She held out a hand, and he walked over and dropped the keys in it.
“Also.” He took the milk out of the fridge and handed it to her. “You didn’t tell me when that homework assignment you gave me was due. But I couldn’t sleep last night, so I wrote it all up. And then I typed it up this morning. You don’t have to look at it now. I just wanted you to know.”
“No time like the present,” she said. “Where’s your laptop?”
“Oh.” He looked terrified. “I didn’t expect—You don’t have to do it now. I just wanted you to know I was taking it seriously. What you said.”
She took a gulp of coffee. “You keep telling me I don’t have to do things—Beau, do you think I don’t know that? You’ve lived with me for almost a month now. Is there a lot that I’ve done here that it seemed like I didn’t want to do?”
She hadn’t been like that before she’d gotten here. She’d done so much that she didn’t want to do for Marta, at work in general, even with guys she’d dated. She’d thought she had to—to advance in her job, for them to like her, keep dating her. All the terrible movies she’d seen, boring lectures she’d sat through, gross beers she’d sipped. She’d smiled the whole time, but now she realized how unhappy she’d been.
“Now that you mention it, I can’t think of a single thing that you’ve done here that it seemed like you didn’t want to do,” he said. “Well, other than those pep talks that first week.”
She laughed. “You’ve got me there.”
They smiled at each other, for real this time.
“I think I keep saying that,” he said, “because I don’t want to be like my dad. And sometimes I am like him. I was, in the library yesterday. So I want to make sure that…you’re sure.”
She picked up a cinnamon roll from the pan next to him on top of the stove. They were still warm. She looked up at him as she thought about how to respond to what he’d said. He looked at her intently as he waited.
“Yesterday you promised me you’d never treat me like that again.” He started to say something, but she held up a hand to stop him. “I’m still here because I believed you. And if I ever feel like you’re doing anything—even unintentionally—to break that promise, I’ll tell you. Okay?”
He suddenly looked lighter. “Okay,” he said. “Thank you.”
She smiled at him. “You’re welcome.”
He smiled back. He picked up a cinnamon roll and pulled off a piece of it. He popped the bite into his mouth and then licked the frosting off his finger. She suddenly realized they were standing very close. Closer than they’d been since…
He took a step closer to her. “Isabelle.”
She liked when he said her name like that, all low voiced and sleepy and a little growly. When did she start liking that? She hadn’t liked it before, had she? Had she liked it when he’d done that at the very beginning?
She had. Of course she had.
She took a step back. “So, um, where’s your laptop?”
He dropped his hand. “In the library.”
She reached for the coffeepot and filled up her mug. “Let’s go to the library, then.”
Izzy had worried that the library would be tainted for her after their fight in here yesterday, but as soon as she walked in, it felt like the room welcomed her back in, like a friend who had been gone too long. It felt like the walls, the shelves, the chairs had known she would be back, had been cheering for her the whole time, were cheering for Beau now. She sat down in the chair she always sat in, and felt the way they settled in together. It felt like a hug.
She laughed at herself. Was she anthropomorphizing furniture again? It’s not actually hugging you, Izzy!
Beau set his laptop in front of her, and she scooted the chair in closer to the table.
“That’s it, that’s everything I told you last night, and a little bit more. Maybe this is weird, but, um, I just wrote it like I was writing it to you. I didn’t change that as I typed it up, I was too worried that I’d trash it. It’s…It was easier to write it like that, somehow.”
She looked across the table at him, not sure what to say.
“I’m really glad that made it easier. But also.” She gestured to the notebook on the table. “I don’t think I can trust you alone with this overnight again, can I?”
He shook his head. “Absolutely not.”