He keeps his gaze on me for a moment longer.
“Okay. How many pancakes do you want?” he asks, cutting open the sausage.
“I think this is a two-patty day.”
He spins and points the spatula at me.
“Maybe even three.”
He returns to cooking, and I blow out a breath and hop off my stool to get my phone in the room I slept in.
Being around Tobias feels different right now.
Maybe it’s because yesterday I thought I’d lost him as part of life forever, but now I’m here with him and, despite my life-changing events, I couldn't be happier.
“Hey, Tobias,” I say, pausing in the doorway to the kitchen.
“Yeah?”
“Were you going to come last night?”
He turns to look at me.
“Yeah, I was. You’re my bestie, Dove. Your big moments are my big moments, remember?”
Dove.
My heart swells at the nickname I haven't heard in years.
I give him a single nod and then head for the guest room.
Truth be told, if there was any place I'd want to be after ending my engagement, with Tobias is the top spot.
I flip my phone over to see my notifications: Nora’s texts, missed calls from my parents and sister, about thirty missed calls and even more text messages from Griffin.
I delete them all without listening to the voicemails or reading his texts.
I toss the phone onto the bed and then lean back, cover my eyes, and groan.
“Why is this my life?” I say to no one.
“Because even in our thirties, we’re still trying to figure out this thing called life,” Tobias says in the doorway.
I jerk and give him a sheepish smile.
“I didn’t know you were into eavesdropping now.”
“I’m not.” He crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. “I’m into making sure you didn’t come in here to cry on your own.”
“Oh. I still might.”
“Not alone.”
Well, hell, comments like that might be what sends me over the edge.
A subject change is very needed for me right now.
“So”—I start and hop to my feet, flicking my hand to the shirt he loaned me last night—“can I raid your sister’s stash of clothes now, and what’s the plan for today? When can we go get Grandma Betty? I can't wait to see her.”
