Page 31 of Boston
“I heard there was an extra person,” Cora said, watching him for his reaction.
“Yep.” Boston dimmed a little bit but said nothing more.
She wasn’t sure what would ruffle him, but she’d like to know. No one can simply be even all the time. “Did that irritate you?”
“Sure did,” Boston said. “But I had enough food ready, and the biggest problem was where I had to sleep.” He rotated his right shoulder as if it bothered him. “Let’s just say I’m really glad to be sleeping in my own bed tonight.”
Cora smiled at him. “Does that happen a lot here at the lodge?”
“No,” Boston said.
“Do they allow it?”
A sigh came out, but Boston ended it after only a moment, as if he hadn’t meant for it to be audible. “I’ve only been here a few months,” he said. “So it hasn’t happened to me until now. I don’t think Ernie would have allowed it if they were local, but since they’d come from another state, he wanted to accommodate them.”
Cora nodded, because her whole life was about accommodating others. And it sure seemed like Boston’s was too.
“What’d you do the past couple days?” he asked.
“Well, I went to town,” she said, indicating the napkins. “And I got a few things to brighten up my place. These napkins, those pillows, the curtains….”
Boston’s eyes moved to them as she waved her fork in the general direction of the windows to his right.
“Oh, I hadn’t even seen those,” he said.
“Jeremy came and helped me put the rod up only a couple of hours ago,” she said.
“They’re nice.”
Cora ducked her head. “Yeah. He wanted to know who dinner was for.”
Boston’s eyes flew back to hers. “Oh. What did you tell him?”
Cora met his eyes. “I—I mean, I don’t really know….” She trailed off as Boston started to nod.
“You don’t know what this is?”
She shook her head. “Do you?”
“I think it’s two people getting to know each other,” he said. “Just like we talked about.”
“So I shouldn’t have called you my boyfriend?” She grinned at him, glad the question mark she tacked into her voice made him smile.
“I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed,” he said. “But are we telling people? Your family? Your momma?” He sobered. “What about the other employees here? I’ve never dated anyone from here, so I’m not sure if there’s a policy or not.”
Cora finished her bite of potatoes and shook her head. “There’s no policy.”
“So if Cotton asks me who I’m dating, I can say it’s you?”
Her mouth tightened, and oh, Boston saw it. “I mean, theoretically,” she said.
“Are we keeping it a secret?” he asked. “Because Julie tries to set me up every other minute, and if I say no, she’ll want to know why.”
The thought of Boston going out with another woman made Cora’s blood sear through her veins like hot lava. “I mean, I guess you could go out with someone else,” she said. “If we’re not official or whatever.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Boston said.
“Yes, you do,” she fired back. “There are stages of a relationship. First, we’re just getting to know each other. Then we’re dating. Then you’re my boyfriend.”
