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“Whoa. That’s not at all what I said, nor what I implied.”
“Yeah, you did.” I wasn’t aware a head could spin so independently from the neck. The rest of his body rigidly remained in spot.
I replayed my words. Maybe it had been a bit of an implication. “It was tongue in cheek.”
He grabbed his clothes off the floor and pulled his shorts on. “Nice to know that that’s what you think of me.”
“Hey, that’s not fair. It’s not what I think.”
Damn, this wasn’t going well for us, although, truth be told, it was pretty damn typical for me. Leave it to me to open my mouth and ruin what had been a pretty incredible day. No wonder I never had a boyfriend past the sex part, my mouth always got in the way.
“What do you think?”
I inhaled and ran over a course of acceptable phrases; things I could say that shouldn’t get much reaction. “I think you’re a great guy.”
“And?” He stared, waiting for an answer.
“And what?” I blinked and pushed up into a sitting position, feeling suddenly raw, naked, and very much exposed. He wasn’t a guy I saw a future with, he was a means to meeting my estranged sister in a more civilised way. “Isn’t that enough?”
He yanked his shirt on with so much strength it strained the seams. “Thanks.”
Without a word, he stormed out of my apartment, the door slamming hard to prove it.
I shook my head and blinked rapidly. What the hell just happened?
Chapter Eight
After work, the next day, as my key was twisting the lock of my apartment my phone rang.Everest.I pushed the answer button and started speaking before he had a chance to say a thing.
“Give me a sec, I’m just getting home. And you’re not on speaker, so don’t talk yet.”
I burst through the door and dropped my grocery bags and keys on the floor, pushing the button so I didn’t need the damn phone pressed against my ear.
“Okay, now I can hear you.”
A lone lemon rolled across the floor, stopping just short of a conifer seed bug. How on earth did that get into my apartment?
His voice boomed through the speakerphone. “Have you met her yet?”
Tipping my head to the side, I focused back on the conversation. “I’m trying.”
I grabbed a flyer, rolled it up, and smacked the bug to death. Wandering around, I spied the patio door open a crack. Odd. I’ve never usually left it open. Must’ve been mega tired when I left for work this morning.
“Not hard enough.”
“Back off, Everest. I can’t just walk up to her and blurt it out. Clearly, there’s a reason she left all those years ago and why we didn’t know of her until a week or so ago. She probably wants nothing to do with him.”
“Like you, I suppose?”
I rolled my eyes and tossed the flyer with the corpse into the trash, keeping a side eye on the open patio door making sure no more blew in with the breeze.
“He made his bed, now he has to live with his choices. I am no longer concerned with how he lives the remaining time he has left. I am no longer part of his circus, and I’m not his show monkey.”
“Wow, did you screw that up.” Everest’s deep voice boomed through the mic.
I pulled open the curtains to allow the sunshine to stream in but closed and locked the door. Bugs gave me icky feelings.
“Back off. I don’t know what you want me to do, and why does it have to be me? You come out here and do it.” My anger blossomed, but it wasn’t him I was fully mad about it.
