“So, this is a two-fer.”
“It is.”
“Okay, how about this? If I promise not to think it’s gross on the basis that she’s a woman in general, am I still allowed to think it’s gross on the basis that she’s my grandmother in particular?”
“Oh, yeah, for sure! Trust me, I don’t want to think about my mom’s sexytime antics any more than you want to think about your grandmother’s. But, hey, if it makes you feel any better, I do get the impression that it’s really more of an ‘enjoy having eye candy around’ thing than an ‘I’m building myself a harem’ situation.”
“That does make me feel a tiny bit better.”
“Good.”
“Not much, mind you.”
“Understandable.”
Ella’s skin tingled with the buzz in the air. When they were on the same page, clicking, their conversations zipped back and forth so quickly and seamlessly, it was like they were reciting lines that had been written for them in a play. Ella had loved that even as a teenager, and realized how rare it was to have that kind of rapport with someone.
When things were cooking between them, they sizzled. She missed sizzling. Sizzling was everything. Sizzling was life. And there was no one she sizzled with, not like with Donovan.
A little spark went off inside Ella’s belly. She recognized the feeling. It was her internal lion trying to roar, striving to override her internal timid bunny rabbit. She was at a crossroads. Two roads diverged in front of her.
She could choose the path of least resistance, the comfortable way. The way she’d always chosen. She could get up, go back into the kitchen for a moment to break the tension. Or maybe just make a goofy joke that put the energy between them firmly back in “just friends” territory. That was the safe route.
Or she could venture off through the untamed wild. There was barely a path there at all, she would be blazing her own trail, and she had no idea where it would end up. Only that it would lead somewhere different than she and Donovan had ever been.
So, which is it going to be, Ella? Time to choose. Are you going to coast, or are you going to leap?
She chose option two.