By the time I sat down, he’d consumed half of the grilled chicken and was working on the scoops of Mac salad.
"Thanks for waiting."
He nodded. "I like you. I would only be this rude to someone I liked."
My heart did an involuntary flip-flop, even though I knew he was teasing. "I’m incredibly flattered that you can be so rude to me."
I reached forward with my fork and speared a bite of his mac salad. He scowled. "I don’t know if I like you anymore."
I grinned. "So, how was work? Help anyone buy the perfect house?"
"Actually, a young family came in today. They have a couple kids, so we’re trying to find them a nice affordable house with a large yard."
I nodded. He was fulfilling dreams. Meanwhile, I had found out that Maya would be going home with her mom in two weeks. It was something to celebrate, but right now, it hurt. I exploded, "It’s not fair."
The mood shifted immediately.
Bane slammed back in his chair, looking at me in surprise. "What’s not fair?"
"I see kids in the DHS office each day who should have a chance at that. A chance at a happy dream of a house. A chance to have a happy home to make memories in. Instead, someone else gets it."
Bane swallowed before he answered me. "Maybe that’s what you should be focusing on—you are helping them. I’m helping all the other kids get that. I understand the loss that your kids have. I had it very different growing up than other kids had or have too."
"Yes, but you had a home. You said yourself that your parents weren’t abusive. Making bad financial decisions isn’t the same as physical or emotional abuse!" I snapped, remembering Grace’s face when she heard that her father would be getting out of prison soon. The stark look of terror would be forever embedded in my mind.
Bane shoveled another bite of mac salad into his mouth. Eyeing me warily the rest of dinner, we ate in silence.
I cleaned up quickly after dinner. Then tossed my hair up in a messy bun as I prepped for the book club meeting that Tori had invited me to—the reason she’d asked Bane for my phone number. I would never have considered going to something like a book club meeting, but Tori had been incredibly convincing. And I liked her.
There were some people that I had an immediate connection with; Tori was one of them. It had been so long since I’d had a connection with someone, which was precisely why it was hard for me to resist the pull of Bane's and my connection. The tension between us was tangible, and I was starting to snap at him. I was taking out my work stress on him. He was my safe zone. Him opening up to me the day before hadn’t helped. I was getting more and more attached. He was mine—but he wasn’t.
I needed to get out of the house and away from him; away from his overwhelming presence.
I stopped at the front door, hand on the knob. Bane was still in the kitchen, prepping the coffeepot for the next morning.
"I’m sorry," I called softly.
The water shut off.
"I don’t know why I’m being so awful right now. I’m not that person. I don’t want to snap at you like that."
Soft footsteps sounded behind me. I turned around slowly. Bane filled the entryway, kitchen towel in his hands as he dried them off. "Forget it. I know this is stressful on both of us. I hope you have fun tonight."
I took a step forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Thanks, roomie."
Then I hurried and let go before I took an embarrassing sniff of Mr. Yummy.
I ran out the door, leaving a stupefied Bane in my wake.
"Welcome neighbor!"
The door flew open after my first knock. Tori stood on the other side of the door holding a big white dog by the collar. Her hair was a lighter shade of purple than the last time I saw her.
"Hi," I said. "I brought some cookies. I hope that’s okay. I didn’t think to ask if you were gluten-free."
"Come on in! I can’t have gluten, but the other ladies will love them. They look delicious."
I glanced at the dog who was straining at the hold on his collar.
"Oh, don’t mind Mumford. He gets excited about new friends. He’ll calm down when you come sit down. Everyone is kind of used to him."
I followed Tori into the living room where six other ladies were already sitting and talking. Tori introduced me, and I promptly forgot all of their names.
"Tonight, we’re talking about our last book and trying to decide the next book to read. I know most book clubs only meet once a month, but we’re all voracious readers here, so we meet once a week."
"You read a book a week?" I gasped.
Tori scrunched her eyebrows together. "Of course not. We read way more than that, but we usually try to limit our book discussions to one book a week. Otherwise we would stay up all night talking books. Not that that’s the worst thing."
She smiled and grabbed my arm, leading me to a spot on the floral couch next to her. "Come on, you get to sit next to me."
She leaned close and whispered, "Whatever you do, don’t get Tina started on old romance step backs. She has a whole collection and will bring them next week if you mention it."
"What’s a stepback?" Apparently I spoke too loudly, because someone else in the room tuned in. Probably Tina, whom Tori was talking about.
"Did I hear someone say stepback? We could do a stepback next week! I’ll bring my collection because I know you all love them so much." Her smile stretched from ear to ear.
