“Yes, well, you and I don’t think the same way,” I inform her. “You perceive emotionality in every little thing. I don’t. People like orgasms. People do things that give them orgasms, sometimes with other people to make it more fun. What in that is supposed to break my heart?”
“But doesn’t it annoy you that I have—or had… or… I don’t know. Doesn’t it bother you to think about me caring for Vince? Or is this strictly sexual for you?”
“This, as in your presence here in my bed? Or this, as in, your history with Vince?”
“Both? Just tell me how you feel about every single thing, then we can cover all the bases.”
I grin at her suggestion. “Yes, that sounds likely to happen.”
“I didn’t say we could get it all in today. We’ll tackle half now, and on your next day off we’ll tackle everything else.”
Her tone was light, but mine is mocking. “We’ll just lie in bed, sharing our views of every feasible topic in the world. Compare and contrast.”
“I think it sounds like a nice way to spend a day,” she states. “I’m fascinated by your view of things. It’s nothing like mine in any way.”
That’s an understatement.
“Well, it’s a long plane ride to Dubai; we can cover religion and politics then.”
“Thanks for the notice; I’ll study up.” She flashes me a smile. “When is that, anyway? I am in school, you know. I can’t just skip a bunch of days to go jet-setting.”
“You could.”
“Heaven University will not be impressed,” she states.
I hadn’t even considered she would balk about missing school. I haven’t sent a final date to the man I’m meeting with yet, so I open another tab and pull up the website for Mia’s high school. Calendar of events, there we go. I pull up this month and check it. Huh, she has a winter carnival coming up. Wonder if she and Vince were planning to go to that. ACT testing. Ah, there we go. A Monday where she has no school. She could just miss Friday, then we can leave Thursday night and have a long weekend.
I open up another window and type out an email to see if any of those days work for the meeting.
It’s moderately annoying to accommodate her schedule, but it’s only for a few more months. Maybe we’ll go somewhere just for fun over the summer. It’s been fucking ages since I’ve had a vacation. A vision of Mia in front of a clear, blue ocean, wearing sunglasses and a tiny bikini flashes to mind.
Yes, I want that.
We’re going to do that.
I’m tempted to open another tab and start vetting locations, but this girl has distracted me from work enough today. I close her school calendar and get back to what I was doing.
Mia finishes painting her toe nails and stretches her legs out on the bed, retrieving her homework folder from the table on her side of the bed. I like this. Both of us working on our own things, but spending the day together. I could get used to this.
My phone buzzes on my own bedside table.
It’s from Adrian. “Got your info.”
“Already?” I send back.
“Her mom’s mouth works like a vending machine—feed it some cash and a prize comes out.”
“What’s the verdict?” I ask. Mia already told me there were no abusers in her past and she’s not a great liar, so I expect a similar response from Adrian.
Instead, he sends back, “We’ll talk later.”
I scowl at the screen, then dart a glance over at Mia. She’s occupied reading and not paying attention to me. Then I glance back at Adrian’s message on the screen. Could still be a no. Maybe he found something else.
“What’s your favorite movie?”
My glance darts back to Mia. “My favorite movie? I don’t have one.”
Mia rolls her eyes. “How do you not have a favorite movie? Everyone has a favorite movie.”
“I don’t,” I assure her. “I don’t watch a lot of movies.”
“What do you do in your down time, then?”
I don’t have down time. Doesn’t she understand how much work I have to do on a daily basis? What am I saying? Of course she doesn’t. She’s going to keep asking questions until she gets something personal, though, so I dig deep, back to when I did do more than work. That just uncovers Beth, and she’s spent enough time in my memory today. I go deeper, older. Childhood.
“When Adrian and I were kids, we used to watch Batman. I suppose it was his favorite movie more than mine, but I guess it would’ve been that. His mother made us black bat capes for Christmas one year but he never wanted me to wear mine. There could only be one Batman, after all.”
Now she’s grinning, her eyes sparkling with endearment. “That’s adorable. It’s so cool that you guys grew up together and you work together now.”