"I..."
"Just put him on, Frey. I promise not to scare him—too much."
Turning, I forced a smile when I realized everyone had stopped whatever they were doing to listen. They quickly started moving again, and I walked to the couch, held out the phone to Tolliver.
"My dad wants to speak with you," I said.
He nodded. "I thought he might."
The conversation was brief. Dad did most of the talking while Tolliver nodded along or said "Yes, sir. No, sir. I will." By the time, they hung up, I was desperately curious to know more.
"So?" I asked.
Tolliver shrugged. "He's worried about you. Well, me being here with you."
"Was that all he said?"
"He asked me to meet the uncles."
"Uh oh."
"I told him sure."
"You did?"
"Yeah, but I won't follow through if you don't want me to."
"No, it's fine," I said, biting my lip, knowing the gist of what meeting the uncles entailed. A warning, my cousins had told me. It was their way of laying down the law with whoever wanted to date us. I wasn't super scared for Tolliver, knew he could handle himself. But... "Don't let them intimidate you."
"I won't," he said.
Tolliver shot me a smile, and as he handed back my phone, our hands accidentally brushed.
Sparks.
Tingles.
All the sensations raced up my arm and made a beeline for my heart.
"Don't worry, Freya," he said. "I can take care of myself."
I nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"Like you said, we're just friends. So, he really has nothing to worry about."
Tolliver searched my expression then stood.
"I'm going to get ice. Anyone want anything?"
No one did, so he slipped from the room.
And I was left to ponder what I really wanted.
* * *
Friends.
It was a good word.
