“Can I hug you? It feels crass to say congratulations, but, can I just hug you?”
She bit her lip. “The last time I got a hug from you, I ended up hitting my ribs into a chest of drawers.”
“About that. I really did want to…” I lowered my voice. “Kiss you. But I hadn’t told you yet, and I was afraid you’d hate me even more than you do right now.”
She looked up at me. “I don’t hate you. Not at all. But I do have some requests.”
“Okay.”
“I need time to think about some things. But I also think, um, that you need to talk to Britta about what happened.”
That sounded about as much fun as eating a whole dozen of Dan’s expired Twinkies, but Jenny was right. If I was done with secrets, that meant clearing the air with Britta, too.
“Will you talk to her with me?” I asked.
Jenny started to shake her head, but then her shoulders dropped and she sighed. “I’m her boss. I guess I should be there.”
“When?”
“Shoot, this is making me sympathize with you. Because I want to put it off. Indefinitely. It could mess up everything I just got figured out today with my team. But I still think she deserves to know.”
“We could wait until tomorrow at lunch, or we could call her tonight.”
“Why tonight?” Jenny eyed me suspiciously.
“Well, I think Britta deserves a little privacy for it, and it’s not like we can call her right now…” I pointed to Dan and Sadie, who had stopped talking and were doing a terrible job of pretending they weren’t trying to listen to our conversation. I pulled my keys out of my backpack and handed them to Dan.
Once they were both inside the Chilivan, I turned back to Jenny.
“Okay, tonight,” she said with a nod. “We’ll do a three way call.”
“Or… we could meet up and call her together, and then talk afterwards.”
She pursed her lips. “I guess that would be okay.”
“What about dinner?”
“No, Noah. No dinner.” Jenny took a step back from me, and then seeing Dan and Sadie were totally watching us through the windows, she took a cautious step back into my space.
“I guess when I say I need time, I mean that I’m also asking for space. And I’d like it if you wouldn’t try to hold my hand, or hug me, or tell me you love me, or anything like that until I initiate it.” Her eyes widened. “I mean,unlessI initiate it.”
If she hadn’t tried to fix her mistake, I probably wouldn’t have caught it at all, but she had. And it made me so happy. While she was blushing furiously, I was grinning like a kid on his way to Disneyland. No, I was happier than that. The happiest place to be was with Jenny. Even if that meant we were together in a no-kissing, no-holding-hands zone for the time being.
“I accept your terms. Is it okay if I pick you up at six-thirty?”
She nodded. “That’s fine. But you have to text Britta first and make sure she’s available. And you have to say we both want to talk to her so she doesn’t get her hopes up and think you’re asking her out. And then as soon as we’re done talking you have to drive me back to Denver’s house. No surprises, even ones you think I’ll like. Because Iwon’tlike them.” Jenny put her hand to her throat, looking at me in shock. “I’m sorry. I’m being so bossy. I think I’m a little drunk on power right now.”
Sadie hooted from the passenger seat. “Drink up, short stop. Just hurry, you two, because I don’t want to be seen in this minivan any longer than I have to.”
Chapter 30 – Jenny
Noah picked me up promptly at six-thirty, and I followed him out to his truck where he opened his door for me before going around and getting in on the driver’s side. He drove us slowly through Denver’s neighborhood, one arm resting lazily over the steering wheel. Not that he was fooling me. I could see he was nervous, so nervous that he didn’t notice me studying him.
He looked good. In the little time he’d had to get home and change vehicles, he’d showered and changed clothes. His hair was slightly damp, and he smelled so nice. Too nice. Dang.
I was a huge fan of him in jeans and a hunter green shirt with three little brown buttons down the front. It fit him just right. He was wearing date clothes, I realized. But this was not a date. It was so not a date. I’d made him promise as much.
And besides, how could we label this a date when all we were doing was calling some other girl and explaining all the awkward things Noah had done in the hopes of getting our boss fired?
