The photo showed them all standing in a loose semi-circle in the center of the room, wearing suits that seemed a little big on them. All except for Jeremiah, that was. His fit perfectly.
“I remember that formal,” Shawn managed to get out while he laughed. “Wasn’t that the winter formal where Tanner had to ask all our dates for us?”
“Yeah, I think it was.” Bart groaned, letting out an embarrassed chuckle. “I still can’t believe he did that for us.”
I glanced between the two of them. “Why did he have to ask your dates?”
“We were all in that awkward, shy phase,” he explained. Shawn scoffed but didn’t disagree or interrupt. “Tanner eventually manned up on behalf of all of us. Then he spent weeks putting together ways to ask each girl we liked in a way he thought she’d appreciate.”
“Wow,” I said.
They both nodded at me, but it turned out that was only the first of the great stories they had about him. As we looked through the photos, they told me more about what was going on in them, even though we were only supposed to have been looking at the room.
I kept my attention somewhat focused on it, but I also listened intently to everything they had to say about their friend. One thing I took definite notice of was that his bookshelf had baseball trophies perched between novels. The books were a wide variety of fiction and even some nonfiction.
A lot of the nonfiction seemed to be related to the game, though. As was a lot of other odds and ends in his room. “Baseball has always meant a lot to him, hasn’t it?”
Shawn nodded. “Yeah, but not for the reasons you may think. It’s not just a shrine to his ego because he’s so good at it.”
“The first birthday present he ever got was a mitt,” Bart said. “His dad bought it for him way before it would’ve been acceptable to launch a ball that hard at a toddler, but throwing a ball around became their thing. He started just rolling it at him and they spent hours outside doing that when they couldn’t get away to go fishing.”
“He told me about the fishing,” I said. “It sounded like a pretty important part of his childhood.”
“It was,” Bart said. “That’s why he’s kept all the trophies, even the ones he got as a kid. They remind him of where he came from and how much he’s achieved.”
“Baseball was his way out,” Shawn explained when I frowned questioningly. “It was something he was naturally talented at that, if he worked hard enough and with a little bit of luck, would enable him to take care of his parents when he got older.”
I was surprised. I’d never thought it could have been as meaningful to him as all that. Personally, I’d never been good at any sport. My hand-eye coordination just wasn’t great, but even I knew it meant a lot to a lot of people. For some reason, I just hadn’t thought that about Tanner.
They kept telling stories and I learned more about him. I found myself more and more excited about getting started on the house. His friends were easy to get along with. They seemed genuine and eager to help, though I did get the feeling that there was something else going on.
The more they spoke, the happier they seemed about talking their friend up. The way they were making him sound, he was a real homegrown hero who had inspired dozens of kids where they grew up to reach for their dreams.
I wondered briefly if Tanner had told them we had slept together, but since no one brought it up, I just didn’t know if my suspicions were correct. I had a good time with them and I definitely learned a lot, but then I realized that the time had flown by and it was nearly five.
Just when I was thinking I should head home, boot up my laptop, and get started on the plans for the house, the door opened and Tanner walked into the bar. He was grinning when he came in, but then he saw me.
Surprise flashed in his eyes and he seemed confused for a moment, but when the grin came back, it was twice as wide. He definitely seemed pleased to see me as he made a beeline for our booth. He dropped into the seat beside mine and immediately put an arm around my shoulders.
“What have you guys been telling her? I don’t need to be worried, do I?” He turned his head toward me, his face only inches away and those blue eyes warm on mine. “Whatever they said, they’re lying.”
“We were not lying,” Bart protested, not skipping a beat at seeing his friend being so much more familiar with me than a client usually was. “I showed her some of our old pictures, though. You might have some explaining to do about the stories that came out because of those.”
Tanner groaned and ran his free hand through his light brown hair before turning his head again and burying his face in my hair. “In my defense, those calendars were a gift from Jeremiah. I’ve never been that into muscle cars and I never even looked at the girls.”
“Liar!” Shawn pointed at him, laughing as he shook his head. “Don’t try to bullshit your girl, man. That’s just not how it’s done. She’s smarter than that.”
His girl? What?I was suddenly feeling flustered, but I also hadn’t pulled away when he’d put his arm around my shoulders.
As much as I kept thinking that I needed to keep my distance from him emotionally, I never seemed to be able to do it. He made it too hard.
Remember that he’s just a billionaire playboy you’re designing a bachelor pad for. He’s never tried to hide what he is, even if he claims he’s trying not to be that anymore.
I needed to stop being so comfortable whenever I was with him. If I got too close and ended up getting hurt, it would be my own fault. Yeah? So why are you still not moving away from him?
Fuck. That was a really good question.
It just wasn’t one I had an acceptable answer to.