I chew my lip. Will he say yes? I already know the answer to that. Things between us might be strained, but Bas is still Bas. He’d do anything to help out my family. Is it a bad idea to spend two weeks alone with him day after day? Undoubtedly, but this might just be the only way I graduate on time. “Yeah, I think I do. Can I call you back in half an hour?”
I hang up the call and stand in the cold a minute longer, working up the courage to do what I need to do next. Then I return to the living room with my brightest smile on my face, but the game has already started.
Bas is drawing on the whiteboard while Riley tries to guess what he’s drawing. “Sailing, boat, fishing, fisherman.”
Bas shakes his head emphatically, scrubbing out what he was drawing and starting over. The buzzer sounds, and Mom and Dad jump in. Family rules say after a minute the other team can steal.
Admittedly, he’s not the best artist in the world, a fact he always overplays whenever we play Pictionary. But I don’t think he’s as bad as Riley always makes out.
I think about what he was drawing earlier. Riley was guessing nautical items, but I don’t think he was drawing a boat at all. It was a straight line with something waving from one side. More like a flag than a sail.
Bas draws a squiggly outline, and Riley throws up his hands. “Come on. What is that? A cookie? A puddle?”
Dad jumps to his feet. “Bakery. Cake. Rain. Mud.”
Mom is holding her belly and laughing, and Bas casts me an imploring look over their heads.
I don’t even have to think about it. The answer just comes to me. “Country.”
Everyone except Bas, who is already looking, turns to look at me, but I’m not watching them. All the tension leaves his face, and he lets out a sigh of relief. “Country. Got it.”
“What?” Riley flops back onto the sofa with a groan. “How the heck did you get country from that?”
I flush because maybe it wasn’t as obvious for anyone who hasn’t spent every spare second watching and thinking about Bastien. I point to his drawing. “Well look, that’s clearly America—” I twist my head to the side. “Or maybe Canada—and the other one was a flag.”
“Right,” Bas gives me an astonished grin, and I practically float back to my place on the sofa.
“Oh, well done, cookie.” Mom pats my leg. “Now what was that phone call? It had better have been important?”
Gotta love inquisitive parents. But I do need the kick in the butt. I clear my throat. No time like the present. “Yeah, so it turns out my internship placement fell through. My mentor got sick.”
“Oh no.” Dad gives me a conciliatory smile. “That’s OK, pumpkin. They’ll find something else for you, right?”
“Well, the thing is, they said there wasn’t anything. Not unless…”
“Unless?” Bastien’s voice sounds loud in the sudden silence, but he barely whispered. I know he knows what I’m about to say, and I plunge on as if I’ve already taken the dive off a huge cliff and am just waiting for the icy water to hit. Oh god, I was wrong. He’s going to say no. He’ll find some reason to let me down gently, and then I’ll have nothing; and not only that, I’ll have to live with another rejection from the kindest guy I’ve ever met.
I force the words out. “Unless I know someone.”
My words hang in the air between us for a heartbeat, but Bas doesn’t even get the chance to answer before Mom breathes a sigh of relief. “Oh, well that’s easy. Oh, Bas, you’ll take Vera’s internship, won’t you? Help her graduate on time?”
His cheeks color a little, and his eyes narrow as if he’s trying to ask me a question silently.
“Bas?” Mom is like a werewolf with a bone.
“Do you want me to, Vera?” He thinks I wouldn’t want that? I can’t fully process why Bas would thinkIdon’t want to spend two weeks up close and personal withhim. Unless he has been feeling guilty about that night all along…
I don’t have time to speculate because everyone is looking at me, probably wondering why I haven’t answered yet.
“Yes! I mean that would be amazing, but you don’t have to.”Please don’t say no, I say with my eyes.
He smiles. “Well then, of course I will. Just tell me what I have to do. I’ve never taken on an intern before.”
“Thank you. You’re the best. I’ll get the college to send you the paperwork. Does the first week in January suit you because I have to be done by February?”
“Yeah, that should work. Better make sure you have a warm pair of boots and some thermal underwear. Gets cold up in the park this time of year.”
“You realize it’s super weird you talking to my sister about her underwear, right?” Riley chips in.
