Page 14 of The Playboy’s Playbook

Chapter Eleven

MATT

“ D o you have to go, Miss Laila?” Clay asks, his hand clutching Laila’s. She’s holding Jen on her hip and he’s completely knocked out sleep on her shoulder. Luke is walking next to me carrying her to-go plates while I carry Nola and her puppy bag.

“I’m sure I’ll see you guys again, kiddo,” Laila says softly, her hair blowing in the wind. Clay pouts and hugs her leg while Luke and I load up her car.

“Bud, she’ll be back. I’m sure Uncle Matty will let you know when,” Luke says as he pulls Jen from Laila’s hold. He stirs and whines but relaxes as soon as he’s on his dad’s shoulder. Luke nods for Clay to let go of Laila and he does reluctantly.

“It was good meeting you, Laila. Don’t be a stranger,” Luke says as he pulls Laila into a side hug.

She smiles and nods, waving to Clay before Luke guides him back inside, leaving Laila and me alone.

I gently place Nola inside her carrier, making sure I don’t wake her.

Nola doesn’t stir, even when Laila cranks the car to let the air run.

“She could sleep through anything,” Laila laughs. I never not want to hear her laugh. I’m obsessed with it and I want to be the reason for it.

“Do you plan on going to the Memorial Day fireworks show the city’s hosting at the end of the month?” she asks, fidgeting with her hands.

“Laila Wright, are you asking me on a date?” I ask, half-joking, half-serious.

“No, Matthew Foster, I’m not. I’m simply asking if you planned to go.”

“I do now.”

“Then I’ll see you at the fireworks show,” Laila says, getting into her car. She rolls the window down and I lean inside and maintain the space between us, but I so badly want to kiss her.

“Text me when you’re home,” I say, planting a kiss on her cheek.

She nods and all too soon pulls away from Luke’s house. I put my hands in my pockets and watch her car disappear down the road.

Today was a really good day.

September, 2008

I don’t really like school. If I could stay home and play with my trucks all day, I would. I only go to school because mom makes me. The only good thing about school is that it’s where I can see my best friend, Laila.

I call her Lala and she calls me Matty. She’s kind of quiet and doesn’t say a lot, but that’s why she’s my best friend. I like to talk and she listens. We “balance” each other out. That’s what mom says best friends do.

When school started last month, I was sad that I didn’t have a single friend from first grade in my class, but then I met Laila. She and I sit next to each other, so we share crayons and trade marbles.

She loves the color pink – almost everything she has is pink.

Her hair is super long and curly. It bounces a lot when she walks.

I like her hair. She said she doesn’t like people touching her hair, but when I asked if I could, she smiled and told me that I would be the only person who could touch her hair, other than her mom.

That made me feel special. Laila makes me feel special. I feel like if Laila had superpowers, it would be the power to make anybody fall in love with her.

The more time I spend with her makes me think that maybe girls don’t have cooties after all.

As soon as Monday rolled around, Luke and I immediately went back into builder mode to finish this project. Alabama got hit with a bunch of thunderstorms and that set us back. Luke’s been stressed about it because he doesn’t like projects being pushed back.

I don’t like that it got pushed back because I haven’t been able to lay my eyes on Laila since I’ve had to be in a different city.

We haven’t called each other, but damn do I want to.

I want to hear her voice and hear about her day without reading a text message.

It’s a lot of things I want with Laila, but if this construction work doesn’t wrap up soon, I can kiss all of those things goodbye.

“Matty!” Luke shouts from the break tent. I walk over to him and sit down, thankful to be out of the heat.

“If you ask me to sit in that damn forklift again, I’m quitting,” I say before I guzzle a bottle of water in one sitting.

“I was going to tell you that you can take your lunch now if you want. The university is closing down campus early, so I’m letting everyone go home,” Luke says, throwing a pencil at me.

“Hell, yeah. You want anything?” I ask, standing from the seat and unfastening my vest.

“Nah, it’s Lunch with Dad at the boys’ school today and I volunteered to be a stand-in dad, so I’m about to head out now so I freshen up and be there on time. Can you make sure things are closed up here when you get back?”

“Sure thing.” I walk to my truck and drive to Emeline’s Sandwiches. At this point, they should name a sandwich after me for how much I stop by.

While driving, my mind goes back to Laila and that’s when I get an idea, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the perspective and outcome. From my perspective, it’s a good idea because I’m hoping the outcome is positive. I have no idea how she’ll feel about it.

I take out my phone and set it up on the phone holder that’s attached to my dash and keep driving until I see the familiar, small brick building coming into my view.

Once I park in the shop’s parking lot, I click on the tiny camera that’s next to Laila’s name.

The phone rings for a minute, then two minutes.

Just when I’m about to hang up, the call connects and Laila’s face fills the screen.

“To what do I owe this phone call, Matthew?” Her eyes shine with wonder.

She’s sitting outside on a swing and has her hair pulled up into a high bun. She doesn’t have makeup on, so I can see her tiny freckles through the screen. Her skin is glowing and she looks so radiant.

“I was on my lunch break and wanted to talk to you. I know we haven’t really talked about calling each other, but I…” I trail off, not wanting to tell her that I’ve missed her and needed to hear her voice.

I think she knows what I want to say because she smiles softly at me before shifting and setting the camera down in front of her.

“Where are you going for lunch?” she asks, resting her head in her hand.

“There’s this sandwich shop in Meadowbrook near the university. It’s called –”

“Emeline’s Sandwiches,” we say at the same time and smile at each other.

Laila nods her head. “I stopped there when my flight landed.” She lifts a notebook onto her lap and pops her reading glasses on her face.

“More schoolwork?”

“Why I decided to torture myself by going back to school, I’ll never know. But, I’ll be done by the end of next year, so it’s not too bad,” she says, looking over at what I’m assuming is her laptop.

“You’ve always been so smart,” I say softly, my eyes trailing her face. She puts her pink pen between her lips as she leans over and begins typing on her laptop. She then starts writing in her notebook, banging the pen against the table.

“Stupid pen!” she shouts.

“What’d the pen do?” I question, laughing at her as she tosses the pen aside in frustration.

“It’s my favorite pink gel pen and it’s almost out of ink. I refuse to buy another one until I use every last drop.”

“Well, if I see another pack of pink, fluffy gel pens, I’ll buy them for you.”

She looks at me and a kind smile breaks across her face. She’s so breathtaking, it’s a miracle I’m still able to sit and watch her.

God, I wish I wasn’t in Meadowbrook right now.

“I don’t think Luke would appreciate you leaving work early, Matthew,” Laila chuckles. I close my eyes and face plant onto the steering wheel.

“I didn’t mean to say that out loud,” I groan, earning another soft chuckle from Laila.

“It’s okay. Nola! Do not dig in that hole!

Ugh, hold on.” Laila throws her notebook down and jumps from the seat to run over and stop Nola from whatever trouble she’s about to find herself in.

A few seconds later, Laila sits back down while she’s holding Nola in air jail, much to the puppy’s dismay.

“Where’d I put your leash?” Laila asks out loud, speaking more to herself than to me. She finds the leash and then attaches it to Nola’s pink collar before setting her down on the swing cushion. “Now you have to sit in time out because you didn’t listen,” Laila scolds.

I swear Nola pouts as she lays her head down on the pillow she’s sitting on.

“She’s like your child,” I chuckle.

“She’s a handful, I’ll tell you that much. Nola, look at Matthew.”

Nola perks her head up and studies me through the screen before deciding she’s not interested in me. She lays her head back down and closes her eyes, drifting off to sleep.

“She’s such a drama queen.” Laila rolls her eyes as she pets Nola softly on her tiny head.

I sit and stare at Laila, not saying anything as she does her homework. After a while, she looks over at me and asks, “Uh, aren’t you going to get your lunch?”

I was so caught up in staring at her I forgot about my lunch break. I’ve already burned twenty minutes by just gaping at her like a lovesick idiot.

“Shit. I probably won’t be able to call you before I head back to work to close the site down for Luke. I’ll call you later. If that’s okay with you.”

I feel like it’s best to leave the option to continue our conversations in her hands. Of course, I’ll be crushed if she says no, but I won’t argue with her.

“Yeah, I’ll be up for a while. I have a term paper to write, so I’d appreciate the company.”

My heart skips a couple of beats knowing that she’d like my company while she does her homework.

“Okay, cool.” I try to keep my voice level even though I feel like a kid on Christmas. “I’ll call you tonight.”

“Enjoy your lunch break.” Her voice is sweet and the look on her face matches. We hang up and I run inside to pick up my sandwich before sitting in my car and scarfing it down. I try to focus on my sandwich and all of the things I’ll need to do when I get back to work, but I can’t.

All I can think about is my phone call later today with Laila.