Charcoal Roast at The Greenhouse – beans roasted onsite over coals
Unexpectedly emotional. Char in a cup, but weirdly congenial. Would return in secret.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Bea’s phone lit up just past ten.
Incoming call: Gage
She answered on the second ring. “Hi.”
“Next Friday night,” he said, no preamble. “Are you free?”
“Yes,” she replied, already sitting up straighter. “What are we doing?”
“Dinner with my parents. They’d like to see you again.”
“Oh.” Bea tried to sound casual, but her brain was already flipping hangers and sifting through possible outfits. “Where are we going?”
“To their place. I’ll pick you up at six.”
“Should I bring something?” she asked, remembering how Gage had once shown up to her parents’ house with a fruit basket that could feed a small village.
“No need. Just wear something nice.”
Bea made a silent note to text Georgina the second they hung up.
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” he said.
Her chest did that fluttery thing it always did at the endearment. “Goodnight.”
Bea snapped her folder shut and slid it into her tote. Nico was cramming loose papers into his backpack like he was late for a flight he also forgot to book.
“Try not to destroy everything I just corrected.”
“I like it better lived-in,” he said, zipping it halfway. Then, throwing it out casually, “We’ve got a game Friday.”
Bea looked up. “Oh?”
“Championship,” he said, adjusting his desk. “You should come. If you want.”
It was nothing, the way he said it. It didn’t matter. But she knew it did. And it meant more than she could say that he’d asked.
“I’d love to,” she said. Her smile dimmed. “Wait. Friday night?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I have dinner with Gage’s parents. I’m so sorry, Nico.”
He shrugged. Too fast. Too blank. “It’s not a big deal.”
It was.
“Nico, wait.” She touched his arm. “Could I come to watch you practice?”
He gave her a look. “You want to sit in a sweaty gym for two hours and watch uspretendto play the championship game?”
“I’ll bring snacks,” she offered. “The delicious kind with ten grams of protein per hundred calories.”
