Chapter 19 Autumn
Autumn
Raindrops splash into the small puddles that they’ve created, but as I look out the third-story hospital window, I see blue sky.
The weather in the summer can be funny around here sometimes. The sun is still out, and it looks like a nice day, but the rain persists. I love days like this, as confusing as it looks, because you know there’s a rainbow out there somewhere.
I go to the bathroom and straight to the mirror.
I look like I should while I’m at work, hair pulled back neat and clean, but I don’t want to.
I pull the elastic off the ponytail and shake my hair out.
My fingers pull through it, trying to work out the crease left from being bound.
I work my fingertips in the roots to replace the flatness with some volume.
When I get back to the desk, I grab my scrub jacket to throw over my head when I run to my car for my break.
We have a break room, but as a supervisor, I can’t actually take a break in there.
Someone will find me and need something or have to tell me something they forgot from five minutes ago when they last saw me.
If they can’t find me, they’ll probably still text me, but my phone is a lot easier to ignore than someone standing right in front of me.
My fingers tap anxiously on the desk, waiting to jet to the car. Not that I’m waiting for a specific time, but rather a text. From Jimmy. He’s coming to see me, and I can’t wait. It’s not the first time he’s come up here, but it always feels like it is.
I don’t know exactly what we’re doing, but the one thing I do know for sure is that I have never been so happy. Things have never felt so right, even though I know they’re wrong.
After that first visit here at work, it turned into a routine that neither of us fought. We couldn’t get much time together, but twenty-five minutes a few times a week was better than nothing. We both agreed that just texting wasn’t enough.
My whole world changed when he came back to my apartment with me. Even though I tried to bring up the obvious issue when we were standing in my kitchen, we didn’t talk about it. We still haven’t talked about it. That’s another thing that hasn’t changed about him.
But this time around, we didn’t go back to living our lives like nothing happened.
Something had happened, for both of us this time.
Our conversations didn’t just go back to a normal, friendly thing.
We don’t talk to each other like just friends anymore.
He texts me things like ‘good night, beautiful,’ ‘I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,’ and ‘I can’t stop thinking about kissing you again. ’
Those types of conversations never happened before. While we hadn’t and I didn’t know when or even if we’d sleep together again, our conversations and our time in this parking lot made it more than obvious that we were on the same page.
Finally, a message comes through.
Just sitting out here waiting for a kiss.
I smile. I guess that’s his way of saying he’s outside.
“I’m heading out for my break,” I yell over my shoulder and head to the elevator.
Once I’m at the ground floor and the main doors slide open, I’m blindsided by the fact that this is not the rain I was just watching a few minutes ago.
Gloomy clouds have caught up to the storm, and it is raining more, like really raining.
I can hardly see, but it dawns on me that even if I could, I didn’t ask him where he parked.
So, I’m standing here, my arms stretched up, holding my jacket awning, which, quite frankly, is doing nothing. Wet and frustrated with myself, I turn to go back inside to use my phone when I hear his voice. “Looking for someone?”
In a fluid motion, I turn and jump in the car because that voice only belongs to one person.
He laughs as he pulls into a parking space, and I situate myself, shaking the water off my hair like the wet dog this weather has turned me into.
I should’ve left my hair pulled back because it’s already reverted to its natural wavy state, a soon-to-be frizz ball that’s hard to tame even in a ponytail.
He hasn’t said anything yet, but he’s stopped laughing. His body is turned towards me with his left hand still on the steering wheel. His lips are curled ever so slightly into a one-sided smirk. And this is why we’re here.
That look on his face is why I always end up back in this situation with a stampede in my stomach. I’m soaking wet, and I’m sure my makeup is smeared all over the place. Yet you wouldn’t guess by the way he’s looking at me.
“You okay?” I giggle nervously.
He blinks. “More than okay. Still waiting on that kiss though.”
With no other words, we both lean across the center console to reunite our lips.
His hand brushes my cheek, then slides into my hair.
I just know it’s going to get tangled, but I don’t care.
His tongue parts my lips, and it tastes like chocolate.
Clearly, he’s been indulging in his guilty pleasure snack of Hershey kisses, and I love it when his kisses taste like Hershey’s.
“How’s your day today?” he whispers as we pause to breathe. His breath warms my wet lips as we stay less than two inches away from each other.
“Better now,” I breathe back.
“Well, mine’s not good enough yet,” he says as he pulls me back in.
This time, there’s more fever in his grip.
He reaches over with his other hand and cups my thigh, lifting me over the center and onto his lap.
My surprise comes out as both a gasp and laughter.
Once I balance my straddle, our eyes meet, and I feel the seat sliding backwards.
The way he looks up at me through his lashes, I can tell he’s hungry, but not for more chocolate.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but not here. Someone could see us.”
He nods his head towards the windshield. It’s still pouring. “No one can see or even hear anything. Even if they could, no one’s hanging around out there long enough to notice.”
He’s right. It’s only continued to rain, possibly even harder now than before. But I still can’t. Not at work. I lean in and kiss him.
“Not outside my job, Jimmy, I’ll be fired, then I’ll have to move away again to find another job.”
His head leans back with an exasperated groan. I know it will make it worse, but I kiss his neck anyway. His hands wrap around my thighs, and he cups my butt with a squeeze.
“You’re no fair.” He whispers.
“Fine then.” I stop and push against his chest to sit straight up.
“See me tomorrow?” he asks.
“Same place, same time?” I smile.
He shakes his head. “No. I don’t want to keep sitting in the car. Come to the hotel.”
My head leans to the side, puzzled. “How is that going to work?”
He rubs his hands up and down my thighs. “I’ll put a conference call on my calendar so no one will be looking for me. I’ll text you which room to go to, then one of us will leave a few minutes before the other.”
The scenario visualizes in my mind. Sounds easy enough. Still risky, but it could work, and I would actually love to get out of this car.
“Really?”
“Yes. Really. Tomorrow,” he says, his voice assertive.
“I have to work at three-thirty.”
“Lunch then?” he winks.
My smile responds before my words do. “Noon?”
“Let’s do eleven. Just to be safe.”
I laugh. Safe? None of this is safe, but I confirm our new plans by grabbing his face and pulling myself in for all of the Hershey kisses I can get in the next ten minutes.