“Almost,” I laughed. “I claim the chicken curry, though.”
We each grabbed a paper plate I had thought to stuff into the sides of the bag and made plates of our favorites, moving to the couch to sit down. Amanda turned on the television, putting on a sitcom but keeping the volume low so we could talk while we ate.
“This is delicious,” she said after a few minutes of muffled silence as we dug into our food. “So, how is the investigation going?”
“Dallas, the PI, found a piece of a flannel shirt the cops missed. Danny wears almost nothing but flannels, so we took it to the detective working the case. Not sure yet how seriously he’s taking it, but he at least admitted it as evidence,” I said.
“That’s exciting,” she said, picking at her lo mein. “Have you guys talked about rebuilding at all?”
“Not yet,” I said, finishing an egg roll in embarrassingly few bites. “We just aren’t at that point yet.”
“Well, the reason I was asking,” Amanda said, looking up at me and then back down to her plate, “is that I think I found a spot that might be better than where you were.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said, poking at the noodles as she spoke, seeming to judge my reaction. “It’s just on the outskirts of town, but it’s much larger, and the neighborhood is busier than where you were. All the new building going on down there means that people are flocking there all the time.”
“Show me,” I said, and she smiled brightly. Jumping up off the couch, she grabbed her tablet and brought it back to sit close to me. I set my plate off to the side and let her cozy up to me. She smelled like a flowery shampoo and fresh soap, and I wondered how she would react if I had just pulled her into my lap.
“See,” she said, pulling a listing up and scrolling through the pictures, “the lot is bigger with more parking, and it’s got enough room that you could expand. And you wouldn’t have to build from the ground up.”
“This is fantastic,” I said, ideas swirling in my mind as I saw the potential of the lot. “It’s big enough that we could add a restaurant, or even sublet to someone else. And the price is really not bad at all.”
I looked up and saw the sparkle in her eyes. I leaned in and pressed my lips into hers, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I stayed there for a moment, enjoying the taste of her and the spice of the food mixed together. When she leaned back, I stood up. “I’m going to do a bit more research on this,” I said. “Thank you.”
She grinned and picked up the plates and dumping the empty ones into the trash.
“I think I’m going to get some sleep. It’s been a long day,” she said.
“Okay,” I said, “I’ll be in here so I don’t keep you up.”
Amanda smiled and headed into the bedroom, and I couldn’t help but peer around the corner at her as she undressed, slipping under the covers and getting comfortable. As tempting as it was to go climb in after her, the excitement of the new lot and the responsibility of helping my brothers made me want to explore it as soon as possible.
Pouring a glass from the small bottle of scotch I’d bought earlier in the day, I settled into the couch to do a little more research on the area around the possible new lot.
20
Amanda
I waited until Tom was in the shower to call Emily. I felt like I hadn’t talked to her in forever, and there was so much to catch her up on. But I couldn’t exactly spill everything with Tom right there in the room with me. Finally, I heard the shower-head running, and I grabbed my phone.
“Hey,” I said when she answered. “Can you talk?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Why are we whispering?”
“Because Tom is in the shower, and I don’t want him to hear me,” I said.
She gasped, but the sound cut off quickly, and I could only imagine she had covered her mouth.
“Does that mean you have something to tell me about him?” she asked. “Something that might prove what I’ve been saying about the two of you? Did he say something? Did he ask you out? Did he kiss you?” she asked.
“Well, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t ask me out, but he did kiss me. Right before we had mind-blowing sex,” I said.
Emily screamed so loud on the other end of the line, I was pretty sure Tom would be able to hear her even through the sound of the water in the shower.
“Oh, my gosh,” she said. “Are you serious? You better be serious. You better not be punking me or anything,” she said.
“I don’t think people punk each other anymore, Emily. We’re not fifteen.”
“Is right now really the moment you’re choosing to criticize my pop culture references?”
“Okay, I’m sorry. No, I’m not punking you. We really did sleep together. A few days ago,” I said.
“A few days ago?” she asked, her voice rising up a little bit again. “You’ve been hanging on to this for a few days and you didn’t decide it was time to tell me until now? Did he just not step out of the room or take a shower since then?” she gasps again. “Oh, my God. Did he really not? Are you just now getting out of bed?”
“We would have died of dehydration by now,” I quipped. “No, we’re not just getting out of bed. A lot’s been happening over the last couple of days. I wanted a chance to be able to talk to you.”
“A lot’s been happening?” she asked.
“Yeah, things with the bar burning down and the private investigator coming to look into it.”
“Oh,” she said, sounding somewhat disappointed. “Well, tell me about him. How was it? Was it incredible? He looks like it would be incredible.”
“It definitely was incredible,” I admitted.
She squealed. “Have you done it again? Are you official?”
“We haven’t done it again,” I said. “It was just that one night. And the next morning. And we haven’t even really talked about it. We haven’t talked about what it means or what we are to each other now.”
I tilted my head toward the bathroom a little bit more so I could listen to the sound of the showerhead. The second the water turned off, I wanted to be done with the conversation so there was no chance he would be able to overhear me talking about him.
“Amanda, you’ve got to have that conversation with him. You have to make him have that conversation with you. This isn’t something you can just pretend isn’t going on or just ride with,” she said.
“Why not?” I asked. “Can’t we just keep going the way we are right now?”
“Are you serious?” Emily asked.
“Yes,” I said. “What would be so wrong with us not having that conversation? Things are going well between us. We’re comfortable with each other, and we’re enjoying being around each other. He kissed me again last night. Maybe we can just slide into the rhythm of having a relationship without all that drama.”
“Do you really think that?” she asked.
“No,” I said, disappointed to even have to admit it.