Page 30 of Room One Hundred and Twenty Nine

“Hey, are you okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, why?” I ask.

“You went a little quiet there. Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh, my God, no. Not at all.” I cup his face. “That was amazing.” I sit back in my seat. “I was just worried that I did something wrong. That I broke the rules and Elijah and Parker might get mad at you or something.”

Nicholas chuckles. “They will not think you did anything wrong. They will put the responsibility straight on me, and I deserve it. I’m your coach and your boss. I should know better.”

“But I’m an adult and I should know better too,” I say.

“I suppose,” he says. “But you have nothing to fear, Haruko.” He leans in and lifts my chin with his finger. “We’re good. You and I. Them and I. Them and you. We just need to talk, is all. And yes, they may be mad that I got to have you again without them knowing, but if this road is leading to where I think, then they’re going to be fine.”

“Where do you think this road is leading?” I ask, my heart beating wildly in my chest.

He takes a moment, then says, “I think this will lead to something magical. Something none of us saw coming. I don’t know how this will go. We still have stuff to figure out, Elijah in particular, but I think if you want this, Haruko, I think we can have it. We can find a way.”

Hope blooms in my chest and I reach up, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss.

“I hope we can,” I say, pulling back and resting my forehead against his.

When we sit back in our seats Nicholas asks, “Were you really late because of the traffic?”

I chuckle. “Yeah, I was. I think there’s some event going on today and there was just a sea of cars. Not sure what it was. Maybe we can check it out. We could invite Parker and Elijah.”

I look up at him, a little shy, but I relax when he gives me a smile and pulls out his phone to text his friends.

“Where are we going?” Parker asks, as we walk down the sidewalk in the central district.

The traffic was because of the Poetry Festival. It’s the last day and all the tourists were leaving town so they can get back to work on monday.

“Anywhere we want,” Nicholas says, walking next to me.

Parker is on the other side of me, while Elijah is behind. He’s gone back to his quiet self, but I still see the heat lingering in his eyes when I turn around. I catch him checking out my ass. I can tell he’s still more hesitant than the other two, but I’m hoping to find some way of assuring him that even though this is ethically compromising, we can get through it. That this is something I want, not because I’m trying to get somewhere in the company or because they manipulated me. I just want them.

From the moment I met them, I felt a connection and for the last two years it’s been building. Faster with Parker and Nicholas, but even with Elijah, because no matter how much he tries to avoid me, we still talk sometimes. I’ve learned a lot about him by talking to Parker in particular. He seems to be comfortable talking about him.

Parker stops Nicholas and points to an antique store. Margaret’s Antiques.

“Hey, they might have some cool animal figurines in here,” Parker says, and looks to Elijah and me. “You mind if we take a look?”

“No problem,” I say, waving towards the door.

A bell rings as all four of us enter the store. It smells like leather and smoke and there’s stuff everywhere. Racks upon racks of everything from dishcloths to books to vases and so much more.

The lady at the counter gives us a sweet smile and says, “Welcome to Margaret’s Antiques. Let me know if you need any help.”

“Thanks,” I say.

Nicholas and Parker head towards the back of the store while Elijah goes right to the vases.

“You collect animal figurines?” I ask Parker as we weave through the racks of old cups.

“I don’t. Nicholas collects them,” he replies, nodding at Nicholas, who’s found a rack of glass animal figurines.

“Cute,” I say as I follow Nicholas and watch him look through the pieces.

“Looking for any in particular?” I ask.

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