Page 27

LEXI

A s we approached the back-shack, Cooper was standing just off the stoop in the darkness, looking in through the door to the fully lit interior.

He was watching something, intently, secretively.

He heard us walk up, and pressed his finger to his lips, telling us to be quiet. We quieted and joined him, watching.

Torin, alone in the house, was blowing on the lightbulb of the lamp, trying to get it to go out. He had forgotten how to turn them off, or the lesson from yesterday had been lost in all the other stuff that happened.

He finally gave up, sat down on the couch, and then rolled over onto his side, wearing his modern clothes, putting his Nike-clad feet up on the end. He looked like he was going to sleep, the light of the house on — bright as day.

It hurt my heart a little that the lights were on, I wished I could do it, but I didn’t want to embarrass him.

We turned and walked back to the house.

Inside, we didn’t speak about it. Jen and I did dishes, while Cooper went up to unpack his suitcase. Then Jen looked up the stairs. “You cool with me staying the night? I did kinda drink too much, but now, maybe y’all need some quiet time?”

“Nah, it’s fine, stay. You meant to stay, it’s fine. He’s in a mood, but I’m not, plus I need your help making breakfast in the morning.”

“Good,” she put down the drying towel. “It’s early as hell, only like, ten, but I think I’ll turn in.”

“Of course, I’ll finish locking up.”

She kissed me on the cheek and wandered down the hall to the guest room, where she stayed all the time. She even kept her own toothbrush in the drawer.

I looked down at the back house for a moment. Feeling a little melancholy about him, wanting to make sure he was all right... He would be okay with the door wide open, light on, not feeling good after eating too much ice cream, right?

Probably.

He was a big strapping fellow, he would be fine. He had eaten too much, happened all the time — how much sugar did a guy from the sixteenth century get usually? Likely none.

A man from the past would easily get ill from all this food and sensory overload. He was in a world so different from his own. A New World.

I chuckled. I guess I was convinced... Torin was a time traveler.

I climbed the stairs to go to bed.

Cooper was sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, staring down at his hands. I walked up and put my hands on his shoulders. He put his arms around my hips and pulled me close, nestling his face against my chest.

I whispered, “I’m glad you’re home, I’m sorry about the complicated dinner guest.”

He lay back, pulling me onto him and began kissing me, then said, “It’s fine, you didn’t know my meeting sucked.

” He kissed me on my neck and drew his lips up my throat to my lips.

“You invited a crazy person to dinner, so what. Usually it might have been funny as hell, but ended up, not. I’m sorry I was a jerk to you, its just.. . I have no patience right now.”

He pulled my shirt up and off over my head.

I kissed down the side of his face and sat astride his jeans. He cocked his arm behind his head.

I wiggled on his lap. “I really missed you.”

He grinned and started undoing the buttons on the front of my pants.

I added, “You also weren’t very nice to him.”

He stopped and put his hands on my thighs. “I was nice enough, considering.”

“Considering what?”

“That the guy stayed in character all night, Lexi. I lost my patience. No one else in my shoes would be able to stay chill, come on.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Come on, what?”

“You get it, don’t pretend like you don’t.”

I rolled off his lap to the side. “I don’t get it, tell me.”

“I went out of town and you invited some stranger to live in the back house, a man, a big man with mental issues, and you’ve clearly let down your guard around him and he’s hitting on you.”

“He is not!”

He clasped his hands and mimicked Torin’s lower voice, “‘Mistress Lexi, might I have some of your cream. What is ice, Mistress Sexy, you make the best cream. I love your cream, Mistress Lexi.’”

I pouted. “I have never known you to be jealous before.”

“I never had to be, you’ve never had a big guy move into your back-shack before. You gotta admit it’s meant to make me jealous, right?”

“It is not, why would you think that?”

“He’s big, he’s what the ladies would call hot, he’s like Tarzan back there, all helpless, doesn’t know how to turn off the lights. Jen and you are all,” he raised his pitch, “‘isn’t he sweet how he’s like a big, hot baby?’ And meanwhile he’s clomping all around asserting himself.”

I put my hand on his chest. “You have to admit, if your business meeting had gone okay you probably wouldn’t be bothered by it at all.”

He turned his head to the side to look directly at me, raising his brow. “You’re saying this is all on me?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Because I’ve been preparing for this meeting for more than a year, and they…

” His eyes shifted back and forth across the ceiling as he spoke.

“they… it’s like they didn’t even consider it.

Like they had already made up their mind.

I made the whole presentation and they smiled and nodded and thanked me for coming…

” He was on his back, with his feet still off the bed on the floor.

“But they did do something weird, Lexi.”

He turned his head so that the strong muscles and tendons of his neck were prominent, my favorite place, a spot that was strength and vulnerability, both.

I leaned up and kissed him there, then lay back down, facing him. “What?”

“My presentation was over and we were in the questions part. Steve’s CFO and his Marketing Manager asked a couple of good questions, the kind that you would expect and that I was prepared for.

They nodded at my answers and jotted down the numbers.

It seemed like it was a formality for a presentation that went well. You know?”

I nodded.

“Then Steve said, ‘You know what would be cool? A Go-Kart track, on the back acres, those are really hot right now and that could be really lucrative.’ His CFO and the Marketing Manager turned all their attention on that and they just riffed for an hour on this ‘big idea’ of a Go-Kart track in my eco-village while I just nodded and smiled, agreeing with it, though as you know it was not at all my vision. I sort of knew, right then, that I wasn’t going to get the money. ”

“Aw man, that sucks.”

“Yeah, at the time I tried not to dwell on it, the meeting had gone long, everyone was tired. Sometimes long meetings get chaotic and off subject, we know this, but I had this nagging feeling he wasn’t seriously considering my proposal anymore.”

“You didn’t mention it when you called.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to jinx it. Or let you down.” He yawned really loudly and wrapped his hand around mine.

“What if you had said, ‘Great, Go-Karts, I’ll draw up the plans’?”

“It wouldn’t have helped, I was nodding and smiling like a chump, pretending like Go-Karts were the greatest idea in the world, but ultimately the Go-Karts were just a signal.

The Alpha in the room, the guy with all the money, was telling me that my idea wasn’t good enough.

And then he ‘passed’ on it and sent John to tell me. ”

He sighed. “More than a year of my life, wasted.”

“I am just so sorry.”

He nodded. “I would just really appreciate you not making my reaction to Renaissance Boy into a big thing. He’s a loon, Lexi.

He stayed in character all night, in your dining room, eating your food, sleeping in your back-shack, and yeah, I get it, you’re a great hostess, and I do get that I’m in a crap mood, but.

.. how many more meals will he be joining us? ”

“I get it.” I asked, “So you don’t believe he’s a time traveler?”

He raised his head and looked at me, his face screwed up. “Of course not, Lexi, he’s just a very good bullshitter. I can’t explain how he’s so good at it, but it is bullshit. And that’s all more of a reason not to invite him to dinner again.”

I said, “I would like to mention that I need to feed him tomorrow before he hits the road. He’ll need breakfast. My grandmother would never forgive me for sending a traveler, time or regular, away on a journey without a meal. But after that, yes, he won’t be at our table anymore.”

“Good, thank you.” He yawned again.

“Sleepy?”

“Jet lag. Yes.”

I said, “I had big plans for your welcome-home-bang.”

He chuckled, sleepily. “I love you, but man, I think I’m falling asleep.”

I said, “I’m also really looking forward to our big dinner tomorrow night at Fall’s Landing. I picked out a dress.”

He yawned again and smacked his lips. “You know, don’t be mad, but I don’t think I want to anymore. I’ll cancel the reservations, we’ll do it... another time.”

“When, you think, like next weekend, or just later...?”

He shrugged. “Not sure... got a lot to think about, later.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Good. I’m going to go get ready for bed. Get under the sheets.”

He said, “I will.”

As I stepped into the bathroom, and looked in the mirror, I took a good hard look.

I looked harried, as if I had had some harrowing experiences: I had cooked dinner, hosted a dinner party, gotten terrible news from my ‘boyfriend’ — he was not asking me to marry him, that was clear, and I had been a referee all night. I smoothed down my mussed hair.

I also didn’t get laid.

I said, over my shoulder, “I know you’re not into making plans, right now, but maybe a plan is exactly what you need.

” I squeezed toothpaste onto my brush, and brushed for a second, looking in the mirror, then said, loud enough for my voice to carry to the other room, “Let’s talk about how I can invest in your project.

I mean, I know there are rules to my trust fund, but they’re not insurmountable.

We just have to talk to my lawyer, right, Coop? ”

There was no answer. I spit in the sink and looked out into the bedroom. Cooper was fast asleep, his feet still on the floor.

Dammit, he slept so soundly there’s no way he would get into the bed, not for hours.

I finished brushing my teeth, went out, untied his shoes, and pulled them off his feet.

I slid off his socks and then pushed and shoved his shoulders and legs until I got him sort of regularly lying on his side of the bed.

He was on the covers so I pulled a throw blanket from the wooden chest at the end of the room and covered him with it.

He blearily smacked his lips and talked in his sleep, “Bed.”

I knew from experience it was not an invitation, he was too deeply asleep, there would be no welcome-home-bang until tomorrow. “I still need to take off my makeup, be there in a minute.”

He had already fallen fast asleep again.

I returned to the bathroom and piled my hair up in a loose bun and used makeup cleaner pads to wipe off my makeup and mascara.

Then I kicked off my shoes, peed, pulled on a pair of pajama pants, and changed into a comfortable tank top.

Finally I went to the bed to climb in, when I heard Dude meow downstairs.

I hung my head. Of course Dude wanted out.