Alexa and Theo and their deputies huddled and came up with an acronym (Teen Arts Rehabilitation Program, or TARP, a name she and Theo knew they’d be mocked about forever), a deadline (the city council meeting in July), and a schedule of community meetings to hopefully garner support. This all meant Alexa was at work until eight or nine the whole week, and spent a few more hours working at home on her couch every night.
She probably would have worked a few hours less that week if she hadn’t been texting with Drew in between every meeting, but she couldn’t help it. His texts always made her smile, made her relax after tense moments, and sometimes made her blush.
Him being so far away was starting to make her go crazy. Why couldn’t she drive straight to his house from one of her long workdays to get rid of some of her frustration in the best possible way? Why couldn’t she wake up with him in her bed in the mornings, so at least she’d have those five minutes before she pulled herself out of the warm circle of his arms to feel content and at peace?
Text messages were great and all, but . . . well, she was happy he was coming up this weekend.
Drew loved feeling the buzz in his pocket and knowing it was her, that anticipation of reading what she’d said throughout the day, the smile she always put on his face. And he really loved the texts they sent each other late at night . . . and sometimes referred to throughout the day.
He told her about the baby who peed on him, causing both him and the baby’s dad to double over with laughter; the five-year-old twins who both broke their arms when they jumped off the roof “just to see if they could”; the little girl who swallowed a penny during a temper tantrum and giggled uncontrollably when she saw it on her X-ray.
One day she had a meeting that he could tell stressed her out from just the length of her first text.
The good news is that my boss is firmly behind the project, and that is really good news . . . but the bad news is that some other important people aren’t, and this is going to be a fight. I’m thrilled about the first thing but kind of freaking out about the second.
He tucked his files under his arm so he could respond.
That’s awesome about your boss. You were worried, right?
Her response came a few seconds later.
Yeah, I was. Never realized he trusted me this much! But now I feel like I have to fight even harder.
He sat down on the exam room table to think about his response.
He didn’t know anything about city politics in Berkeley other than what she’d told him. It wasn’t like he could give her good or useful advice when she knew everything and he knew virtually nothing. All he could give her was his support, which felt like it didn’t matter. He thought about texting, You can do it! but that felt stupid.
He’s lucky to have you in his corner.
That was all he came up with. It didn’t feel good enough.
Her response took enough time that he wondered if he’d gotten it totally wrong. He walked down the hall to his office. His phone buzzed just as he set his files down at his desk.
That means so much, thank you. I really appreciate it.
At first, he tried to keep himself from grinning at his phone. But Carlos wasn’t around to gloat or make fun of him, so he stopped trying and smiled so hard his cheeks hurt.
“I’m sorry I had to work all weekend,” Alexa said as she drove him to the airport on Sunday night.
“Not all weekend,” he said, his eyebrows dancing. She poked him and laughed.
“You know what I mean! Anyway, I know it was a boring weekend. I wish we could have gone out and done more, but these next few weeks are going to be so . . .” Just thinking about everything riding on her work made her anxious all over again.
He put his hand on her thigh. That got her attention in more than one way. His hand there, so big and strong and firm and gentle, made her think of all of the other places his hands had been that weekend. She blushed as she looked down at it.
“Monroe, stop apologizing. I had a great time with you. Hanging out on the couch together was fine. I know you have a lot going on. I’m glad you didn’t want me to cancel my trip in the first place.”
She put her hand on top of his and held it in place. No matter how much work she had, it had never occurred to her to ask him to cancel.
“I just wish I hadn’t been on my laptop or on the phone with Theo half the time you were here.” Was he mad about that? He hadn’t seemed mad, but a few times when Theo had called and she’d picked up, he’d left the room.
He turned his hand over and interlaced his fingers with hers.
“It’s okay. We’ll have next time. It sucks that we can’t do next weekend, though.”
She had community meetings both Saturday and Sunday, and he was on call, so he couldn’t fly up. It was for the best, anyway; her cousin Becca’s engagement party was on Friday night, and it wasn’t like she could bring him along with her to that. They had a sex-up-against-her-bedroom-wall kind of relationship, not a come-meet-my-family kind of relationship.
But she was really sad about not being able to see him for two weeks. She felt a little panicky about how sad she was.
And even though he seemed like he was sad about it, too, she still had “as long as we’re doing this thing” echoing in her head.
She moved her hand back to the steering wheel.
“I don’t know how you’re going to survive without me for two whole weeks. Maybe Carlos will make fun of how much sugar you put in your coffee and how you can’t handle spicy food, just to keep you on your toes.”
He laughed and moved his hand off her knee. Hmmm. Just because she’d let go of his hand didn’t mean she wanted him to move it.
“You and Carlos have only met each other twice. How is it that you’re so in tune? He’ll do that without any prompting. Don’t worry about it.”
He kissed her hard when she pulled up at the curb.
“See you in two weeks?” he asked, as his fingers stroked her cheek.
When he looked into her eyes like that, she would say yes to anything he asked her. Do you want to rob a Vegas casino with me, I promise it’s for a good cause? Let’s go skydiving! Tell me all of your deepest and darkest secrets. She’d have said yes to it all.
“Definitely.”
Drew took a picture of the cheese and cracker plate he’d bought at the airport and texted it to Alexa when he got on the plane.
Don’t you wish you were sharing this with me?
He’d had such a good time with Alexa that weekend. This thing obviously couldn’t last that much longer, but why mess with a good thing? Ever since they’d gotten back together, being with her had been so relaxed and fun. It felt so comfortable. Maybe a little too comfortable?
Perhaps it was good that he wasn’t going to see her for two weeks. It made everything easier. More low-key. This was why she was the perfect person for him to date—she lived on the opposite end of the state, she had a super busy job, and they couldn’t see each other that often. And when they did see each other, it was great. See, perfect.
He laughed when the flight landed and a text from her lit up his screen.
You ate me out of house and home this weekend, Nichols . . . and cheese and crackers.
Accompanying the text was a picture of three open and empty cracker boxes and a cheese rind.
He put his phone back in his pocket, still smiling.
He ignored the weight in his chest at the thought of not seeing her smile for fourteen days. It was probably just all of that cheese.
Theo narrowed his eyes at her when she walked in on Monday morning.
“Coffee. Let’s go.” He had her outside before she could even put her purse down.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, as soon as they were far enough away from the building so they wouldn’t be overheard. “Were things bad this weekend? Was Drew an ass about you needing to work?”
She sighed. Had her poker face gotten that bad or did Theo know her that well?
“No, he was great. He was great about everything. It’s just . . . we’re both busy next weekend, so it’s going to be a little while before we see each other again, that’s all.”
There were too many people they knew inside the coffee shop, so after they’d gotten their coffee, he steered her in the opposite direction of City Hall.
“You’ve been seeing each other every weekend, right?” Theo asked her.
She shrugged.
“Yeah. I mean, we hadn’t planned on it that way. It just sort of happened.” She avoided his eyes.
He tore off a piece of his pastry and handed it to her.
“This thing seems to be getting kind of serious. Have you guys talked about what’s going on between you two?”
She shook her head. All she wanted was coffee. Why did she have to get the third degree? She was irritated with Theo for bringing this up, irritated with herself that tears had popped into her eyes. She blew into her coffee cup so Theo couldn’t see them.
“Nah, it’s just fun. It’s not like it can go anywhere. He doesn’t really do serious. Plus, I don’t think either of us can keep up this kind of travel schedule for too long. My finances certainly aren’t up to many more plane tickets. I’m just going to enjoy it while it lasts.”
Theo was still looking at her. She took a sip of too-hot coffee to brace herself and winced. She looked back up at him with what she hoped looked like a genuine smile.
“Okay.” He stopped on the corner, forcing her to stop, too. “If you say so. I’m just worried that—”