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I answered. “Hello?”
“Hey, sweetie! Heard you were just over at Rust’s?”
“Yup. I just left,” I lied, my eyes catching Rust’s.
“Amazing place, isn’t it?”
“Oh, it’s lovely. And Minka’s so adorable, too.”
Minka tilted her head and perked her ears at the sound of her name.
“So that means you quit your restaurant job then, right?”
I groaned, annoyed. “Da~d. Please. I’m really not in the mood right now.”
“Alright, alright,”he said with a laugh.“I’ll get out of your hair. I just wanted to say I’m really happy you and Rust got together.”
“Yeah, Dad, thanks for hooking us up,” I said, and immediately grimaced at my word choice.
“Happy I could help. Talk to you later. Love you, sweetie.”
“Bye. Love you.”
Just as I tapped theEnd Callbutton, Minka responded, as she always did, apparently, to those two magic words.“RUH-ROO!”
I froze, cell phone still in hand. Rust and I traded glances across the center island, our eyes huge and our jaws hanging open.
“Shit,” Rust hissed.
“Oh my God,” I muttered.
“Do you think he heard her?”
“I’m pretty sure I hung up before he would’ve heard it? I think? I don’t know, Rust.”
“Fuck,” he groaned. But a deep breath eased his worries. “Okay. There’s no point in stressing over it. If he heard it, he heard it. I doubt he’d think anything of it, anyway.”
“Yeah, besides, it’s not like he’d know it was Minka,” I agreed. “Ifhe heard it, he’d think it was some random dog. That’s all.”
I don’t know if I truly believed what I was saying—because really, how many dogs went around barkingluvyou?—or if I only wanted to give Rust an excuse to put his tongue down my throat again.
But Rust kept the center island between our bodies, as if he couldn’t trust me or himself. If he needed a physical barrier between us every time we saw each other, this was going to be a really weirdgig.
Rust cleared his throat. “So, uh, I think we’re all set. I gave you pretty much everything you need to know about the place, I think.”
“Oh. Um. Yeah,” I stammered, embarrassed. I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I’d gone from the highest of highs to the absolute lowest of lows—from kissing the man of my dreams to practically getting kicked out of his house.
“Oh. Wait. Forgot to give you your key.” He pulled a spare key from his pocket and passed it to me. “Feel free to call or text me if you have any questions, alright?”
“Will do.”
Rust walked me to the door, leaving a healthy distance between us. I felt like I’d done something wrong. I knew Ihadn’tbut I couldn’t help feeling that way. All I wanted was him, but he was acting like he couldn’t be near me. It broke my heart.
Rust pulled the door open. I was so ashamed, I couldn’t even look him in the eye as I left.
“Bye,” I muttered, hurrying through the door.
“Isabelle. Wait.”
