with a bright future with barely two cents to rub together.
He started the academic year as her tutor and was her husband by the following summer, eloping when she was only nineteen and he was twenty-one. She transferred to Princeton, and they lived in student housing for six years while he earned his graduate degrees. Even though they continued to pay for her schooling, her parents didn’t directly speak to her for two years, until I came along. Once he secured a position with a prestigious economic policy think tank based in Washington, DC, most of the family rifts had mended.
“I may have lost you both,” I whispered in the dark, “but I didn’t lose what you taught me. Not a word of it. So I want you to know I’m done playing. I’m ready to find my man, the one who may not be perfect, but the one who’s perfect for me.” I took in a trembling gulp of air and closed my eyes, hoping sleep would take over my fatiguing body and spirit.
Instead, I heard a series of pings on my bedroom window.
I was used to scrapes, but not sharp, irregularly staccato sounds. That’s because planted right in front of my house was an oak tree and I had spent my life listening to its branches and foliage brush against my bedroom window.
I crawled across the bed and grabbed the robe I kept hanging on the back of my door. As I walked to the window, I cinched the sash belt tightly around my waist and, this time, I could actually see small pebbles hitting the window frame.
“What the hell…” I muttered, my voice drifting off as my face came closer to the glass.
Sure enough, there was Kyle, standing under my oak tree. On my front lawn! I stared at him with my mouth gaping. Then I rolled up my eyes to the heavens.
“You have got to be kidding me right now.” I shook my head and pressed my forehead to the glass.
He made eye contact and gave me one of his panty-melting smiles. All he needed was a big ol’ boom box, a deluge of rain coming down, and his John Cusack/ Say Anything movie moment would be complete.
I shook my head and grasped both latches and opened the window. His smile grew wide and warm as soon as he saw me lean on the sill.
“ Kyle ,” I whisper-yelled down, “what are you doing here?”
He was still wearing the same stunning Tom Ford suit from earlier, with gloves on this time but no coat. It was early March in the Mid-Atlantic, which meant it wasn’t arctic cold, but it wasn’t balmy either. Didn’t seem to touch him though, the cold, even though I could see his breath steam in the dark. Goddammit, he’s beautiful, I thought begrudgingly.
“Came to find you, honey,” he drawled, rocking back and forth on his heels, his hands now going deep in his pockets. “We’ve got some unfinished business.”
He offered me a crooked smile, and if it were possible for an expression to have too much swagger, his had it. And while I can’t deny I was flattered by him showing up, I still grimaced, looking off to the side to see if any of my neighbors were tuning in to the performance on my lawn.
“I think you finished any business between us when you did the fifty-yard dash the morning after. Oh, and don’t let me forget the money you left for me too.” I was all hellfire now, not feeling even a hint of the cold coming through my bedroom window. I placed my hands on the latches and was ready to shut it down.
“Goddamn it, Sam. Wait a sec!” he called out, walking closer to the house. “Listen, I get it. I fucked up.” His hands came out of his pockets and he crossed his arms in front of him, shoulders starting to hunch as he jumped in place to try to keep warm, the cold finally breaking through. That said, he didn’t lose a shred of determination on his face when he looked at me.
“Will ya come on down here and let me in so we can talk?”
I stood there, with half my frame partially hidden. I didn’t like seeing him get cold out there, but I did not want to let him in my house. My sanctuary.
You
He started the academic year as her tutor and was her husband by the following summer, eloping when she was only nineteen and he was twenty-one. She transferred to Princeton, and they lived in student housing for six years while he earned his graduate degrees. Even though they continued to pay for her schooling, her parents didn’t directly speak to her for two years, until I came along. Once he secured a position with a prestigious economic policy think tank based in Washington, DC, most of the family rifts had mended.
“I may have lost you both,” I whispered in the dark, “but I didn’t lose what you taught me. Not a word of it. So I want you to know I’m done playing. I’m ready to find my man, the one who may not be perfect, but the one who’s perfect for me.” I took in a trembling gulp of air and closed my eyes, hoping sleep would take over my fatiguing body and spirit.
Instead, I heard a series of pings on my bedroom window.
I was used to scrapes, but not sharp, irregularly staccato sounds. That’s because planted right in front of my house was an oak tree and I had spent my life listening to its branches and foliage brush against my bedroom window.
I crawled across the bed and grabbed the robe I kept hanging on the back of my door. As I walked to the window, I cinched the sash belt tightly around my waist and, this time, I could actually see small pebbles hitting the window frame.
“What the hell…” I muttered, my voice drifting off as my face came closer to the glass.
Sure enough, there was Kyle, standing under my oak tree. On my front lawn! I stared at him with my mouth gaping. Then I rolled up my eyes to the heavens.
“You have got to be kidding me right now.” I shook my head and pressed my forehead to the glass.
He made eye contact and gave me one of his panty-melting smiles. All he needed was a big ol’ boom box, a deluge of rain coming down, and his John Cusack/ Say Anything movie moment would be complete.
I shook my head and grasped both latches and opened the window. His smile grew wide and warm as soon as he saw me lean on the sill.
“ Kyle ,” I whisper-yelled down, “what are you doing here?”
He was still wearing the same stunning Tom Ford suit from earlier, with gloves on this time but no coat. It was early March in the Mid-Atlantic, which meant it wasn’t arctic cold, but it wasn’t balmy either. Didn’t seem to touch him though, the cold, even though I could see his breath steam in the dark. Goddammit, he’s beautiful, I thought begrudgingly.
“Came to find you, honey,” he drawled, rocking back and forth on his heels, his hands now going deep in his pockets. “We’ve got some unfinished business.”
He offered me a crooked smile, and if it were possible for an expression to have too much swagger, his had it. And while I can’t deny I was flattered by him showing up, I still grimaced, looking off to the side to see if any of my neighbors were tuning in to the performance on my lawn.
“I think you finished any business between us when you did the fifty-yard dash the morning after. Oh, and don’t let me forget the money you left for me too.” I was all hellfire now, not feeling even a hint of the cold coming through my bedroom window. I placed my hands on the latches and was ready to shut it down.
“Goddamn it, Sam. Wait a sec!” he called out, walking closer to the house. “Listen, I get it. I fucked up.” His hands came out of his pockets and he crossed his arms in front of him, shoulders starting to hunch as he jumped in place to try to keep warm, the cold finally breaking through. That said, he didn’t lose a shred of determination on his face when he looked at me.
“Will ya come on down here and let me in so we can talk?”
I stood there, with half my frame partially hidden. I didn’t like seeing him get cold out there, but I did not want to let him in my house. My sanctuary.
You
Similar Books
