He caught me by the elbow, his hand warm and firm. “You okay?”
I let out a deep breath and nodded.
Sternness set into the lines of his forehead in a very I’m-not-angry-I’m-disappointed sort of way. “I’m walking you back to Ruby’s.”
“I think I’d rather sleep here.” With that dismayed look of his, it wouldn’t matter what he wanted me to do. I would have claimed to have wanted the opposite.
He shook his head. “Not an option. Besides, I don’t think Morganwould like that. Or the groundskeepers, honestly. But the residents. Now, that would be some fresh gossip for them.”
For the first time, I noticed what he was wearing. Dark blue slacks and a cream knit collared shirt. He looked rich and smart, and it made me feel poor and dull.
“Did you just get back from a very important date or something?” I asked, and he made no effort to correct me. “When did you become so stylish? You know, in college all you wore were khaki shorts and soft T-shirts. The expensive kind that you buy soft. Like, they’ve been pre-softened for you. Like, it was someone’s job to soften the T-shirt.”
“You remember my soft T-shirts, then?” he asked. “What else do you remember?”
I remembered plenty. I remembered that even when he shaved, his face and neck were still thick with stubble, like there was no stopping it. I remembered the way he pursed his lips together when he tried not to laugh at something funny. I remembered how he was never late for class and always made time for a full eight hours of sleep before a test. That he smelled like detergent because he actually washed his clothes. And girls panted over him. A soon-to-be doctor who did his own laundry? It didn’t get better than that.
“I remember that you barely tolerated me,” I told him. “I remember that you started the annulment process before I even got home to LA.”
He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut.
I slipped my shoes back on and began to clean up the snack table and the popcorn machine.
“You should get some sleep,” he said.
“Youshould get some sleep,” I told him.
I opened the glass door of the popcorn machine and the smell hit me so hard I gagged.
“Okay, okay,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist. My back pressed against his chest, his breath warm on my neck. “Let me get you back to Ruby’s. I’ll take care of the food and the groundskeepers will deal with the screen and inflatables.”
I huffed. “But then I’ll owe you a favor. I’ll be in debt to you. I’ll be in the red.”
“I might have to send my bookie after you.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Your favor bookie. But he won’t be worse than the guilt I’ll feel for owing you a favor.”
He led me down the sidewalk with his hand hovering over my lower back, his fingers randomly grazing, sending traitorous chills up my spine each time. If not for fear of puking in front of him, I would have spun right back around and pinched my nose to get through cleaning out the popcorn machine.
“No one came to my event,” I said after a few moments of silence. “They all hate me. Especially Ruby. Old people are so mean.”
“Your grandmother doesn’t hate you.” We approached a curb and he said, “Step.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“This place isn’t a normal retirement community. You just have to find the right balance and then they’ll be eating out of your hand.” He sounded as though it wasn’t at all hard to imagine. Like I was some sort of charming person.
I couldn’t help but think of what Hollis had said in my office as we approached Ruby’s front door and I punched the security code into her keypad.
He opened the door and whispered, “No one wants to watchSaving Private Ryanfor fun. It’s not even rated R for the good stuff.”
The moment we stepped inside, Marlon started yapping.
“Shhh, shhh,” I begged him.
“Hey, little man,” Eli said as he scooped him up, startling Marlon into silence. He scratched between his ears, and it was like watching someone hypnotize a shark.
I turned on the faucet and filled a glass of water and chugged it so fast I left the faucet on and immediately refilled my cup.
