“You didn’t want to go?”
Amber wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. “I hate football. And I hate Boston.”
“Fair enough.” My feet are getting cold, and as much as talking to someone is nice, I know I should let this girl go and have fun. “Well, you take care, honey. I’ll tell Laurie to call you when she gets home.”
“Uh, Mr Rembrook,” Amber says quickly as I take a step back into my house. “Before I went to college you mentioned some books that you thought would be useful, engineering textbooks I think? But then I totally flaked and forgot to come get them. Could we, I don’t know, only if I’m not bothering you, but could I maybe come in and grab those?” Her big brown eyes gaze up at me, lined with thick black lashes, and god, when did this girl turn from a gangly teenager singing too loud in my kitchen intothe young woman in front of me? Time really flew.Yes, Theo, she was a teenager in your kitchen a few years ago. Fucking stop ogling her. Pervert.
“Of course, honey, come on in. Let me get them for you.” I stand aside, letting her pass. I close the door behind us, following her as she walks through the house she knows probably as well as her own, and takes a left into my office.
She sighs happily as she walks in, and takes a deep breath.
“I always loved this room,” she says, walking over to the shelves that line the walls, running her finger along a line of history books. “I used to talk Laurie into asking you to let us do our homework here.”
I laugh softly, perching on the edge of my desk, and watch her walk around. “I remember, you two sprawled out here on the floor with your millions of books.”
“Feels like a lifetime ago.” She sounds so wistful I can’t help but smile.
“Wait til you’re my age, when you have a memory that spans back way more than 30 years.”
Amber flashes me a smile and shakes her head. “You really need to stop talking about how old you are, because you’re not that old.” Her eyes drop to the floor, and her cheeks blush pink. “Laurie used to hate it, but we all talked about you being the Hot Dad.”
I laugh out loud, covering my embarrassment. “You did not.”
“We did. We all used to watch you jogging around the neighborhood with no shirt on.” Amber lifts her eyes again with a grin, covering her face with her hands. “I can’t believe I just admitted that to you.”
“Hey, with any luck Alzheimer's will kick in by this afternoon and I’ll forget.”
Amber drops her hands with a roll of her eyes. “Mr Rembrook, stop it.”
“Please call me Theo,” I say, lifting my hands. “Mr Rembrook makes me feel like I’m back in a lecture hall.”
“Ok,Theo.” She drawls my name, eyes fixed directly on mine.
Thatfelt like flirting. I give myself an internal slap.Goddammit, what has gotten into you?
“So, how’s college?” I ask quickly, desperate to change the subject and to stop thinking about these pretty brown eyes gazing at my face.
Amber sighs, but this time it isn’t a happy sound. She twirls a strand of copper hair around her finger, turning back to gaze up and down the bookshelf.
“It’s fine. I have good professors, and I kind of like it all more than I thought I would.” She takes a green and gold bound book from the shelf, turning so I can see her profile, and flips through the pages. “Architecture is kind of wild. I discovered I like bridges.”
“Bridges, huh?”
She meets me with a smile, and nods. “How they’re built, and everything that goes into deciding what will stay up and what will fall. You think a bridge is just, like, Point A to Point B. But it’s so much more than that.”
“Amber Pope, future Bridge Builder?” I laugh as she blushes. “Sounds good to me.”
“Yeah, well, I can hope I guess.” She looks over at me. “And how about you?”
“Same as always,” I reply with a shrug. “Classes are classes. But I am working on my PhD, so…” I don’t know what else to say to this bright young woman to make my boring, middle-aged life sound any more interesting, so I just shrug again.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
I’m sure my face betrays just how much that question, coming from Amber, throws me. I try to stutter out a reply, inthe face of this young woman who is just gazing at me with soft eyes.
“Uh... Uh, I, um, no. I haven’t really, uh…” I almost choke on my damn spit trying to swallow and wet my throat, but Amber just keeps looking at me. “No, no. You?”WHY? YOU STUPID ASS, WHY DID YOU ASK HER THAT?
Amber’s eyes drop to the floor, and she shakes her head slowly. “No. Well, not anymore.” She laughs, another unhappy sound, and she puts the book back on the shelf, sliding it back into its place with a decided thud. “More fool me, I guess.”
