Page 378 of Lodestar

“So?”

“So, this is for us. Before I bring her…” She hesitated. Swallowed. “…homethis weekend.”

I could forgive her anything when she called my apartment home.

Grinning at her, I said, “That looked painful to say.”

“It wasn’t,” she denied with a snort. “Just, I haven’t had a home for a long time and it’s only home because you’re in it.”

I whistled under my breath. “Jesus, are you trying to lead up to telling me you broke my rig or something?”

This time, she outright laughed as she shoved my knee with her hand. “No, dumbass. I’m being nice.”

“It’s weird. Stop it.”

Her lips were still curved wide though. “I’m going to drown you in mush tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s date night with apurpose. Don’t ask what purpose because I won’t tell you until we get there.”

“Intriguing.”

“Don’t lie. I’m always intriguing.”

“I figured it was all that time as a spy.”

“Sure. Makes a person shifty and, apparently, you like shifty.”

“You know it. Did you get Kat enrolled at Shay’s school? Or is she having a vacation before the next semester starts?”

“Got her enrolled, yup. Straight into the frying pan for her. She’ll love it. They have a gymnastics team and everything.”

“Feel like making a bet?”

“On what?”

“The likelihood of her being a cheerleader.”

She groaned.

“You’re only groaning because you know I’m right.” I chuckled as she pulled up at a stop light and shot me a pleading glance.

“What are we placing as stakes? Cash?”

I scoffed. “Nothing so boring.”

“As disturbed as I am at the prospect of her being a cheerleader, I’m interested.”

“Thought you might be. I bet you an orange that it’ll happen this year.”

“An orange?!”

“You’d prefer an apple?” At her disgusted look, I laughed harder. “A banana?”

“I was hoping for six months of you writing code for me or me promising not to hack your code for a year.”

“Well, if you’d prefer those to be the stakes…”

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