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“Don’t leave without saying goodbye,” Dylan called as Mike took her hand.
“Uh-huh.” Deep’s mumble was noncommittal. There was no way she was agreeing to that. She had another twenty-five minutes tops and then she could sneak out of here, hopefully, unscathed by any New Year’s shenanigans.
Deep watched as her friend bounced to his side and the sight tugged at her heart a little. Dylan was absolutely not a bouncy person, but next to Mike, she was practically levitating. Her heart squeezed a little, seeing her friend so happy when all she wanted to do was crawl into her bed. Deep was generally comfortable being alone, she preferred it even. New Year’s always seemed to be when she made her worst decisions, and she fully blamed that on the pressure to develop commitments and resolutions on the spot. That whole thing was just one giant mess waiting for her.
Deep sighed and shook her head. She didn’t need to dwell on the past, and she knew where this line of thinking was headed. Pulling her shoulders back, she strutted toward the bar, waving at coworkers from Technocore in the most noncommittal way humanly possible. It wasn’t that she wanted to be rude, but if she was going to make small talk—a thing any self-respecting Northwesterner dreaded—she wanted to have a drink in her hand first.
No sooner had she gotten her bourbon rocks than she turned to look for Brandt, her favorite graduate intern turned co-worker-friend. He was always good to hide from other people with, especially since he was constantly hiding from others himself. Brandt was a good cover if anyone found them, too. Then it just looked like outgoing Deep was taking pity on the engineers and helping them be social again.
She leaned around an extremely broad-shouldered person to see if she could catch Brandt’s white-blonde hair hiding in a different corner of the room. Maybe he was in the—
“Hello!”
“Oh god!” Deep jumped and nearly threw her drink. There, in all her best-worst mistakes glory was the one person she had been actively hoping to avoid all night.
Tim Gunderson, her technical boss, and CEO of Technocore was standing in front of her looking shockingly normal in—wait, was that an actual suit?
Her pulse jumped as he looked her up and down. Shouldn’t he be skiing down the Swiss Alps with Dr. Fauci, Megan Rapinoe, and a best-selling supermodel or something right now? Sure, he and Dylan were close in the work sense, but close enough to be at her wedding in the middle of his annual Winter Sabbatical? That felt like a stretch. In fact, faith in the impossibility that he would deviate from his beloved schedule was the only reason she risked being here.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“And yet you did.” Deep pressed one hand to her bare chest just to be sure her heart hadn’t beat through her sternum. Tim’s eyes followed her hand to the deep V of her neckline, then darted away as quickly as her thoughts started to whirl.
“Well, if I give you too much warning, you tend to hide from me.”
“Then you did mean to startle me.”
Tim winced and reached to rub the back of his fresh haircut, then seemed to remember there was product in it and stopped. “Is there a way to get out of this and still sound casual?”
“Not really.” Deep laughed in spite of herself. Okay, so maybe being surprised was just one reason her heart was pounding. She was not about to acknowledge any of the other reasons. That was the deal they’d made, and for the last few years, they’d stuck to it.
“Way to crush my dreams.” Tim laughed. “I was thinking maybe I had a shot at cool.”
“You? Never.” Deep started to laugh then swallowed it. This wasn’t fair. She shouldn’t be laughing. The guy was almost devoid of charm on literally any other day of the week. She blamed whatever this feeling was on the suit and the whole aura of New Year’s. It was almost always at fault as far as her judgment and him were concerned.
“You’ve always been honest with me, even when I wish you’d lie. Some things never change.”
“A lot about me has changed,” Deep countered, the tension in her shoulders melting even as she willed her body to stay on guard.
“Not the stuff that matters.” Tim laughed. It wasn’t a bitter sound. More the gentle sound of a man talking to someone he used to know, and in many ways, still knew no matter what they told everyone else. “So, at the risk of running afoul of our agreement, any New Year’s resolutions you want to share?”
Tim smiled and Deep’s mind tumbled backward to the first New Year’s party he’d worn that same painfully shy and adorable expression fifteen years before. It pulled at her heart and forced everything she’d managed to forget into her memory, like several movies playing all at once.
2
“Ma’am,we can send someone to your dorm, but it’s New Year’s Eve.”
“I understand.”
“Is it possible your roommate can let you in?” The dispatcher managed to sound both exhausted and like Deep was the least boneheaded person they’d talked to all night.
“I’ll wait.” Deep snorted. Almost anyone else at the University of Washington could answeryesto that question, but those people didn’t have Shannon for a freshman roommate. Deep wasn’t exactly a prude, but that girl was wild. With her luck, Shannon would probably come back from her New Year’s party sometime around January 5thwith a wild story and no idea she’d accidentally gone off with Deep’s keys. “Or I can try to scale the building to go in through the window.”
“Please don’t do that, ma’am.”
“Joking.” Mostly.
“Alright, we’ll send a campus security officer as soon as one becomes available. Please remain in the vicinity until help arrives.”
