I didn’t have much of a heart, at least not for women beyond my mother and sisters. No, that had been destroyed long ago. But somethingfamiliarbegan banging in my chest. My stomach tied into knots while my thoughts warred against themselves. Tessa and I weren’t really dating. She could take care of herself. I knew this. It had all happened a year ago. I had to play this right. For her. But for some reason, playing this right failed to coincide with my first instinct, which was to shove this tampon up his—
Tessa’s desperate eyes found mine, and before I could second-guess what I was about to do, I stepped forward and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, pulling her snug against my side. Protective. Like a boyfriend might do. Or a brother. Tessa molded to me, leaning against me for support.
“You alright?” I asked her, my eyes roaming over her face for any signs of injury.
“Yeah,” she breathed, looking miserably toward the couple who were darting glances at us.
“Are you okay?” I looked at the other woman, who was rubbing her head, clearly nursing a battle wound. “Can we do something for you?”
The woman smiled brightly at Tessa, each rub on her head making more of her hair stand up due to static. “No, it’s no problem. I’ll be fine. It’s been…nice…to see you again.” Her voice tried hard to be sincere but fell flat.
My gaze fell onto Tyler, who eyed me with curiosity before sticking his hand out and introducing himself.
His handshake was the stuff of sissies—cold and limp, and though he gave the impression he could be suave and cocky in the right setting, this encounter with Tessa had visibly shaken him. It must have been the big-brother instinct I had toward Tessa that made me want to throttle him, and with his body type resembling a toothpick, I didn’t think I’d have any trouble teaching him a lesson. Extremely aware of the beautiful blonde curling into the side of my body, I condensed all of my rage into the twitch of my finger. If this were an old western, I’d have been the first to shoot.
His eyes flitted to Tessa. “Hi, Tessa.”
I heard her intake of breath, and I was about to cut our visit short when she leaned forward with a timid smile.
“Hey, Tyler.” She looked toward Camille. “I’m so sorry for running into you like that, Camille. And for knocking you over. I’m mortified.”
My arm skimmed around her waist, sliding the tampon into her left pocket before hooking my thumb in her belt loop. After a moment, I felt her right arm slide around my back.
“It’s okay. It’s kind of funny, really,” Camille said, smiling almost shyly, wringing her hands as she glanced up at Tyler.
“Were you playing a game or something?” Tyler asked, his eyes on my arm around Tessa, before inching closer to Camille.
“Scavenger hunt,” Tessa said automatically.
There was a silence. Everybody’s gaze fell onto the ground where the tampons lay scattered on the floor. The fact that I was nearing thirty, Tessa almost twenty-five, and we were still playing games teenagers played on dates for high school dances didn’t seem to hold anybody up. It was the tampons that were going to give us away.
“And you guys helped us out! Our instructions were to grab a box of tampons and tackle somebody to the ground. We won.”
Tough crowd. Joke did not land. Tessa gave my waist a squeeze.
“How’ve you been, Tess?” Tyler’s voice broke into the silence.
I shifted, ready to remove us from this scene, when Tessa said in a soft tone that she’s never used on me, “I’m good. I hear you have some news.”
Tyler and Camille reddened slightly. “Yeah, we’re getting married next month.”
“I’m happy for you guys.”
They were all talking so calmly, if a bit stiff and awkward, but Tessa seemed almost earnest. Where was the fight? The scratching and hair pulling and punching? Guys would have settled this much differently.
When there was a pause in the awkward conversation, I broke in, my hands on Tessa’s shoulders. “Well, it was nice to meet you both. I’d better get this little linebacker home.” The group disbanded slowly with nods and small waves.
Pointing to Camille, I couldn’t help one tiny parting shot. “You might want to put some ice on that. Okay, see you guys later.”
Once they turned the corner down the aisle, I gave Tessa a light push toward the restrooms and then went in search of more chocolate.
15
Tessa
The white pants made it through the crisis unscathed.
My pride did not.
