Page 44 of Eat Your Heart Out

23

Gerard

Making love to Ali was special. She surprised me, made me ache for more, and when we cuddled, it was sweet. Ali let me hold her, and it felt like she was mine, though I knew it was all in my head.

My phone beeped, indicating we had full Wi-Fi again and weren’t using the safety line.

Ali yawned and let me go. “Answer your phone.”

I sat up. “Are you sure?”

Her lips quirked higher, and she nodded. “I’ve met your family. If you don’t answer, they’ll worry.”

I was thankful for them every morning when I woke up and when I went to sleep at night. Last night, I’d started including Ali in the grateful list I had, not that she knew. I only nodded. “True. Stay next to me.”

She threw her blanket back. “I’m peeking out the window then coming right back to bed.”

I watched her naked ass as she stood, but then the ringing grew louder. I answered. “Elon, I didn’t expect to hear from you.”

He laughed. “Maman’s worried. Pedar’s calming her down.”

I narrowed my gaze as Ali opened the shade. In the distance was blue sky. We were almost done with the bad weather.

“You’re at the house?” I asked my brother.

Ali tiptoed back to the bed.

“Mom’s decided she wants to help me find a wife,” Elon said.

Ali rocked on her toes for a second, and it wasn’t the motion of the boat.

I quickly said, “You’re joking.”

She scooted back into bed beside me.

“She thinks I’ve sulked long enough,” Elon said.

I scooted higher, and Ali joined me as I rubbed the back of my head. “You’re letting her?”

“I didn’t mean to, but we started talking about Clarissa.”

My eyes widened. “She hates you.”

“I remember,” Elon said. “Here comes Maman. She wants to talk to you.”

Maman took the phone. “Gerard, is Ali with you?”

Ali blushed. “Hello, ma’am.”

I could picture Maman pressing her hand to her heart in her usual reaction to the title. “Please, call me Roxanne.”

“Okay,” Ali said.

Maman asked, “Is my son going to make it up to you for taking off when a storm was forming and not coming back home to wait?”

“I will, Maman,” I said quickly.

“The second I saw the report, I wondered why you weren’t just coming home,” she said.