I’m too embarrassed to look at Cole.
He must think we’re so weird, and it’s true. We are. We’re at once an old married couple and complete strangers. We know so much about each other—tics, habits, patterns of life—but I don’t know what his lips feel like. I’ve never felt the weight of him pinning me down onto a bed, his hands on me, between my thighs.
I let Cole and Aiden get back to work after the pizza comes out of the oven. I retreat to the confines of my room and try to use my door to shove Aiden out of my thoughts. This space is my solace. There’s none of him in here, no stray black hairs or empty coffee cups or sharpened pencils.Friday is a blur of activity as I continue getting the lay of the land with Elise. She made me move to a small desk adjacent to her office. I have a snazzy new computer and a slew of crystals arranged at precise locations behind my monitor.
“Do not move them,” she warned me. “It’ll throw off your chakras.”
At lunch, I accidentally knock one over onto the floor. The sound it makes is so ominous, I half expect the building to come down around me.
With wide eyes, I whip around to face Elise’s office, but thankfully, she’s inside talking on the phone while bouncing up and down on a huge blue exercise ball. Relieved she didn’t catch me damaging her property and my chakras, I get on all fours and crawl toward the crystal, careful not to bump it against anything as I lift it back onto my desk like it’s my most prized possession.
Dan’s there waiting for me as I straighten up onto my knees. He’s a few feet away, his hands on his hips, his eyes crinkled at the edges. He’s deeply amused to have found me in this compromising position.
“My crystal fell,” I explain, as if that makes sense to anyone outside the la-la land Elise inhabits.
He points to the row of them on my desk. “Shouldn’t matter. You have quite a few.”
“Elise told me they’ll help align the points of energy in my body. Don’t touch that purple one unless you’re ready to become a father. Apparently, it helps with fertility.”
He takes a healthy step away from it, and I laugh.
“I’m kidding. I don’t know what any of them are supposed to do. They look like dust collectors to me, but don’t tell Elise that.”
He zips his lips then nods his head in the direction of the elevators.
“I came down to invite you to lunch, but it looks like you already have it taken care of.”
I glance down at my arugula salad covered in spindly alfalfa sprouts. No dressing, extra raw beets—just the way Elise eats it. She took the liberty of ordering it for me along with her lunch, and she stood there until I took my first bite.
“Yum,” I said, swallowing down a whole hunk of fibrous greens and trying to keep a straight face.
Without another thought, I reach for my purse hanging on the back of my chair and wave for Dan to lead the way. “Let’s go quick. Here, shove that salad in your pants so there’s no evidence of it left behind.”
He laughs and tucks the closed container under his arm, and then we make a run for it toward the elevators.
“How long do you have left on your lunch break?” he asks.
“Thirty minutes, and then Elise wants me to sit in on a meeting with her, so we have to be fast.”
I’m hustling as if I’m on the lam. I can’t help it. I know I’ll be putting real food in my mouth soon, and my salivary glands are already rearing into action.
“Do you like Philly cheesesteaks?” I ask Dan as we hop onto the elevator.
“Can’t say I’ve ever had one.”
I slap a hand over my chest like I’m deeply offended. “Today, we fix that. Prepare to have your mind blown.”
Way South Philly Deli is where Aiden and I eat when we want comfort food. It’s one of our favorite spots, and I’m not surprised to see there’s a line out the door when Dan and I arrive.
“It moves fast,” I assure him as we take our place at the end.
Up ahead, a head of black hair catches my attention, and I sidestep out of line to confirm it’s who I think it is. With a laugh, I shake my head. Of course he’d come on the same day as me. Like girls with synced periods, Aiden and I have matching food cravings.
I’m about to shout his name when I see him turn to talk to a petite blonde. He holds up his phone to show her something, and my stomach sinks like it’s filled with a hundred stones. I watch in what feels like slow motion as she tilts her face up to look at him. The midday sun radiates through her hair, sprinkling light through the strands.