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He nodded and pulled into traffic. I loved the way the muscle of his thigh felt as he changed gears. I found myself massaging it with a focus I rarely had for a man’s body.
“Petra.” We were stopped at a light and my eyes flicked up to his. “Talk to me before I pull into the next available parking lot and we end up arrested for public indecency.”
“You want methatmuch?” My eyes widened as I realized I’d asked the question aloud.
“More. Talk to me.”
Scanning my brain, I remembered the topic with considerable effort. “W-when my friends and I go out together, we’re a strange mix. From the outside, it wouldn’t seem as though we have anything in common.”
He chuckled. “I can’t imagine.”
“My best friend is a gay man. There are two uber-happy pot smokers who make us sign every pro-legalization petition. A few rabid feminists who make all of us do a ton of walking and yoga for various causes. A body art fanatic who keeps trying to talk me intojust onetattoo or piercing.”
“You don’t have any?” I shook my head. “I thought about getting one to honor my father. He died when I was sixteen.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He was a good man, a great father.” He squeezed my hand. “It sounds like your friends would get along with mine. We’re a motley crew.”
“Is it hard to see them as much as you travel?”
Stopping at another light, he gave me a strange look. “Did Kevin say I traveled all the time?”
“When we first started dating, you posted about your girlfriend’s art exhibit and I suggested we invite you both for dinner. He said you were only in town every few months.”
Jack laughed but it didn’t seem humorous.
“He’s a little shit, that one. While you were dating, I was working on a book. I didn’t take assignments for more than a year.” He shifted and said, “He knew not to let me anywherenearyou.”
“What do you…?”
“Let’s shelve that question for later. You’d like my friends and they’d love you.” He looked at me and away. “I wouldn’t keep you locked away from the people I care about.”
“Do you have any weird dads in your group? I pick up the weird moms like discards in a high-stakes Rummy game.”
“Uh, I need more information.”
I watched him smile in profile and my heart raced. “Those are the moms who don’t fit in. Per hard-core mommy bloggers, they quit breastfeeding too early, are irresponsible to let their kids get dirty, and basically suck because they have lives in addition to their parental duties.”
“Harsh.”
He traced his fingertip along the inside of my knee and I wondered if it was possible to come from something so small.
What were we talking about again?
I tried to retrace the steps of our conversation. “Their lives don’t revolve around every hiccup that issues from their spawn. They always have the coolest and smartest kids on the planet. The mom cliques shun women like that.”
“Do you like kids?”
“Iloveother peoples’ kids. They seem to like me. I haven’t killed my plants so one day, maybe I could keep a mini-me alive if I’m very lucky.”
“Petra, I swear to god, you’ve got to be the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met.”
“You don’t get around women much, huh?”
He issued one of his deepcream my pantieslaughs and I desperately searched for a topic that would help me regain my composure.
When in doubt…
