We've known each other for a few days, but I want---no, I need more time with her. Time to see more of the world through her eyes. Time to hold her hand like I'm doing right now, and time to hold her in my arms while we talk or watch the telly or... anything.
Chance and Dane will never believe this if I tell them.
After the natural history museum, we go back to the apartment, having had our fill of fun for the day. Arden collapses onto the sofa, pretending to be so exhausted she can't stay awake. She has one leg hooked over the sofa's arm, the other on the coffee table, her arms flung out to the sides, and her eyes closed. She's also fake snoring.
"I'll make dinner," I say. "What are you in the mood for? Grasshoppers on a bed of wild rice?"
She cracks one lid open. "Ha-ha, you're hilarious. Do you even know how to cook rice?"
"I told you about the exploded egg incident."
"Right." She starts to heave herself off the sofa. "I'll make dinner."
"No, you won't." I grasp her shoulders and push her back down. "Relax. I'll figure something out."
And by figuring something out, I mean I'll ring a pizza place and have our dinner delivered right to our door. I even order one of those apple pizzas for dessert. Don't I know how to impress a woman?
We eat on the sofa and talk more in between mouthfuls of cheese-laden food.
"Tell me more about your parents," I say. "You mentioned they're hippies."
"Yep. They own a really cool shop in Stockbridge. That's in Massachusetts, which is right next to New York. The state, not the city. Anyway, Mom and Dad have a New Agey store called the Emerald Eye. Don't ask me why, but that's what my parents decided to call it."
"I thought you were from New York."
"No, I'm from Stockbridge. My grandparents are from New York, and Grams's company is here." Arden consumes a bite of pizza before continuing. "My parents aren't into the whole corporate lifestyle, even though Grams tried to get Dad to take a job at her company. More than once she's tried. Dad always says no. When he married my mom, they moved to Stockbridge. It's a cool, artsy town. That's where Mom's from, and where I was born and raised."
"How did you meet Elena?"
"In college. We both went to Northwestern. That's a university in Illinois." She studies her half-eaten slice of pizza for several seconds, then sets it down on the paper plate on her lap. "I wanted to see a new place, so I decided going away to college was the right option for me."
Eating a couple mouthfuls of pizza gives me a chance to think about what to say next. I want to ask her a million questions, but I don't want to seem like an annoying prick who's poking his nose into her life.
Finally, I settle on a question. "If you're not from New York, how do you know all the museums so well? And the zoo? And all the restaurants?"
"Because I've visited Elena lots. She lived here for years and years."
"Chance has lived in America for a long time, but I never visited him."
"You said once you never 'got round' to it. Why is that?"
I shrug. "Never thought about it. I grew up in the country, just outside one of those chocolate-box villages. I went to uni in London, but that's the extent of my travels, until now."
"What's uni?"
"University."
She sets her plate on the table. "What did you study in college?"
"Business." I give her a wry smile. "I know that sounds odd coming from someone like me, but I always wanted to have a business of my own. Hasn't worked out that way, though."
"What do you mean 'coming from someone like' you?"
"I'm not the serious type, like my brothers. Shagging and playing sports are my favorite pastimes."
"Seems like shagging is Chance's favorite pastime too. Elena says he's completely obsessed with getting her naked and---"
"You stop right there." I hold up a hand to emphasize how much I want her to not talk about my brother's sex life. Chance told me he screwed Elena five minutes after they met, but he didn't give me the graphic details of their elevator encounter. "I don't need or want to know anything about what Chance and Elena do in bed."