“Didn’t think so,” he says and bends to grab his shirt. “I would never impose on you like that.”
Impose. The old-fashioned word makes me smile. It’s so him, the glimpses of chivalry bred into him. As if having sex with me unprotected would be animposition.
“Stay,” I say. “There are other things we can do.”
His eyes are filled with heat. “Don’t tempt me. It’s been a very long twenty-four hours, and resisting you is more than I have in me right now, sweetheart.”
My mouth opens. “Oh.”
He kisses me goodbye, and looks me over one final time with eyes glowing with appreciation. He smiles in farewell and leaves, and a few seconds later I hear the door to my apartment close behind him.
I lean back against the shower wall.Sweetheart.Percy had never called me anything but Soph, for our entire relationship. When I once asked him why he never called me any pet names, not even baby, he’d laughed and said that I was nobody’s baby.You’re way too… strong,he’d said, phrasing it like a compliment.Too smart. Baby doesn’t fit.I’d tried to take it as a compliment, even if the words hadn’t made sense to me.
Sweetheart.I let the warm water wash the remnants of the soap away, and every single part of me feels clean.
16
SOPHIA
“If someone had told us fifteen years ago,” my sister says, the sound of a toddler wailing impatiently in the background, “that we would be talking on the phone before seven in the morning, we would—”
“Never have believed them,” I finish. “I know. You used to be so grumpy in the mornings.”
“You weren’t such a peach either,” Rose says. There’s happiness in her voice, beneath the tiredness. “Imagine how good it was for our relationship to stop fighting over the shower.”
I chuckle and look both ways before jaywalking across an empty side street. New York is glorious this early. Some passersby are heading home from a wild night out, and others are out on their morning coffee runs. The city is alive with people’s ever clashing lives and routines.
“How’s my favorite niece?” I ask.
“Youronlyniece is stuffing her face at the moment,” Rose says. “Which is how I got these precious minutes with you in peace. So—”
“I haven’t killed the cat,” I say. “Don’t worry.”
She laughs. “I knew you wouldn’t. You’re great with animals. Is he a keeper?”
“Well, he sure is keeping my apartment wonderfully mouse-free.”
“You have mice?” she says. “In that fancy place?”
“No, that’s what I just said.”
Rose groans. “It’s too early for your sarcasm.”
“I couldn’t resist.”
“Are you working too much?” she asks. “That was going to be my annoying question, not about the cat, but I’m always interested in updates about Milo too. I don’t want you overworking yourself.”
“I love my work,” I say. “You know that.”
“Do I ever! But I’m just afraid that it’s become theonlything you love, after the divorce.”
“Not true,” I say. “You know I love you, and little Mia. Mom and Dad, and our first family dog, may he rest in peace. I love Grandma and—”
“Yes, yes, you master deflector, but I won’t be distracted off the topic.”
“I play a lot of tennis.”
“Right, so not only are you working yourself to the bone, you’re now exercising yourself to the bone, too.” Rose sighs. “Just… try to find balance, okay? Make some friends at work, or join a club, or… just do something else.”