She grins like she knows all the details and it’s possible she does. They say guys brag, but I think girls are worse. I kind of like the thought of Maize bragging, and yes that makes me an egotistical dick, but I want her happy, and want to do nice things for her.
I gesture toward the front door. “Do you want to come up with me?”
She shifts from one foot to another, her eyes narrow in worry. “No, but can you give her a message for me.”
“Yeah, sure. What is it?”
She frowns and looks past my shoulders. “It’s bad news.” My heart thumps. Maize has been through enough already; more bad news is something she doesn’t need to hear. “And maybe it’s better coming from you than me.” She snorts. “Shoot the messenger and all.”
“What is it?” I ask, my heart still thumping. Did something bad happen back home? Christ, her mother is all she has, if anything happened… I take a breath and try not to get too ahead of myself, and the truth is, her mother might be her only family, but she has others she can count on, like Kaitlyn and me.
“First, let me thank you for getting our deadbeat landlord off his fat ass. He’s been getting things done around the place,” she says, and I nod, wanting her to get to the point. “The bad news is, they were banging around, and a pipe broke. The place is a mess, and we won’t have any hot water for a while.” A stupid ridiculous smile tugs up the corners of my mouth and I scrub my face to hide it. “I know it’s an imposition, but is there any chance she can stay with you a little longer. I know it’s a lot, and you’ve put out—”
“ I like to put out,” I blurt out like an idiot, and she bites her lips to hide her smile. “I mean, sure, if that’s what she needs. She’s more than welcome to stay for as long as she wants. She’ll be going home for Christmas, but until then…” Why am I babbling and why do I have this ridiculous need to keep her until the next holiday?
She shakes her head and kicks a pebble. “Bad luck seems to follow her.”
“Yeah, that’s too bad.”
Too bad for her, but great for me. Best I keep that to myself.
20
Maize
“Freedom!” Christian blurts out as he comes racing into his room, excited like a child on Christmas morning, and with the holidays just around the corner, why shouldn’t he be?
I spin, his loud voice and high energy surprising me. I love his enthusiasm and I am excited to go home for a couple of weeks, but maybe I’m a little less excited than he is, which sounds awful and selfish. After spending all my time at Christian’s—thank you, broken pipe—I’m not quite ready to go home. He’ll be going his way, and I’ll be going mine, and honestly since the accident, I’ve not gone more than a day without seeing him. He still disappears on Sundays for a few hours, and whatever he’s doing he’s keeping it secret. I have to respect that—and try not to read too much into it—because I know he’s a very private person. But even when he was on the road for a game, we always texted or video messaged. I’ve gotten entirely too used to it.
“I take it you did well on your exam,” I say, as I fold our laundry. Crazy that we’ve been doing our laundry together since Thanksgiving, our clothes and underwear mingling in the washer and dryer. It’s odd how that makes me giggle just a little bit.
“Fantastic. How did yours go?”
I crinkle my nose. “It went.”
“Come on, you’ve been studying for weeks. You must have nailed it. Or maybe you weren’t studying like you said you were. I could never find you when I went to the library. You always just seemed to have…” he pauses to do quotes around the words, ‘Just finished.’ He arches his brow playfully, but I don’t miss the questions lingering in his eyes—was I really at the library, and if not, why would I lie about it? He’s going to find out soon.
I gaze at the man who has worked his way into my heart. Honestly, I don’t want our time to be over and I’m damn tired of being afraid that he doesn’t care for me the way I care for him. He’s kind, sincere, always there for me. I can’t help but think he wouldn’t be if he didn’t want something deeper. This goes beyond responsibility for hitting me with the ball. This morning when I woke, I came to the conclusion that right after Christmas, when we agreed this arrangement would end, I’d have a talk with him on the way home in the car, and get to the bottom of where we stand once and for all.
“Yeah, your timing really sucks, and speaking of nailed it,” I tease, wanting to change the subject, because he’s right. Most times I fibbed, saying I was at the library, even though I wasn’t. I don’t like to lie, but those little ones were quite necessary. Living here with him, and being together all the time, prevented me from having too much alone time, and alone time was needed for what I’ve been planning.
“Oh, something on your mind?” He pulls me into his arms and plants a kiss onto my mouth like it’s the most natural thing in the world…like I’m his and he’s mine.
“We both rushed out of here so fast, with nothing but a granola bar in our stomachs, I’m thinking of food.”
“You want to grab a late breakfast before we hit the road home?”
I give him a mischievous smile. “Something like that.”
“Drive to Juleps Café?”
“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of having breakfast here.” I run my hands through his mess of hair, and smooth it back to showcase
