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Eleven
Oz stepped away to take what sounded like a friendly, let’s-catch-up call with Jordan.
Probably time to get to work. “We need our laptops for this step?” I started to stand.
“Wait.” Graham grabbed my fingertips.
It was a light touch, without assumption or command, but it stalled me. “What’s up?”
“A moment of just your time?”
I nodded and sank back to my knees. Disappointment flitted inside when Graham let go of me.
“You seem happy with Oz. Already,” Graham said.
You’d make me happy too. I didn’t know how to say that without things getting convoluted. How did people propose things like that? Yeah, I’m seeing the guy, but he and I are both cool with me seeing you, too. It sounded simple enough, but would Graham accept it?
He might accept it more than the long silence I’d just let stretch between us.
“Right.” Graham gave a brief shake of his head. “I’m sorry about what happened the other day. The things I said in the coffee shop. I realize I said the same this morning, but I want you to know even when there’s not an audience, I still mean it. And I’m sorry for what happened back then.”
He was still apologizing for the malware debacle. Sigh.
“I made those decisions, to do the coding job.” I wasn’t going to repeat this to him again. Not like this. “I came to you. I was compelled by the challenge. I hate that I sucked you in, but I’ve never blamed you.”
“Don’t hate the time we spent working together. I made my decisions too, and one of them was to spend more time with you. You really are a brilliant, amazing individual.”
“Jordan and Chloe are in.” Oz’s voice cut through the moment. “Did I interrupt?”
“No.” Like that, Graham shut down.
Boo.
“You sure? Because if you’re confessing your undying love, I can come back in about five minutes.” Oz sat next to me.
He had to know that implied anything but walking away.
Graham’s exhale embodied frustration. “I don’t understand this. You’ve got this one-of-a-kind woman, and you’re joking about her with another guy?”
“You don’t know me very well, so let me explain a couple of things,” Oz said. “I’m the foil in any group. No one has ever said Oh that Cole, he’s such a joker.”
Graham scowled and stood. “I need my laptop to start a calendar. You have dates for those appointments?”
Wait. Hear him out. Me. I swallowed the request. If Graham was closing the conversation off now, I wasn’t in the mood for the rejection that would come with forcing him to listen when he wasn’t open to hearing.
We fell into work. Scheduling. Planning. Never exchanging more than a few words at a time.
So much for the cards helping us work toward less tension. I wasn’t doing days more of this. Did I want to put up with this for the next few weeks, or was I better off telling Graham that we could correspond via email and chat after today?
The thought of pushing him away, even if it wasn’t far, made my insides curdle.
“Why teaching?” Oz’s question came out of nowhere.
Graham stared blankly at Oz, seconds ticking away. He finally said, “Why did you ask?” His question held a suspicious edge.
“Luna’s cards said you wanted success and fortune.”
“I never used the word fortune.” In fact, I’d specifically been careful with my phrasing because success meant different things to different people.
