Page 54 of Life, Love, and Other Messes

Ollie stopped to investigate an old mattress someone had pushed to the curb. I looked at Lisa, she looked at me. And this time, I kissed her.

“Oh for God’s sake, get a room, ladies.” Mrs. Finley emerged from the shadows of her carport, sweeping leaves down the drive. Before either of us could respond, she waved us off and continued about her business, a big smile on her face.

We went out to a casual dinner that night, then settled in to work in her living room. We’d been doing our own things for about an hour before I felt her eyes on me. “What?”

“This really is different, isn’t it?”

I thought she was talking about how we were maybe sort of dating, but she went on before I could comment.

“You’re just writing, no stopping, no thinking about it.”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

“You type really fast.”

I hadn’t noticed that she didn’t, since a lot of what she did was pen on paper. “I took a high school typing class the summer after seventh grade.”

“Which probably helped immensely with your writing. Were you able to convert that stuff?”

I felt my cheeks going a little red. “We didn’t have a computer.”

Lisa stared at me.

“It was on a typewriter.”

“Oh shit.” She laughed. “Sorry.”

“Yes, I’m fucking old.”

“No, you’re not. I just wasn’t thinking.”

“No nursing home jokes? No I’ve fallen and can’t get up jokes?”

“Those come later. What’re you writing? May I ask?”

I cocked my head at my laptop. “This one’s a romance.”

“Really. I had in my head that it was a murder mystery. I don’t know why, really…”

“I’m supposed to be proofreading one, but I have until next week—”

“And you’re writing now.”

“Right.”

“Would you read a little bit to me?”

Oh God. Veronica and all my other girlfriends had read my books, sure, but never in the process. Not even the drafts I sent in to Jace. “Um…Yeah…I…”

Lisa smiled. “Want to know what I’m doing first?” When I nodded, she taught me a song about Señor Don Gato falling off a roof then coming back to life. I got to add “meow meow meow” when she pointed at me and I didn’t even feel stupid, although we were both giggling during the whole thing. At the end, she took a bow and came to sit on the arm of my chair. “Did I mention I have a master’s degree in this shit?”

When I stopped laughing, I took a deep breath. “Okay. Do you want to go from the beginning or pick out a scene?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“You can just read over my shoulder.”

“Nah. Read to me.”