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"I think we can find so at home that will be suitable Maybe we can have the others over next weekend and recreate some of the stuff we ate here?"

I turned to face hirinned

"Yeah, sure Iat me carefully

"I do," I answered And I did Even without the stupid, blessed O, I wanted to be with Sihed as he hugged me to him The driver honked, and we shuffled toward the car

"I’ll call you when I’ood work done," I instructed

He brushed my hair back from my face and leaned in to kiss ot in the car And drove away from the fairy tale

Once I was ensconced inbut hours to conte but hours to sit and stew and gru all the while to assure the driver I was fine and not stone-cold crazy I cried because, well, there was sure as shit a lot of tension in my body, and it had to coh my eyeballs I was sad, and I was frustrated Noas done crying

I tried to read I’d stocked up on trashy h them, titles of articles juasht Loss Plan: Orgasm Your Way to a Thinner You!"

Lower Caroline, Brain, Backbone, Heart were all lined up and throwing stones at Nerves, as trying her best to hide

I sla therabbed my laptop, powered it up, and put in ht I could let my brain escape into a filh some of the movies I had on file…When Harry Met Sally? Nope, not with that scene in the deli Top Gun? Nope, that scene where they do it, and it’s all lit blue with the breeze blowing through the gauzy curtains? No, too close to my fairy tale

I found a movie I could safely watch, took three Tylenol PM, and was asleep before Luke learned how to use his lightsaber

Soht across the US, I downshifted froht up on ood and ed I had to stay in er--and hoas going to live ain, overly draht, it’s easy to have tunnel vision

Finally, we touched down at SFO and as I followed the crowd to baggage claim, physically and emotionally exhausted, I looked up into the face of soain

Cory Weinstein That un fucker

Plastered across the newsstand was his stupid face in a giant ad can for Slice o’ Love Pizza Parlors I stood in front of his giant head, which wore the biggest shit-eating grin as he posed with a giant pepperoni slice, and er had a face, and it was a stupid face I wanted to punch it in the face, but it was only a picture

Unfortunately, that didn’t stopto do, have a fit in an international airport Turns out they frown on that So after a strongly worded warning froain, I packedof airplane, and went back to my aparts down, I saw the only two things that could ly wordedintothe affection he reserved for moments exactly like these Somehow his little cat brain knew I needed it, and he lavished attention onincessantly, he butted his head up underinto his fur, I held hiood to be hoood care of you? Huh? Who’sa can of tuna, his treat for behaving while I was gone Turning now from Clive, who had focused solely on his bowl,to shower, and then I was going to bake I needed to bake

An unknown ah I will say the sun had set and risen while I floured and stirred--I heard knocking atI feltsoeous Brownies They took a few extra steps, but oh boy, were they worth the trouble What the hell time was it? I looked around for Clive and didn’t see hiar all over the floor, brown and white, and I was perfor an accidental soft-shoe dance There was another knock at the door,my eyes at the irony As I raised my hand to open the door, I noticed ave them a heavenly lick as I opened the door

There stood Si here? You’re not supposed to be hoht, I know I took an earlier flight" He pushed past me into my apartment

As I closed the door and turned to face hih clinging to it "You took an earlier flight Why?" I asked, soft-shoeing across the floor to hi the piles and piles of cookies, the assorted pies on the sills, the aluminum-wrapped bricks of zucchini bread, pue bread, stacked like the foundation of a house all along the dining table He grinned oncea raisin off my forehead that I didn’t even knoas stuck there

"Are you gonna tell me why you faked it?"

Chapter Twenty-One

DUMBSTRUCK, I STOOD withopen as he walked farther into the rooar and paused to swipe a finger through a bowl lined with hed heavily as I returned to the counter to face hih fro

How did he kno could he tell? I flipped and kneaded the dough--a fluffy, clingy brioche--feeling ht I’d played it pretty well I chanced a look up at hiI took h as I pondered an O-less life Daer now clean, he brushed a lock of hair behind my ear as I continued to punch/knead and flip I winced when he touched e of hionna talk about this?" he asked quietly, dipping his nose to ht myself

"What is there to talk about? I don’t even knohat you’re talking about Are you delirious fro his eyes as I wondered if I could pull this off Could I convince hihtie Girl, co into onna do this, we need to talk to each other"

Talk? Sure, I could talk He should probably knohat he was in for with me, doomed to wander the planet without an O for the rest of ainst the wall It dripped and rolled down, sticky like those creepy crawly things I used to play with as a kid I whirled to face hioing to be?" he asked cal to be brioche," I answered quickly, ood"