Chapter 18 Families and Shots #3
To hell with it, I thought: if I was him, I’d sure want a hug, so what was holding me back?
I squeezed him tight and felt him patting me on the back, almost as if he were consoling me.
“I’m sorry, Mike,” I murmured. “If you want, you and I can be a band. I used to play the triangle. I’m really good at it! ”
I could feel the laughter shaking his torso—timid, not like the boisterous laughter I was used to from him, but perhaps that meant it was more sincere. “The triangle?” he asked sarcastically.
“Yeah. And I could sing harmony, too!”
He held me a long while in silence, and when he let me go, he didn’t look angry anymore. “I’ve got an idea,” I told him. “How about we go downstairs and watch your favorite show about tattoo disasters? I’m freezing up here.”
Mike nodded and we took the ladder back down.
“I’m alive. Can I hang up now?”
It was two in the morning, and I had managed to stay awake until Jack arrived at his hotel.
I was grouchy, but I couldn’t blame anyone, him calling had been my idea.
That first night alone, especially, I needed to at least hear his voice for a second.
I knew if I didn’t, I’d never fall asleep in that big empty bed without him.
I’d actually tried to tell Spencer he could use it, thinking that crashing on the couch with the TV on would feel less lonely, but just as everyone had predicted, he had wound up in Sue’s room.
And even if things seemed better with Mike, I wasn’t going to push the envelope by sleeping in the same room with him.
I didn’t trust him not to try something, and Jack would kill him if he found out.
Holding the phone in one hand, I grabbed the blanket and sheets with the other and pulled them under my chin.
Then I hugged his pillow, which smelled of his shampoo.
I put the phone on speaker so I could lie back and hold it up.
I looked at my wallpaper: a photo of Jack winking and sticking out his tongue.
“Jen,” he said, calm, tender, but exasperated, “you should get some sleep. You sound exhausted.”
“So?”
“There’s no need for you to stay up. I can call you in the afternoon.”
“I like talking at bedtime. That’s when the secrets come out.”
“Bedtime for you, maybe. Over here, the sun’s been up for hours. But anyway, how are things? You haven’t destroyed the apartment yet, have you?”
“No, but I thought the building was going to collapse from all the bumping and grinding. First it was Will and Naya, which I’m almost used to at this point, but I’m sad to inform you that when they were done, my brother and Sue started going at it.”
“Your brother and Sue? I swear, I leave for one day and it’s like the world tilts off its axis.”
“Tell me about Italy,” I asked him. “Now that everyone’s done boning, I can hear Mike snoring on the couch. He sounds like a sawmill. So I doubt I’ll fall asleep anytime soon.”
He chuckled and yawned. “There’s not much to tell. The airplane landed, I guess you figured that out. I slept most of the flight. Our ride to the hotel was an adventure, because the driver was talking a mile a minute and no one could understand a word he said. I only got here ten minutes ago.”
“You’re all at the same hotel?” I asked.
“Yeah. But Vivian’s at the other end of the hall! Don’t worry, I promise there’s no way we’ll…hey, are you laughing at me?”
“I am,” I said. “I’m not used to you being nervous. It’s cute.”
“Jen, have some respect for my reputation as an insensitive man.”
“Jack, I trust you.”
“I know, but I want you to really trust me.”
“OK,” I said, “we’ll make a deal. Go do your work, don’t do anything stupid, prove to me Vivian’s just your friend, and I’ll agree that I overreacted. Then we can put the whole thing behind us.”
“How will you know if I’m lying?”
“Let’s get one thing straight,” I told him. “There’s no girl who can compare to me, so I’m really not worried about it.”
“Is this a new you, or have you just been keeping this sassy side of yourself hidden from me all this time?” he asked.
“I’m the same woman,” I said. “I’m just trying to be less timid.”
“Oh, we should get in some practice, then,” he murmured slyly. “I’ve got an idea. You could tell me what you have on. Or better yet, what you don’t have on. That way, we can see if you’re telling the truth or just boasting.”
Putting on my sexiest voice, I purred, “Well, let’s see here… I have on a T-shirt from a very erotic amusement park…some cotton pants… I’ve got my hair pulled back with a scrunchie…”
“And underneath that?”
“There is nothing underneath that.”
“Are you lying?” he asked.
“No. Do you want a photo?”
I could almost feel the steam coming out of his ears. “Hell yes, I want a photo. Two photos. A photo album, if you’ve got time for it.”
“I wonder what you can do to convince me.”
“Jen, this is torture. You know how I get.”
I started laughing. I was telling the truth, though. I usually slept in panties and a T-shirt, but I hadn’t done the wash today, so I had raided Jack’s closet for something to wear to bed.
“OK, we’ll let it go, then. Maybe we can resume tomorrow. I’m not exactly in a sexting mood right now anyway. I’d love to keep talking, but I need some sleep, and you’ve got to get to work, right?”
“For sure.”
I smiled and said, “Don’t overdo it, Jack. You’re gonna knock their socks off, but that takes energy, and I don’t want you getting sick or stressed out. I need you back in the condition I left you in.” I kissed the screen as I heard him laugh.
“Love you, Jen.”
“Love you, too, Jack.”
We both hung up at the same time. I looked at the ceiling a moment, then down at myself, and tugged at my pants until they revealed the curve of my hip and one side of my buttocks. I took a photo, then erased it. Then another. Then ten more.
When I finally found the right angle, I sent him the picture and grinned.
See? I wasn’t lying ?
A few seconds later, I got my response.
Thank you. You’ve made my dreams tonight much more interesting.