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“No, you don’t want that to be my truth?”
“I don’t,” he admitted. “I know you well enough to believe it.”
“That I don’t wear underwear?”
“Yep.”
Now, I’m curious.
“How exactly do I give off the ‘she’s definitely the kind of girl who doesn’t wear underwear’ vibe?” I continued to eat a really delicious turkey club hoagie as he answered.
“You give off a ‘she’s definitely the kind of girl who marches to the beat of her own drum’ vibe. Close enough.”
Interesting. “I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing.”
“It’s a good thing, Thayle.”
This was getting real. He must have said my name a million times throughout the years, but never like that. I summon my courage and wait for him to ask for my truth.
“So, a truth then.”
Here went nothing. I pretended to think about it as if I hadn’t planned this for the last hour and a half.
“Truth,” I said. My heart was already racing. Now it was going to leap out of my chest. Or at least, it felt that way. “I’ve been wondering all day about that privacy window in the limo.”
Neo, about to take a sip of wine, put the glass back down on the table instead. He leaned forward. “What have you been wondering, exactly?”
Go boldly in the direction of your dreams, live the life you have imagined.
I was quite certain Thoreau hadn’t had this in mind when he’d said that. Whatever. If this didn’t count as bold, I didn’t know what did.
“I’ve been wondering if the driver really can’t see through it.”
“Because?”
“Because if he can’t—”
“He can’t.” His tone was firm. As if the matter had been settled. Alrighty, then.
“That’s good.” I really wasn’t trying to string him along. But it was a competition, after all. So maybe I was. Just a little.
“Why is that good, Thayle?” There it was. My name again, said like a lover’s caress.
This was a low blow. But one, I liked to win. And two, it was true. “Because then our driver can’t see me eat another banana on the way back to the inn.”
His jaw dropped. When he lifted it back up, it was to say, “There was only one banana in the basket.”
Finally, I allowed myself to smile. Hopefully, it was a seductive smile. “Oh. That’s a shame.”
SEVENTEEN
neo
“You guys ready for one more?”
I was ready for something, but not another winery. Our lunch was over too soon, the banter between Thayle and I so out of hand that even I had a hard time keeping up. Growing up with two older brothers and a very sarcastic older sister, I’d learned to be quick-witted out of necessity. In the Grado household, it was eat or be eaten.
But this was on an entirely different level.
