“Long.” Reeti’s gaze narrowed. “Everything okay? Do you want to go upstairs?”
Her kindness caught in my throat. “Nowthatsounds like a booty call,” I said in a husky voice.
Tim returned. “You can’t leave now.”
Reeti’s smile showed her teeth. “It’s Girl Talk time, Woodman. Unless you’ve switched teams...”
“She asked for the male perspective,” he said stiffly.
Reeti glanced at me. “Your call.”
Ten
You can’t leave now.”
Which was about the last thing Tim should have said. Or intended to say. Right up there with, “I have ice if you’d like to wait inside” and “You’ll miss the next episode.”
Only she’d looked so sad, and then she’d looked so happy—her emotions close to the surface, as easy to read as a blush—that his deadened heart had stirred in response.
It wasn’t as though Dee expected anything from him, Tim reassured himself.
Except now, of course, both Dee and Reeti were looking at him, waiting for him to offer his “male perspective.” Well, Dee was waiting. Reeti was looking to pounce. The likelihood that he could give them what they wanted, that he could be what she needed, was very low. “Your call,” Reeti said to Dee.
Dee’s teeth sank into her lower lip. “You haven’t had any wine yet.”
A deflection. Tim frowned. But at least—at last—she was erecting some barriers. She should learn to protect herself better. The way she walked around, open as a wound, her heart exposed... It was dangerous. For her. And to him.
To buy himself time, he poured some wine.
“So, what happened?” Reeti asked after she’d taken a sip.
Good. Let her take the lead. She could be the supportive best friend. He was merely a... resource.
“Gray texted me,” Dee said.
The ex. Tim filed the name for future reference.
“The fucker,” Reeti said. “Did he grovel?”
Dee shook her head. “He just said... Well, that he was thinking of me. Not in those exact words, but...”
“What words did he use? Precisely,” Tim said, and then clamped his jaw shut. He had no interest in keeping this conversation going.
“Hesaid”—Dee swallowed—“ ‘The semester started and you’re not here.’ That means he misses me. Doesn’t it?”
“I guess it could,” Reeti said doubtfully. “Or it could be like, ‘You still up?’ Sure, he’s thinking about you. But he’s not thinking aboutyou.”
“It’s not an actual booty call,” Dee said. “He’s in Kansas.”
Kansas. Another fact to store away. It unnerved Tim, how greedy his mind was for bits of her, absorbing the smallest details—her frank, open gaze, her friendly American smile.
“But does he know where you are?” Reeti asked.
Dee’s mouth opened. Closed. “I’m not sure.”
“Besides, emotionally, it’s the same thing,” Reeti said. “He’s fishing for a response from you without any commitment from him.”
Dee appealed to Tim. “What do you think?”
