Page 76 of Can't Help Falling

He shook his head, like she’d totally befuddled him, and selected a beer. “You never cease to amaze me, Fin St. Romain.”

She already had a mouthful of an hongos taco, so luckily, she didn’t have to respond.

“So,” he continued on. “I didn’t realize you worked on Saturday nights. Actually.” He paused to consider. “I pretty much don’t know anything about your job.”

She took a drink. “I have about twenty clients who I see on a regular basis. Most of them once a month, a few of them twice.”

“Holy shit. That’s a lot of clients.”

She nodded. “Yeah. The business has grown a lot over the last two years especially. After Via moved out, I wanted to keep living in my apartment, but that meant having to pay the rent on my own, so I really kicked things into gear.”

“How’d you find all the clients?”

“The first few I found through the internet. I have a website. They reached out to me. I got a handful of clients I really trusted. And from there, it’s all been referrals.”

“That makes sense.” He considered. “You meet these people in their homes, right? You’d want to make sure you could trust them.”

“Actually, at first I meet all of them in this little office space I rent for the occasion. My neighbor’s sister is a therapist and has a little annex attached to her office that I rent by the hour while I’m still learning about a new client. After a few sessions, I can tell if I trust them enough to meet at their home.”

“And if you don’t trust them enough?”

“I drop them as a client. Life is hard enough without inviting people I don’t trust into it.”

Ty’s eyes dropped from hers and she guessed immediately what he must be thinking. The baseball game. The way she’d so effectively cast him out of her life, like he wasn’t even worth the few minutes it would have taken to let him down more gently.

Her stomach cramped and she got up to get a glass of water.

She turned back after sipping her water and saw that his eyes were still downcast. He was still mulling over her words at the baseball game, she was sure.

But what, really, could she say now? Tyler, I was wrong. You’re not selfish. You’re interesting and generous and kind, and now I’m the one crushing on you? No. No way. There was no way that she was going to muddy the waters between them. She’d never forgive herself if she let this silly crush get in the way of what she was building with Kylie.

But that dulled look on his face as he worked his way through his rice and beans was just killing her. And she was the one who’d put it there.

How could she make this better?

“You know, I’ve been kind of having a breakthrough with the client I saw tonight. And I think I have you to thank for it.”

This was a delicate bridge to walk. Barely a few inches wide, with rushing water on either side.

His head came up. “Me? Really?”

“Yeah, this client, he’s a man. I don’t usually take on male clients.”

He nodded. “Makes sense. Especially if you’d have to be in their houses alone with them.”

Something smooth and hot seemed to wrap itself around her. He really understood what she was saying. She sat here, eating tacos and drinking cheap beer with him, the same way she might have done with Via. And he wasn’t thinking she was overvigilant or silly when she explained her reticence to work with men. He simply nodded in understanding. It was new. It was refreshing. It...almost hurt, it felt so good.

“So,” he said when she was quiet for a moment too long. “How was it that I helped?”

“Right. Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “It was our friendship, I guess, yours and mine, that helped more than anything.” She couldn’t help but notice that his eyes had softened on the word friendship. “See, a while ago, when Kylie first got here, Mary mentioned something to me.”

“She’s been known to casually drop truth bombs.”

“Exactly.” Fin pointed her fork at him and took a long sip of beer. “She’s kind of a Jedi master when it comes to that.”

“Mary Poppins. Spoonful of sugar.”

Fin grinned. “Anyway, she told me that I have a blind spot when it comes to certain things.”

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