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I put a hand on her shoulder and move her backward so at least her feet can touch the floor. “Nothing much. We had a date. I’d like to do that again.”
I still have my hand on her shoulder, hoping to temper her reaction. Nope. She squeals. And claps. And when she laughs, I see all her teeth. Getting this morsel of information has made Tessie a very happy girl.
“A date. I love this for you. And for me. For all of us,” she says, gesturing around the library.
“Yes. A few minutes eating a sandwich together is definitely changing the course of all our lives.” I smile to soften my sarcasm, but she knows what I mean. She’s known me her whole life.
“You can pretend it’s not a huge deal if you want. But it’s beenso longsince you’ve had a date,” she says.
I’d love nothing more than to correct her, to deny the truth of her accusation. But she’s not wrong. It has indeed been so long.
“I didn’t have time to date,” I say. It’s an instinctive response. And it’s mostly true, except that I could have made time. Especially since I came back from Boston. But here at Chamberlain, it really did feel too weird. She’s right. These people were my teachers.Eww. No.
But they’re not my teachers now.
Not anymore.
Now it’s not strange at all. There is nothing weird about me dating a man more than ten years older than me who also happens to be my doctor.
I’m very glad I didn’t say that aloud. No way would I be able to make my voice convincing while saying those words.
“So you’ll ask him?” Tessie says, and it takes me a second to bring my mind back to the place we left off.
“I’ll ask him,” I say. “But don’t rush me. The concert’s not for weeks, and I’m not desperate.”
She shrugs. “Whatever. Don’t wait too long. Someone else will ask him and then you’re stuck with the taco truck guy.”
“That guy is not the worst second-place option.”
She shakes her head. “Knowing you, you’ll wait too long for him, too, and I’ll have to sit next to an empty seat.”
I laugh. “Poor you. That would be terrible.”
“Only because you already planted the seed of that seat being filled with Grayson Mercer.” She’s laughing loud, and there is no way those girls on the couch didn’t hear every word.
I beckon Tessie close with my finger. She lifts herself across the desk until our faces are close together. “There is no way I’m going to let you sit beside him. You cannot be trusted to keep my secrets.”
She laughs again and bops my nose with her finger. “I’m a vault,” she says as she slides back off the counter. “He’ll get nothing out of me.”
“Yeah. Right. Until he asks you a single question and you spill everything you’ve ever heard about him, about me, and about everyone on the eastern seaboard.”
“No, you’re totally right. I’ll probably do that. What can I tell you? I value honesty.”
“That’s one way to say it,” I mutter.
She nods. “Also I have no filter, if you need another way to say it.”
A voice calls her name, and we both turn to the door. Hayes grins at her from the doorway, and she calls goodbye to me over her shoulder as she runs for him.
They’re cute. I mean, if you can get past the gag reflex that comes with witnessing their overly physical greetings.
Seriously. It’s like one of those long-separation reunion scenes from a movie, where the two see each other across a street or in a crowd, and the soundtrack swells, and they leap into each other’s arms. Every day.
I’ve never had a dating situation that made me want to run into someone’s arms after a couple hours spent apart. And there was one that had me running away, instead. Not for any bad reasons. He was just boring. And a little needy. And I didn’t have time for that.
Now I’ve got nothing but time.
And I’m going to fill it with Grayson Mercer.
