“Isaac, how can you be so nonchalant about this? Moving in together is a big deal. Have you ever lived with anyone?”
“No, have you?” I know she hasn’t, but clearly this is how she wants to do this, so I guess I’m going to have to play along.
“Well, no, but…”
“But nothing. I know what I want. You, in my home. In my bed, in my shower—”
“This is more than sex,” she says, exasperated. “This is living together.”
“I know what it is.” I pull her onto my lap, needing to feel her against me. She of course comes willingly, threading her fingers through my hair like I’ve come to learn she loves doing. “It’s us sharing a space, getting to know each other, fighting over who left the clothes on the floor. It’s lazy days in bed, two people coming together to create one life.”
I frame her face and kiss her gently on the lips, not wanting to say what I’m about to, but knowing I need to. “If you don’t want any of that, I’ll understand. If I’m not the person for you, as much as it’ll kill me, I won’t chase you. I know what I want, how I feel, but that doesn’t mean you feel the same way, and if you don’t, I’ll respect your decision. But regardless, if you need a place to stay, my home is open to you.”
I care about her, and she needs someone to have her back—even if it’s only as a friend.
She shakes her head. “I do feel the same way. I’m just scared. These feelings have come on hard and fast, like we’re soaring through the clouds, but I’ve hit rock bottom, so I already know how badly it hurts to fall.”
“Everyone falls,” I say, being honest with her. “But the difference is, you’ve never had me there to catch you.”
Her eyes flutter closed and she lays her head on my shoulder, her soft lips pressing a kiss to the side of my neck. “Okay,” she murmurs, tightening her hold on me. “I’ll move in with you.”
“What would you like to drink?” the waiter asks.
“I’ll take a whiskey neat.” I glance at Camilla, prompting her to order. We’re at Christopher’s—I figured it was the perfect place to go to celebrate Camilla agreeing to move in with me, since we never got to have dinner here the other night. Like a second chance, only this time, we’ll actually succeed.
“Umm… Just water, please,” she says.
The waiter nods and then disappears.
“You sure you don’t want something else?” I hold up the menu. “Don’t women love those fruity drinks?”
She laughs, but it sounds off. Before I can ask her what’s wrong, she leans in and whispers, “Do you know how old I am?”
Her question catches me off guard. Her friend is twenty-seven, so I’m assuming she’s around the same age… maybe a little younger.
“I was taught it’s rude to ask a woman her age.”
She laughs again, but this time it’s carefree. “Maybe you should’ve asked before you asked me to move in.” There’s a twinkle in her eyes, and I have a feeling she’s about to shock the hell out of me—and take pleasure in it. She has to be over eighteen since she’s in college…
“My birthday is next Saturday. I’m turning twenty-one.” Well, shit. She’s a bit younger than I thought. “You okay with dating a younger woman?”
“It doesn’t matter what your age is. It’s not going to change how I feel about you.” Plenty of couples have a large age gap between them. “What about you? You okay with dating an old man?”
A giggle escapes her lips. “Thirty-four is hardly old.”
“How’d you know my age?”
“I might’ve Googled you after our date.”
I pull her chair toward mine and kiss her. “I like that.”
“Me Googling you?”
She scrunches her nose up in confusion and I place a kiss to the tip of it. “That you were curious enough to Google me. That I was on your mind after our date.”
She’s about to say something else, but her phone rings and she pulls it out, her forehead wrinkling. “I need to take this. Order for me, please.”
She stands and walks over to the terrace that overlooks downtown. She’s talking softly, so I can’t hear what she’s saying, but her face is filled with sadness. The waiter comes over and since I have no clue what to get, I order steak and seafood for both of us.
A few minutes later, she comes over and sits back down, quiet and distant.
“Who was it?”
“My dad. I didn’t make it to see him today. I found out I was evicted and didn’t want to cause him more stress. We talked earlier, but he had to get off the phone, so he was calling back to check on me.”
Fuck, this woman… she’s so damn strong, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. “What time are visiting hours until?”