Has José spent the last two years thinking I only broke up with him because of my father?
Cormac turns the corner, hands stuffed in his pants pockets.
“There you are,” he says, his gray eyes settling on me. He looks almost concerned, the same way he did earlier when Pansy walked in on us. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Without even acknowledging José, he strides over and leans down, kissing the corner of my mouth as if we walk around every day, brushing kisses on each other. His kiss is warm and soft and full of casual confidence.
Disbelief turns me into a mannequin, glued to the ground beneath me.
“They’re about to start their first dance,” Cormac continues, adjusting his glasses and then wrapping an arm around my waist, his hand settling on my hip. “We don’t want to miss that. They’d never let us live it down.”
My first impulse is to bat his hand away, but he must be doing this to help me. And yet…why would he bother?
I haven’t been all that nice to Cormac before today. Maybe he’s really desperate for a dog-sitter, or he got a better look at Hazel and realized the error of his ways.
Only…neither explanation totally fits.
He finally glances in José’s direction. “I take it Nora told you about us? I’m a lucky guy, but we’d appreciate it if you don’t tell our parents yet. They’d have some concerns, naturally, and this is their special day.”
José looks dumbstruck, as if someone just grantedmea Nikola Award. He studies us in silence, his gaze dipping to Cormac’s arm still wrapped around my waist. His jaw clenches,and he glares at Cormac. “My fiancée and I know your secret, so surely you’ll agree to have drinks with us.”
“You want to go on a double date?” I ask skeptically. José and I have discussed double dates before, and both of us see them as a horror no sane person would willingly subject themselves to. What is he playing at?
My friend’s dark gaze flits to Cormac. “Pansy would love to get to know you better. And I’d love to get to know you better too.”
“We’d be delighted,” Cormac says flatly. “But it will need to be somewhere off the beaten path. We can’t be seen together in Asheville. Not yet.”
“We’ll figure out the details later,” José says, and with a final pointed glance at me, he stalks off.
As soon as he turns the corner, Cormac drops his grip on my waist. Still, he keeps scowling around the corner of the building, as if he hopes his disapproval can still be seen and felt by José.
“Cormac,” I hiss. “We can’t go on a double date with them.”
It would be unspeakable torture, like having someone pry your fingernails off. No, having a sloth pry them off, so slowly you feeleverything.
He scratches his head, looking a little embarrassed, and frowns at the side door briefly. I follow his gaze but notice no one behind the glass, thank God.
“I may have gotten a little carried away,” he finally says. “But I was worked up.”
He was? He acted as unaffected as an undercover MI5 agent.
“I didn’t like the way he was speaking to you,” he finishes, finally looking down at me. He’s so tall I feel like I have to lift my heels to meet his gaze.
“How much did you hear?”
“Fuck the glassis right,” he says with a slight smile. “Whywould someone ask you how much water is in a glass anyway, when most people could see it with their own eyes?”
I smile back at him, feeling a lurch of emotion that I swallow. “You raise a good point.” I pause, scanning his face. “Are you really up for some fancy award?”
He lifts one shoulder. “It’s for one of my robots.”
“The…one I broke?” I ask weakly.
I hadn’t realized he was a genius. I thought his science project robot was something he’d built after watching a bunch of YouTube videos or using some make-your-own-robot-companion kit.
“No, Nora,” he says, his voice surprisingly soft. “But don’t give up now. You’ll have a chance to break it when you dog-sit next weekend. There’s no getting out of it now. It was a binding agreement.”
I laugh, surprised by it, and discomfited by the feeling of heat welling behind my eyes. I don’t want to cry, and I especially don’t want to cry in front of Cormac.
