Chapter 13
DUSTIN
“I’m not okay,” Cat said. “I’m hungry.”
“I know,” I agreed. “The portion sizes were tiny.”
She sighed. “Are there any like, late night places here?”
“There definitely are. Or I’ve got some snacks at my place.”
As we headed back home, she stared out at Lakeshore Drive, the lights of the big city reflecting off her glassy eyes. Both seemed to magnify each other. She’d put on a jacket over her black dress, but her legs were bare. When she sat, it rode up almost to her mid-thigh.
I was having a hard time imagining her in a white lab coat.
Hell, I was having a hard time imagining her not naked.
“Green light,” she said, turning and looking over at me. “You look like you’re thinking pretty hard over there.”
I was also having a hard time concentrating on the road, apparently.
“What are you thinking about?”
“You.”
“Really?”
I reached my hand and put it on the exposed part of her leg that seemed to be calling out to me. “You did good tonight, babe,” I said.
She snorted, then picked up the album at her feet. “I have a Paul McCartney and John Lennon signed album thanks to you.”
“I guess you’re going to have to start appreciating The Beatles.”
She shook her head. “I’m going to get you back for that. I don’t know how. But I will.”
“Free full body massage tonight.”
She laughed. “Free? Do you usually charge?”
“I mean, have you seen these hands?” I said, taking the glove off of my non-steering wheel hand. “These hands do amazing things.”
“Fine, you have hot hands. I admit it.” She laughed and turned her head. “It’s a huge lake,” she said, looking out into the dark water. “I always forget how big it is.”
I smirked, and she put a finger over my lips. “Please. No ‘that’s what she said’ jokes. I know what you’re thinking right now.”
“I wasn’t thinking that at all,” I said. “Actually, I started thinking about all of the shipwrecks out on the lake that have never been found.”
“Are there a lot?”
“Hundreds. The most of any of the Great Lakes.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. And it makes me wonder, how well do you ever really know a person? Obviously, you and I have a unique arrangement. But do couples who are married for decades always have unexplored depths?”
“That’s really profound. I feel like an ass now, for assuming you were thinking up a dick joke.”
I laughed. “I’ve wondered sometimes if there isn’t something more honest about a one-night stand. You both want something—sex—and that honesty brings forth a weirdly meaningful connection.”
She kept staring at the lake as I turned off the exit. “I know exactly what you mean,” she said.
I stopped moving the conversation along from there and gripped her leg a little tighter.
Despite what I just said about the truth of a one-night stand, it was also true that I didn’t like thinking of Cat having a one-night stand with some guy she’d never see again.
It didn’t sit right with me. It was unfair of me to think like that, but some irrational jealousy flared in me. I pushed it down.
We pulled into my garage, and I tried to blot those thoughts out of my mind. I didn’t know why I had even started thinking this.
We lingered in the car for a moment after I turned it off, and I knew both of us were thinking about something greater than ourselves. Deep down, I felt a connection with her that went back much further than just this past weekend.
It made no sense to me how that was possible, though.
I got us some cheese and crackers and wine and came upstairs to find Cat curled up on the couch with a blanket and some Netflix thriller on the big screen. She had taken out her contacts and put her pajamas on.
I had to smile because this seemed to me what couples who had been married three years—not three days—probably did: go out to a fancy dinner party then fall asleep in front of the TV.
After I took off my suit, and came out into the living room. “Come to bed, honey,” I said, stroking her hair.
She followed me into bed.
“Sorry I got tired,” she said, “The weekend’s catching up to me.”
“It’s alright, Kit Cat,” I said. “We should get some sleep. We’ve got a big day of fake marriage ahead of us tomorrow. I mean, real. Whatever.”