“I’ve got your eight to ten inches right here, baby,” he blurted.
The juvenile remark after his brief melancholy startled a laugh out of her, and he shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, but you set me up.”
“I certainly did not! It was aweather report.” She tried to keep an outraged face while all her swimsuit parts woke up and cracked their knuckles in anticipation. “I swear, you men and your dick jokes.”
“We’re animals, I know.”
He was unrepentant, and she was grateful for it. He was welcome to joke about whatever he wanted as long as it chased away the strange sadness that had poured off him earlier.
He turned his back to the snowy view and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. His muscles stretched his slightly-too-small shirt, and she’d never been so grateful for Richard’s slender build. If he were any more buff, his clothes wouldn’t show off every line of Tom’s biceps and chest, and wouldn’t that have been a tragedy?
Even though she had no claim on Tom, she was immensely relieved that he and Josie hadn’t slept together and that he hadn’t even followed her gorgeous roommate home hoping for that outcome. How irrational, but there it was, humming underneath her skin.
In high school, Dylan and Tom had been a package deal. Date the quarterback, and spend acres of time with his brainy best friend. Eventually she’d discovered that she and Tom shared a love of puns and dad jokes, and while Dylan spent his time at the gym or traveling to away games with the team, Tom had been the one to listen to stories about her day or to tease her out of her bad moods when school got too overwhelming. And while Tom had turned those big amber eyes on a few of her female classmates over the years, his relationships never lasted long and he always ended up back with her and Dylan, where it felt like he belonged.
She shook her head sharply. Too many memories for one night. She walked back into the kitchen to finish cleaning up, hoping a bout of tidying would banish the restlessness she felt.
“I left an unopened toothbrush on the bathroom counter for you. Any other toiletries, you’re going to have to borrow and risk getting girl cooties.” She poured the leftover chili into a plastic container, then turned to find him watching her. Oh God, had he noticed that her agitation had ratcheted up over the past few minutes? If so, he didn’t let on.
“My needs are simple, but I appreciate the toothbrush. Thank you.” He gestured to the slow cooker. “Can I help you with that?”
“No, I got it.” She set the insert into the sink to soak, hyperaware of his eyes watching her movements. “So, I, uh, guess I’m headed to bed. Good night. If you need anything, knock.”
After one last glance around the kitchen, which was as spotless as it had been predinner, she headed toward her room.
“I will,” Tom called after her, and she couldn’t decide whether she’d be horrified or thrilled if he actually did.
Six
In the end, Tom didn’t go knocking on Finn’s door even though hedidneed an iPhone charger. But she’d looked so uncomfortable at the thought of sleeping with only the tiny bathroom between them that he didn’t have the heart to actually tap on that solidly shut door of hers once he realized how low his battery was.
So he’d powered down his phone and tossed and turned in Josie’s pink-striped sheets. The next morning he was up early, and the first thing he did was cross to the window to check out the snow situation.
It was still coming down. How was there enough snow in the universe that it was somehow still falling on Chicago?
“Dammit.” He rested his forehead on the cold glass. Entire days alone with Finn Carey had literally been one of his teenage wet dreams. Now, it was a grown-up kind of torture.
Finn, Dylan, and Tom. The Beauty, the Brawn, and the Brains. Of course Dylan hadn’t given a second thought to leaving Finn in the stands with Tom during football games. In what world did Beauty choose Brains when Brawn was the quarterback and the homecoming king?
But standing by the window right then, all he could hear were Finn’s words from the night before:I said I believe you.Years too late to undo the damage, and in a wholly different situation, yet it had still taken all his willpower not to demand to know why now but not then? Why hadn’t she given him the benefit of the doubt at a time when they were daily confidants, when she’d been the center of his world?
“Roads still not clear?”
Her voice made him jump, and his pulse ratcheted up when she joined him at the window. Yet again, she looked pristine and tailored in jeans and a fitted long-sleeve T-shirt, a walking advertisement for look-but-don’t-wrinkle.
“How is there that much snow in the world?” she asked.
“Literally what I was just thinking.”
She dropped the curtain and walked to the kitchen where she busied herself getting coffee ready. He joined her and opened cupboards until he found the mug stash and selected two. He needed cool-and-unbothered Tom to report for duty ASAP.
“More editing work for me. I can’t waste a Friday even if it’s a snow day.” He nodded his chin toward the laptop on the kitchen table.
She poured for both of them and added cream to her mug. “Yeah, my boss is expecting my project next week, so I may as well keep going on it.”
He declined her offer of coffee additives and leaned against the counter. “So what did our graduating class’s worst economics student end up doing with her life?”
“Not accounting, I’ll tell you that.” Her expression brightened. “I work for QR Marketing. We measure consumer opinions surrounding product launches. Right now I’m finalizing a set of focus group questions for a new fragrance line.”
