Page 28 of Purr For Me
Chapter Eight
Sitting in the lunchroom the next day, Lexie sketched with one hand and held a ham and swiss sandwich in the other. This was often the way she spent her lunch hour. During the morning, design ideas swirled in her brain, but usually they solidified into concrete concepts by noon and it was imperative to complete a rough draft while the images were fresh in her mind.
Taking a bite of her sandwich, she glanced up to find Tom giving her a speculative glance from where he stood by the refrigerator. “What?” she demanded.
Tom shrugged and opened the fridge. “Nothing.”
Lexie narrowed her eyes as she chewed and returned her attention to her work. In a few moments, Tom sat down next to her. Looking at him, Lexie saw curiosity in her friend’s eyes and knew exactly what was on his mind. With an inward groan, she placed her sandwich on a paper plate and wiped her hands on a napkin.
“Okay. Let’s get this over with,” she said.
If she hadn’t known Tom better, she would’ve bought his look of innocence. “Get what over with?”
“You want to know what happened last night with Kade, right?” Lexie had gotten through the morning with no one mentioning her kiss with Kade. Zip had kept his mouth shut after all, and she felt bad for doubting him.
Tom gave a brief nod. “Ithadcrossed my mind.”
After taking a sip of her iced tea, Lexie simply said, “We had a nice dinner, then he dropped me off here and I went home.” She didn’t feel one iota of guilt over not telling Tom the full story. She wasn’t ready to divulge that information yet because she was still too confused, and she needed time to think about it.
Tom’s dark blond eyebrows drew together. “That’s it?”
Irked, Lexie said, “Yeah. What were you expecting to happen?” She pointed at Tom. “If you say you thought I’d sleep with Kade, I’ll wreck your face.”
“No, of course not. Although it would be no one’s business but your own.”
Lexie played with the button on the right sleeve of her overalls. She knew that Kade’s choice for their meal was odd, but it had shown her a softer side of him, and she loved how he helped out. He’d been right about her needing something else to focus on. Seeing how poor some of those people were, how they’d lost everything, made her grateful for what she had. Especially her job and friends.
“I’m really thankful to you for everything. I might’ve been out on the street if it wasn’t for you.”
Tom laid a hand on her forearm. “You know I’ll always help you, Lex. I’d never let you be homeless.”
“You’ve done so much for me,” she responded. “You hired me against Marcus’ wishes—”
“You kind of hired yourself, as I recall,” Tom interjected.
Lexie smiled sheepishly. “Technically, Sully did that, so it wasn’t all my doing. Thanks for having my back.”
Tom pulled her into a one-armed hug. “No thanks needed.” He released her. “So, how are things going with Kade’s car?”
“Great. I finalized the design and I’m just waiting for Zip to finish all the welding, so I can install the new carpeting that came in this morning,” Lexie replied.
Tom stood and patted her shoulder. “Good work. I can’t wait to see it when you’re done.”
She smiled as he walked away and then returned to her sketching. Kade’s image rose in her mind, and she wondered what he was doing. Was he writing? Lexie couldn’t picture him sitting behind a computer because he didn’t look the part of a journalist. She found the incongruity of Kade’s chosen profession and his appearance fascinating.
Looking down at her sketch pad, she resisted the impulse to draw Kade. She’d be mortified if anyone ever saw it, especially Kade.
Her cellphone alarm went off, meaning lunchtime was over.
Lexie was glad for the interruption because it kept her from doing something stupid, like calling him. She gathered up her things, threw away her garbage, and went to the locker room. Once her belongings were stowed in her locker, she hurried out to the garage.
Entering her bay area, she found Zip hard at work installing the new floor in the Alfa. Sparks flew as he welded the custom-made piece of steel he’d fashioned to the underside of the car. Since she couldn’t work on the Alfa right then, she checked on some part orders she’d placed and tried to put Kade out of her mind.
Just then, Marcus walked past, and she hugged her secret to herself.
“What’s that smile for?” he asked.
“Nothing, just thinking about a joke Zip told me earlier.”
