“So do I.” His tone was tight, as was his mouth. Mike sounded like he’d enjoy doing a little pounding himself.
“Maybe we can find an Indian food place near the hotel and try our dinner date again.” She normally would have objected to his use of the word date, but having spent the night before their trip to Curry MacMurray writhing in jealousy over Amy from accounting— jealousy which turned out to be entirely unwarranted— she’d instead been excited to hear him call their dinner exactly that.
“Date?” He shot her a quick confused glance.
Nervousness clutched her heart. “That’s what you called it.” Could he hear the uncertainty in her voice? She’d been avoiding anything resembling a relationship with Mike for so long, butnow, having crossed that line, even in such a small way, felt like a huge risk.
“Yes, but I also came to your house dressed in a trench coat that didn't fit me, so my judgment is maybe not the best. I only questioned the word because I wanted to make certain you thought of it that way too, that I didn’t misunderstand.”
“Ah.”
He glanced at her for the briefest of moments. “Was it? A date, I mean? We’ve never called any of our time together an actual date.”
“Would it be so bad if it was?” She hoped not.
He shook his head. “Not bad at all.”
“I should probably warn you,” she said. “I have the world’s worst dating track record. Every attempt ends in disaster.”
He shrugged. “And I have no track record. I can count on one hand the number of dates I’ve been on in the past twenty years.”
“What could possibly go wrong?” she said with a smile.
Mike pulled the car into the parking lot of Kristina’s apartment complex. They found only one visitor parking spot; school wouldn’t officially be out for a couple of days. The sidewalks had been shoveled but needed to be salted. Celeste walked carefully up toward Kristina’s door with Mike close on her heels.
A patch of ice caught her off guard. As her foot slid out from under her, Mike reached out and steadied her. He always did seem to be there when she needed him. That was something a woman didn’t always find out about a man until it was too late.
A young woman, probably right around Kristina’s age, opened the door when Celeste knocked. “Hey, Kris!” she called back into the apartment. “Your mom and dad are here.”
Celeste tried to explain, but the girl had already moved back inside, leaving the door open.
“It’s probably simpler just to leave it be,” Mike said. “We won’t be staying here anyway.”
And, when it came down to it, Mikewaslike a father to Kristina.
They stepped inside. Kristina was there in the next instant, her arms around Celeste. “I’m so glad you came.”
“So am I, hon.”
“But it was so far to drive.”
Mike put his arm around Kristina, making something of a sandwich out of the three of them. “Worth every mile, kiddo.”
“Have you checked into your hotel?” Kristina asked.
Celeste held her daughter even more tightly. “Not yet. We wanted to see you first.”
“Do you mind if I hang out with you guys tonight?”
“Not at all,” Mike said.
Kristina hurried into a bedroom and came back with a duffel bag. She held it up with a shrug. “Mom said there’s a living room. I’ll crash on the couch.”
All the way to the hotel, a full ten minutes, Kristina talked about Econ boy, whose name was Jim, and how she saw him all over campus. He had asked her out repeatedly, growing more insistent each time. Kristina said she’d been very clear in her refusal and had specifically told him to stop asking, but he hadn’t. While Celeste couldn’t say for certain that it was a dangerous situation, it was clearly a case of harassment, and that warranted addressing.
Mike left them in the car and hopped out to check them into the hotel.
“How is your holiday bet going?” Kristina asked when they were alone.
