“They look great!”
“Thanks,” Roni said with a smile. “That’s my advanced art class. My regular classes, on the other hand, not so impressive.”
I rubbed my palms together with joking enthusiasm. “Now this I’ve got to see.”
Roni moved closer to me, and we looked through her camera roll as she narrated each picture. Some of the kids, I had to admit, were already far better artists at twelve and thirteen years old than I would ever be. Others, however, seemed as though their artwork belonged at the kindergarten art show instead.
As Roni put her phone back in her purse, she said, “Completely random, but I’ve been meaning to ask. How has your grandmother been?”
“Well, aside from asking me how I let you get away every time I see her, she’s doing well.” I paused, opting to push my luck. “You know, I bet she’d love to see you.”
“Even after she caught us making out on her bed in high school?”
We both giggled. “Please. She forgot about that years ago! She actually moved in with my parents a few months ago.”
“Is she alright?”
“Yeah. The stairs just got to be too much, so she moved into the in-law suite on my parents’ first floor,” I said, hoping Roni could tell how genuinely touched I was that she still cared about my family after all this time. She had a heart of gold, and little moments like this reminded me how lucky I was to have her back in my life.
“Well, maybe I’ll have to stop by and see her sometime.”
I nodded. “So, if this date goes well, want to take this back to my place?” I asked, adding a hint of humor to my voice to make sure Roni knew I was I was joking.
Luckily, Roni picked up on my infliction and shot me a toothy grin. “I’d say this date is already going pretty well, and I’d love to see that fancy house of yours.”
“Oh yeah?”
“But I actually have plans after dinner.”
I leaned in. “Another date, huh? Already sick of me?”
“Very funny,” Roni said. “Actually, the girls are coming over.”
“The girls?” I asked.
Roni nodded. “You know, Maddie and Rachel and Kayla and Shawna.”
I knew that I had to maintain my macho persona, at least to a degree, but I couldn’t hide my enthusiasm for Roni. It was so great to see her hanging out with the friends she’d drifted from, especially considering I was mostly to blame. I told Roni how glad I was for her that she was getting together with her high school friends, and she revealed her nervousness to me. She was worried that they wouldn’t accept her back into their group, that they wouldn’t mesh as well as they had in high school.
“Listen,” I started, taking Roni’s hands in mine. “You’re just as amazing, and kind, and wonderful as you were in high school. They’re going to love you.”
“In that case, maybe I can come by after they leave?”
I could feel my smile widen on my face. “I’d love that.”
Chapter 15
Roni
“Remember our trip to Kings Dominion at the end of junior year?” Jesse asked as the waiter cleared our plates. His laugh was infectious.
I wasn’t sure if I should play it cool and offer up a subtle nod or ask him how on earth he thought I could ever forget our trip. I opted for a combination of the two. “Of course,” I said. “Who could forget you throwing up all over the roller coasters?”
Jesse smirked. “If I recall correctly, I wasn’t the only one who made the mistake of eating absurd amounts of cheese fries and cotton candy before going on the coasters.”
“You were just the only one who paid the price!” That smile. That rhythm. It was just like it was back in high school, but also different, deeper and more mature. I thought that reminiscing on our high school days would be hard, like prying open old wounds. Instead, it reminded me of the good times before the few days that had changed everything. I spent so long blocking everything about Jesse out that I’d forgotten how much of my high school experience had been centered around our love.
“So, are we thinking dessert?”
I laughed. “Is that even a question?”
Jesse motioned for the waiter to come over. “We’ll take one of every dessert on the menu, please.”
As the waiter nodded, I sat there with my jaw dropped. “Jesse! There have to be ten different desserts on that menu!”
“So, we’ll eat what we want and take the rest for later,” Jesse said nonchalantly. The confidence in his voice was so familiar, without the cockiness it had contained years earlier. “My girl deserves the best.” His girl. I liked the sound of that. It felt nice to be wanted, to be needed.
My heart pounded faster in my chest at the thought of Jesse and I possibly in this for the long-haul. I knew it was far off, but it was a nice thought to keep in the back of my mind. My face, however, must not have portrayed what I was feeling, because Jesse asked me what was wrong.
“Nothing,” I said. “Promise.”
“Is it because I called you my girl?” he asked, a look of genuine concern on his face. “I didn’t mean to insinuate—”
“No, no, no.” I shook my head profusely. “Nothing is wrong, really. To be honest, I like the sound of being your girl.”
Jesse leaned in to kiss me but was interrupted by a tray of desserts that was nearly the size of our table. I looked on as the waiter placed down plate after plate, starting with miniature cannoli covered in powdered sugar and ending with a fruit tart.
“Where should we start?” Jesse said.
I pointed at a silver dish that held pistachio gelato. “We wouldn’t want this to melt,” I said, smirking. We passed the desserts back and forth, each of us taking a bite of each one and ranking them on a scale of one to ten, just like we had on our first date. Even then, however, we’d only sprung for three desserts. This was turning out even better than I expected.
“Are you kidding?” I playfully swatted Jesse’s shoulder. “There’s no way the fruit tart is better than the eclairs.”
Jesse let out a laugh. “It’s like comparing apples and oranges. I guess I’m just in more of a tart mood tonight.”
“And how does the chocolate torte compare?”
“It’s almost as smooth and hot as you are.”
I could feel myself blushing, but I didn’t mind. Every time Jesse gave me a compliment or said something sweet, I swooned even more. I spent so much time fantasizing about what a second chance with Jesse would be like, and, so far, it had exceeded almost every expectation. Sure, our little rendezvous at the Rusty Bucket had been totally out of my comfort zone, and not even something I’d imagined in my wildest dreams, but it had been just as incredible as the past few weeks.
“I still can’t believe you ordered all of these desserts,” I said, hoping that my staring was flattering to Jesse, rather than creepy or obsessive.
“I wasn’t the man I should’ve been for you in high school,” Jesse said. “And I want to be that guy for you now. And, by the way, your eyes are stunning in this lighting.”
“Jesse.” I stopped myself, wondering if I should speak what’s on my mind. Going on dates and spending time together had been nice, but were we just reliving our youth? After all of the changes that had come my way in the past few months, I wanted some sense of stability. But, at the same time, I also didn’t want to rock the boat.
“Roni.”
“What are we doing?” I asked. Hopefully it was a vague enough question to leave it open to interpretation.
“We’re catching up,” Jesse said. That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. “We’re dating, having fun.” I decided that answer would do for now, and that maybe this would work out after all. Smiling over at Jesse, I reached my fork across the table for another bite of the chocolate torte.
“Dad, they’ll be here in a minute,” I called to my father’s bedroom. “Do you need anything before they get here?”
When I received no response, I nervously hurried down t
he hall, where I found my dad sitting in his recliner, engrossed in some documentary on the TV. “I’m fine, Roni,” he said. “You enjoy your time with your friends.”
Kayla showed up first, followed by Rachel and Maddie, who arrived seconds later. Per usual, Shawna was the last of the bunch, finally getting to my house twenty minutes after she said she’d be here. Not much had changed since high school, after all. We walked up the stairs to my bedroom, like some teenagers preparing for a gossip session. It was strange being back in my old room, but it also felt safe and familiar.
We sat across the room on the beanbag and butterfly chairs I’d insisted I needed when I was fifteen. “It’s so great to see you guys,” I said.
“Look at you, our little city girl,” Maddie chirped. Though the words could have been construed as either negative or positive, the genuine smile on her face told me she meant it in a positive way. “You look great! How was New York?”
“Are we going to pretend like Roni didn’t just ditch us for the past four years?” Rachel asked.
“Rach!” Kayla snapped.
I held up my hand. “She’s right,” I said. “I treated you guys like crap, and I’m really sorry. I guess I sort of lost myself after Jesse broke up with me, and I took it out on you guys. I’ve really missed you.”
“We’ve missed you, too,” Rachel said. The other three girls looked at Rachel with the same confusion I was sure showed on my own face. Hadn’t she just completely dissed me. She broke out into a fit of laughter. “I just wanted to hear how much you missed us.”
That was all it took. We joined her in laughter, and I realized that Kayla was right. These were great friends, the kind that overlooked my past mistakes and were just glad that I was back. “How was school in North Carolina?” I asked, turning to Shawna.
“I loved it,” she said. “Until I got kicked out!”
“You what?” I was intrigued, but I also wasn’t surprised. Shawna wasn’t exactly the academic type.
“It’s a great story,” Maddie interjected.
“Not that exciting, actually,” Shawna said. “Apparently sleeping with a professor is frowned upon.”
“You didn’t!” Rachel, definitely the teacher’s pet of the bunch, said. “I thought you left because your grades were bad.”
Shawna threw her head back and cackled. “Poor, naïve Rachel. I just told you that because I didn’t want to crush your little world of innocence.” We all laughed, knowing that what Shawna had said was precisely true. Ever since I’d first met Rachel in elementary school, she’d been so innocent and proper. A small part of me was also glad that I wasn’t the last to find out this information.
“I can’t believe you!”
Shawna went into detail—but not too much detail—about her semester-long affair with her philosophy professor, Dean. He was “tall, dark, handsome, and the youngest professor in the department by a solid thirty years,” as Shawna explained it. She’d had a crush on him since the first day of class, but he was the one who made the first move. Their relationship, mostly physical, was all good and dandy until one of Shawna’s classmates caught them kissing before class one day. Dean was terminated, and Shawna was kicked out. “But it was worth it,” Shawna said. “The sex was great and I ended up getting hired as a secretary at a new private school in Hanover.”
It had been far too long since I’d been able to laugh along at someone else’s dramatic experiences instead of worrying about my own. Next, Kayla filled us—well, mostly me— in on her hookup with a guy in her culinary program. When she was done talking, everyone looked over at me.
“Well?” Maddie said.
“Well, what?” I asked, pretending as though I didn’t know what was coming.
With a smirk on her face, Maddie said, “Come on, Roni. We all know Jesse was searching all over town for you.”
I shot Kayla a look, but she didn’t budge. “Don’t look at me,” she said. “I didn’t say a thing.”
“He tried all of us,” Shawna said. “Seemed like he really wanted to talk to you.”
With a shrug of my shoulders as a way of buying time, I tried to think of what to say. After messing up my friendship the first time, I didn’t want to ruin it with any lie. Besides, what bad could come of them knowing about me and Jesse? “We’re kind of dating.”
Before I could continue, the room erupted into cheers and chatter. “I knew it,” Maddie said.
“Girl, he’s not worth your time,” Shawna said.
“Shut up, Shawna,” Rachel piped up. “It was bound to happen.”
“It’s still all really new,” I said, nervously pulling at one of my curls. “I actually just got back from our third date.”
“Where did he take you?” Rachel asked, as if that was somehow an indication of how things were going.
“Cucina Ricci.”
An unexpected squeal came from Shawna’s direction, sending us all jumping from our seats. “You mean where you went on your first date? I take back what I said! That is so romantic!”
“He’s kind of a catch now, Roni,” Kayla added. “Great job, great house.”
“Great body,” Maddie said.
I couldn’t help but laugh, both because Maddie’s statement was unexpected and because it was the truth. “You’ve got that right,” I said. “And you should see some of his tattoos!”
“Who could miss them?” Rachel said.
I smiled softly, thinking of my name permanently engraved on Jesse’s chiseled body. That was one secret I’d keep for myself. We talked like old friends, catching up on stories that even the others who had stayed in touch hadn’t known about one another. It was nice to be back in a loop, any loop. The confidence my friends gave me in a second chance with Jesse was almost as greatly-needed as the night itself.
Chapter 16
Jesse
Was this real life? If someone had told me a few months earlier that I’d have Roni Vance, the one that got away, in my house, the house I worked so hard to be able to afford and renovate, I would’ve laughed in their faces. This was even better than I’d dreamed. Roni stood in the hallway, shaking off the cold from outside, looking absolutely radiant in some blue jeans and a top that showed just enough cleavage to make me giddy.
“I can’t believe you bought the Pritchett House,” Roni said. Her eyes were glued to the walls and fixtures as she looked around the foyer I’d put far too much thought into redecorating. I was proud of the carefully-curated paintings that lined the walls, and I knew that Roni would love them. I ran down the line and gave her a brief overview of each painting, partly because I had a fondness for each one, and partly because I hoped it would impress her. “This is incredible, Jesse.”
What I wanted to say was, “I bought this for us, baby. I’ve been waiting for you.” Fortunately, I thought better of it and mumbled a polite thank you. “So, how was it catching up with the girls?”
“Surprisingly great,” Roni said, smiling. “I think I’m finally starting to feel like Linfield is home again.”
“Because of someone special?”
“There might be someone.” Roni winked and leaned in for a quick kiss.
Wanting her to feel as at home as possible, I took Roni on a tour of the house. “I had these barstools custom made because I couldn’t find ones that looked exactly like the picture I had in my mind,” I said when we got to the kitchen. I hoped it came off as refined, rather than snooty.
“Well, they’re stunning,” Roni said. “Really. They’re the picture of a perfect barstool. This whole house is gorgeous. I mean, I’ve admired it from the outside for years, but seeing the inside is a whole different ball game.” She turned to me and looked tenderly into my eyes. “I’m proud of you, Jesse. It seems like you’ve done really well for yourself.”
“I only have one regret,” I said.
Roni nodded. “I know.”
“But, we’re here now, so how about I show you the jacuzzi I had installed in the master bathroom?”
&n
bsp; With a smile on her face, Roni yelled, “Race you!” Without waiting for me to even tell her which way the master bedroom was, she took off up the stairs, and I followed, trying my best not to fall over from laughing. It all felt so natural with Roni, like we’d been a couple all our lives. She made me laugh in a way that I hadn’t since high school. By the time I caught up to Roni, all she had left on her body was her panties, the rest of her clothes strewn about on my bedroom carpet.
“I could really use a nice bath,” Roni said seductively.
“Is that so?” I asked, throwing my shirt to the ground. Being able to take my shirt off around Roni without worrying about what she might think of the tattoo signaled a new phase in our relationship, at least for me. As Roni pulled my pants down to my ankles, I started the water in the jacuzzi. In the six months since I’d had the oversized tub installed, I’d only used it twice, both for meaningless rendezvous with tattoo models. I hoped Roni would be the last girl I ever brought in this jacuzzi.
As the water filled up in the tub, Roni pushed her naked body against mine and pulled my lips in for a long, deep kiss. I was so caught up in every bit of her that I nearly let the jacuzzi overflow. “Tell me a secret,” Roni said, as I helped her into the tub.
“What do you mean?” The question had caught me more than a little off-guard.
Roni ran her fingers along my chest. “I want to know every piece of you, Jesse Parker. I knew the old you, and now I want to get to know the new you.”
I carefully considered Roni’s request, a small part of me convinced that it was some sort of a trap. “I’ve been really into documentaries lately,” I said, satisfied with my revelation.
“Seriously?” Roni howled. “You, the guy who fell asleep every time we watched anything that even slightly resembled a documentary back in high school?”
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