that. I thought it would be Beck who rushed over here, but nope. Of course not. He can’t be bothered. Always so busy.” Abel looks a little shocked at her response.
“Beck would do anything for you. You know that.”
“Yes, Beck will give me anything money can buy. Which I don’t need because I can buy my own things. Yet he’s unwilling to give me the one thing I truly want. At first I thought his gestures were sweet, but now the only thing they do is piss me off.”
Abel looks so confused. So I decide to clue him in on what’s going on.
“She told Beck she quit to see what he would do,” I tell Abel. “He failed miserably.”
“He totally failed.” Marist nods in agreement.
“Men are stupid,” I blurt out, making Marist laugh.
“That they are.”
“We are.” Abel nods in agreement, making me smile.
“Let me tell you what this one did today.” I point at Abel.
“Wait. Let's go to the kitchen. I just opened a bottle of wine and I have a cheese plate. Then you can tell me everything.” She hops up. I stand, following her out of the room, thankful to have someone to talk about Abel with.
13
Abel
“You get it all out of your system?” I ask as I drive Pepper home.
She smirks. “For now, but I suspect the longer I stay with you, the more grievances I’ll have, so Marist and I now have a standing date for Wednesday happy hour.”
“Happy hour is notorious for drunk and handsy businessmen. Why not, say, ten in the morning at a coffee shop?”
“We want to drink.”
“You can drink at ten. Who says you can’t?”
“Lots of people. I think the surgeon general.”
“Sounds like he’s the general of the no fun police.”
“It’s a she.”
“Sounds like she’s the general of the no fun police.”
Pepper busts out laughing, which puts a smile on my face. I reach over and squeeze her knee. “You do what you want, babe, but I’ll be in the booth behind you or at the bar, one seat down making sure that all the horny dudes in the place know that you’re taken.”
Her pretty giggles die off abruptly. I take my eyes from the road to inspect her face. She doesn’t appear sad or upset, but more...contemplative?
“What’re you thinking?”
“That’s my line,” she says.
“How so?” I ask, vision back on the road.
“That’s what women always ask men and they say nothing.”
I start to object but then think of all the times Marist has asked for my thoughts and all the times my reply has been exactly, “nothing.”
“Does that piss you off?” Maybe Marist should’ve quit years ago.
“Yeah, actually, it does. My dad would do it to my mom. I think that’s why they got divorced. He never told her what was going on in his head and she would always think the worst. But she ended up being right because he was cheating on her.”
“Ouch.” I wince.
“Yeah.” I sense her shrug beside me.
“Sometimes there isn’t anything going on in our heads, though. Like we’re thinking about whether we’re going to get the hard shell taco basket with wedge potatoes and extra ranch dipping sauce or whether we’re getting the chicken basket with sweet and spicy sauce.”
“Then that’s what you should say.”
“Fair enough. So is that the dilemma that made you stop laughing suddenly or is it something else? Because we can get both. That’s usually how I solve my problems.”
“Getting both?”
Is that a trick question? I feel like I’m about to step in some quicksand. “When it comes to food, for sure.”
“How about women?”
“I’m a one-woman man, and that’s you.”
A sigh ensues. I fucking hate that I’m driving and can’t see her or touch her. I don’t know half of what’s going on with my eyes on the road. I swing to the shoulder and brake.
“What’s wrong?” she squeaks.
“I can’t see your face.” I unclip the seatbelt and lift Pepper onto my lap. I’m going to have to buy a truck with a bench seat.
“Why do you need to see my face?” She claps her hands against her cheeks.
“I want to see your face all the time.” I peel her hands away and press them against my chest. “Here’s what’s happening in my head right now. I saw you and thought you were the prettiest thing that was ever made, even prettier that the flowers in my mama’s garden. I went inside your apartment and saw how fucking talented you were. Then I talked with you and found out you had a