I grinned. “Not yet.”
Her smile in return was pretty damn sly. “Take a picture if you do.”
*
I was early again that night. Two minutes ahead of schedule and holding a plate with a few Chips Ahoy cookies I was going to try and pass off as homemade unless one of them asked. It was the thought that counted, right?
My notebook was tucked under one arm, the beautifully wrapped crystal that Yuki had sent Amos was under my other arm, and I had a pen shoved into the back pocket of my jeans alongside my cell and key. I’d written out a bunch of questions while I’d eaten dinner and marked them in order of what I should ask, depending on how much information we could get through.
Hopefully a lot.
I’d only gotten one chance that day to use my newfound knowledge, and I’d been so damn proud. It had helped curb the edge for every other time I had to go bother Clara or pass a customer off on her. She was a fountain of information, and I admired her so, so much for it. Sure, she’d grown up in this business and lived in the area way longer, but it didn’t make it any less impressive. She had moved away; anyone else would have forgotten most of what they knew.
In my dreams, Mr. Rhodes would do me another solid and invite me over tomorrow too, but I wasn’t holding my breath. I thought about the way Mr. Rhodes had looked in his uniform earlier when he’d been across the street.
It sure wouldn’t be a hardship.
Was he divorced? Did he date a lot? I didn’t think he had a girlfriend since no one ever came over other than the Johnny/uncle figure, but you never knew. From everything I’d gathered about him, he was really overprotective of his half-grown son. Maybe he had a girlfriend but never brought her over.
That’d be a bummer.
Not that it should matter.
I really did need to start getting around to possibly dating. I wasn’t getting any younger, and I missed having someone to talk to in person. Someone who was… mine.
Being single was cool and all, but I missed companionship.
And sex.
Not for the first time, I wished I had an easier time with one-night stands or friends with benefits.
For one brief second, my heart longed for the easiness and effortlessness that had been such a staple in my relationship with Kaden. We’d been together so long and knew everything about each other, I had never thought for a second that I’d ever have to find someone else to become my new best friend. Someone else to get to know me and love me.
And I missed that a lot.
But we weren’t together anymore, and we were never going to get back together.
I missed having someone in my life, but I didn’t miss him.
Sometimes, maybe even more often than just sometimes, you were better off alone.
Sometimes you had to learn to be your own best friend. To put yourself first.
One tiny tear pooled up in my eye at yet another reminder that I was starting over again—at the magnitude of what lay in front of me—when the door swung open. I hadn’t even realized the hallway light hadn’t gotten turned on. Mr. Rhodes was right there, one hand gripping the door, his frame filling the rest of the doorway. His gaze landed on my face and he scowled, lines etching their way across his broad forehead.
I left the tear where it was and forced a smile onto my face. “Hello, Mr. Rhodes.”
“You’re on time again,” he stated before taking a step back.
I guess he was letting me in. “I didn’t want to get in trouble with the principal,” I told him with a side look, joking.
Nothing about his expression changed.
I didn’t let him get me down as he closed the door and then headed down the hallway toward the living area, aiming straight for the table again. I set the plate down in the middle, Amos’s gift next to it, and watched as he pulled out the same chair I’d sat in the night before, then taking out the same one he’d been in and settling into it.
Maybe he wasn’t Mr. Warm and Fuzzy, but he had some manners.
I beamed at him as I took the seat and plopped the notebook down before pulling my green pen out. “Thank you for letting me come over again.”
“I owe you, don’t I?” he asked, eyeing the round object wrapped in white tissue paper critically.
Could I tell him what it was? Sure. Was I going to? Not unless he asked.
“That’s what you keep saying, and I sure could use your help, so I’m going to take advantage of it.” I winked at him before I could stop myself, and fortunately he didn’t frown. Instead, he just pretended I hadn’t.
Smoothing out the page I’d left off on with my notes the day before, I scooted my chair in a little closer. “I have a million other questions.”