Page 26 of Dance with Me on New Year's Eve

I let out a sigh of exasperation. “No, I’m just taking a break. Not that it’sanyof your business, but my apartment’s A/C isn’t working. It’s so unbearably hot and humid in there that I had to get out of there.”

“Your apartment is even warmer than it is out here?”

“Believe it or not, yes.” I sighed, uncrossing my stiff legs in front of me. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you any of this. You’ll probably try to find a way to use it against me.”

His brows furrowed as he shook his head slowly. If I didn’t know him better, I’d almost think he was hurt by my remark. But Ididknow him, and there was no way he’d be hurt by anything I said. One had to care a little before they could be hurt. One had tohavefeelings before they could be hurt.

I shook my head, trying to clear the awful thoughts from my mind. I was being uncharitable, and it didn’t feel right. Even to Jeff. Even if he deserved it. I bit my lip before finally saying, “Sorry, my filter sometimes malfunctions.” I flashed a half-smile because for some reason, it seemed important to remind him that I was actually a nice person. “I live across that street over there. What about you? What are you doing here?” I resisted the urge to say,Extended vacation?

“I live on that block,” he said, pointing to the large apartment complex kitty-corner from my building. “I did go into my office at the resort today, but it was distracting because everyone around me was obsessing over wedding decorations for the resort. Some rockstar is getting married tomorrow.”

I laughed. “I’m aware. Sam Solstice is not just ‘some rockstar.’ His wedding is the biggest event of the year so far. I’ve spent months helping to coordinate with their wedding planner.”

He gave me a blank look. “Oh. Right, you’re the event planner. I guess I assumed you’d given up those duties to work on Hazel’s projects.”

“No, at least not yet.”

“So you’ve been quite busy after all.”

“Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not falling for that.”

I shook my head and looked away. “Are we done here then?”

After a long silence, I finally resumed eye contact. His brows were lowered as though he were conflicted. “Are you all right, Roxanne?”

“Just peachy, Jeffrey.”

“You just seem … less peachy than usual.”

I opened my mouth to dispute his observation, but then it fell shut. He was right, after all. What was the point of denying it? “Well, I’m not a fan of ninety-five-degree weather. Plus, I’m a human. Sometimes I have bad days..”

“Sorry to hear it,” he said in a hesitant tone I’d rarely heard from him. “Do you—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

I didn’t even want tothinkabout the call that had stolenthe joy from this day. I’d woken up to quite a few messages from CastGamer55 since I’d fallen asleep early last night. The wedding planning tasks, on top of my other work, had been exhausting lately, and I’d taken advantage of the cool breeze through my window to get some sleep during this midsummer heat wave. The messages from CastGamer55—Danny, I reminded myself—had been fairly brief, but it felt good to be missed. I’d started the morning with a smile.

And then my parents called.

Feeling agitated as usual after talking to them, I’d tried to take an early nap after that—one of my few successful forms of self-soothing—but it was already so hot at 10 a.m. that I couldn’t sleep. And then off to the park I went. At least there was some wind, even if it was a warm wind.

He was still just standing there with his hands in his pockets.

I exhaled slowly. “You know, I had a difficult phone call first thing, and my apartment was unbearably hot. Topping off a really busy week, honestly. I work a lot, you know, even though you don’t see me in the office,” I added, my tone defensive though I tried to be casual.

He ignored most of what I said, asking instead about the one thing I definitely didn’t want to explain. “A difficult work call?”

“No. It wasn’t work.” He was still looking at me as though expecting more, so I conceded. “Fine, it was family.”

He nodded and spoke quietly. “Ah. That kind of call can definitely ruin a person’s day.”

My eyes flew up to meet his as I drew in a breath sharply. “Are you actually empathizing with me?”

Whatever human-like emotion I saw in his eyes quickly vanished, replaced by a hard expression.

OK, I guess I was rude, but so was he, most of the time.

---