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“That all this time I should have been with you.”
God damn, the man was a poet. Mac never had a romantic thing to say and “pass me my beer” definitely didn’t count. But Rob was different. He felt things deeply even though you’d never know it on the outside. He and I were so similar in that way. It made us together sort of perfect.
We had spent nearly every day with each other since then. We were moving at a pace a snail would think was slow. It was agonizing but sweet at the same time. Robert seemed concerned not to rush things. We made out like horny teenagers and there had been some above-the-clothes action, but that was about it.
We spent most of our time talking, which for me, was better than anything. Where Rob had once been a closed book, he was now giving me whole chapters. He told me stories about his dad. What had been like for his family when he died. He told me what a dork he had been in high school and how he hadn’t even gone to his senior prom because he was too shy to ask anyone. He shared with me how hard it was for him to leave his mom and brother and go off to school, even though he was only thirty minutes away. But how he enjoyed the taste of freedom all the same.
I knew some things about him already. I knew about his hike along the Appalachian Trail that was now in the record books. And I knew about how he dabbled in app-building when he was younger, then selling it to a bigger company for a ridiculously low price when he was nineteen because he was naive and didn’t know any better.
He was giving me so much and I gobbled up every morsel.
Kyle had no idea that Robert Jenkins was everything I had ever wanted and then some.
“I’m only nosy because I care about you. After the whole Mac situation, I don’t want you jumping into something where you could get hurt,” Kyle went on.
“My friends don’t have much faith in my judgment,” I muttered.
“It’s not that we don’t have faith in you, we just want you to be happy,” Kyle argued.
“Here you go, Sky.” Kyle’s wife, Whitney appeared with a cup of coffee, putting it down on the patio table in front of me. After four days of rain, it had cleared up and we were getting the last bit of warmth before winter took over.
“Thanks, Whit,” I said, taking a sip and letting out a moan of pleasure. Whitney could make a bad-ass cup of coffee.
“What are you guys talking about? I heard something about us wanting Sky happy?” Whitney sat down on the other side of Katie, giving the little girl a loud kiss on the cheek. “How’s my cupcake?” she cooed, ruffling Katie’s hair. Watching them together, you’d never know that Whitney was Katie’s stepmother and not her biological mother. They had an obvious bond. Kyle watched his girls with such love it made my heartache in a good way.
“Sky’s seeing Robert Jenkins again,” Kyle informed her.
Whitney’s eyes grew to the size of saucers. “You are not! Oh my god, Sky, why didn’t you tell me?” she gasped, practically giddy with excitement.
“Because it just happened a few days ago. It’s not like I was going to take out a notice in the paper.” I rolled my eyes.
“I’m glad to see you didn’t take that busy body from the clothes store’s advice. Because she was full of shit,” Whitney went on, then covered her mouth. “Oops, ignore Whitty. That was a bad word.”
“What busy body at the clothes store?” Kyle asked.
Whitney made a face. “Sky and were doing some shopping—”
“Sky was shopping? Did you pay her? Had she been doing drugs?” Kyle teased.
Whitney smacked his arm. “Not the point. We were shopping and this random lady totally interrupted us while we were talking. Saying it sounded like Sky should kick Robert to the curb and he wasn’t worth it and all this nonsense. I mean, who does that? Who butts into a stranger’s conversation offering unsolicited advice like that? It was really weird.”
“It does sound weird,” Kyle agreed.
“She was a nice lady, is all. And I wasn’t saying very nice things about Robert, so she probably felt compelled to intervene so I didn’t go off with a total asshat,” I argued, but even I could hear how odd it sounded.
“Well, anyway, this is good news. You and Rob make a wonderful couple,” Whitney enthused.
“It’s early days yet, Whit. Don’t start planning the china patterns,” I chuckled.
“Oh please, I’m not my sister. Or Lena. I’m the level-headed one, remember?”
“Sure,” I said blandly.
“So, I take it you’re off to meet your new boyfriend?” Kyle sing-song.
“Oooh, boyfriend,” Whitney joined in.
