“Oh right, you have practice.”
“More like treatment today and keeping our legs moving,” Pacey says. He glances at me. “See you at the arena.”
“Yup.” I nod, and one by one, the guys filter out of the apartment. Posey gives me a subtle thumbs-up right before he closes the door, leaving me alone with Blakely.
When silence falls over us, she says, “Well, thanks again for letting me stay here.”
“Yeah, sure. Of course.”
I awkwardly shift, she awkwardly grips her purse and we just . . . stand there, unsure of where to go from here.
Finally, she says, “How about a tour?”
Fuck, that’s right. That would be the next step.
Pull your head out of your ass, Holmes.
“Right, yeah, good idea. So, uh, this is my place.” I gesture to the open space.
There’s a smile in her voice as she replies, “I can see that.”
Yup, she knows this is your place, dumbass.
Be better.
“And, uh, this is the living room. I don’t have cable or anything like that, but I have all the streamers. If you want to watch the hockey games, if you’re into that, I have ESPN+.”
“So I can watch your away games and see if you have any last-minute goals.”
“Yeah,” I say, gesturing to the console table. “That’s the plant.”
She turns and gasps. “This is Sherman? Well, I can see why you’re so attached. He’s very cute.” She squats down to get a better look. “He looks like a real tree, just shrunk down to be a foot tall. I love it.”
I’ve never been into plants, but sure, Sherman is kind of cool.
Am I attached like Posey? No, but I can see the interest there. The thing is interesting to look at.
“Have you always been into bonsai trees?” She stands up and turns toward me.
“Uhh, not really.”
“Oh, then what got you into them?”
Yeah, Holmes, what got you into bonsai trees?
I scuff my foot against the floor and say, “Read about one in a book. Sounded interesting, so I grabbed one.”
“And you’ve been friends with Sherman ever since. That’s so sweet.”
Yup, not looking like a fucking loser at all.
Friends with a goddamn tree. Thank you, Posey.
I lead her to the kitchen and say, “This is the kitchen. Help yourself to whatever you want. I stocked the pantry and fridge with food. I just guessed what you might like. Please don’t feel shy to eat and drink things. I won’t be around to do it myself.”
“Well, that was sweet.” She opens the fridge. “Ooo, lime La Croix. My favorite.” That puts a little pride in my chest. The lime was my idea. She opens the pantry and smirks. “I can see what you bought and what you already had. The top shelf full of protein bars and powder is obviously what you live off, and the fresh bags of pretzels, crackers, and cookies . . . those are for me.”
I pull on the back of my neck. “I wanted to make sure you had something.”
