Page 71 of Courting Clemson

“Thank you,” I said with relief. I would really miss his easy friendship when we went our separate ways. Depending on what happened with Luke, that might be sooner than I thought.

“And Clemson,” Brian said as we strolled down the hall toward what I assumed were the bedrooms. “If you explain our arrangement to your boyfriend, and he’s not okay with it, I’ll completely understand.”

“Brian,” I nearly gasped as panic rose in my throat. “I don’t have the money to pay you back, not yet, any?—”

“Did you really think I expected you to? Or that I’d even let you?” He smiled and gave me a long, warm hug before showing me to the guest room.

I texted Grace and told her I’d be staying out all night and not to worry. She sent me a few emojis when I told her I was with Brian, and I quickly texted her to shut down any wild ideas she had.

You know things aren’t like that between us.

I’m just teasing you. Calm down. What happened with Luke?

Nothing. He’s really upset, and I couldn’t talk to him there. I’m going to try to text him next. I told Brian what was going on though. He’s the sweetest man.

Well, good luck with Luke. I’ll see you in the morning.

I wandered into the bathroom and found a slew of products available. Thankfully, there were some makeup wipes and cleanser so I could wash my face before bed. He even had a brand-new toothbrush and toothpaste available, so I used those too.

I laid the gown across the bench at the end of the bed and found a T-shirt neatly folded nearby. Brian must have snuck back in here while I was in the bathroom and left it for me to sleep in. The thing hung down to the middle of my thighs, and I smiled thinking about how considerate the guy was.

Once again, I wondered how he had not been scooped up by now. He seemed to be the full package in a partner, minus his workaholic tendencies. For a woman like me who wasn’t ready to settle down and start a family, it didn’t really seem like that big of a roadblock. But I guess if I was at a different stage in my life, it would be a huge red flag.

Putting thoughts of Brian away for the evening, I looked at my phone for a long time, trying to gather the courage to text Luke. I wrote and deleted three messages and was about to turn over and go to sleep when the device lit up in my hand.

Are you still with him?

Yuck. I already hated the tone of this conversation. I refused to let him shame me for any of the choices I made that got me in this situation. Did I make mistakes? Yeah, probably. Should I have been upfront with him from the start? Probably. But did that give him the right to talk down to me or be shitty. Nope. I didn’t think so.

I’m at his house, in the guest room. Alone. Can we talk instead of text?

I watched the message status change from sent to received to read. At least five minutes went by before my phone vibrated with an incoming FaceTime request from Luke.

Okay, that had to be a good sign, right? I took a deep breath and swiped to accept the call. I held the camera at a comfortable angle and stared at the handsome face on the screen.

“Hi,” I said in nearly a whisper.

“Hey,” he answered curtly.

Oh boy, he was really still in a foul mood.

“If you’re really mad, we can put this off until tomorrow. The last thing I want to do is upset you.”

“Tell me how you would feel in my shoes, Clemson.”

“Hurt. Betrayed. I didn’t say I didn’t understand why you were upset, just that it was never my intention.”

“Let’s just get this out in the open. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep wondering what the hell is going on.”

I nodded. Made sense. The old rip the Band-Aid off principle.

“Are you sleeping with him?” he asked with a wince.

“No. Never. It’s not like that.”

“Figured you’d say that,” he said petulantly and looked away from the camera.

“Well, it’s the truth. We have an arrangement…” Maybe that wasn’t the best term to use. “Christ, this sucks,” I said and ran my fingers through my hair. “Do you remember when you first started messaging me, right after we volunteered at the shelter together the first time?”

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