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“Answer a question with a question.”
“Well,” he said with a shrug. “This is about you, not me.”
“It’s about both of us!”
“It’s really not.” He stood and walked around his desk, then sat in the chair beside her. He took her free hand, and she dropped her eyes to his large warm fingers encompassing hers. A tingling sensation traveled up her arm. “My mind is made up. I want to do this for you. You just have to let me.”
She stared at their hands for a moment, then lifted her eyes to his face. His ice-blue gaze was concentrated, but gentle. He pulled the corner of his lower lip between white teeth, waiting.
His desk phone rang, the tone piercing through the air. Noah released her hand and leaned over to look at the caller ID. “I need to get that.”
Mia leapt to her feet. “Sure. We’ll talk later.” She went for the door.
“Mia.”
She stopped with her fingers on the handle and kept her back to him.
“Do one thing for me.” The phone kept ringing.
“What is it?” Her voice wavered like it always did when she was uneasy.
She rarely felt that way around Noah.
“Do me a favor and consider both options. One, be my wife for a little while so you can start your career as Colorado’s best registered dietician. Two, don’t be my wife and stay in a job you think is just okay, forever. It’s your choice.” He paused for a second. “You always say you value my opinion, and that’s why you tell me everything. So here it is: if I were you, I’d think about the one I’d regret less, and pick that one.”
4
Mia avoided him for the rest of the day. Which was a feat in and of itself, since they worked mere feet from each other. But somehow she managed, and Noah didn’t find himself near her again until that evening at dinner.
Noah, Mia, Claire, and Graham were at Claire’s favorite pub, seated in a leather booth laughing over beers. Well, everyone else was... Noah laughed over water.
His tongue loosened way too much when he drank, so he kept himself on a pretty short leash when he knew Mia would be there.
It felt like old times when the four of them were together. With their schedules, it didn’t happen as often as they’d like. Claire’s and Graham’s especially—she was a nurse and he was a firefighter—and Noah had never been able to keep their shifts straight. But maybe once a month they made it work, and it was like college all over again.
Noah, Mia, and Claire kept their neighborhood gang intact in college, but branched out as they met new people. Graham was a little older and had been a friend of Nathan’s, but Noah had gotten to know him well on climbing trips he took with his brother. When Nathan died, Graham and Noah’s shared grief brought their friendship closer, and Mia and Claire were happy to absorb him into their group.
Claire set down her bottle with gusto and clapped her hands, her blond curls bouncing with the movement. “So,” she began. “This dinner actually worked out really well, because I’ve got something I want to talk to you guys about.”
Graham shook his head. “I’m not into foursomes.”
Claire didn’t even spare him a glance. “I watched that episode ofFriendslast night where they all set up their ‘backups.’ I thought about it all day, and I decided we should do that.”
Noah had seen that episode. He quickly brought his glass to his lips.
“What does that even mean? ‘Set up their backups’?” Graham asked.
“You know. Like, if they aren’t married by a certain age they’ll all marry each other.”
Mia, who sat next to Noah, jerked her head in his direction. Her eyes went wide and held slight accusation.
He shot her a look that saidI didn’t say anything, and she relaxed marginally.
“Why do we have to get married at all?” Mia asked. She never had been fond of the idea and, far as he knew, she’d never dated the same guy for more than a few weeks. It was one reason Noah wasn’t completely offended that she hadn’t accepted him yet.
“I don’t know.” Claire shrugged. “It just sounds nice. Guaranteed companionship. Someone to have dinner with.”
“A penis at your fingertips,” Graham added, and Noah choked on his water.
