Page 83 of Objection to Love

She held her breath and couldn’t look up at him. Instead, she flicked imaginary lint off her pants. A good use of her time.

He didn’t answer for several seconds. And when he did, his tone was… weird. “I’ve gotten a couple of job offers. One is in Texas. It’s a year-long contract. The other is… well, they haven’t given me all the information on it yet.”

Em stopped perusing her pants for more lint. Texas? He was considering a job inTexas? She forced her voice to sound nonchalant. It wasn’t like he was asking for her opinion or anything. He was just telling her about his possibilities. She could be cool about this. “Are you leaning toward one or the other?”

He shrugged, and she finally looked at him. But he wasn’t looking at her; he was staring into the kitchen with a semi-blank look on his face. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I like moving around. It’s fun. Adventurous. But I also have a pretty good reason to stick around right now if given the chance.”

“Oh yeah?”

He glanced at her with a crooked smile. “Yeah. Kissing a pretty brunette.”

“That’s not a very specific description…”

He leaned down to her, his lips hovering just over hers. “How about… kissingthispretty brunette?”

The kiss was soft and sweet—a meeting of just their lips. When they broke apart, Em was smiling. “I feel a bit like you’re just using me for my body.”

“Pretty sure the feeling’s mutual.”

She laughed, but the conversation didn’t feel finished. Had Garrett avoided answering her question? If he had… she had let him because kissing him was becoming her favorite hobby.

Okay. Itwasher favorite hobby. It had passed taking baths about two weeks ago. Approximately around the time he’d first kissed her.

“So…” she dragged the word out, not exactly sure how to ask what she was thinking. He raised his eyebrows at her. “Is there a possibility of you sticking around then?” She could have cringed. To her ears, she sounded like a ninth grader having her first DTR.So, uh, are we like together together or just like kinda together?

Garrett sighed, and Em could already tell she wouldn’t like this conversation. “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t have all the information right now. But I’ve at least got another month.”

Em almost laughed. A month? What was a month when she wanted forever?

She froze. Where had that come from? Since when did she haveanythoughts about any sort of forever? She had aplan.

She’d gone off book. She’d only been dating this guy for a couple of weeks. What was she thinking? She wasn’t. Her heart had not communicated anything to her mind. Instead, it had run off on its own—making up forevers and happily-ever-afters and tossing words like “love” around.

Uh-uh. No way. This was not a logical approach. Time to stuff that fantasizing little heart back into a box and think through this. Falling for a guy who could be leaving in a month was not smart. That was like betting on love. And Em didn’t bet. Not on anything.

Except for that bet with Garrett. Which had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

She’d stood up at some point during her inner monologue and now she was staring into Garrett’s confused face. “Oh. Sorry. I think I’m more tired than I thought; I should probably get home. And I still need to prep some stuff for tomorrow. Thanks for dinner.” She handed him the plate with her half-eaten pizza on it.

“And I’m sorry again about today… just a warning that I probably won’t be much better about responding to calls the rest of this week. I’m sure I’ll be running around like a crazy person with the trial. But it should all be settled by this weekend.” She was blabbering and promptly clamped her mouth shut.

He nodded slowly and came to his feet. “Okay,” he dragged the word out, still looking confused. “Oh, I told my mom I’d invite you to Sunday Sundae night. Want to come?”

Em made a noncommittal noise. “My parents want to do dinner again this Sunday when Jackson gets back in town. I’ll see if I can get out of it though. I’ve had enough family dinners lately to last me half a year.”

Some expression crossed Garrett’s face, but then he smiled. “Okay. Sure. Just let me know.”

“I will.” And she stepped out the door, barely refraining from saying the strangely natural words “love you.” Instead, she pushed them back into the chained box she’d handcrafted for her heart.

With extra effort and focus, the trial went better on Wednesday. No new pieces of evidence came up to surprise their team, the jury seemed to be receptive to their arguments, and Mr. Standson had congratulated her on “turning it around.” Em was choosing to take that as a compliment rather than focusing on the fact that she did poorly in the first place to receive such words.

She went into Thursday with renewed energy. They were going to win this. Even if the evidence didn’t point so clearly to Mr. Clayton—which it did—just the man’s jeering looks and angry outbursts in court the day before had to convince the jury. They’d had to take a recess at one point because the defense attorneys couldn’t control the man.

The lunch recess was coming to a close when Mr. Standson walked up to the table where Em was reviewing her notes for the day. He tapped on the wood once with his forefinger. “This may very well be one of the quickest murder trials I’ve seen in my career, Ms. Miller. I’m impressed.”

Em smiled confidently up at him. “Thank you, sir. We’ve not won it yet, but I’m certainly hopeful.”

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