13. Oatman #3
"Again," she said.
I gave her more sugar packets. She lost those.
"Again."
"Nora."
"I'm playing until I win."
So we played. She lost six more hands. She stopped sighing and started glaring at the cards like they had personally betrayed her.
She stopped rearranging her sugar packets because she didn't have any left.
I kept giving her more, and she kept pushing them to the center, and I kept taking them back.
On the last hand, I dealt her two kings. She picked up her cards, sat up straighter, and pressed her lips together trying not to react. I had a flush. I looked at my cards, looked at her face, and folded.
She turned her cards over and slapped the table.
"I did it!"
She gathered her sugar packets toward her like they were real money, stacking them in a neat pile beside her tea. She was smiling, open and unguarded, and I let myself look at her.
She yawned. Tried to cover it with her hand.
"We should probably get to bed," I said.
"Yeah." She looked at the bed, then at me. "Yeah, we should."
She climbed in on the side closest to the window. I turned off the lamp. The room went dark except for the gray light coming through the glass and the rain still hitting the window in slow, heavy drops.
I lay down on the other side. The bed was small and there wasn't much space between us. I stared at the ceiling and listened to her breathing settle.
Then she shifted. She moved across the narrow space between us and tucked herself against my side, her head on my chest, her hand resting on my ribs.
I put my arm around her. She pressed closer. Her breathing slowed.
I held still and let her fall asleep against me. I stayed awake for a long time after, listening to the rain and feeling her breathe.
In the morning the sky was clear. The storm had moved on overnight, and the mountains were sharp and clean against a blue that looked like it had been washed.
We got dressed. Nora returned Marge's umbrella to the crystal shop and thanked her. We grabbed breakfast from a place on the boardwalk, something quick, coffee and eggs at a counter, and walked back to the truck.
The drive home was quieter. The morning light came through the windshield warm and flat across the desert. Nora had the labradorite in her lap, turning it in her fingers, watching the flash come and go.
"I had a really good time." She kept her eyes on the stone.
"No one's ever done something like this for me before.
I went out with boys when I was a teenager.
Movies, the mall, whatever kids do. But nothing like this.
Nobody ever planned a whole day for me. Nobody ever drove me two hours to a place I'd never heard of and bought me a crystal and took pictures in a photo booth.
I didn't know it was supposed to feel like this. "
I kept my eyes on the road. "Like what?"
"Like I didn't want it to end."
I let that settle in my chest. I didn't want it to end either.
Barb's driveway was bright in the midday sun. I put the truck in park and the street went quiet around us.
Nora turned to me. "Thank you again for doing this for me."
"You don't have to thank me."
She leaned across the console, reached for my jaw, and pulled me into a kiss.
Her mouth was warm and soft, and for a second my brain went completely blank. Then my hands caught up. I reached for her, one hand sliding into her hair, the other finding her waist across the console. She made a small sound against my mouth and I pulled her closer.
She kissed me like she'd been thinking about it.
Her fingers tightened on my jaw. Her mouth opened against mine and I felt her breath, warm and unsteady, mixing with mine.
My hand moved from her waist to the small of her back and she arched into me, her chest pressing against mine across the console.
The seatbelt caught her and she reached down and unclicked it without breaking the kiss.
I lost track of time. My hand was in her hair, her fingers were on my neck, and every place she touched me felt like it was running at a higher temperature than the rest of my body.
She kissed my bottom lip. I kissed her back harder.
She made that sound again, quiet and involuntary, and I felt it in my chest.
When she finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard. Her hand was still on my neck. Her lips were flushed. She looked at me with her face an inch from mine, and I could see every single thing she was feeling because she wasn't hiding any of it.
"Call me later?"
"Yeah, I will."
She picked up the labradorite from the console where she'd set it, held it against her chest, and climbed out of the truck. She walked up the path to the front door. Before she went inside, she turned back and looked at me. Then she went inside and shut the door.
I sat in the driveway for a long time. The sun was high and the street was quiet. I could still feel her hand on my face.
I pulled out of the driveway and drove home with the photo strip in my wallet and the taste of her on my mouth.