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“He fixed yourkitchen table. If that doesn’t deserve all the kiss details, I don’t know what does.”
I pause what I’m doing to look up at Callie. Stopping home for lunch earlier and seeing my kitchen table standing at its normal height with new legs attached to it almost had me making up a bunch of new poems about Ford in my head.
“What does one have to do with the other?”
“I’m just saying, talking about this will make you feel better.”
“I feel fine,” I lie, getting back to work and putting a little more muscle into it. “You’re just saying that because it will makeyoufeel better.”
I know I told Ford he could handle my kitchen table drama. I just didn’t expect him to do it so soon or sneak into my house when I wasn’t home to handle it. The fact thatheseems to be avoidingmenow makes my stomach hurt. He knows how much I love that damn rickety table. I spent weeks sanding it, staining it, and then decoupaging cute little Halloween stickers all over the top of it, all around the creepiest murder stories I could find in newspaper articles I cut out. He knew I’d much rather have new, sturdy table legs than an entire new table.
“You are literally killing me here,” Callie complains. “And you’re gonna need a lot more Benadryl than that.”
“What are you two doing?”
“Nothing!” Callie and I both shout.
My hands pause above the mortar and pestle set I borrowed from the kitchen at the Wicked Pub and Grub to look at Marcus standing on the other side of the bar from us with his arms crossed.
“Does this have something to do with that Trick or Treat bullshit?”
“Maaaybe.” I smile at him.
“Is it going to land my wife in jail with you?”
I look at all the discarded packages of over-the-counter allergy medication in front of me and shrug. “I mean, it’s notnotgoing to land her in jail with me.”
“Sweetie, you know I’m too fast to get caught,” Callie reassures him.
“Christ,” Marcus mutters before uncrossing his arms to rest his hands on the top of the bar and lean over it to give her a kiss.
“And you’ll keep your yap shut about it if you know what’s good for you!” I remind him with a point of the pestle in his direction before he disappears into the back room to switch out the kegs before the evening rush.
“Anyway, you were just about to give me every teeny, tiny detail of that kiss before my husband interrupted us,” Callie states as soon as I go back to what I was doing.
“Nice try.”
“You’re spooked.”
“Of course I’m spooked!” I shout, grinding this powder so hard it’s probably going to turn into paste soon.
“Like that time I made you go to the haunted house the high school band put on, and you punched Principal Williams in the dick when he jumped out from around a corner at you.”
“That was unfortunate. He never let me get out of detention after that.” I sigh.
“He was a very convincing zombie. Lucky for you, this doesn’t have to be unfortunate. Ford wants you. You want him. If you’re so insistent on not breaking the Tanner rules, at least take him out for a test drive.”
“Why are you suddenly encouraging this behavior, when you were planning our wedding this morning?”
Callie shrugs. “Eh, I’m over it. If you want to continue living a loveless existence, never knowing what true joy feels like, using sex to avoid having a real, emotional connection with someone, who am I to judge you?”
“Exactly! Wait… what?”
“You do you, sweetie!” Callie quickly adds with a pat on my shoulder. “I know you’re a strong, independent, badass woman, and you can handle it, right?”
It’s insulting she would ask me this question, even though the things she said to me are gnawing away at my stomach like a flesh-eating virus.
“OfcourseI can handle a fling with Ford. What am I, an amateur?” I scoff.
