Chapter 21 #2
I didn’t bother repressing this groan but I did tighten my grip on Shay’s waist. It was nice touching her this way, without the weight of faking it on my shoulders.
I didn’t have to worry whether she was gritting her teeth to get through it.
Not when I knew how it felt to have her lock her legs around my waist. “Christiane.”
The woman smiled at me but there was something singular about her gaze, a specificity that refused to see Shay at my side.
“Would you look at this? After all those months of planning, I knew this festival would go off without a hitch. And it’s so good to get everyone out in the community, don’t you think?
” she asked, turning and gesturing to the carnival.
“I have to say, this is quite a success.”
I nodded, waiting for her to acknowledge my wife’s existence. When it didn’t come, I said, “Yeah, Shay and I were just talking about that.”
Christiane gave me a slow, deliberate blink before turning a smile toward Shay. “Hello there,” she drawled. “I can’t believe we haven’t bumped into each other in more than a month. Where have you been hiding out?”
“I’ve been around,” Shay replied easily. “Noah keeps me very busy. Just the other day he threw me the sweetest birthday party. All of my favorite dishes for dinner and he baked a cake for me. From scratch. Can you believe that? Homemade frosting too.”
That cake came from a box but I was not about to correct her. Not when she was on a roll.
“Wow,” Christiane breathed. “Happy belated birthday to you.”
Shay beamed up at me. I told myself that smile was real, it was authentic. That she’d loved her birthday party—and everything after—and I didn’t have to debate whether this was for Christiane’s benefit. I was going to need a minute to get used to this.
“Thank you,” Shay replied. “What’s new with you, Christiane?”
“Oh, you know.” She fluttered a hand around her neck. “Business is just booming. I am booked up for the next six months straight. I had to take the jaws of life to my schedule just to get a vacation in there.”
I dropped a kiss on Shay’s temple as I slipped my hand into her front pocket. Christiane tracked every inch of that move, blinking furiously the whole way.
“That’s incredible,” Shay said, and it sounded as though she meant it. “It’s a good problem to have, right?”
“Fantastic problem,” Christiane agreed. Her daughter appeared at her side, whispering something about being tired.
The girl motioned to the low fence separating the track loop from the soccer fields.
Her brother was sitting on the grass, against the fence, swatting at nothing with a stick.
“Not all of us can be night owls, it seems. And, you know, the twins are on travel soccer teams so we are up before dawn on the weekends. That’s just competitive soccer for you.
” She shifted her attention to me. “I’ve never seen Gennie going out for soccer.
Does she not play? I know Francine would be happy to teach her the basics.
Maybe they could get together for some girl time and—”
“Soccer isn’t one of Gennie’s interests,” I said.
“Oh. I see.” Christiane nodded. “Well, if she ever changes her mind, you know how to reach me.” She waved, adding, “I’m sure I’ll see you two around town.”
After Christiane left with her kids, Shay said, “That was relatively painless.”
“Am I supposed to put Gennie into soccer leagues?”
She shrugged. “Maybe? If she wants to? If not soccer, maybe a different sport. Activities like that can be a really good outlet for kids who don’t adore school and have a hard time connecting with kids.” She pointed to the rides. “What do you say? Are you up for it?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “If you want to.”
“Am I twisting your arm? Is that what’s happening here?”
She wrapped both hands around my bicep and gave a playful tug. I responded by lashing her to my chest and kissing her hard. She giggled against my lips at first but then she softened, piece by piece, until she sighed into me.
“What’s happening?” she asked, leaning back just enough to speak. “With us.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Me neither.”
“Do we have to know?”
She shook her head and scraped her teeth over her bottom lip. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Do you want it to stop?”
Another shake of her head. “No. Not at all.”
“Then twist my arm,” I said. “Show me what you want, wife.”
* * *
“That thing is a lawsuit waiting to happen,” I said as we stumbled off the tilt-a-whirl. “Too much tilting. Too much whirling. Someone is going to get vertigo and sue the shit out of this town. Thank god Gennie’s too short for that ride.”
Shay laughed against my chest. She was pinned tight to me because she was stumbling harder than the night I picked her up at the bar. She was also pinned tight because everything in the world felt right when she was there.
“It wasn’t that bad,” she said, still laughing.
“You cannot walk, wife,” I said. “That’s all the evidence I need.”
“It wasn’t that long ago that we would’ve ridden that thing all night.”
Two things happened when she said this. First, she dropped her hand to my abdomen and let it slide down until it stopped just north of my belt buckle.
Second—and most importantly—my brain took the words ridden all night and made that my singular requirement for survival.
Food, water, rest—none of it mattered. Not until she rode me all night long.
“Let’s go on the Ferris wheel next,” she said.
“Tell me you’re joking.” I managed to walk a straight, sober line while steering Shay away from the other rides.
“Oh, come on. The Ferris wheel is like a nap in comparison.” She dropped her voice, adding, “And the Hope Elementary principal is just over there, near the caramel apple cart. If she sees me, she’s going to want to talk about next year.”
“That’s not a topic you’d like to discuss?”
She shook her head, urging me toward the Ferris wheel. “Not yet. Not tonight.”
That response begged so many questions but asking them risked answers and there was a good chance I didn’t want to hear them.
When we reached the short line for the Ferris wheel—which looked only slightly less rickety than the tilt-a-whirl—Shay added, “Helen already has me scheduled for long-term assignments through the end of the school year.”
I ran my hand down her spine. “Are you happy with that?”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” she said in a tone that suggested it wasn’t entirely fine.
“I just—I didn’t expect everything to happen so fast. But it’s good.
I get to know the kids instead of just popping in for a day or two.
I like this. Day-to-day subbing probably would’ve been too chaotic for me.
I need a little order in my classroom. It was the one thing Jaime and I could never agree on.
She’s all right with some moderate mayhem. ”
We stepped up to the platform and settled into a car. “Do you miss your old school?”
As the wheel started moving, Shay nodded. “Yeah. Of course. I loved that place. And all of my friends are there.”
I hooked an arm around her shoulders and played with the ends of her hair. “And the happy hour situation has to be better than anything we have around here.”
“That is true.” She gazed out at the carnival beneath us. Gennie hadn’t moved from the water gun game in at least thirty minutes. “Helen wants me for a permanent position next year.”
It was too much to hope for and I could barely stop myself from begging her to take the job. “What do you want?”
She shifted beside me, her elbow grazing my flank as she shook her wrist to free her charm bracelet from inside her sleeve.
The feel of her squirming, even for the most innocent of reasons, sparked something hot and urgent inside me.
“That’s the question I keep asking myself,” she said softly.
“It’s kindergarten, though, and that’s my one true love. ”
I held her wrist and drew my thumb over the charms on her bracelet. A starfish, a shamrock, an S in an artsy script, a wonky heart, and a star with a tiny diamond in the center. She always loved her stars. “Is this a decision you need to make soon?”
“No. Helen is the kind of principal who likes to clear the decks and check all the boxes as early as she can but she can’t formally offer me the position until the person currently in it gives her notice.
It sounds like that won’t happen until June and that’s on the early side.
” She dragged her fingertips down my leg like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“But Helen still wants me to informally accept so she doesn’t have to worry about it later. ”
The wheel slowed to a stop, and from this elevation we could see the calm waters of Friendship Cove in the distance. “So, you have time to think about it.”
“Yeah.” It seemed like she was finished with this topic but then she added, “It’s a good school.
I like the staff and the kids. The families are great.
It’s fun to bump into them at community events like this.
I’ve never worked and lived in the same neighborhood, so this wasn’t something that happened to me until now.
There’s a lot to think about. It wouldn’t be terrible to stay. It’s just a big change of plans.”
“Hey.” She glanced over, her brows lifted. I ran my fingers up the column of her neck and along her jaw. “We’re in a deathtrap carnival ride. We can figure out the future if we live to see tomorrow.”
When we kissed, it felt like the first time—but so much better.
I sank into her, forgetting everything beyond us and this rusty car.
We weren’t married for the wrong reasons.
We weren’t faking it to get anyone off my back.
And we weren’t giving life to my teenage pining.
This moment had nothing to do with the kids we’d once been.
This was real and true, and if I worked hard enough, I could ignore all the filthy, base urges blaring from the lizard portion of my brain.
The ones I hadn’t been able to repress since that night in the pantry.
But I didn’t want to repress them, and if the stroke of Shay’s fingers on my leg was any indication, she didn’t want that either.
I dropped kisses to the corners of her mouth, her chin, down the creamy line of her neck.
Slipping my fingers into her hair, I met her gaze.
Her cheeks were pink—could be the crisp evening air, could be making out on a Ferris wheel—and her lips were parted, her chest rising and falling with quick breaths. She was perfect.
“Do you want to come back to the house with me tonight?” I stared into her eyes, searching for a flicker of reaction. She stared back, giving me nothing.
Then the Ferris wheel started turning again and the corners of her eyes crinkled. She smiled. “Yeah. I think so.”