Page 54 of On His Team

Gianna watches them go, then looks at me. “Should I feel guilty?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“Good. I wasn’t going to.”

I laugh and take two plates down.

By the time we’re done eating, Benson and Lucy have disappeared upstairs, Stanley has found something else to complain about, and the kitchen is quiet again. Gianna sits across from me at the table with her laptop open beside her empty plate.

Gianna pulls her computer closer, and I watch her eyes read the screen, deep in thought. I don’t ask what she’s doing. She doesn’t ask what I’m doing either.

She types. I read. The dryer starts another cycle down the hall. Somebody laughs in the living room. Every once in a while, Gianna makes a face at her screen like she can’t believe her eyes.

After the third unusual face, I look over the top of mine. Her forehead is wrinkled. She clicks something. Smashes the delete button. She types again and then deletes again. She exhales through her nose.

“What?” I finally ask.

Her eyes stay on the screen. “Nothing.”

“You’ve been fighting that spreadsheet for five minutes.”

Her head comes up.

“Are you watching me?”

“You’re right in front of me.”

“My laptop is facing me.”

“I can still see your face.”

She narrows her eyes and turns the computer a few inches away from me.

“Problem solved.”

I smile and go back to my reading.

Thirty seconds pass.

Another sigh.

I look up again.

She sees me this time. She shakes her head at me.

“I didn’t say anything.” I hold back my smile.

“You’re about to.”

I look at her. “I can help.”

She keeps her eyes on her screen. “I can handle it, Rowan.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t,” I say.

“You implied it.”

“I’m offering to help.”