“Um, hello?” I poked my head out of the fort like a turtle and raised my eyes.
Sure enough, there was Colin, staring down at me with his head tilted slightly as if he was trying to figure out what he was seeing. I scrambled out, my face hot, and I swallowed when I got to my feet and he was looking down at my Kennedy Homecoming T-shirt.
Yes, I’m wearing a tee from senior spirit week; eat it. I blew my bangs out of my eyes and tried to remember how to form words, but I struggled because Colin looked like my roommate . . . only he didn’t.
This Colin was wearing an impeccably stylish blue suit with a plaid tie and the kind of gorgeous leather dress shoes that always made me wish my squatty hooves fit into men’s footwear. This Colin had on a starched white button-down shirt and a pair of tortoiseshell glasses that sat perfectly atop his strong nose.
Roommate Colin was cockily attractive, but Smart-Businessman Colin was downright delicious.
His hands slid into the pockets of his pants. “I can’t tell you how relieved I was to discover you weren’t alone in your fort.”
“Ha ha.” Kyle crawled out, and Brady followed. I picked up Brady and said, “What are you doing here?”
An eyebrow went up. “At my house? You’re asking what I’m doing at my house?”
I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean. Shouldn’t you be at work?”
Kyle walked right up to Colin and said, “Your watch is really cool. Did it cost a lot of moneys?”
Colin’s mouth split into the prettiest smile, a wide, funny thing that made my stomach do a full 360 as he said, “It did. A lot of moneys.”
“I wish I could have it.” Kyle did the pouty thing that he was so good at, looking sad but in a cute, puppy-eye way, and murmured, “That would be dope.”
Colin’s eyes shot to my face. “Did your aunt Olivia teach you that word?”
“No,” I said, the exact second Kyle said, “Auntie Liv said it means good.”
Colin laughed and my phone buzzed. It was Dana, letting me know she was parked in the loading zone. I looked at the boys and said, “Your mom’s here. We have to race to get all of your stuff back in the diaper bag before she beats us and wins the game. One, two, three, GO!”
Kyle took off running toward the office, and Brady laughed and cluelessly followed. I started picking up toys while Colin went into the kitchen and pulled a Tupperware container out of the freezer. “Those are Will’s kids?”
“Yep. Kyle and Brady.” I started jamming things in the bag, 100 percent certain it was never going to zip. “Sorry, by the way. I didn’t know you came home for lunch or I would’ve asked before I brought them here.”
Totally a lie, but polite, at least.
“No worries. I’m not staying, I just forgot my lunch and thought the walk home would clear my head.”
I looked at his perfect image and wondered what he had on his mind. “Did it work?”
“Um.” His jaw clenched and he grabbed his keys from the counter. “Not so much.”
My cheeks got even hotter, and my impulse was to scream, I’m sorry, okay?! but I controlled myself and said, “Well, I hope your day gets better.”
His eyes narrowed. “No, you don’t.”
Finally, I felt like smiling at Colin, and I said, “I might, Beck. You just never know.”
Five minutes later, as if they were all a passing storm, I was home alone in the apartment and it was quiet. I was getting a later start than I should’ve on the applications, but it was going to be okay. Regardless of how on-brand it was for me to blow off responsibilities for whatever sounded fun, this was different.
I was still standing firmly on New Olivia ground.
* * *
? ? ?
THE REST OF the week really tested that theory.
I landed five—five—job interviews, which thrilled me. I felt like I was going to have a job before Eli even realized that I’d left the city. I was going to be gainfully employed before my mother even had a chance to interrogate me for hours on end about my progress.
Hell, I’d probably have multiple offers to choose from, right?
Wrong.
Because at each of the interviews, I came down with verbal diarrhea.
At the first one, I accidentally mentioned the fire. When I was asked why I’d moved, my mouth had betrayed me and dispensed the truth instead of the generalities I’d carefully practiced.
Mr. Holtings, my interviewer, looked at me over his readers and said, “Fire?”
And for some reason, trying to explain it made me giggle. I started describing what had happened, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling while I said it.