“Hey, what happened back there?”
I turned around and Nesto was standing up straight, his brows furrowed.
I shook my head. “Sorry. I think I’m just a little tired.”
And overthinking, oversharing.
“I was worried I’d said something to offend you,” he said. “I don’t want to push you, Jude. If you’re not comfortable with being more than friends.” He took my hand and squeezed it, his face still serious. “We can do that.” He looked down at me, and his smile was a little sad, but so genuine. “I don’t want to mess up with my only friend in Ithaca. How about it, neighbor? I’ll make you the best spaghetti and meatballs you’ve ever had, and we’ll work on getting some more of those smiles out of you tonight.”
Friends.
I could do that. Friends felt safer.
“Okay,” I conceded.
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “How about neighbors who kiss on occasion?”
All I could do was push up and oblige.
He grunted as he tongued into my mouth, tasting me. We pulled back at the same time and I shook my head, grinning. How did he do that? Make everything okay again with a kiss.
“There it is. I’m going to make it my mission to keep you smiling, neighbor.”
“I thought your mission was getting your business to be a success.”
He looked serious for a moment, then whispered, “I told you, I adapt.”
chapter eleven
jude
“Hey! How did you get in here?” I asked, startled.
I must have missed the knock because I looked up and Martha Jackson, our executive director, was standing in front of my desk.
I lit up when I saw her, despite my day not going great so far. I’d been in an email back and forth with Misty since I’d gotten into the office. It was almost five o’clock and she was still asking me questions. She was nitpicking every single line of the budget for the mobile library, with the excuse of needing to answer questions for the board. I knew they were deciding on the project next week, so I was trying to go with it.
“I knocked. But you were very focused on whatever you were doing.” She had such an easy manner and was generally a great boss, so I tried not to let her see my irritation.
“No worries, come on in. What’s going on?” Martha was one of the most impressive people I had ever worked with. She was originally from New York City and had relocated to Ithaca over twenty years ago. She started as a professor at Ithaca College, but after a few years decided to leave academia to work in the community. I respected and valued her opinion of my work very much. She rarely popped into my office at the end of the day for a chat though. So whatever she wanted to tell me was probably important. I just hoped it wasn’t bad news.
“So don’t freak out okay.” She looked so serious, that all Icould dowas freak out.
“You’re kidding, right?”
She did smile then and sank down on the chair in front of my desk.
“What is it?” I knew I sounded like a wreck, but after a day of dealing with Misty, I was a bit on edge.
She sighed and dropped her head backward. She looked weary and pissed, which did nothing to calm my nerves.
“I want you to pitch the project to the board next week.”
I must have been hearing things, because she could not be telling me to stand in front of the board and do a presentation with a week’s notice.
“Pardon?”
She put her hands up at what I knew must be the horrified look on my face. “I know that public speaking is not your favorite thing.”
