He waltzed me around the kitchen, humming a tune I wasn’t familiar with that I was pretty sure he made up on the spot. Because he was the kind of guy who could make up a tune to waltz to. Because he was the perfect man.
“Well aren’t you Mr. Smooth?”
“Yes, that’s what they call me.” He spun me under his arm and then we did a dip and he kissed me.
“My mother taught me how to waltz. She said that a man should always know how to waltz with a woman.” He let me up and we continued to sway.
“She sounds like a smart woman.”
“She was,” he said, and I thought he was going to talk more about her, but he didn’t. He spun me out and spun me back in and then kissed me in a way that made me forget about waltzing. Well, at least vertically waltzing. We could do a great horizontal dance as well.
~*~*~
“So I have something else for you,” he said, reaching into his nightstand.
“It better not be your penis. Because I’ve already had that gift.”
“No, it’s this.” He held up a key and it glinted in the light. “I had an extra key made for you.” I took it from him and turned it over in my hand. I was excited about the key, because it seemed like he’d read my mind, but I wanted to know if this was going to open all the doors, and not just the front one.
“Does this open every door in your apartment?” His eyes narrowed for a split second.
“I told you, Sunshine. There are some doors that need to be kept closed. I love you . . . but there are things that I can’t share with you. I wish I could, but I can’t. Someday maybe I can tell you, but right now, those doors are shut and they’re going to stay that way.” His voice was almost harsh and I pulled the blanket across my body. He was keeping those closed doors between us and I didn’t like it.
“I wish you could explain it in a way that I could understand. But if you say that you need to do it, that’s what you need to do. I wish there was something I could do to change that, but it’s really up to you.” I tried not to sound bratty and bitter, but failed on both counts.
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be snotty about it, seriously. Can you understand where I’m coming from?” He pulled the sheet back down and pulled me so I was under him.
“I do. Believe me I do. If there was something I could do, Sunshine. Oh, you don’t know what I would do to fix it.”
The more he talked, the more confused I got.
“Just tell me it’s not a roomful of dead bodies. Or something creepy. Or a shrine of some other girl. Or something else illegal, or creepy, or gross.”
“It is none of the above, I promise. It’s just something that I can’t share. Okay?” I sighed.
“Okay.” For now. I was okay for now. Just the fact that I had a key was something. Now I had to get one made for him.
“Big step, giving me a key,” I said, tugging on his hair. “Does this mean I get a drawer?”
“Sunshine, you’ve already taken over half my dresser and most of my bathroom. You can have whatever space you want.” He was right. I had kind of started taking over.
“But I don’t mind. I like having to move your shampoo to find mine, or accidentally reaching for a toothbrush and getting yours instead of mine.”
“What about my tampons? You cool with those?”
“I am cool with your tampons.”
“Good.”
“Cool.”
The next morning he let me use my new key to lock the door when I left and I got a little thrill about putting it on my key ring.
At lunch, I ran to a locksmith and got one made for him since the only extra keys I had were in Sloane’s possession. She may have been great at making flan and lingerie, but she was terrible at not losing her key.
When I got back I saw Dad talking to Lucah and I immediately panicked. Dad had his back to me and Lucah was facing me so he saw the panic on my face and shook his head very subtly back and forth.
What did that mean? Did that mean things were okay? Did that mean I should panic? WHAT DID THAT SIGNAL MEAN? We hadn’t worked out our signals yet.