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“About it not being Tommy, but being you,” she said. “I’ll think about it.”
He nodded slowly. “Okay, that’s good. Think about it. And I promise not to push while you’re thinking, then. We don’t have to talk about it now. It’s late. Let’s go back to bed. We’ll talk another time.”
She wavered, biting down on her lip.
“No conflict, Dahlia. I’m on your side.” He held out a hand to her. “Come back to bed.”
She put her hand in his. “My boyfriend.” She gave him a little smile.
He liked the way it sounded. His voice was raw. “I want to kiss you right now.”
She pressed into him, tilting back her head, offering him her lips.
He claimed them.
xii.
DAHLIA TWISTED HERhands together. “Well, the thing is Niles, it’s a to-go breakfast. So, people have to come in and get it and take it away.” They were in the shop. It was afternoon. She was hesitant as she spoke to him.
“But you never said this before.”
“I know,” she said, looking away.
“You could have said something before I made the entire presentation to Will,” he said. “Maybe I could have done some kind of special brunch sandwiches or done something with packaging. You know, ‘pick up brunch for two,’ something like that?”
“Sorry,” she said. “I just didn’t want… I didn’t want to criticize.”
“Well, now Will has said he doesn’t want to do it, and that he doesn’t want to hear another word from me about it,” muttered Niles.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, stop apologizing,” said Niles. “It’s really not your fault. At all. It’s fucking Will, really. He’s, you know, Will.”
She nodded. “He is. But I feel bad. I guess I was afraid of making you angry or something, or…”
“You seen me do that? Get angry?” He raised his eyebrows.
She shook her head. “Maybe not.”
“I’m not him,” said Niles in a quiet voice.
She didn’t like that. A response welled up in her, one that would point out that she had practically cut Tommy out of her damned life, and that Niles was still insecure, but she didn’t say that. “He doesn’t get angry either,” she said instead.
Niles snorted.
“Let’s not make it about that,” she said.
“I’m not,” said Niles, sighing. “Feel free to tell me stuff, though, okay? If you have suggestions, I want to hear them. You’re smart, way smarter than me, and your opinion matters to me.”
She couldn’t help but be warmed by that. She smiled at him. “I will keep that in mind.”
“I guess I should just forget about this stuff and get back to making up the schedule for next week,” he said, turning around to pull up the computer that was sitting on the counter out here. There was a calendar program in there where he filled out the schedule assignments.
“I have field practicum hours coming up,” she said. “So, I can’t work on Mondays or Wednesdays anymore.”
“Right,” he said. “But that’s going to knock your hours way down.”
“I thought you could just put me in on Friday and Saturdays for the late nights to make it up, because I need the money,” she said.
