help the world, you know? Everyone has a gift. And as much as I might wish I could be—I don’t know—a doctor who saves lives, the truth is that I’d be a pretty shitty doctor. I don’t like blood and I don’t like hospitals and I can get distracted, so I’d probably take out the wrong organ when doing an appendectomy.”
Teddy laughed.
“But I am good with kids, and I’m good at being on television, and when I do those things, I can help the most people. For whatever reason, I can talk to kids and they listen to me. I can help kids understand their feelings and try to figure out what to do with them. I don’t want to sound like I think my work is any more important than what other people do, because it’s not. But it’s my work, and it’s all I can do, so I just . . . I don’t know. I just do it. I guess that’s the whole point.”
Teddy watched him watching the fountain and thought about the nonchalant way he’d talked about his talents. The way he’d said “I’m good at being on television” and managed not to make it sound like he was bragging . . . because he wasn’t. It wasn’t a measure of his importance or his worth, the way Richard used his career to justify everything he did and the way he treated other people.
Everett turned to look at Teddy and laughed. “Oh, no. Why are you looking at me like that? Am I being insufferably pretentious over here, talking about my work? You can tell me to shut up. Just say, ‘Everett, please stop—’”
Teddy leaned over and pressed her mouth into his.
“Okay, this works, too,” Everett muttered, pulling her to him.
Teddy put her hands on his face, feeling his warm skin under her fingers as the wind blew and cold air swirled around them. We are in public, she reminded her logical brain, but her logical brain responded with an out-of-office message. Her libido was steering the ship now, and it had charted a course for the land of public indecency.
She felt Everett’s hand move farther up her thigh and her logical brain stepped back into the office. There could be viewers around. Children. Anyone.
“Wait. Stop,” Teddy said, breathing hard.
Everett pulled back. “You’re right. We’re on a bench in a public park. We should stop.”
“Can we go to your place?” Teddy asked, her hands still on his cheeks.
Everett blinked a few times. “I mean . . . yes. Yes, we absolutely can.”
Teddy paused for a moment, trying to remember dating advice she’d read in an ancient issue of Cosmo when she was in high school and trying to act more like a normal girl. Most of it had been sex tips that were supremely irrelevant to her life back then, but there was one piece of advice she remembered: don’t sleep with a man too soon.
“We can play Candy Land,” she said forcefully.
Everett paused. “Is that . . . a euphemism? Because I don’t understand it. Can I look it up on Urban Dictionary before I agree to anything?”
Teddy laughed. “The board game. I just bought it for my niece and nephew and it’s in my car. I thought maybe we could give it a test drive.”
“You know, I really like that you didn’t suggest we watch a movie or have a drink. That’s what everyone else would do. Let’s play a childhood board game. Why the hell not?” He leaned forward and brushed the feathers on her hat. “I like this hat, too. It’s cute.”
“You don’t think I look like a bird?” Teddy asked.
Everett thought about it for a moment. “Maybe a very sexy bird.”
“I don’t think birds can be sexy,” Teddy said, standing up.
“I don’t know. You ever see a flamingo? Legs for days,” Everett said, grabbing her hand. “Let’s go play some Candy Land.”
48
As it turned out, Candy Land wasn’t exactly the thrill-a-minute ride Teddy remembered from childhood. In fact, it could be more accurately described as boring.
But it could also be, she discovered, a hotbed of sexual tension, although that might have had more to do with who she was playing it with and less to do with the Crooked Old Peanut Brittle House.
“This is great, actually,” Everett said, drawing a red card and moving his gingerbread man. “Damn. I’m stuck in a cherry pitfall until I draw another red.”
Teddy pressed her lips together. Everett’s dedication to playing Candy Land was admirable,