Page 37 of Someone to Watch Over Me

“Do you have any idea how much time I spent trying to figure out who you went with?”

He laughs again and then groans. “What’d I say about making me laugh?”

“Stop saying crazy stuff, then.”

“All true.”

“I can’t believe any of this. Wait until I tell my high school friends about this. They’ll die! They already can’t believe we’re roommates after the way I carried on about you back in the day. When I first moved in, one of them asked if they should arrange security for you.”

That makes him laugh again.

“Whoops. Sorry.”

He holds out a hand to me.

I stare at it for a long moment before I reach out to take what he’s offering.

“I think that for all this time, I’ve been secretly waiting and hoping I might run into you again sometime.”

“Really?”

He nods. “I’ve had a lot of girlfriends, but I never got seriously involved with anyone because none of them was you.”

“Tom.” I release a nervous laugh. “You’re medicated. Clearly, you’ve lost what’s left of your mind or something.”

Grinning, he shakes his head. “When I heard you’d gotten married, I was heartbroken.”

What in the hell am I supposed to say to that?

“People said he was a good guy, and you were happy, which mattered to me. But I was still heartbroken to know I’d missed out on knowing you.”

“I have no idea what to say to any of this.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I’m sorry if I lured you to my house under false pretenses.”

“You didn’t. I never would’ve guessed any of this, so you’ve done a good job of keeping the rest of the story under wraps.”

“You weren’t ready to hear this when you first moved in, or even a few months ago. I’m not sure when or if I would’ve told you if I hadn’t nearly bought the farm. Now, it just seems silly to keep that kind of secret from you any longer. But,” he quickly adds, “I’m certainly not expecting anything to change between us.”

Everything will change after this. How can he not know that?

“You’ve been through a lot. I’d never want to put pressure on you for something you’re not ready for, and after what happened this week, I’d totally understand if this is all too much for you.”

It is. It’s way too much. Didn’t I suspect that underneath all the lunches and the dinners and the sweet gestures to make me feel comfortable in my new home that something much deeper than friendship was lurking between us?

Now that I know for sure, I have no idea what to do with the information. High school Lexi would’ve been doing cartwheels in the front yard at hearing Tom Hammett liked her as much as she liked him. And we didn’t even know each other then. Not really. Not like we do now.

Everything I’ve learned about him in the months I’ve lived with him has only reinforced the fact that high school Lexi had excellent taste in men.

“Are you freaking out?” he asks after several minutes of charged silence. “Tell me the truth.”

“Not entirely.”

“But kind of?”

“Maybe a little? I’ve been in such a strange place since Jim died. Well, honestly, I’ve been in that strange place for much longer than that. Probably since he first started experiencing baffling symptoms that didn’t make sense until they added up to the worst possible thing.”

“I can’t begin to know how hard that must’ve been for you or what you’ve been through since he died. I know that what happened this week was super traumatic for you. But I promise I’m going to do everything the doctors have told me to do and take super good care of myself because Lexi Nelson is finally holding my hand, and that gives me everything to live for.”

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