to be a question my friends ask, right?”
“Why? That’s a typical first-date question.” She pulls her hair back and secures it with a ponytail holder she had around her wrist.
God, she’s so beautiful, sitting here all fresh-faced and relaxed on my bed, and I bet she has no idea. Whatever. I pull my mind away from how tempting she is and focus on the task at hand. “Yeah, it might be a first-date question but not an engaged-to-be-married one.”
She hems and haws, but I know she sees my point. “Then you ask the first question.”
“Sure, favorite sexual position?” She picks up a pillow and throws it at me, which I catch and put behind my head, sliding up my bed. “Okay, okay. Favorite movie?”
“Well, what kind? Like favorite action, favorite rom-com, favorite sci-fi…”
I pretend to yawn. “Let’s just say The Notebook. It sounds like a chick thing and I’ll remember it.”
“We can’t just make shit up. Elsie knows my favorite movie is not The Notebook.” I quirk an eyebrow, and she huffs. “I mean, I like it, but it’s not my favorite.”
I chuckle. “Okay then…” I wave my hand at her.
“It’s P.S. I Love You.”
“What? That movie is sad as shit.”
Her eyes widen a bit. “You’ve seen it?”
“The guy dies, right?”
She nods.
“I thought for sure you’d say When Harry Met Sally or Notting Hill.”
“It’s a great movie. She found herself, and he loved her and knew her so well that he knew what she’d need after he died. That’s romantic.”
I shake my head. “Okay, give me your best action flick then.” I cross my fingers that she has better taste in this department.
“Avengers. Any of them,” she says.
“And not just because of the hot guys in tight costumes, right?”
She shakes her head and a flush rises in her cheeks. I’d love to see it cover her entire body. “I like the action and Eli loves them, so we usually watch them together.”
I pause, soaking in what life is like for her. “What do you do for fun?”
Her gaze flies to mine, and there’s trepidation there. “I don’t have much of a social life. I talk to some of my friends from high school, but most went to college and got married and live far away now. By the time I’m done at the shop, I’m going to bed to do it all over again. It’s a little like Groundhog Day.”
“Why did you ever agree to do it?” Her dad had just had his heart attack last year. Before then, I imagine they could’ve managed.
“I was supposed to go to community college like Elsie, but…”
I lean forward and dip my head, so our eyes meet. “You can tell me. I won’t judge you.”
“Eli,” she rushes. “I love him so much, but he needs attention and care. More than I do. Someone had to help my dad so my mom could be hands-on with him.”
A tear slips down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away. I’m shocked at the way seeing her upset like this constricts the air in my chest.
“Every time I talked myself into saying something to them, thinking we were in a good spot, something horrible would happen. Like the oven going out and we’d need to replace it or the rent going up. It’s like before I knew it, I blinked and I was twenty-nine.” Another tear falls and hits my bedspread, and that pain spreads in my chest. “God, I’m gonna be thirty.” She climbs off the bed and paces my room. “Thirty, Seth, and I’m living above my parents’ garage, with barely any friends, no life. It’s like my biggest fear is coming true.”
“What fear is that?”
“That I’m going to die alone. They’ll find me in that bagel shop, slumped over one day. And no one will be at my funeral because I never had time for friends or lovers or anything else.”
“Hey, you have a fiancé. A great one, I might add.” I try to lighten the mood, sliding to the end of the bed.
She laughs and huffs at the same time. “You’re fake.”
I pinch myself. “Ouch. Nope, not fake.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Come here.” I pat the spot next to me.
I never expected her to come sit, but she does. I put my arm around her shoulders and kiss her temple as though we’re the best of friends. Maybe because I understand the pressure she’s under. I ran away from mine until Trevor couldn’t handle it. Now I’m the son they’re calling on