Page 36 of Until I Have You

Derek starts to walk off.

“All right!Nice meeting you, Professor!”Theo calls out in a chummy tone, saluting him with his free hand.

Derek wades through the crowded cocktail bar until he’s out of sight.

Theo’s hand tightens on my arm.“Are you all right?”

I want to collapse into his arms and burst into tears.

Something about the way he’s touching me is so familiar and soft that I want to give into it and give up everything.

“Saw you when we walked in, and you looked…” Theo frowns.

I push away from him, trying to smile away my pain.“I’m fine now.Thank you.”

Theo lifts the hand that was resting on my shoulder, open palmed.He closes it, then settles onto the edge of the stool beside me, so tall that he manages to keep his feet on the ground.“You want something to drink?”

“I have a tab,” I say, unable to withhold the edge in my voice, though there is a part of me desperate to say, “Yes, please, I want a drink, please take care of me, please look out for me.”

Instead, I swig the rest of my drink.

Theo smiles with fondness.“Of course, you do.You are an independent young woman who… What is it they say?”He grits his teeth, eyes rolling up to fetch the phrase.“’Don’t need no man?’”

I stare at him for a long moment, his British inflection of the phrase washing over me.Then, I burst with laughter.

“That sounded ridiculous, didn’t it?”

“Yes!It did!”

I continue to laugh through the bartender’s return, through Theo ordering a rosé for Helene and a gin and tonic for himself, and he takes the liberty of ordering me another Cosmo before telling the bartender to put my tab on his.

I grab Theo’s arm.“Don’t do that!”

“Too late.I have seniority on the situation.”He settles back into his chair, raising his eyebrows at me.

Is he putting me in my place?Reminding me that he’s close to my dad in age and, consequently, can be an extension of him?

“So, unless I’m mistaken, I take it you weren’t meeting up with Professor Derek Ridley because you have an infatuation with older men,” Theo states.

“I –no, he was–” I pause.“He was a professor in my program, and I thought he might be able to help me with the job situation.”

“Yes… Help.”

I glare at him.“I’m not that type of woman.”

“I wouldn’t judge you if you were.”He crosses his arms over his chest.

“I’m not!”I cry out.

“Abigail, please, take it easy, love.Don’t strain yourself.”

It’s not at all condescending.It’s kind.And that confuses me, especially considering how rude I’ve been to him since our run in at the aquarium.

“It’s a long story,” I murmur.

The bartender arrives with our drinks, placing Helene’s rosé at her empty spot on the other side of Theo.

I’m grateful she hasn’t yet returned.In fact, there’s a part of me that hopes she doesn’t.That part must be very confused.

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