He shakes his head like that is the least important fact at this moment. “What. Advice.”
I laugh and wipe another tear; hot embarrassment now replaces the attraction that was just in my bones. “I told you to take other girls out.”
There’s a crack in his expression. One I feel guilty somehow for causing.
“Hannah, I’m not taking Vesta Milleranywhere,” he almost growls. “I went out with her oncelastsummer. I didn’t call her back.”
It was her. She was the date Lauren told me about.
“It doesn’t matter,” I lie. “We’re friends.”
“Ask me why I didn’t call her back.” He drops his voice as he steps closer. He’s only a foot behind me now and my entire body is flooded with, I don’t know. Frustration? Anger? Desire?
“Tanner—”
“Because she wasn’tyou.” Closer. “She was interested, and I couldn’t have you, so I gave in and took her out. But she wasn’tyou.”
“It doesn’t matter?—”
“Don’t do that.” His voice is almost pained as he speaks.
The speakers overhead rumble with the opening notes to a song we know. One we sang to in a hole-in-the-wall bar in Chicago.
“Itdoesmatter.” He forces me to turn to face him and meet his leveled gaze. His hands cup my head, as his fingers tangle in my hair. “Stop saying it doesn’t matter, because we both know better than that.”
Before I can respond, the door opens but he doesn’t take his eyes off me.
“Sorry,” the girls who’s walked in begins to say, but then her face twists in confusion. “Tanner?”
That unmerited jealousy comes to a rolling boil.
“I—” He glances at her for a second.
“Sorry.” She shakes her head. “I'm Reagan, Riley’s sister?”
Tanner's shoulder slump. “Reagan, I'm sorry, I didn’t recognize you.”
“Don’t be. It’s been a long time.” Her eyes shift expectedly over to me.
“Hannah, this is Reagan. Reagan this is my, uh, Hannah.”
Reagan and I both whip our heads to look at Tanner and the man is blushing.
“Nice to meet you,my Hannah,but I would like to pee, so Tanner if you could…” She motions toward the door and Tanner nods.
“Right. Of course.” He glances at me. “This isn’t over.” He strides out of the bathroom with his jaw clenched.
“I heard about you,” Reagan says when the door shuts behind him.
I open my mouth to tell her I’m not actually his, but I can’t bring myself to deny it. Denying it doesn’t feel entirely honest.
“What do you mean?” I question.
“Riley and Tanner were engaged. It was a mess.” She shrugs, almost as if she feels guilty about it. “She’s really glad to see him so happy now.”
What the fuck?I blink at her, waiting for a better explanation and she gives me none.
“Riley?” I ask, my stomach sitting somewhere in my knees now. “Like Riley at the YMCA?”
