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“I think I spent a grand on books my first semester. We’re only looking at…” He shuffled the stack of books in his hand, mentally tallying up the damage. “Four hundred. Five with all the other supplies.”
“I’m not buying other supplies here,” I said under my breath, my eyes shooting at the employee who seemed more interested in a copy ofBasic Calculusthan us. “They’re so expensive.”
He shrugged. “Let’s buy everything now and make it easy on you. You’ll be busy with school and Trashcan. Do you really want to make a special shopping trip for highlighters and notebooks?”
He had a point. The only grocery store in Franklin Notch pulled down their school display in early September, and the closest superstore was an hour away.
“Fine,” I grumbled. “But I’m only buying things I can’t raid from your office.”
He smiled, wrapping his arm around me and kissing my forehead. “Whatever makes you happy.”
He made me happy, but I certainly wasn’t going to admit that.
I’d wanted to talk about the night before dozens of times on the drive to Pierce, but chickened out. What could I say?
Hey, thanks for the sex. So, are we together?
With Andy leaving for a month, it probably meant we’d just diffused some built-up sexual tension in time to go back to our original agreement. I was too much of a coward to hear that directly from his mouth, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Alright, that’s the last book.History of Ancient Greece.Sounds like a real page-turner. Now, let’s check out the school supplies.” Andy corralled me toward the wall of highlighters, pens, and notebooks and excitedly grabbed stacks of supplies based on the over-inflated list sent by my professors.
I put half of them back, dragging him to the counter before he saddled me with half a dozen yearly planners. “You’re not going to college, Andy, and I don’t need half this stuff.”
He set the stack on the counter. “But you might. And since I don’t trust you to buy use my credit card while I’m gone, I’m making sure you’re stocked up. Let me spoil you a little, Nora.”
He ribbed my side, and I relented with a grin.
“I hope when I get married, my husband wants to spoil me too,” the employee said with a soft smile as she scanned the books.
“Oh, he’s not my—”
Andy interjected before I could finish my sentence. “Newlyweds. She keeps forgetting we made it legal.”
He placed his hand over mine, squeezing it.
“Cute!” she gushed, bagging the books and supplies up. “Well, welcome to college! Maybe I’ll see you around.”
I waved goodbye, embarrassed at my mistake. I chanced a glance over at Andy and he gave me a sad smile.
“Still takes me off guard too,” he admitted. “Saying we’re married.”
“I can’t believe it’s already been a month.”
“Well, considering we never dated and were only engaged for a week and a half, it’s still new. Besides, it’s easier to remember when it matters: my investors, your family. No offense to her, but does it matter if she knows?”
My stomach tightened as I bit back the question that had been gnawing at me all morning because he’d laid it out so easily. As long as we kept up appearances, nothing else mattered. And whatever happened between us, well, that was tangential.
“No,” I agreed. “Not at all.”
CHAPTER21
Andy
“This is a one-time thing. For Nora,”Gloria grumbled as one of her younger employees muscled a table outside onto the sidewalk. “I don’t even know if it’s legal to have a table out here, but the weather’s nice enough.”
I’d hoped to sneak Trashcan into a table in the back, but Gloria, the ancient owner of the finest establishment in Franklin Notch, quickly put an end to that idea. Instead, Nora talked her into pulling a table outside so we could keep Trashcan with us and soak up the unexpected sunshine as New England hurdled toward winter.
“Hell, maybe I can petition the town council to allow outdoor seating. Sure could use a few extra tables in the summer and the fall,” Gloria said, setting down a paper menu at each seat and a bundle of utensils.
