Page 15 of The Liar in Room 5

Looking forward to it.

5

Andrew

“Thanks for picking me up.”

“No worries. I appreciate you coming with me today. I’d hate for the tickets to go to waste, and I didn’t wanna go by myself,” Henry answered before he shut the car door for me.

Just like before, he was in his candy-apple red Mustang, but this time, the top was up.

“Is the top not working?”

“It works fine. I just didn’t think you wanted it down,” Henry answered.

“Why?”

“Because last time, every time the wind moved your hair around, you looked really annoyed about the whole thing. I figured you’d prefer the top up.”

In the grand scheme of life, Henry noticing that I really hated my hair being knocked around wasn’t even a blip in the universe, but here in the front seat of the car, it felt like absolutely everything. I couldn’t believe he’d taken the time to care about something so mundane, but he had.

I knew perfectly well that he wanted the top down because he’d said that was the whole reason he bought the car. I wasn’t going to take his enjoyment away just because I was a baby about my hair.

“Please put the hood down.”

“At the risk of sounding like an ass, it’s the top, not the hood. And I’d rather you be comfortable, Andy. That’s more important to me.”

I winced internally at the name. Someone at Halo had assumed that’s what I went by, but it reminded me of middle school, so it wasn’t my favorite choice.

“No, I promise it’s fine. You said last time that the removable top was the whole reason you bought the car. Please put it down.”

It would have been impossible for me to explain why it mattered so much to me that he not be inconvenienced, but it did. My stomach tied itself in knots over the idea that he’d left the top up for me. There had to be a solution that gave him what he needed.

“Henry, please put it down,” I repeated. I heard the urgency in my own voice, which was so dumb since our disagreement was about freaking car parts.

“Hey, whoa. Let’s slow down. It’s really not a big deal. I ride with my top down all the time. It’s not going to kill me to give it up when you’re in the car with me.”

His voice was gentle and soft and so different from what I was used to.

After our trip to the park and tacos, I’d spent the evening in my room at Halo researching everything I could find out about Henry. And there was plenty. Legitimately a hotshot attorney who skyrocketed in the entertainment industry when the usual trajectory was to grind for years, even decades. He’d managed to do it with a take-no-prisoners mindset for his clients. His known client list was impressive, so I’d guess the quieter ones were blockbusters.

“It’s just not fair,” I said weakly.

My insistence about this felt foolish even to me, but after twenty years, maybe longer, of making sure everyone else came first, old habits died hard. I wasn’t even sure I wanted the habit to go away. Wasn’t taking care of other people important? I didn’t remember a lot from Sunday school growing up, but I was certain that one was mentioned a lot.

“What’s not fair is you being uncomfortable only because I like something. So we’re gonna leave the top up, and if we come up with a compromise later, then that’s fine. But for our first date—actually, our second date because I count the tacos—I wanna make sure you’re comfortable.”

Henry’s pretty brown eyes had a glint of determination. He dared me to argue whether or not our trip to the food truck was a date. I’d told him then I was tired, and I felt the same now. If he wanted to call it a date, then I would let him.

“Did you keep yourself busy this week?”

“Of course, there’s always something to do at the Halo House.”

“Tell me about it, please.”

Ugh, exactly what I hoped he wouldn’t ask.

“I’m sure you don’t want to hear about what I did around Halo House… Busy in court this week?”