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.He’d just finished reading from the “Ask Zack” column.“Lame problems this month,” Bardo commented.“‘My girlfriend doesn’t like my sideburns’? What am I supposed to do with that?” Giving the magazine one more flip-through, he said, “This is ready for recycling.”“Just leave it; I’ll toss it later,” Matt said.“Wait! I didn’t see this article,” Bardo said, straightening up his slouch on the sofa and folding the magazine to the inside back cover.Then he read the title aloud: “‘Dud to Stud--The Sex Moves You Need to Learn Now.’” Efficiently, Bardo tore the page from the magazine and held it out.“Here, Pellican.”Matt barked out a laugh, while Pellican jerked his head back, glaring at the article like it was a dirty tissue.“What do you mean, ‘Here, Pellican’? I don’t need that!”Innocently, Bardo shrugged.“Well, I just thought you’d want it.Since you met that girl at your cousin’s wedding.”“What girl?” Matt asked.From his spot on the couch, Pellican called over, “Oh, this chick, Janine.We were at the same table.”“That’s cool,” Matt said.“Yeah.And trust me, Bardo, I don’t need any help in that department,” Pellican went on, still refusing to take the article that was in Bardo’s outstretched hand.“Okay, if you’re sure.”Matt spoke up then.“Here, let me see it.” Bardo hopped up and brought it to his desk.Pellican just eyed Matt, probably wanting desperately to know what the article said, but having too much pride to ask.Fortunately, Matt was a secure enough guy to know what he was doing in the bedroom--and also to know that, when it came to pleasing a woman, there was no harm in learning more.As Bardo dropped the page on his desk, he said, “Oh! Matt, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you something.”“What?”“You remember that girl Neeta Shah I used to like? At my old job?”“That really short chick?” Pellican called out.“If by ‘chick’ you mean goddess--yes.So I randomly got a message from her the other day.Just saying hi, blah, blah, but she mentioned that Keri was asking about you.”“Really?” Matt said, surprised.He hadn’t talked to Keri in over a year.Not since she’d chosen her rich boss over him.Neeta had been Keri’s roommate at the time, and Matt had met them both out at happy hour one night.“Yeah, Neeta just threw it in.You know, that Keri wanted to know about you.”“What about me?” Matt couldn’t help asking.Bardo threw up his hands.“That was the cryptic part.She just slipped it in at the end.Something like: ‘How’s Matt? Keri asks about him a lot.’ You know how girls are,” Bardo went on.“I bet she just tossed that in there to get me to tell you.To manipulate me, like a puppet on a string.”Matt didn’t bother pointing out that if that had been Neeta’s plan--mission accomplished.“I agree,” Pellican interjected, picking up the remote and aiming it at the TV.“She knew what she was doing planting the seed about Keri.Game’s back.”“Huh,” was all Matt said, not sure if his friends were reading too much into it.Probably.Then again…was it possible Keri wasn’t as happy with her rich forty-year-old boss as she’d thought she would be? He was 100% over Keri.Still, pride made him wonder: after all this time, did she now think she’d made a mistake?Chapter 15“Don’t mind me,” Emma said the next morning as she entered the kitchen.“Why would I mind you?” Matt said as he worked.When he looked over at her, she gave him an almost sheepish smile, then set her coffee mug on the high table by the bay window and climbed up onto a chair.“I know I’m usually hidden in my office--”“Yeah, I’ve noticed that,” he remarked.“--but that’s because you’ve never been here early enough to witness my morning de-stressing ritual,” she told him.With a chuckle, Matt said, “Okay, what’s that? Does it involve stretching? Because I can move the drop cloth,” he offered.“Ha.No.”“Sketching?” Matt asked, noticing her pen.“Let me know so I can flex a lot.”“Actually, smartie, it involves me sitting here, watching the snow fall, drinking my coffee, and most importantly…” She pulled a thin section out of the newspaper and held it up.“Doing the crossword puzzle.”“Ah.Hey, do your thing.I won’t bother you,” he said.Today Emma had her dark hair tumbling down past her shoulders, and she wore jeans and a sweater.She was always so covered up, yet why did it seem like the clothes she wore were designed to make a man lust after her?“I won’t bother you, either,” Emma promised, her voice light and airy.“I never thought you would.Just act like I’m not here,” Matt said.“In fact, you could traipse around in your ratty bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, with your hair all up in rollers, and I wouldn’t even think anything of it.”Emma slanted him a wry look.“Really? You wouldn’t think anything of that?”“Nope.”“Not even that maybe you’d slipped through a portal to another dimension and ended up in 1957?”“What do you mean?”“The image of fuzzy slippers and hair curlers is a little archaic,” she explained, smiling at him with mock pity.“So you don’t deny you have a ratty bathrobe somewhere around here? That’s basically what you’re saying.”“I’m saying nothing,” she insisted, appearing to suppress a grin.“By the way, help yourself to coffee,” she said suddenly, motioning toward the counter behind her.After about ten minutes, Emma began tapping her pen on the table and said, “There are always a few I can’t get.” She chewed her lip thoughtfully for another minute, before turning to Matt.“Hey--here’s one you might know.”“Okay, let’s hear it.”“‘Common woodworker’s tool.’ Two words.”“Try drill press,” Matt said.“Hey, that fits!” She smiled at him.“Thank you,” she said, scribbling in the answer.“You have no idea what this means to me,” she added, which made him laugh.“Uh-huh.So what else?”“Um, let’s see…oh, you’d probably know this one.‘Another name for internal combustion engine,’” Emma said.“And why would I know that? You think because I’m a guy I automatically know about cars?”“No…I just…”“I’m kidding,” he said.“It’s diesel.”Looking down at the newspaper, Emma smiled.“Nice!”As she wrote it in, Matt said, “C’mon, is that all? No questions about beer? Sports? Electric razors?”“So sensitive…” Emma teased.“Fine, I’ll ask you this one.‘Nabucco composer.’”“Uh…pass.”“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she said with a laugh [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]