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“I’ll come with you,” she said and followed him into the kitchen.
Jonathan was an excellent date. He stuck close by Esther the whole night, introducing her to people, including her in conversations, fetching her drinks. Showing her off. He loved to tell people she was a rocket scientist. It was one of the first things out of his mouth when he introduced her to someone new.
She’d never seen him around his friends before. He smiled a lot more and seemed easier in his own skin. It was as if he’d reverted to a younger version of himself that was more carefree. Less self-conscious.
Until Lacey towed Jeremy Sauer and his girlfriend over to meet them.
“Johnny’s friend Esther works for your company,” Lacey said to Jeremy. “Small world, huh?”
“Hi, Jonathan,” Melody said, her eyes flicking to his face with the barest trace of unease. “How’ve you been?”
He nodded a greeting without quite meeting her gaze. “I’ve been good. Great, actually.”
Esther recognized the same flat affect he had used with Jinny at the pool last weekend. Relaxed, smiley Jonathan had disappeared, replaced by the Jonathan she remembered from before she got to know him. The one who looked disapproving and grimaced instead of smiled.
All that time she’d spent thinking he was an arrogant ass, when he was just suffering from insecurity and social anxiety. The realization made her feel protective. She wanted to wrap him up and whisk him away somewhere he could be himself. Somewhere he’d smile again.
“I forgot, I fixed you guys up on that date!” Lacey said, grinning with delight. “Funny.”
Esther couldn’t decide whether she’d actually forgotten or was messing with them. She seemed to be enjoying herself an awful lot.
“Yeah,” Jonathan agreed, giving Lacey a wry look. “Funny.”
Jeremy Sauer’s eyebrows lifted slightly, and Melody glanced down at her shoes.
“Welp, I’ve got some more guests to greet,” Lacey announced, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Definitely messing with them, Esther decided.
Jeremy turned to her, beaming a smile dazzling enough to melt permafrost. “Nice to meet you. I’m Jeremy, and this is Melody.”
Esther met his smile with one of her own, determined to ignore the fissures of tension around them. Jonathan had dutifully propped her up all evening. Now it was her turn to step up and repay the favor.
“Lacey says you’re an aerospace engineer,” Melody said, throwing her hat in the this is fine ring.
Esther nodded. “I work at the El Segundo campus.”
Jeremy asked which project she worked on, and was familiar enough with it to identify the telecom customer they were developing it for. Esther learned that he and Melody both worked at corporate in Glendale. Melody was a software developer, and Jeremy worked under the CFO—the same CFO who had recently married his mother. The Sauers really did like to keep the business in the family.
As they talked, Esther could feel Jonathan shrinking beside her. He’d shuffled back a half step and retreated into a glum silence.
“Did you guys meet at work?” Esther asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
Melody and Jeremy regaled them with an overly-detailed story about hooking up four years ago and then reconnecting when she came to work at Sauer Hewson, doing that nauseating couple thing where they finished each other’s sentences. The longer it went on, the more Jonathan edged behind Esther, pressing his body against hers like he was seeking shelter. As Melody and Jeremy smiled blissfully into one another’s eyes over a shared joke, Esther reached behind her back for Jonathan’s hand and tangled their fingers together. He clutched it gratefully, shifting toward her a little more.
“How about you two?” Melody asked when they’d concluded the narrative of their lengthy courtship. “How long have you been together?”
Esther felt Jonathan go rigid, and he dropped her hand like it was on fire.
“Actually—” he started.
“Only a few weeks,” Esther finished for him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling into his side like an affectionate girlfriend.
Jonathan looked down at her in surprise, and she lifted her eyebrows, daring him to contradict her.
“Um, yeah.” He turned back to Melody and Jeremy, hugging Esther’s shoulder with his arm. “We’re neighbors. She lives in the apartment next door.”
“That’s so cute!” Melody said. “It’s like a movie.”
