Thou Shalt Not(49)

“Perfect. Thank you.”

She opened the driver side door and was about to get in and turned around. I had already started backing away from the car.

“Luke,” she said, walking back toward me.

“Yes?”

She held her arms out as she neared me and I took her into an embrace.

“Thank you for dinner.”

We hugged for longer than was probably appropriate and much shorter than I would have liked. Her scent was addicting even from a slight distance, but up close it became even more powerful. I imagined Poison Ivy from the Batman series probably smelled this delicious. But, she was a villain. I didn’t think April was. I guess I had to get to know her a little bit more. But, anyone who could put up with Marco for as long as she had wasn’t a villain. Hell, she probably deserved a medal.

She got into her car and drove away, and I stood waiting until she was out of sight before returning to my car. My phone had been in my pocket all night and I pulled it out to wait for a text from April. I didn’t feel like driving around until she texted, so I sat in the parking lot and waited.

When I looked at my phone I noticed I had two texts and a missed call from Holly. She didn’t really ever leave voicemails, but she didn’t call all that often either. I checked the times and she had called before she texted.

Just checking in. Hope you had a nice day :-) read the first one.

Where are you? read the second one, which she sent an hour later.

I figured I should respond but really didn’t want to get into any kind of conversation with her at the time. I supposed it would have been nice to ask how things were going with her brother, but even that felt like work tonight. I wanted to hear from April, and no one else. If Holly asked, I would just say I was having a bad day and decided to avoid everyone. She would buy it, I’m sure.

The text with April’s address came through after about ten minutes. To the text she also added: Feel free to just drive around the neighborhood or park across the street until Paula leaves.

Yeah right. There was no way in hell I was doing that. My car stuck out like a sore thumb in a Walmart parking lot. God only knew what people living in a neighborhood housing professional athletes would think.

So, I continued sitting in the parking lot, continued thinking about April. I didn’t know what was happening to me. On one hand, I had Holly. Sure, we had tried the dating thing, but even then I knew we weren’t in a place to be seriously dating. I could tell that recently things had changed, and that the comfort level and friendship we were building was a good thing. Plus, we had great sex. I hadn’t had sex with anyone I enjoyed more than her. Obviously, a healthy sex life is important in a relationship, and while we didn’t have a relationship per se, I’d be a fool if I said I didn’t think she wanted to give it another try. And, if I was being honest with myself, I would admit that I probably would have been happy to give her another try had April not showed up and messed with my head.

I still couldn’t quite figure out what it was she was doing to me, the effect she had on me. I felt it right away—this instant connection, this draw to her that I hadn’t remembered ever feeling. It wasn’t even attraction so much, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was severely attracted to her. I thought about her almost constantly. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to survive working next door to her and trying to focus on the task at hand at the same time. Maybe it would get easier. I doubted it.

And, she was married, for God’s sake. Who even considers a married woman an option? I was drawn to her, attracted to her, felt alive when we talked, flirted, bantered back and forth. But, she was married. To a hot-head. And she’s my coworker. At a Christian school. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I would even let myself think about another man’s wife, let alone want to leap across a dinner table and take her on the floor. But, I did. And I asked her to go to dinner with me. And now I was waiting for her nanny to leave so that I could sneak over to her house undetected while her husband was in the air flying back home to see his wife and kids. Sure, I was just going to pick up a book. But, clandestine meetings always made things more scandalous than they usually were. Or maybe I was reading way too much into everything.

Paula just left the building! read the next text I got from April. It was followed by: Get your ass over here.

On my way.





I typed her address into my phone’s GPS and began following the directions. Once I turned onto the main road down the beach, I was immediately told to twist and turn through various side roads.

Well, she lives near or on the water, I thought.

Great. So if Marco showed up sooner than expected, he could cut me up and throw me into the Gulf, Dexter-style.