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The hostess promptly brought us out onto the deck and escorted us to a table in the corner. A large umbrella cast enough shade to protect all of the chairs around the table from the bright sun, and Ava placed Robert’s car seat in the chair next to hers so he could keep sleeping.
“So, how are you liking Astoria so far?” Susan asked when the waiter had taken up our menus and walked away.
“It’s really nice,” I said. “A wonderful change of pace from San Francisco. Not that I dislike California or anything, but everything just moves so fast all the time, and it’s nice to just kind of have a change of surroundings and slow down a little bit.”
“Speaking of surroundings,” Ava said. “How are you and Tom navigating the whole sharing a hotel room thing?”
Susan’s mouth fell open in her eyes widened. Color sprung up to my cheekbones, and I did my best to will the reaction away.
“You’re sharing a hotel room?” she asked.
I would have expected her to sound a little upset, or at least scandalized by the prospect. Instead, she almost sounded hopeful.
“Only out of necessity,” I said. “When he got into town, the only place he could find was really unacceptable. He wanted to move over into that hotel, but there was only one room available. It’s a suite, so it’s convenient for us to share.”
“For you maybe,” Ava stated.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He doesn’t have any experience living with anybody but his brothers and my late husband and me,” Susan said. “And I say it’s about time he gets some practice. I just wish he would settle down already.”
I laughed. “Honestly, if I were you, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that one. He’s far too into his work to even begin to think about settling down with anybody.”
Susan and Ava exchanged glances.
“I’m not so sure that’s true,” Ava said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I just don’t think he’s only concentrating on work all the time,” she said. “I saw the way he looks at you.”
“You know what, I noticed that, too,” Susan said. “While we were having dinner, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. He looked at you every time you spoke, then didn’t look away for a long time.”
I didn’t know what to say. All I could think about was the conversation I had with Emily. Emily was so convinced about Tom’s and my feelings for each other, and she had barely spent any time around us together. The people in his family, on the other hand, knew him extremely well and had seen us interact.
Despite hearing the same things from these women, I still shook my head.
“No, it’s not like that,” I said. “We work well together, and I suppose you would say we’re friends, that’s it.”
“Are you absolutely sure about that?” Ava asked.
The thing was, I wasn’t so sure about that anymore. But I couldn’t let on to that. Regardless of what I might be feeling or what kind of effect Tom was having on me, I just knew it would never be possible. We came from very different worlds and had very different lives.
Even putting class politics aside, the thought of trying to navigate any type of relationship with him in the context of also working together wasn’t something I wanted to dwell on. It sounded like it could get extremely awkward very fast. I never wanted to be seen as the woman who slept her way to the top.
I had another flashback to the night before when Tom had caught me so confidently and protectively, how we stared at one another, not wanting to move.
From there, my brain shifted over to that morning when he saw me in nothing but my towel. It was a complete accident. An honest mistake. I figured he was still asleep, and I could scurry out to grab my bag without him even noticing I was there.
I blushed and looked away so neither of the women would notice the color suddenly on my cheeks. I didn’t want to try to explain any of it to Tom’s sister-in-law and mother.
My phone started ringing, and I nearly jumped at the vibration on the table in front of me. I grabbed it and leaned into the ladies.
“Sorry, I have to take this, I’ll be right back,” I said and stood to walk away a few feet. The caller ID said that it was Landon, and if he was calling me directly, something was up.
“Amanda?” Landon asked when I answered the phone. His voice sounded flustered and stressed.
“Landon? What’s going on?” I asked.
“Oh, thank God. There’s a problem with the new prototype engine. It’s not executing commands and is glitching out just a few frames in on a specific game. I need to talk to Tom, but he won’t answer my calls.” All the words came tumbling out as if it was one big run-on sentence.
