I mean, I worked hard to get Shell to care that I had six orgasms from a man I wouldn’t identify and even harder to get Cara to believe me.
According to her, more than one orgasm isn’t possible with any human male, and it’s cruel of you to suggest otherwise. Unless I was willing to provide said male’s identity and an intense medical analysis as evidence, she didn’t want to hear it.
I pushed back until I realized how sad I feel for her that she really thinks that’s true, and then I gave it up. Telling her Garrett’s name wasn’t an option I was willing to risk. It’s not as if my sisters spend a lot of time gabbing with anyone, let alone our dad, but the first rule of the spy game is to keep your mouth shut.
Or something similar. It has to be.
Still, that wasn’t the end of my fight. Desperate to make sense of what to expect from here, I needed their thoughts on how guys act after you sleep with them on the first date, and I’m going to be honest, there are only so many times I can tolerate being referenced as a cow—even if it’s just a saying, Cara—before getting fed up and fighting back.
“I mean, maybe some guys like cows and milk,” I’d told them. “How about that? What if he wants a cow that gives a lot of milk, like, all the time? I mean, what about that? Maybe it’s just really nice of the cow to offer her milk for free, and he appreciates the gesture.”
My sisters gave each other a lot of looks when I said that last one.
I guess I should just be thankful that both of them are too entrenched in the “mom life” to even notice the fact that I arrived with wet hair.
My phone vibrates in my pocket suddenly, just about sending me through the freaking roof. “Ahhh!”
I need to calm down. I really, really need to calm down.
Pulling a deep breath in through my nose and blowing it out of my mouth, I reach into the little pouch at my side, pull out my phone, and unlock the screen to see whatever notification has beckoned me.
A message sits unopened on the screen. The sender: Garrett.
Quickly, numbly, I click on it to reveal the contents.
THE Garrett Alexander: I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am for the way this morning has gone—how that exchange went. Last night was way more than I could have ever hoped for from a first date, and I’m hoping you’ll give me the opportunity of a second one. Go out with me again, Lauren? Please?
Oh, holy hell.
Suddenly, all the ugly feelings inside me have shape-shifted into rays of piercingly bright light. I’m like a fucking Charmin commercial inside, and frankly, it’s a little sickening. Am I that easy? Is this all it takes for me?
Regardless, I can’t even begin to pretend to measure my response.
It’s no big deal, really.
I almost roll my eyes at myself before continuing to type and hitting send.
Me: It’s no big deal, really. I had a great time too, and I’d love to go on another date. When/what did you have in mind?
Ha. For the first time today, I almost sound sane. Weird.
THE Garrett Alexander: I’m on my way to a callout now. Something out in the national forest, so I’m not entirely sure how long I’ll be gone. But you’ll be the first person I check in with when I get back.
A tiny flare of disappointment comes back, but I ignore it. He can’t stop going to his job just because we had one really great night of sex together.
You knew he was this kind of firefighter when you agreed to go out with him, Lauren.
This kind of firefighter is beyond the norm of firefighters. My dad’s entire firehouse is trained in wildfires. And, well, wildfires are a whole other beast. They don’t just get put out in a few hours’ time. It can take days. And if they’re really bad? Weeks or months.
They’re also crazy dangerous.
And I knew all of this about Garrett. Better than anyone, I knew.
Because of my dad.
Immediately, a lightning strike of reality hits me with 10,000 volts.
He’s heading out of town already. He barely got to see his kids.
I frown at the phone and type out a message, hoping I’m doing something more than depressing the shit out of him.
Me: I’m sorry you didn’t get to have your library/football day with the kids. Were they really disappointed?
THE Garrett Alexander: Thanks, babe. A little. I mean, Jake and Holley are helping me out, but leaving my kids is always hard, kind of like climbing out of your warm bed on a cold winter morning. Today, though, I have to admit, leaving feels just a little bit harder.