“Will Millie be here?” she asks.
“Bailey,” Malcolm says. His tone makes her frown at him.
“Fine. Yes, I’m always free. Just warn me if she’s coming, and I’ll put extra tequila in the margaritas.”
“She probably will be,” I tell her. Millie can smell when people are here, I swear.
I walk them to the door and make sure Apollo is on his bed so he doesn’t get out again. He’s sound asleep. Once they’re gone, I go back to the freezer and reorganize what’s left.
It’s only a minute later when I hear the door open and close again.
“Cleaning out the fridge?” Evan asks.
I grunt a yes and stand up straight. When I turn to face him, he’s grabbing Apollo’s leash from the hook on the wall.
“I already walked him,” I say.
“You did?”
“Yeah. It looked like it was gonna rain.”
“Thank you.”
Evan seems like he might want to say something else, but he doesn’t.
I point at the kitchen island. “Want some of this cheeseball before I put it up?”
He grins easily and walks into the kitchen. “Yes, please.”
I open a cabinet and prepare Evan a dish with a hunk of the cheeseball and some Wheat Thins. “Thirsty?”
He holds up his water bottle. “I’m good.”
I hand him the plate, and he takes it.
“Plans tonight?” he asks.
“Uh…yeah.” I clear my throat. “You?”
His averts his eyes. “Maybe. Will you be around at all this weekend?”
He’s never asked me about my weekend plans before. “Why?”
He jerks slightly like I shouted the question. Then he seems to recover. “I thought maybe if you had some free time, we could try out this new place I saw on Steiner. It’s Lebanese, and they’re supposed to have the best baba ganouj in the city.”
I make the slight mistake of making eye contact with him. I don’t usually do that because he has beautiful eyes. Bright blue and heavily lashed. They’re sort of mesmerizing.
“For like—lunch or something?” he asks, when I get a little stuck. “Sunday?”
“Just you and me?”
He takes a shaky breath.Is he upset?“Me, you, Apollo…Millie…whoever you want.”
“Oh, I…you just never…I’m not sure.”
His laugh is short and unnatural. “What are you not sure about?”
“Sunday.” I mean, I don’t have any plans for Sunday as of now, but something about the way he’s acting is making me uneasy. Like bad news is coming.
