She bit her lip. “I guess that’s okay. Are you, um…do you need to…” She nodded at the bulge in my jeans.
“Don’t worry about it. How about we sit on the bed? Here.” I opened the closet and pulled down the spare blanket. “You’re always cold.”
She held my gaze for a moment, then took the blanket from me. “Thanks.”
“What’s wrong?” I picked up the remote from the dresser and circled to the other side of the bed.
She sat on the bed, then scooted back to lean against the headboard. She extended her legs and shook the blanket out over them. “I can’t figure you out. Totally leaving aside what happened on the loveseat, I don’t know if you’re the guy who rescued me from the river or the guy who stood by while only I was assigned an anger management course.”
“I’m sorry about that.” I sat next to her and rolled onto my hip to face her. “I’m trying to be better. Learning and growing, like you said. Can you forgive me?”
“When we go back to San Francisco, are you going to be the Cole who gave up his Thanksgiving so I wouldn’t be alone or the one who tried to make a deal without consulting me?”
My chest heated. “I’m sorry about that too. Are you going to keep throwing my mistakes in my face?”
She sighed. “That was unfair of me. I guess I’m confused.”
“Can we start fresh? I don’t want to fight anymore. I’d rather spend our energy on more enjoyable things.”
“I’m still going to call you on your bullshit,” she said. Her gorgeous lips turned up at the corners.
“And I’ll tell you, in a reasonable way, when I think you’re about to make a mistake. Okay?” I held out the remote to her.
“Deal. Keep the remote. I can’t read the buttons without my glasses.”
I flicked on the television and browsed through a few channels. Soccer, news in both Spanish and English, more soccer, a telenovela, something dark and broody, a cartoon?—
“Wait, go back,” she said. “That wasBuffy.It’s my comfort show.”
“A cheesy, dated show about vampires is your comfort show?” I flicked back. Buffy was talking to her friends and a creepy older guy in an outdoor corridor.
“Bite your tongue.” She lightly smacked my arm. “This is arguably the best episode of season two. Weren’t you obsessed?”
“I was, like, twelve when the show ended. Sarah Michelle Gellar was crush-worthy, of course, but I was more of aHeroesfan.”
“I guess I get it, but it didn’t have the staying power ofBuffy.”She tugged the blanket up over her chest. “Now shh.”
We watched the show silently. The guy fromBoneswas stalking Buffy after they’d broken up. Everyone kept talking about how he’d changed, and I realized that was part of Bridget’s problem. She wasn’t sure that I’d changed. I hadn’t, not fundamentally. I was a goal-oriented leader with a bit of a control issue. That would always be true.
What had changed was that I understood Bridget now. She wasn’t trying to ruin my life. She chased success as desperately as I did, but she also believed in the importance of human connections. She’d somehow managed to make this doomed retreat a win. The leadership team all knew and respected each other better. Including Bridget and me. Though I felt more than respect for her. I was positive she wasn’t the kind of womanwho’d put her career at risk over simple lust, but I was certain she felt something for me too.
As the episode ended, she moaned, “Jesus, a floppy disk. You don’t even remember those.”
I muted the television. “Of course I do.” I didn’t mention that I’d only used them in elementary school since that wouldn’t help my case. “Bridget, you keep bringing up our age difference. It doesn’t matter to me.”
She turned to face me, clutching the blanket. “It matters to me.”
“Does it? Or are you afraid it’ll matter to other people?”
“Aren’t you?” It came out as a whisper. “Afraid of what people will say?”
“No.” I put my hand over hers, and she let me tug it to the middle of the bed. I traced the lines on her palm. “The only thing that matters is what works for us. If we care about each other.”
“Do you care about me, Cole?” Her eyes were big and round and shining with hope.
“I do. I care about you.” There was no other answer I could give.
Her hand curled around mine, and she tugged me to her. Then she pressed her lips to mine.
