I hit his leg. “Stop it. This is going to be seriously awkward. I already did the walk of shame into the kitchen yesterday morning. It was not fun.”
“Oh, Jesus.” Noah shook his head. “You’re a grown woman. Grown women have sex.” He glanced at me and winced. “But if you have any makeup, you might want to put some on that cheek.”
“Oh, God.” I pulled down the visor and checked my face in the mirror. In the sunlight, the mark was even more obvious, but it wasn’t horrible. “I don’t have any makeup, but I do have sunglasses. I’ll just wear those.”
Noah pulled up at the house. “You gonna be okay?”
I took a breath. “Yeah.”
“Hey. Look at me.” He took my chin in his hand and turned my head toward him. “If you don’t want to go in there, you don’t have to. I’ll take you back to my house and you can stay there as long as you want.”
My belly flip-flopped at the sight of him in uniform, like it always did. What would it be like to kiss him goodbye every morning? Be there when he got home? Talk about our days over dinner and share the same bed every night?
I couldn’t let myself think about it.
It was impossible, and it wasn’t what we were doing. “I’m okay. I promise. Today is supposed to be sister day. Salon and spa and all that stuff, so I better stay here.”
“Sounds like fun. Say hi to Nina for me.”
“I will.” I leaned over and kissed him. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get away tonight.”
“I suppose I’ll survive. I owe Renzo some time anyway, don’t I, buddy?”
I glanced at Renzo in the back seat, who looked excited at the prospect. “Have fun. And thanks for the ride home.”
“Anytime, Sawyer.”
I got out of the car and shut the door, and as he drove away, I fought off a wave of loneliness that swept over me. I’d miss him today. That was a feeling I hadn’t counted on.
Sighing, I dug around in my purse until I found my sunglasses. Shoving them onto my face, I tried to arrange my messy hair to best cover my right cheek while I worked up the nerve to walk in.
Maybe they’ll still be asleep, I thought hopefully as I unlocked the back door, slipped inside, and pulled it silently shut. Maybe I can tiptoe right upstairs and not have to endure a conversation about this at all.
Nope.
Not only were my parents at the breakfast table when I attempted to sneak in, but my sister Sylvia and both her kids were there too. All five of them blinked at me. My father’s brow furrowed. My niece’s mouth hung open. My sister looked slightly appalled for a second, and then hid a smile behind her coffee cup.
“Well, good morning, sunshine,” my mother said, taking in my bedraggled, be-sun-spectacled appearance. “Did you have a nice time?”
“Uh. Yes.”
“I wish you’d have told me you were going out. Or at least left a note or something,” my mother said with a bit of a huff.
“Oh come on, Mom.” Sylvia stuck up for me. “She’s thirty-three. She can come and go as she pleases.”
Thank you, I mouthed at her.
“I know how old she is, Sylvia, but she’s still my daughter, and when she stays under my roof, I worry about her.” My mother sent a withering glance toward Sylvia’s end of the table and looked back at me, but I was already through the doorway leading to the front hall. “Hey, where are you going? Don’t you want breakfast?”
“I’ll get something later!” I called, racing up the stairs.
“We’re leaving for the salon at ten, so be ready.”
“Okay!”
Once I was safely in my room, I whipped off the glasses and flopped facedown onto my bed. Again, I fell asleep immediately and didn’t wake up until I heard a soft knocking at my door. “Meg?”
Shit! Was it my mother? Frantically I looked around for my sunglasses. “Yeah?”
“It’s Sylvia. Can I come in?”
I relaxed. “Oh. Sure.”
She opened the door, slipped into the room and shut it behind her, leaning back against it. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
This time she didn’t even try to hide her grin. “Have fun last night?”
I nodded, leaning back against my headboard. “Yes.”
“I can tell. Either that or you got mugged, but since you came in with your purse, I’ll hazard a guess you had some really good sex.”
I laughed and touched my hair. “Pretty obvious, huh?”