Page 36 of Waiting for Tuesday

My brows furrowed and I made a face. “No, she’s not my boss. Jake’s my boss. She just… hired us. It’s different.”

She made a motion of dismissal with her hands. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is…” Her voice softened even further. “You kissed yourboss.”

I rolled my eyes as Penny leaned across the back of my chair to talk to Lisa. “What are you guys talking about?” she whispered.

“John kissed his boss,” Lisa whispered back.

“What!” she whisper-yelled. “When did this happen?”

I closed my eyes.I shouldn’t have said anything. I REALLY shouldn’t have said anything.

“He wants to know if no sometimes means yes.”

Penny hit my arm. “No always means no, John. Have we not taught you anything?”

I shoved back from the table and rose from my seat. “You know what, I’m suddenly not hungry.”

Lisa grabbed my arm, trying to get me to stay, but I shook her off and picked my plate up from the table. Mom glanced up from her conversation with my niece Ashley and eyed me warily. I looked away and walked out of the room.

I placed my plate on the counter and raked both hands through my hair. Normally I had no problem shaking off their teasing, but for some reason, I couldn’t find the humor in the situation. I promised Tuesday I would never kiss her again, but it was a promise I wasn’t sure I could fulfill. Not when she looked at me like that, when she smiled like that…

Lisa came from behind me a minute later and put one hand on my shoulder. “You know I love you, right?”

I laughed and shook my head. “You have the worst possible way of showing it.”

She hugged me at my side and rested her head on my upper arm. “You really like this one, don’t you?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, suddenly having a headache. “Fuck—I don’t know.”

She swallowed, and I could tell she was a bit emotional, but she laughed at the same time. “You do. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard you talk about anyone like this in I don’t know how long.”

I nodded, knowing she was right—but relationships were hard for me. They required trust, and that was something I gave only a handful of people in my life. If I couldn’t trust her… I sighed heavily. “It doesn’t matter anyway. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

Lisa moved to lean against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. “What happened?”

I glanced over, knowing I was making a mistake, but I told her everything. But I didn’t stop at this afternoon. I told her about our altercation with the jumper cables, the night we first met. About our heated conversation when she found out I was her project manager… about her breaking down in the back room.

“And today…” She paused and tilted her head. “She kissed you back?”

I leaned my head on my shoulders and blew out a breath. “Yeah.”

She turned to stand in front of me, her face intense and serious. “Are you sure?”

I made a face. “Yes, Lisa, I’m sure. She’s not the first woman I’ve kissed.”

“I know that,John.” She moved to lean against the counter again and was silent a moment. “So I take it back.”

I lifted one brow and looked over at her. “Take what back?”

She cleared her throat and chewed her bottom lip. “I think in this case, ‘no’ might actually mean, ‘convince me’.”

* * *

Tuesday

Itipped my head up, glancing to the solid brown door that replaced the plastic I’d become accustomed to. It was only the second day since the switch, when the crew moved to work on the back room, and the shop became mine for the taking. But even though the product floor had turned out more beautiful than I could have ever imagined, my enjoyment was minimal because my thoughts were forever consumed with John.

We didn’t speak the rest of the way home that day. Actually, we still hadn’t spoken since our conversation in the truck. I knew it was probably for the best. We had four more weeks left to tolerate each other, and when he was gone, life would continue on like every other day before him. But for some reason, my stomach twisted in knots every time I thought about it. Thought about how honest he looked the moment he told me he wanted me. Thought about the possibility of never seeing him again.

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