I’d never done drugs before, but I imagined this was what being high felt like. I couldn’t wait for our date tonight.
We were doing the historic bridge walk and getting pizza. There was a Music in the Park event in the Nicollet Island Pavilion, which was on the route. It was the last concert of the season. I was bringing a blanket and some bug spray, a bottle of wine and some glasses. Leigh was watching the dog and the kids. I’d planned everything based on Emma’s answers to the survey I’d sent and then I made another invite. I used a picture of the Toilet King outside my window as the backdrop for it. Details matter.
Every date with her was sacred to me. I liked spending time with her so much, I brought her lunch yesterday just to have an excuse to see her for five minutes. I thought about the next time I got to see her every second up until she arrived.
I thought about her all the time.
She was getting an Uber to my apartment to meet me. When she finally knocked on the door, I practically ran to answer it. When I did, I busted up laughing. She was wearing the same shirt as me. The Toilet King, knotted at the waist.
“No way,” I said, looking her up and down in the doorway. “Where’d you find it?”
“Like it’s hard to find Toilet King anything around here?” she said. “He’s got us as walking advertisements,” I said, stepping aside to let her
in. “Unbelievable. We look like we’re on some twisted team-building exercise,” I said, closing the door behind her.
She grinned up at me. “Aren’t we?”
I couldn’t hide my smile. I didn’t know how it was possible she got more beautiful every time I saw her, but she did.
“Hi,” I said, my voice low. “Hi, Kiss And Run Guy.”
“Not to be mistaken with Forehead Kiss Guy?”
She scrunched up her face. “Hmmmm. They do look a lot alike.”
I laughed and leaned in and kissed her. Just a quick peck, but it got my heart going anyway.
I could have sworn she was blushing when I was done.
“So this is it,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “The infamous studio apartment with the view.”
I twisted to look over my shoulder. “I’d give you the tour, but you can see everything from here.”
She laughed a little and peered around. “Smaller than I expected.” “The room at my mom’s house is much bigger,” I added.
“And it doesn’t have a giant toilet outside.” “Silver lining.”
She nodded at the air mattress where my bed used to be. “What’s this?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “The guys left this here. Thought maybe I’d want to use the place from time to time. I’m still paying for it.”
“Use it for what?” she asked, blinking at me innocently. “Uh… naps?”
She nodded wryly. “Right. Naps.” Now I was blushing.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope we ended up back here after the date. The air mattress wasn’t ideal, and Brad put a damn Toilet King blanket on the bed just to be a dick. But still. Aside from getting a hotel room, which I shouldn’t be spending money on with all the new expenses, there was no other place for us to have privacy now. She had Maddy at the cottage. My new living arrangement wasn’t good with the kids there. An air mattress and the Toilet King was somehow the most reasonable option.
She was standing inside my personal space. Close enough that I could smell her hair. I wanted to pull her to me and put my nose to her head and breathe her in.
I stayed where I was.
“I need to see that billboard up close,” she said.
“It’s not close enough?”
She laughed and made her way around the foot of my air mattress, dragging a finger on the blanket as she went. She opened the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the tiny balcony into the warm summer air. I followed her and we stood there, hands on the railing, looking up at The King.
“You can see every pore…” she said in wonder. “You know, this would be a really nice view if the billboard wasn’t here.”
“Don’t rub it in.”
“Okay, but be honest,” she said, turning to me. “He’d be the first person you’d think of if you had a plumbing issue.”
“He’s been the first thing I think of the minute I wake up, all day long, when I go to bed…”
She laughed, shaking her head at the sign.
“I gotta give it to him,” I said. “His marketing is effective. He might be some kind of evil genius.”
She leaned on the railing. There wasn’t much room for two people out here. She was just within my personal space again, and she didn’t move to go back into the apartment. The proximity was a tiny intimate sign that even though we hadn’t done anything past first base yet, the intention for something past first might be there.
She’d almost come over last night. If she had, I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be just sleeping. It felt like we were inching toward something more serious and I wondered what it meant.
Or if it meant anything at all.
This was a woman who could leave a place and never look back. She kept her life reduced to two suitcases because she didn’t get sentimental about anything. Was she sentimental about sex?
She had to know this wasn’t just a fling for me. I’d told her I missed her last night. I’d asked her to stay longer and renew her contract. It didn’t sound like she was going to do it, but she knew I wanted her to. She wouldn’t just come over for a hookup knowing I wanted something more serious. I couldn’t picture her doing that.
It felt like we were either going to be all or nothing. We’d kiss, because we were supposed to kiss, and then we wouldn’t cross any more lines if she wasn’t planning on staying and that would be that.
Or we’d cross all the lines. Many, many times. And we’d do it because this was leading somewhere—or she was considering the possibility of that and seeing how it felt. If she wanted to come over last night, maybe it was because she was.
Emma looked over at me and smiled, and I let myself hope. “You ready to go?” I asked.
She shoved off the railing and we left.
“It’s so weird being here with you on the same walk we did that day on the phone,” she said, once we were on the bridge. “It’s like I teleported into your universe.”
“You did,” I said, holding her hand. I nodded over the side. “Remember St. Anthony Falls?”
“Yeah.”
We stopped to look at the water.
“You liked where you lived, huh?” she said. “Minnesota? Yes, of course.”
“No, I mean you liked living here, near this.”
“I did. This is my favorite part of the city. I always dreamed of living within walking distance to the bridge. Didn’t dream about having a giant plumber staring into my apartment, but I do love the rest of it. I did love the rest of it.”
I went quiet.
She nudged me. “What are you thinking?” she asked.
I paused. “I feel like I’m showing you a life that doesn’t belong to me anymore.”
She looked out over the river. “I understand. I’ve had a lot of lives too.
And none of them belong to me anymore either.”
I turned to look at her. “You could make one that does. You could always stay.”
I couldn’t read the smile she gave me. I wished I could.
I could ask her what she was thinking. She’d have to tell me. But I was as afraid of the answer as I was of not knowing and I didn’t want to put a shadow on the night if it wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
I cleared my throat. “Come on. Let’s go get gelato.” I nodded to the other end of the bridge.
A couple walked by, and the guy noticed our outfits. “Cool shirts.”
“Thanks, we’re employees,” Emma said.
I was laughing at this when my phone rang. I pulled it out and checked it. It was Leigh.
I debated just letting it go to voicemail, but she usually texted instead of calling and she had the kids.
“Hold on,” I said. “This might be important. Leigh?”
“Justin, I’m sorry, but I need to make you aware of something.” “What’s wrong?”
“The kids have head lice.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Fuck.
“All of them?” I asked.
“Every last one. Chelsea came home with a letter from the preschool that there’s been an outbreak, so I checked ’em and sure enough. I’m gonna get started on shampooing everyone. I gotta comb the eggs out and the girls got long hair. I have to wash all the bedding, all Chelsea’s dolls, disinfect the brushes, run to Walgreens and get the treatment—”
I could hear Sarah losing her absolute shit in the background.
“Sarah’s having a goddamn fit,” Leigh said. “And Alex is no help. Your brother keeps dry heaving when I even mention he pick up a comb.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Okay. All right. Can I have a few hours? At least go out to eat with her?”
“You can stay for the whole thing if you want, I can handle it. But if the kids have head lice, you probably have head lice. If you’re fine with that, continue on.”
Fuuuuuuuuuuck.
Sarah screamed again in the background, and Leigh made an exasperated noise. “Hold on. Sarah? You’re gonna scare your sister. Zip it.”
“It’s disgusting!” she shrieked. “We all got this from her. She’s so gross, why does she always have to hug everyone?!” She was crying.
“Sarah,” Leigh said in a warning voice. “You don’t understand!!!”
“Oh yeah? If I have to pick ’em off you, how is it I don’t understand? If you want to help, go strip your bed.” Leigh came back to me. “Justin, I gotta go. Let me know what you want to do.”
I moved the phone away from my mouth like she could see my disappointed expression through the line. I was going to lose my date with
Emma.
I didn’t see what choice I had. I couldn’t walk around with lice if I had it. I wasn’t itchy, but who fucking knew. And I didn’t feel good about leaving Leigh to deal with Sarah’s meltdown either.
“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “I’ll be there in a bit.”
I hung up and turned to Emma, dragging a hand over my face. “I need to go home.”
She looked concerned. “What happened?” “Chelsea got lice at preschool.”
She sucked air through her teeth. “Ohhh.”
“The whole house has it. I probably have it,” I added. “Sarah’s having a panic attack. I have to go help. I can’t leave them there infested with bugs.”
“No, you can’t,” she agreed.
I let out a long breath. Then I arched an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose you’d want to come with me?”
She gave me an amused look. “To pick nits off your family? How romantic.”
“You want romance? I thought we were just curse breaking.” “Of course I want romance,” she said.
“Well damn, you should have said something. I’ll get right on it.” I dropped to one knee.
She sucked in air. “Uh, what are you doing?” she said, her eyes darting around.
“Romance.”
“Justin, stop it,” she whispered. “Get up! Get up!”
I took her hand and did my best to make my face straight. People were already stopping to watch. I made my voice low so only she could hear it. “Emma, would you do me the honor of delousing my family with me?”
She snorted.
I looked at her passionately. “Say yes. Please say yes. I want to spend the rest of my evening with you.”
She was trying not to laugh. “You are the worst…” I grinned. “Is this a hostage situation?” I whispered. “That’s exactly what this is.”
Someone was recording on their phone. Actually, lots of people were recording on their phones. I waited patiently for her answer.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes.” “Yes?”
“Yes, I will comb lice with you.”
I stood up and scooped her into my arms and spun her. People started clapping and cheering.
She laughed.
When I set her down, someone shouted congratulations and we both cracked up quietly. Then we stood there, still holding each other, my arms around her waist, hers around mine, the Toilet King pressed between us. I didn’t let go.
She didn’t let me go either.
“Head lice,” she said. “I was wondering how you were going to top kittens.” Her eyes moved to my lips. “You should check me too,” she said. “Just to be safe.”
“Wow. We’re checking each other for lice. I guess you could say things are gettin’ pretty serious.”
I felt her laugh against my chest.
“Are you sure you don’t mind coming to help?” I asked. “I know you didn’t want to spend time with the kids.”
“I got lice once in foster care before Maddy’s. It’s traumatic and humiliating, especially for teenagers. I don’t mind helping someone get it over with sooner.”
I smiled a little. If you would have told me a year ago that delousing my family would be a term of endearment for a date, I would have thought you were bullshitting.
You could have told me a lot of things a year ago that I would never have believed.
