She saw what he was doing. She was watching him. Yet, she had no desire to pull her hand away. She’d forgotten how easy he was to be with—and how much she liked him.
The rhythm they fell back into was an easy one. It was mid-afternoon before she knew it.
“Are you hungry?” Jace asked her.
“Starving. I didn’t realize how late it had gotten.” She looked at her phone and cringed. There were four texts from Billy and an equal number of messages.
“Did you forget about something?”
“What? No. It’s just later than I thought.”
“Somewhere you need to be?”
“No, not really.” She excused herself and went to the ladies room. She couldn’t very well call Billy, and if she texted him, what would she say? He was probably already furious with her. She might as well wait until later and deal with it all at once.
“You sure everything’s okay?” he asked when she came back to the table.
“Yes. There’s something we need to talk about though.”
“I figured there was.” He was frowning.
“It’s about Billy.”
“Figured that, too.” He leaned back in his chair, further away from her.
“I’ve known Billy almost all my life…” she began the story.
“He’s coming for Thanksgiving.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“He is,” she answered.
Jace rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m not sure what to say. I guess I’m relieved you weren’t ‘with him’ during the summer. I’m not sure how I would’ve felt about that.”
“I wouldn’t have done that, Jace.”
“I know you wouldn’t. But…”
“But what?”
“What about today?” He looked at his phone. “I’ve been here several hours, and I haven’t been shy with my, uh, affection.”
He was right,
but she didn’t know how to answer him.
“I didn’t feel the way I thought I would when you got here,” she said.
“No? How did you feel? Or how didn’t you feel?”
“I’m happy you’re here.”
“Ouch, woman! I guess you mean that in a good way, but wow, you didn’t expect to be happy to see me?”
“Honestly?”
“Please.”
“No. I didn’t. I didn’t expect to feel the way I’m feeling at all.”