AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Trying to flirt,he replies,but I’d never flirt with another woman. There’s only you, Zoey. Don’t make me cause a scene in this nice restaurant.
What sort of scene?
Like kicking the door to the lady’s bathroom down and kissing you hard and passionately so you know nobody else compares. Come back out here.
I can’t hide in the stall all night. I’m starting to feel silly. The panic I felt upon first seeing her is beginning to diffuse. When I leave the bathroom, Jax is waiting for me in the narrow hallway. There’s nobody else around, just us, but it’s still a risk when he pulls me into his arms and guides his lips to mine. Just because Lola didn’t recognize me right away, it doesn’t mean she won’t.
I forget about all the sneaking, the lies, the complications when he kisses me. He groans, unable to mask his pleasure, and I moan in response. We only stop when somebody walks around the corner to the hallway. Luckily, it’s not Lola. Jax grins down at me. It’s like we’re sharing a secret.
Like? No, wearesharing one.
“Come on. Let’s enjoy our meal.”
* * *
Jax must’ve said something to Lola because she’s far more distant and respectful when she brings out our food. As we eat, Jax tells me about his travels, going to Malta and Berlin and all over the world, a notebook in his hand and ideas sparking in his mind.
“It sounds incredible,” I murmur, “but doesn’t it ever get lonely?”
“It never used to,” he replies, cutting into his steak.
“What changed?”
He looks oddly boyish as he turns to the water, studying the dappled surface as if he can’t look at me. When he turns back, there’s fresh intensity in his eyes.
“You,” he says.
I laugh. It must be a joke I don’t understand.
“I’m serious,” he goes on. “I never needed a travel companion because I couldn’t imagine a woman I’d want to spend that much time with.Definitelynot Lola, before you get any silly ideas.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so melodramatic.”
“You’ve got no reason to apologize, but you need to know you’re not that nervous girl in high school anymore. You’re a kickass writer, a kickass student, and a kickass person.”
Clearly not a kickass daughter.
“So you’re saying youcanimagine traveling with me?”
“I am,” he says seriously, ignoring my joking tone. “When I picture going abroad again, I see you at my side, but that’s not because I want to travel again. I’ve been doing more and more research online, and much of my travel isn’tnecessary.”
“So, what are you saying?”
He shrugs again with that shifty look. “I may not have to leave the States so much in the future.”
“That will make any future girlfriends happy,” I say.
It’s a petty arrow to fling in his direction, but he catches it with ease.
“You should look in the mirror and ask her.”
“You’re saying I’m going to be yourgirlfriend?”
“Why is that so shocking?” he replies fiercely. “I want to be with you. I’ve made no secret about it.”
We eat quietly for a couple of minutes as I try to process his words and imagine a world without a secret hanging between us. There isn’t the thought of Mom and Jax kissing or doing more, and then… and then nothing, a black hole in knowledge, devouring any hope for the future.
“That’s why Lola has backed off,” Jax says. “When she brought our drinks, I told her you were my girlfriend.”
