Kerry and Theo kept talking up at the front, and their voices lowered. I had an inkling that they were talking about me, but whatever it was, Kerry walked out the front door without another word to me. I was grateful for it.
Theo didn’t even look at me until she was gone for a full minute.
“Motherfucker. Every time that woman comes in, she causes chaos. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Theo only raised one eyebrow. “Then did you not notice you ran into me?” He was right. Ihadbrushed up against him, and instead of being worried about that, I was more worried about Kerry. Sure, she was obviously the bigger threat based on how Theo had reacted, but I still should have had some sort of fearful response to touching him.
But I didn’t. And this was the first time that this had ever happened.
Was it a fluke? Had I just gotten lucky? Did the distraction work?
Either way, it was something to celebrate. This was something to investigate. I had gone years without any sort of breakthrough on my fear of touch. Had that finally changed now that I’d started medication?
“I ... did. But I’m really okay. It was an accident.”
Theo only stared at me. I knew what he was thinking. Us brushing hands not so long ago was also a reaction, but this wasverydifferent.
“I told you I trusted you.”
“You should trustme less.”
“Don’t tell me what I should do,” I said sharply. “I get to decide that, remember?”
His eyes went wide immediately. “Shit, you’re right. I’m sorry. You handled that well.”
I let out a breath. “It was either you or Kerry. Trust me, you were the better choice.”
“That’s a low bar, but I’ll take the compliment.”
“Now, don’t we have other things to talk about? Like the fact that I finally met the infamous Kerry?”
His shoulders sank. “It’s never a good time to meet her, but that was even worse. I had to bring upthe incidentjust to get her to let it go.”
“I was wondering what you were doing. How red was her face?”
“Basically maroon.” He rubbed his neck. “Kind of like mine was.”
“Why is she so interested in gossip anyway?” I shook my head. “Surely she has other things to do.”
“That you’d be wrong about,” Theo said. “She’s always been this way. No one is able to stop her.”
I frowned. “So if the dildo threat doesn’t work, how do we play this?”
His eyes bulged. “I’m sorry, did you just call what I did a dildo threat?”
“That’s what it was.”
“There’s no other word you could’ve used?”
“Dildo isn’t a bad word.”
“It’s not exactly . . . proper.”
“I don’t use proper language with friends. Sorry, but dildo talk is on the table.”
Theo was now the one with red cheeks. “Uh, that’s ... You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
