Frank gave him a sympathetic grimace. “I hear that. My wife’s sister’s being a real you-know-what. I keep telling Susan she doesn’t have to pick up the phone, but….”
The whole lunch room had been subjected to the woes of poor Susan, Frank’s wife, who was the middle child and peacekeeper of a family of seven siblings. Personally Jem thought she should block the sister’s number. “What’s her problem this time?”
“After the fiasco at Christmas, her husband was disinvited from Easter dinner for being an asshole, and she’s taking it as a personal slight.”
Frank and Susan always hosted big get-togethers for the holidays. Jem’s first year working at the school, Frank had let him know he was always welcome if he didn’t have other plans. Anyone who could be mean to Susan deserved lifelong suffering. “Maybe you guys should take a trip over the long weekend instead.”
“Ha! Maybe.” He shook his head. “You know what she’s like, though. Stubborn as anything. Convinced family’s all you’ve ever really got. And she’s right, sure, but I think she forgets sometimes family’s not just about blood relations.” He paused. “Hey, did you get a new watch? That’snice. I’ve been thinking I need a new one. You know Susan’s niece is getting married in a couple months and I should update the fit with some new accessories. Where’d you get that?”
Jem absently ran his thumb over the watch face. Unless Susan had come into a serious sum of money lately, he was pretty sure the watch was out of Frank’s budget, but it would berude to say so. “Oh, uh, it was a gift, actually. I can ask where he got it, though?”
Frank whistled under his breath. “Nah. Thanks, but if someone’s giving you presents like that, you don’t ask those questions. Looking a gift horse in the mouth. I didn’t know you were seeing someone.”
“It’s, uh. It’s new. Just a couple weeks.”
“And he’s already giving you pretty toys like that?” He shook his head. “Guy knows a good thing when he sees one, I guess.”
Jem’s cheeks heated. “I guess.”
By the time the conversation with Frank wrapped, Jem had three minutes to cram his sandwich into his face. He did so while texting Andrew, determined not to overthink this further.
We could do dinner Thursday. Jem had to eat either way, and if it was awful, he could beg off and go home early because he had to get up for work the next day.
He didn’t expect to get an answer right away.Work dinner that night.Andrew followed this with an upside-down happy face.Friday?
Normally Jem hated doing anything on Friday, but this week River’s band had a small concert, sort of a warm-up for the bigger show in early June, at the end of their tour.Plans, he answered.Lunch Saturday?
Done. Thanks, Jem.
Don’t thank me yet, Jem thought, and then he had to book it to his classroom.
Chapter Ten
Like a River Song
“Sorry,” saidAmanda, “you did what?”
“This is what you wanted!” River pointed out. “You masterminded this! Why are you surprised your diabolical plan worked?”
And what did she care if he gave Jem a car?
She huffed a breath that fluffed her bangs. “I thought it would take you longer to figure it out—”
“Okay, ouch—”
“And way longer to act on it. Like, youarea rock star. Excuse me for thinking you might have some chill.”
Have you met me?River wanted to say, but then he realized yeah, she had. She’d been there for all the assholes who’d cheated, stolen, treated him like shit, and he’d let all that roll off him.
She thought he might be able to be chill about a guy he was falling ass over head in love with because she’d never seenhim with someone he actually gave a shit about. And neither had he.
“Okay, fair,” he said finally. “You think the car was too much?” It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, but Jem seemed to like it. River was still thinking about what he’d said. He was too old to have back-seat-of-the-car fantasies, but if that was what Jem wanted, he’d make it happen.
“I think you probably had a very sweet reason for giving him a car, and I’ll get your feelings all over me if you tell me what it was.” She shook her head. “But you didn’t ask me here to talk about Jem.”
“I didn’t.”
“Are you going to tell me why you did?”
