Page 12 of Unscripted Love
“Yes, we did,” Josh answered Kyle. “I ordered a few salads and a veggie pizza. We could all stand to eat better.”
“Thank you,” Kyle replied, sounding relieved.
It’s funny how you can see things, but they don’t always click into place. I had seen Kyle eat at Josh and Gabe’s several times over the past few months and his eating habits never stuck out to me until my aunt mentioned his childhood obesity. I realized that while his plate always seemed to be loaded down, it mostly consisted of healthy foods and meats. In fact, I couldn’t recall seeing him eat any dessert until he showed up with the milkshake on July Fourth, which had been modified into a healthier version.
“What?” he asked when he caught me staring at him.
“Nothing,” I said nervously. “I was just checking out your bulge.”
“Really?” Kyle asked hopefully.
Josh spat his drink across the kitchen island drenching his soon-to-be husband. “Hey,” Gabe said, but he was too busy laughing to be angry.
“I-I meant your bulging biceps you have on display there,” I said, recovering quickly. “Is that real sweat glistening on them or did you have someone spray you with a squirt bottle for effect?”
Kyle smiled at my discomfort and said, “It’s real sweat. I have this philosophy that if you’re not getting sweaty and dirty, then you’re not doing it right.” Oh damn! That was a good one, I mentally added it to my book notes.
“You must bench press rhinos,” I said then wanted to bite my tongue off before I could embarrass myself further.
“Nah, just baby hippos,” Kyle said teasingly. “I have to be ready for my photo shoot coming up soon.”
I laughed nervously then looked around the room when no one else laughed with me and realized that we’d been left alone. “I didn’t mean to sound suggestive just now.”
“Kind of like you didn’t mean to kiss me and run off or like when you told me you’d answer my calls but ignored them,” Kyle said.
“Um, about that…”
“Food is here,” Josh yelled from the dining room. “Wash your hands and come eat.”
Kyle groaned at another interruption then smiled good-naturedly at me. “Can we talk about this later?”
“Sure,” I told him.
Unfortunately, Kyle received an emergency call and had to leave before he could even finish his salad and veggie pizza. He stopped by my chair on his way out, leaned down and whispered, “Answer when I call you or I’m going to show up at your front door.”
“Okay,” I said, sounding a little breathless.
I went home and dove into my project to pass the time, but I wasn’t as engaged as normal because I kept glancing at my phone to see if Kyle was calling. I had no idea what kind of emergency he’d had, but I figured it was probably serious. I wasn’t even sure he was going to call that same night, but I didn’t want to take a chance. As the hours grew later, I knew the chances of him calling me dwindled. I had a painful knot between my shoulder blades from tension and poor posture while writing. I decided to take a long, hot bath because I knew it would be another sleepless night if I didn’t.
I glanced at my phone and debated leaving it in my bedroom rather than take it with me but decided it would be my luck that he would call me as soon as I sank into the hot water. I grabbed a glass of wine, a dog-eared paperback copy of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles, my phone, and set them all on the nifty bath tray that my grandmother got me for Christmas. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world that Grandma Gertie didn’t hesitate to buy her grandson things he could use while taking a bath. Of course, I inherited my love for baths and books from her.
I sighed out loud when I slid down into the hot water. I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and mentally pictured the tension leaving my body. It was working too, until my phone rang. The sound was louder in the small space as it echoed off the porcelain surfaces and I jerked in surprise, knocking my glass of wine and my phone into the bath water.
“Fuck!” I yelled as I fished my phone out of the bath. “Nooooooo!” Kyle would think I ignored him again and I was out an expensive smartphone. “Damn it!”
To be honest, I was angrier about missing Kyle’s call than my phone because I at least had insurance on the damn thing. It was more of an inconvenience than a great expense. I couldn’t afford to let Kyle think I was leading him on if I wanted a chance with him.
I almost tripped getting out of the bathtub and then nearly lost my balance when I slid across the tile floor. I was cursing the fact that I didn’t have a damn landline and sure as hell wasn’t about to traipse across the yard to my grandma’s house to borrow her phone.
“Maybe this is a sign it’s not meant to be,” I said to myself as I wrapped a towel around my waist. There was a loud knock on my front door as if fate were offering up a rebuttal. “It can’t be.” The knock came again, but it was even louder the second time around.
I didn’t stop to think about my attire—or lack thereof—in my haste to answer the door so that my visitor didn’t wake the Matrons. I quickly unlocked the door and jerked it open. “Keep it down,” I hissed between my teeth. “They’ll hear you.”
Kyle just stood there with his arm suspended in the air like he was about to knock again. His eyes raked over my body and lingered at my nipples that had hardened when the breeze hit my wet body. “Who?”
“Isn’t that my line?” I asked in confusion.
“What?” he asked, sounding just as befuddled.