24. Arden
24
ARDEN
The next morning as I stroll through the town square on the way to work, I feel like everyone’s eyes are on me. Like they can see through me, an X-ray woman revealing all her risqué thoughts to the world on black-and-white film.
But no one stares, since all these wild, wonderful images are flicking by in my brain, only for me—images and sounds and memories of the things I said to Gabe, and that he said to me.
It was only the start of our sex education plan, and yet last night was not an experience that I can easily let go of. Nor do I want to. I feel alive and electric, like I’m living in a fevered dream.
Anticipation camps out in my chest as I near the firehouse. My heart ticks faster, and my wish to see him—to wave, to say hello—grows more intense.
But at the same time, I’m not sure how I should behave.
Everything feels a little different between us, even though we didn’t cross any lines.
We didn’t touch. We simply said racy words. But in saying them, I revealed myself. I showed him my wants, and now he knows some of my deepest desires.
I’m not only Arden, his Words with Friends pal and bowling buddy. I’m a woman who has after-dark wishes.
I know more of him too. I know how he approaches sex and women and experimentation.
It’s like we’re walking the tightrope of friendship, balancing precariously and tipping ever closer to the edge.
But as I pass the firehouse, my heart sinks. The truck is gone, and its absence reveals to me how badly I wanted to see him. I let out a long exhale that’s tinged with more disappointment than I expected. Plus, he has a twenty-four-hour shift today, so there won’t be any experiments tonight. But we’re seeing each other tomorrow, and I’m debating whether I want to practice biting, spanking, or stripping, or if we can work in that elevator arms-in-the-air agenda item.
Later in the day, my phone pings with a text.
Gabe: Hey! Wild Care says Hedwig is recuperating nicely.
I punch the air in triumph. His note makes me happy in a whole new way. For the owl and also, I’m realizing, for us . Because we’re normal. We can be owl-rescuers, and bowling buddies, and pizza friends, and coach and sex-thlete, and just . . . well, friends .
Good friends.
Arden: Yay! Also, you checked on Hedwig? I love that.
Gabe: Of course. I wanted an update, and I knew you’d want to know as well. So I checked on our owl.
Arden: Can I still adopt him? There’s a high shelf in my store that I know he’d love.
Gabe: I’m sure Henry and Clare would LOVE his company.
Arden: Admit it. A bookstore owl would be so cool.
Gabe: Yes, it would be. But Hedwig belongs in the wild. Speaking of shelves, how’s that one that you were worried was a little loose? Need me to take a look at it?
My heart beats a little faster from his offer, his willingness to help me. I head over to the shelf in question, rapping on it.
Arden: I checked it. All good!
Gabe: You know where to find me if you need anything.
Arden: Same to you. :)
This man does so much for me, and I only wish I could do something special for him. That afternoon, as I help a customer find an old Dashiell Hammett novel, I know precisely what that is.