“Even better. If you play, I’ll bring Lucas with me. There will be plenty of eye candy for both of us since there are a couple of women who play on both sides.”
Good grief! He needed to get rid of Jess before she said anything else.
“I’ll see if I can squeeze in a few minutes on Sunday to stop by, but no promises to anything, Jess.” He’d promise anything at this point to get her to stop matchmaking, even giving up some of his precious Sunday. He made a show of looking at his watch. “Sorry to cut this short, but I need to head down to the guidance department before the day ends. I’ll pass along the flyers, and then we have a movie night to supervise.”
As soon as it came out of his mouth, he really knew he was in trouble. He might be the former English teacher, but he could tell by Jess’ widening eyes that the subtext of what he just said actually threw gasoline on the fire instead of water.
Glancing Elyxandre’s way, she said through her smile, “It wasverynice meeting you. I hope we have a chance to get to know each other better in the future. I’ll talk to you later, Lucas.”
Ugh. No threat there. Just a promise. She was going to be all over him about the sexy new SRO. He’d probably have several texts within the hour, and ignoring her would only make it worse. He made a mental note to call her when he got home tonight to get the interrogation over with.
With a waggle of her fingers goodbye, Jess sing-songed, “Have a great movie night tonight, you two,” as she went out the door, closing it behind her. No points for subtlety, he thought.
After she left and he was alone with Elyxandre, the air felt impossibly heavy, similar to humidity but without the dampness.
“Well, sorry if she made that awkward,” Lucas offered.
“It’s okay. A little confusing, but…”
“Why confusing?”
Elyxandre bit her lip, a worried expression casting over her face. “Well… isn’t that your girlfriend?”
“Ah. No. We dated for a short while back when Ezra was a freshman, but we’re just friends now. I’m not dating anyone right now.”
Why did he mention that?
“What about you?” he asked. “Anyone in your life?”
What the ever-loving fuck? Had he suddenly lost his mind?
There was a pause before she answered. “No. I mean, I have an ex. An ex-husband, but it’s been two years, and we are definitely not friends.”
The tension and tone in her voice told him all he needed to know. It had been an ugly split, and one with no love lost, especially on her part.
She continued, “Exes are always difficult relationships. Probably worse when the relationships have amicable endings.”
“How so?”
“Well, if it’s an ugly ending, you don’t have the pressure to be nice when you see them. If you’re lucky, you never have to. See them, that is. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way, though, and you’re at odds with one another. You don’t care if you’re nice or not.”
“Whereas if it’s an amicable split, you always have to be nice.”
“Exactly. Seems like you don’t have that problem with Jess though. That’s good.”
“We only went out on a handful of dates, so it never had a chance to get serious. We’re way too good at being friends to be anything more.” Why was he offering all this information to her? “I take it your split with your ex was less than amicable?”
She paused a moment.
He apologized. “I’m sorry. None of my business.”
“No, it’s fine. I mean, it’s not exactly a secret. We met my senior year in high school, moved to New Orleans right after graduation, and got married soon after. Being a female officer is tough enough. Being an officer in the same precinct as your husband, who then became your ex-husband? That’s a challenge on no one’s escape room task list.” She smiled tightly. “People who work together probably shouldn’t date, let alone get married. Creates all kinds of complications.”
“Yeah. I can see how that might be.”
His voice sounded normal to him, but being in agreement with her made him a little sad.
A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
