“Nothing,” I answer quickly.
“I know that look, Jonesie,” he says, nipping at my earlobe as we come to a stop in front of his car. “It ain’t nothing. I’m a pest, remember? I’ll nag you until you tell me.”
“You’re more like Alice than you know,” I murmur. “I have to choose my battles with you.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“I just…. I was wondering if all the complications in my life will grate on you eventually, and you’ll look for something easier.”
Max jerks his head back, his expression hard. “Listen to me. If you’d let me, I’d do much more to help with Grams. But you have a mind of your own, and I respect your wishes. You know what I want? I don’t want easy. I want you, Emilia.”
“Wow. You’re good with words,” I say in a low whisper.
His lip curves in a delicious smile, a sure sign we’re moving to playful territory. “Now, that’s not all I’m good with, am I?”
Joining in on his game, I frown, feigning thinking hard. “You’re a decent guitar player and popcorn-shopper.”
“Interesting choice of non-compliments.” He flattens me against the car door, invading my personal space.
“Were you expecting something else?” I tease.
“I don’t want to put words in your mouth,” he whispers in my ear. “Though I’d like to put something else between your beautiful lips.”
A white-hot current zips through me, electrifying every cell in my body. Amazing how he can make me feel emotional, laugh my ass off, and then heat up for him in the span of minutes.
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” I tell him, barely containing my grin.
“Nah, just know my strengths. Let’s go, Jonesie. I have some promises to make good on.”
Chapter Eighteen
Emilia
The next two weeks are the stuff dreams are made of. Alice watches Grams a few evenings when Max and I go out during the week, and the two of us spend some quality time with Grams during the weekends.
“Girl, you’re going to drive him crazy,” Evelyn comments, nodding at me. We’re on our lunch break, and we are in a small shop close to the clinic, where I am trying on dresses. Max and I are going on a date after I finish my sessions, and after I carefully inspected my closet yesterday, I decided I need a new dress. I paid for the car repairs last week and had some extra cash left over.
“I love this dress,” I say, doing a full turn in front of Evelyn, who is sitting in a comfortable armchair in front of the changing room. The dress is light green and fitted in the upper part, showing the curve of my waist, while the lower part is voluminous. It doesn’t have any kind of straps, but as I tug on it a bit, I confirm that it won’t slide downward, leaving my boobs hanging out mid-date. I bet Max would love that though. I also bet he’ll make a comment about it in no time. Just conjuring his naughty smile in my mind, and imagining his even naughtier thoughts when he sees me dressed like this, makes me giggle. This man has been forever on my mind lately.
“Do you have the shoes to go with it?” the vendor asks, appearing next to me. She’s a small thing, even smaller than I am, but she has the most perfect blonde hair I’ve ever seen. I pick up from the floor the bag I brought with me, where I stuffed my shoes.
“Here they are.” Retrieving the shoes from the bag, I hold them up for Evelyn and the vendor to see them. They both seem unimpressed. “What?” I ask defensively. I love these shoes: classic, black leather peep toes with a five-inch heel. Yeah, they are old. Like college-freshman-year old. But they are in good shape… mostly. The leather is a little chipped on one of the heels, but you have to look really close to see it.
“What shoe size do you wear?” the vendor asks.
“Nine and a half,” I reply.
“I have just the shoes you need,” she announces, flinging her shiny blond hair behind her. What I wouldn’t give to have such hair.
“Bring them here,” Evelyn says at the same time I say, “No, thank you.”
“They are on sale,” the vendor says. “Seventy percent off.”
“In that case, I’d love to see them.”
After the vendor leaves, Evelyn says, “It’s okay to splurge on yourself from time to time. I can’t believe you still have those old things.” She’d know all about them, since she was with me the day I bought them.
“I only wear them on special occasions,” I say.