“Because of the way you blush when I ask you what he looks like. Here, give me your phone.”
I’d been looking up a textbook publishing house on my phone, but Madison snatched it away and pulled up my pictures. I felt my face get hot as she immediately scrolled to and landed on one of the…two dozen? How had I taken that many pictures in just one weekend?
“This him?” She held the phone out.
Meekly, I nodded.
“Now look me in the eye and tell me that this man is not hot.”
As I stared at the picture, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that. Because even though I wasn’t interested in him…in the slightest, it was impossible to deny. Not when his workout shirt and basketball shorts showed what they did. Because the man might be on the wiry side, but the muscles he did have were sharp and contoured well on his calves and shoulders and neck and his trim waist—
“He’s engaged,” I blurted out. “It’s not like he’s hanging out at the house all day for me.”
“Mm-hm,” Madison said. “You keep telling yourself that.”
“But—”
“Look, here’s how you test Sam. Just mention Mr. Good Looking here and see what Sam’s reaction is. Or better yet, show him the picture.” Her eyes gleamed.
“I most certainly will not.” I snatched my phone back as Sam walked back up.
“Here. I know you didn’t want anything, but I got you ladies each a lemonade and pretzel bites anyway.”
“Thanks.” I took the snack from him with the sinking feeling that maybe Madison was right. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Sam. I mean, no, he hadn’t asked me out. But he was still a very sweet friend.
“Hey,” he said, checking his watch, “the TESOL demonstration is coming up soon in the third classroom. Want to hit that one up?”
Madison and I both agreed, and we made our way toward the presentation, eating and drinking as we went. On the way, Madison decided she had to go to the bathroom, so we waited outside.
“So, how’s the beast treating you?” He grinned. “Did he come weeping at your feet, begging you for forgiveness when he saw that you don’t actually eat kids?”
I laughed, but it sounded uneasy even to me. “Actually, we’ve come to more of a compromise. At least, for the moment.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, well…” I swirled my straw around in my drink. “I found out that something…something happened with one of Jade’s previous caregivers. So there was a reason for all his crazy interrogation. I mean, yeah, it was still stupid. But…I guess he’s just not quite as horrid as I thought he was at first.”
Sam nudged my shoulder with his elbow. “You know they have a name for this. It’s called Stockholm Syndrome. Spend too much time with someone, and you start to like them, even if they are colossal jerks. And you’ve got to admit it. He’s a colossal jerk.”
“He was.” I kept my eyes on my straw as it squeaked against the lid. “But he’s a little more relaxed now. We’re actually kind of…having fun sometimes.” I thought back to the weekend and how much fun we’d had at Burns Park.
“Fun.” He chuckled. “I’ll believe that when I see it. I just think you’re too nice for your own good.”
“No, really. He’s not been that bad lately.” I would be the last person on the planet to say Derrick Allen was perfect. But after the last few weeks, it just felt wrong to have someone badmouth him to my face without saying something.
Madison rejoined us and grinned wickedly. “Do you have pictures? To prove all this fun?”
I turned to glare at her, but Sam tilted his head.
“Do you?”
“You don’t want to see pictures.” I folded my arms.
His eyes widened. “So you do have pictures of him.”
I scoffed. “With his sister.”
He gave me a wry smile. “Then let’s see them.”
