“This is absurd.”
“I know,” I say. “I don’t care. Be right back.”
I walk to my bedroom, catching sight of my reflection. It’s worse than I thought. I grab a black jersey cotton scarf and return to the front door, opening it only enough to extend the scarf to him. A few seconds later, he knocks again.
I open the door and reach for his elbow, guiding him with his hands outstretched into the living room and to the couch. “Sit,” I say.
“This is ...” Jude shakes his head, but he’s smiling.
“I know. However, I’m too unshowered for this reveal.” But looking at him ... he is, too. Has he been as out of sorts as I have these past few days?
“How long have you known?” he asks, getting right to the punch.
“I found out last Saturday.”
His jaw drops open, and he gapes at me. “Why didn’t you say something?”
I look at him, wearing those soft, worn jeans, an even softer T-shirt, and socks. He must’ve come upstairs without putting shoes on. Did he come as soon as he saw my follow request?
“I was thinking it would be sort of fun to reveal myself at our date.”
I can only see the mouth part of his frown, and for a beat I wish I’d let him leave his expressive dark eyes uncovered. “So why didn’t you?”
I don’t say anything. While a part of me knew there was an explanation there that doesn’t include him having a girlfriend, I am an Occam’s razor girlie: The simplest explanation is usually the right one. Now that he’s sprinted up to my apartment, I suspect I was wrong.
Jude presses his lips together and goes quiet, too, and I just have to suffer through the weight of it because, at this point, I don’t know how he hears my answer and doesn’t conclude I’m too dumb to date.
A few beats later, those full, soft lips part and he lets out a quietAhh, then says, “That day with Sami.”
“Yep.”
“You heard me tell her I was in a relationship.”
“I did.”
“Then Calliope called.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“You think I have a girlfriend.”
“Sure do.”
Jude reaches up, slides the scarf off, and, for the first time with full awareness, our eyes meet. My stomach melts; my heart takes a giant heaving lurch.
“You look beautiful” is the first thing he says to me.
The second is “Callie is my niece.”
And third, he says, “When I said I was in a relationship, I was being hopeful.” He smiles at me. “I was talking about you.”
Chapter Twelve
Jude
First things first: We both need a shower.
(Not together, of course—though Veronica is so staggeringly gorgeous even in her current state that I wouldn’t object if she offered.)
