around my waist. I put my arm around her shoulder and sway us to the thump of the upright bass.
This is one of those moments. The kind you never forget. The kind you wish could last forever.
We don’t stay forever but we do stay a little too long. “Shit. We need to get back to prep dinner,” Riley says pulling me by the wrist out of the alley as the band packs up after finishing their set.
It’s still early and I think we have plenty of time but I’m not about to argue with the professional.
Back at the apartment, Riley goes straight to work. Not wasting any time putting me to work next to her. While she prepares the shrimp, she sets me to task chopping potatoes worthy of being called chips in other parts of the world before dropping them in a cold water bath.
“Okay,” Riley says standing back moving her eyes over the work we’ve done so far. “Strain the potatoes and toss them in the corn starch. We’ll double fry them but we can drop them the second time right before we serve. Same with the shrimp. The steaks can ride in the oven and then I can sear them while you handle the fryer. Everything should finish up about the same time.”
“Damn, Riley. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone put as much thought as you have into preparing a meal.”
She shrugs. “At this point, I don’t know how to do it any other way.”
“Well, it’s fucking impressive.” And I want to show her how impressive. Now that I have a second to breathe and appreciate the artistry in what she does, I can’t help being turned on by it. But I don’t get the chance before there’s a knock on the door.
“Oh my God.” Riley paces the length of the kitchen counter. “I’m not ready for this. What if she doesn’t like me? What if this only makes things worse between you and her? Shit, Daniel, we didn’t think this through at all.”
I’m just as freaked out as she is but doing my damnedest not to show it as I grab Riley by the shoulders and hold her still in front of me. “It’s going to be okay. Remember how well it went with Nell? There’s no reason to think it will go any differently with Julia. After all, she’ll have her own worries wondering how things are going to go between Leslie and me. And after our first meeting, she has every right to be. But I’ll behave. Sorry… That was meant to be a pep talk for you but it kind of turned into my own.”
“Oh, Daniel. You have nothing to worry about. I’m here for you. And I’ll make sure you don’t do anything stupid. I promise.”
“So do I.”
“Then we’ll get through this together,” she says relaxing into my hold on her.
Taking her face into my hands, I lean in to kiss her. Getting lost in exploring her mouth until another knock brings me back.
“We better answer that,” Riley says, out of breath.
And we go to the door, together.
∞∞∞
RILEY
The look on Julia’s face when Daniel introduces me as his girlfriend can only be described as contained fury. But contain it she does. Though, not without help. He’d successfully hidden it from Daniel but I didn’t miss Leslie squeezing Julia’s hand or how Julia’s eyes softened when he did.
“How long have you two been seeing each other?” Julia asks sitting in the chair Leslie holds for her at the dining room table. Have to give the guy credit, he is putting his best foot forward. Though, it might be going unnoticed since Daniel is far more focused on Julia and how she’s taking his news.
“About a month,” Daniel says like he doesn’t know the exact number of days. Because they equal the number of days Julia has been MIA.
