Present Day
Padraig texts me and asks me to come to the trial dinner his mom and Stella are doing for the ball. I tell him I appreciate the offer, but I have to decline. I have a session scheduled.
I work on the tattoo, clean up, and head upstairs. I pop open a beer and scroll through Instagram to look for some tattoo inspiration.
My eyes grow heavy. I look at the clock. Dinner should be well past over by now. I text Kerry.
If you aren’t too busy, I’d love to see you.
I wait for a response but nod off with my phone lying on my chest. It jolts me awake when it buzzes. I check the time. I’ve been asleep like this for half an hour. I grumble as I sit up, but the thought of hearing from Kerry has me excited. I’m disappointed when I see who it is. It’s a text from Padraig.
You should come out. We’re at the Clock Lounge. Your girl is here, looking lonely.
I huff. This is why I don’t want him in my business. He only thinks Kerry and I have something going and he’s nagging me. If he actually knew, it would be nonstop button pushing.
Me: I don’t have a girl.
Padraig: We’re two blocks away. Get your arse over here now.
Me: I’m busy.
Padraig: Bullshit.
Me: It isn’t.
Padraig: Fine. But think on this. I’m drinking right now. Kerry is here, and I have an itch to tell her all of your secrets.
Me: Padraig, don’t be a fucking asshole.
Padraig: Then get your sorry arse here and have some fucking fun for once.
I don’t respond.
Padraig: She’s been drinking too. I bet she can tell me what that tat on your rib cage looks like.
Me: Leave her alone, Padraig.
Padraig: I’m buying you a shot. If I end up having to take it myself, Kerry and I are going to have a lovely conversation. I won’t be able to help myself.
Me: Whatever, Padraig. Be a dick. I don’t care.
I lie back down and close my eyes again. Kerry is two blocks away from me. I should go. Why didn’t she ask me to come out? Did she think I wouldn’t want to go because I didn’t go to dinner? She never even responded to my earlier text. It’s fine. I should just go to sleep.
My phone buzzes again, and I curse Padraig’s name. I ignore it until it buzzes once again.
I pick up the phone and see that it’s Kerry.
Kerry: Padraig is asking about that hot-as-fuck tattoo on your ribs. I know he’s trying to get intel out of me about us. My lips are sealed. Wish you were here.
Me: I’m sorry Padraig is bothering you. You didn’t answer my text from earlier.
My skills for topic transitioning are stellar.
Kerry: Shit. I’m sorry. My phone has been buried in my purse all day. I just pulled it out to text you about Padraig. Didn’t even see your message until just now :( I’m about to leave here. I have to go home. I have a tea to do at ten in the morning.
A tea? I assume that’s an event.
Kerry: I’m going to finish my drink and head home . . . unless you want to come by and have a drink with me.
I tap my thumb to my phone.
Me: I’ll be there in five minutes.
“I knew it!” Padraig says when I walk in the door.
“You knew what?” Stella asks before I get a chance to shut him up.
He turns to Stella. “Your girl Kerry and my boy Luca have got a thing for one another.”
I look at Kerry and try to hold back my smile. She doesn’t hold back, however. Stella whispers into Padraig’s ear, and he kisses her. “We’ve got to be going,” he says.
“But I just got here.” I sit down in the empty space next to Kerry.
“Right, then,” Padraig says. “Let’s all have a beer and a round of shots!” He stands and heads to the bar.
I look at Kerry and Stella. I feel as though Kerry may be avoiding Stella’s eye contact.
“How was the dinner?” I ask no one specifically.
“It was great,” Stella answers. “You just missed Moira and Phillipe. They left about two minutes ago.”
I nod and tap the table with my knuckle.
Padraig returns with a tray of beers and shots. We sit, drink, and talk. I mostly listen because they all keep bringing up the ball and Rachel getting fired from the event and how great Moira’s cooking is—nothing I can really chime in on. If it weren’t for the alcohol relaxing me, I’d be one uncomfortable motherfucker right now.
But I’m loose enough, so I laugh when they laugh, and especially when Kerry laughs. We have another round before Padraig and Stella call it a night. He nudges me before they leave, gives me a wink, and whispers that he’s staying at her place tonight. I roll my eyes.
“I have to go too, I guess,” Kerry says. “I have to get up early and be at the office before I go to the tea.”
“Would you like for me to walk you home?”
“You don’t have to. You’re just right there, and I’m way up there.” She’s pointing her finger in all different directions. Her words slur slightly.
“I have an idea. Why don’t you come to my place, and we’ll set an early alarm? That way, you don’t have to walk all the way home tonight and you’ll still have time to go to the office in the morning before going to the tea.”
She stands from the booth and stumbles slightly when she bends down to grab her bag. I steady her.
“I’m not letting you walk home by yourself.”
She dismisses me. “I walk home by myself all of the time.”
“I’m sure you do. But I’m not letting you walk home by yourself tonight. You can come to my place or I’m walking you home. Either way, you’re stuck with me.”
“Okay,” is all she says, without giving me a decision. I choose my place.
I help her upstairs to my apartment and sit her in the armchair that is positioned in between my kitchen and my bed.
“I’m going to get you some water and ibuprofen. It’ll help you feel better in the morning.”
“Sounds good.”
She takes off her shoes. I turn to fill a glass with water at the sink and grab a few ibuprofen. When I turn back around, she’s unzipping her dress and slipping out of it. Beneath it, she wears a silky white slip. She plops back into the chair. I hand her the water and pills. She pops the pills and guzzles the water.
“Today was fun,” she says.
“I’m glad.”
I sit on the bed and remove my shoes. “Where is your phone? I want to set both of our alarms so you don’t oversleep.”
She fishes around in her handbag for a moment, gives up, then hands me the bag. “Here, I can’t find it.”
I take her bag and attempt to look in it without digging through it too much. I finally find it.
“What time do you want to get up?”
I look up when she doesn’t answer. Her head is slumped to the side, and she’s fast asleep.
I take a guess and set my alarm for five. I swipe to open her phone and set her alarm, but her phone is locked.
So much for that.
There’s a picture on her lock screen.
Of me.
She has a picture of me on her lock screen. I hit the side button to make her phone go black. I feel like I just saw something I shouldn’t have seen. I place her phone on the nightstand. Without looking at it again, I try to recall when she took a picture of me, and I can’t figure it out.
Kerry lets out a soft moan. I shake her to try to get her to wake up, but I am unsuccessful. I scoop her up, lay her on my bed, and cover her with the comforter. I undress down to my boxers and climb in beside her. My movement into the bed causes her to stir. She rolls over and lays her head on my chest. I wrap my arm around her back and hug her to me.
“You’re so good to me, Luca.”
I can’t tell whether she’s talking in her sleep. I don’t respond. I stroke her hair as I settle into the bed. My eyes grow heavy.
“I wish I could be yours,” she mumbles. At least, that’s what I think she said. I was half-asleep and she was talking low.
Nevertheless, I’m wide awake now. Because those words that I thought I just heard are all I can think about now.