Staring at Finn’s lips, Teddy ran his tongue over his.
“You can tell me to stop anytime,” Finn said, “but while I am patient, after the twelfth or thirteenth rejection, I will finally give up. Maybe.”
“Tomorrow?” Teddy decided to be bold. “How about tomorrow? Just the two of us.”
“Really? Wait, no, not… not tomorrow.” Finn’s face darkened, harkening back to the pain Teddy kept seeing lately, only to vanish just as quickly. “Wednesday? I could get off early after your PT?”
“Hey, Finn, you coming?” Carlos called from down the sidewalk.
Nora yipped in solidarity.
“Okay,” Teddy agreed. “We’ll finalize plans during my appointment.”
“Perfect. I can’t wait. Goodnight, Teddy.”
“Goodnight.”
Teddy was still staring after Finn when Erina stepped into his line of sight with a smug smirk.
“Shut up,” he said and turned back to go inside.
“You’re welcome.” She followed him.
Smudge sat inside the door, mourning his lost playmate. Teddy picked him up to stroke his fur in apology.
“Is it so wrong to want to remind you that life is about living, not flailing at invisible obstacles?” She snickered, and Teddy glanced back at her. “Tilting at windmills, Teddy?”
“Cute.”
“He is. So is Carlos.” It was then that Teddy noticed she was holding her phone, as if it had a new contact added.
“You got his number?”
“Why not? I need to live my life too.”
Teddy couldn’t even be mad, not as much as he wanted to be.
He had a date with Finn.
four
ErinahadtakenanUber to Teddy’s beach house originally, but given his good mood after how last night went with Finn, he offered to drop her at the airport.
She lingered in the kitchen when they were getting ready to leave, and he feared she’d suddenly announce she was staying another night, but she couldn’t. Prima ballerina could not miss dress rehearsals.
The look on her face said part of her wanted to, though.
Moving to the opposite side of the kitchen island where she stood staring at his can of spray cheese, Teddy folded his arms on the countertop and waited for her to speak first.
“I miss having you only a few blocks away,” she said finally, shrugging in answer to his silent question. “Sometimes. You know, when I need to get under someone’s skin.” With a long manicured nail, she tapped the bottle of cheese with its garish orange cap.
“I know, how the mighty have fallen,” Teddy said, since he knew that cheese was going straight to his love handles.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to be Mr. Perfect all the time,” she said, drawing his attention back to her face, which looked uncharacteristically somber. “Remember how Dad used to lay into Mom whenever she ‘wasted’ grocery money on things like this?”
Teddy tensed. They didn’t talk about Dad. Neither had spoken to him in years. “Yeah.”
“This is good.” She tapped the can again. “I mean, it’s disgusting, absolutely abhorrent, but indulgences, going after what you really want, that’s good.”
