Yeah, that wouldn’t work. It didn’t work. Next, please.
“We’re here for you,” Courtney added. “And we’re all pretty excited the wheels are in motion. Roll with it. Let it happen.”
“You’ve got this,” Irina added with a smile.
“Isn’t that literally exactly what I said?” Knox asked, frowning.
“They said it better,” Bax said, grabbing four fries and rubbing them in ketchup before throwing the whole mess into his mouth.
“So I go back tomorrow,” Tanner said, deciding on the spot that’s what he’d do. Go back and remind her he was as amazing as his friends said. “Talk to her again.”
“You still stuck in 1975? You could text her instead,” Linx suggested. “They tell me that’s what the kids do these days.”
“I can’t text her.” Seeing as he didn’t have her digits.
“You didn’t catch her number?” Linx asked. “Serious?”
“No.” They’d been dealing with a puppet show.
“I thought you pretended to be me?” Linx gestured to his chest. “Rule number one of being Linx, get the number.”
“You didn’t get my phone number?” Becca said, well, sort of accused.
“You were in my car, and I drove you to your house, so I didn’t really need it.” Linx shrugged. “I’d also like to suggest that we take this opportunity to remember that Tanner’s got a girlfriend, but that doesn’t mean we have to rehash all the parts of our relationship that I’ve fuc—funged up. Are we doing the cussing thing in front of Harley until she can talk or are we stopping now?”
“Now’s a good time to start,” Courtney said, cheerful.
“Funged.” Irina pulled out her cell and typed something on the screen. “To rehash Linx’s fuck-ups.”
“Kid’s still right there.” Courtney pointed to Harley, who smeared a fry around the tray of her high chair, oblivious to the surrounding adults.
“Right. You don’t have her number,” Bax took over. “You know where she works. What else do you know?”
“Nothing,” Tanner said, not really liking that he was ready to invest in a relationship with a person he barely knew at all. “Just that Babushka isn’t usually wrong.”
“Get her number from Babushka,” Linx suggested. “That’s what I’d do.”
He could do that. Good call.
“I also know Sam’s kind. She cares. I wanted to fall into the warmth of her eyes and stick around for a while. She felt like she could be home for me,” Tanner said. The words were a bit of a surprise coming out of his mouth. A familiar burn of embarrassment hit his cheeks when he thought about her.
“Why do I have the feeling this is going to be more complicated than necessary?” Irina asked. He wasn’t sure who she was speaking to or if it was more of a blanket statement for everyone.
“Because relationships are always more complicated than necessary,” Mach said. “That’s why I stick to my way of doing things. So I don’t get screwed. And before you get on my ass about the fucking word screwed, I’d like to point out that I filtered out the fuck.” He glanced to Courtney. Grinned. “You’re welcome.”
“I believe in you, Tanner.” Becca moved to him and wrapped him in a hug. “You’ve got this.”
“Why do you all keep stealing my speech and saying it better than me?” Knox asked.
“Get the number,” Linx said, tapping twice on the counter as he moved past. “Always get the number.”
“Be yourself,” Becca called after him as he moseyed down the hall to the living space with the television.
He’d get her number. But not because Linx told him to.
Fine. Because Linx told him to,andit made sense.
Chapter Five
