Page 70 of Come Back to Me

“Pencils are good for pushing into eyes.”

He snorts. “Pens are better.”

“Ever tried?”

“No, but physics is on my side.”

“Wood is wood.”

“Metal is metal.”

“You’re right.”

“About metal being stronger than wood?”

“More tensile,” I correct. “And no, I could have had a great escape tonight.”

“There we go,” he murmurs.

“You don’t think she was a serial killer, do you?”

“Anything’s possible.”

“You’re right. And I met her on a dating app. You know that’s where predators hunt.”

His lips twitch. “You were on a dating app too.”

“But I’m not a serial killer. Unless you count plants. I murder a lot of them.” I tap my chin. “Anyway, who leaves without saying goodbye to someone?”

“Someone won the jackpot on the slot machine and made a whole lot of racket and you didn’t look up, Tee.”

“I didn’t?”

“Nope.Butshe could have waited. I did.”

He did.

I watch the lights from the car on the opposite side of the road illuminate his face.

Damn, he’s pretty.

Brooding, too.

I nibble my lip. “You’re...”

“I’m…?”

“There’s something about you... It feels like I know you, but we barely talked when we were growing up.”

“I didn’t talk to many people when I was a teenager.” His smile is lopsided. “Trust issues from a dysfunctional relationship with my father.”

“You talked to Bast Frobisher,” I accuse. “He’s a moron.”

He entwines his pointer and middle finger together. “We’re also like that.”

“No accounting for taste. You can’t deny he’s an idiot.”

“He has his strengths.”

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