Rex WHEN I PULLED away from kissing Evie, for a moment, I couldn’t es cape the pull of that kiss. It had been brief, but something about it reached inside of me and grabbed me. Her lips were so soft on mine, inviting me to stay awhile. But I couldn’t. That’s no t what this was about.
To distract myself, I looked to see if my parents were still in the window, watching us. Of course they were. At least, they were still at the window. Maybe they were watching the sunset colors in the sky, but I hoped they’d seen that kiss. I hoped if they had doubts about my relationship with Evie that they were gone now. I’d done my best to make the kiss look as tender and heartfelt as I could. As we turned to go back toward the house, I slipped my arm around Evie’s shoulders, but shortly after I did, my parents moved away from the window. I left my arm where it was. Just in case. For the walk back to the house, Evie was silent, which was unusual. I might have asked her why the change, but I didn’t feel like making conversation. I had expected our kiss to be nothing — a meeting of lips designed to have an intended effect on my parents . I’d be lying to myself if I’d said that making physical contact with Evie didn’t strike something in me. I’d felt it with simple touches — placing my hand on her knee at dinner, for instance. That kind of contact should be nothing, but it wasn’t. So when my lips met hers, that had definitely not been nothing, either. But she was an extremely attractive woman. Of course, touching her and kissing her had an effect on me. That’s why I had not wanted to touch or kiss her for this deal we had. She had looked up at me, bathed in sunset light, and pitched the idea of a kiss t o make our relationship look more real. And then we had kissed. I was pretty sure we should not do that again, though. Not if I wanted to avoid doing it more. When we got back inside, the dining room was empty and the lights had been dimmed. I hoped my family had all retired to their rooms. My parents were in the foyer, about to head upstairs for the evening. My mother saw us first and offered a warm smile. “Are you two leaving?” I nodded. “I’m so glad we caught you before you did.” My mother approached us, gave me a light hug, and patted Evie on the arm. “It was lovely to meet you tonight, Evie.” “Mrs. Claremont, I hope it’s not unwelcome,” Evie said, “but I’d like to apologize for what I said earlier. I didn’t know.” “You didn’t know,” my mother said. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
Those words had weight. Kind woman or not, my mother could be petty. She could have brushed off Evie’s apology rather than welcoming it so warmly. I gave her a hug and whispered near her ear, “Thank you, Mom.” The kiss had worked. As they watched from the window, my parents had probably been discussing how to break us apart, but that chaste little kiss had shifted my mother. I didn’t know if one kiss could accomplish much, but it had at least scored Evie a sweet goodbye. Meanwhile, my father stood off to the side with no warmth for Evie at all. He was a freight train, always barreling down on me to micromanage every aspect of my life. Even if I’d dipped Evie and kissed her passionately, he would still be waiting for me to give up this nonsense and go marry Anya, because he had decided Anya was a good match for me. That was fine. Let them disagree about my relationship with Evie. And let them conclude that pushing me to marry Anya — or anyone else — was futile. Evie and I climbed into the backseat of the waiting car, and I gave Adaline instructions to bring Evie home first. I looked to Evie several times as we drove back into Seattle, but she had her head turned, looking out the window as we drove over the floating bridges that connected Mercer Island to Seattle. The water was dark around us. City lights twinkled in the dista nce. I noticed her profile — how her nose tilted up just slightly at the end, how full her lips were. I wanted to say something to her, but I wasn’t sure what. That was an unusual feeling for me. I didn’t get lost in admiring women. I didn’t admire my assistants, especially. I didn’t get caught up in profiles in the moonlight. Apparently, I didn’t know myself because all of that was happening. I wished it would stop. When Adaline pulled up to the curb in front of Evie’s house, I wondered what Evie was thinking. It must be strange to have such a comparison of homes — my parents’ behemoth mansion versus this speed bump of a house. It was certainly strange for me. I’d never spent time with anyone who lived like this, and bringing her back to her humble home made me feel privileged, but also sheltered and naive about what the world was really like. I didn’t enjoy the feeling. Mostly, it made me feel like an asshole. “Well, I guess I’ll see you on Monday,” she said, finally looking at me, her ever - present smile still on her face. “I had a nice time. Thank you for inviting me to dinner.” Had she really enjoyed the evening? My parents were no walk in the park, but she didn’t badmouth them or complain.
“I’ll see you on Monday,” I said, my voice too flat and emotionless. I wanted to thank her for her company or something. I wanted to say something beyond, “I’ll see you on Monday,” but couldn’t find the words before she smiled once more and then got out of the car. Adaline lingered long enough that I watched Evie walk up her cracked stretch of pathway to her front door. She didn’t turn around. She only unlocked her door and disappeared into the darkness. I’d wanted to thank her for the kiss, but that sounded too stiff and stilted. And thank you wasn’t the right word. I couldn’t get that kiss out of my mind. That chaste, innocent kiss that was akin to something one might get at a middle school dance. It was nothing. And I couldn’t get it out of my head. As Adaline pulled away from the curb, I forced my thoughts of Evie away. I had to. I didn’t want to fall for anyone. I especially didn’t want to fall for my assistant, who I had almost fired, who I had blackmailed, and who I was now fake dating. We had to stick to the plan.