Page 6 of All That Glitters
“Then why are you pissed?” Jeff prodded.
“I’m not pissed.”
“You sound pissed,” Matt observed.
“Because talking to you guys is like talking to two monkeys.” He turned to Debbie. “You ready?”
“Yeah,” she said, a hint of amusement in her eyes. She’d known Tony long enough to tell when he needed rescuing. “Let’sdo it.” She turned to Matt and Jeff. “It was nice to meet you guys.”
“You too,” Matt said.
“Let me know if Tony tries anything inappropriate at ‘the beach’,” Jeff said, making air-quotes with his fingers around the words as if it was code for something smutty. “My dad’s an attorney.”
Tony just shook his head in annoyance as he and Debbie walked away, leaving Matt and Jeff exchanging smirks behind them.
“Are you gonna try something inappropriate with me at ‘the beach’, Mr. Harding?” Debbie teased once they were out of earshot of the guys. She made the same air-quotes with her fingers.
This time Tony just laughed. “Now you see what I had to put up with through college.”
“Serves you right for telling them I always break things.”
“I didn’t say always,” Tony said, but the smile tugging at his mouth betrayed him. “Just whenever there’s breakable things within a ten-foot radius.”
She playfully slapped his arm. “It’s only on rare occasions. And I’m getting better about it.”
He smiled. “Like starting riots at graduation ceremonies?”
“That doesn’t count,” she said. “And I deny everything.”
He laughed, squeezing her to him in a side hug. “I missed you, Deb.”
“I missed you too,” she said, squeezing him back. “So, we’re doing the beach? Like old times?”
He nodded. “Just like old times. And no air-quotes around the beach.”
She smiled, looping her arm through his as they headed from the stadium.
The sun was setting over the Pacific by the time Tony and Debbie arrived, painting the horizon in strokes of purple and fiery orange. The only sounds were the gentle wash of waves onto the shore and the soft crunch of sand beneath their feet.
“I like your friends,” Debbie said, her voice soft in the growing darkness. “They’re funny.”
“You’re just saying that to be nice. They’re professional idiots.”
“No, I mean it,” she said, turning to him with a playful glint in her eye. She loved how easy this was, how they could slip back into their old rhythm without missing a beat. “They survived four years of college with you. That’s pretty heroic.”
He shot her a sideways glance, a genuine smile finally replacing the stressed-out mask he’d been wearing all day. “Hey. I survived fifteen years of you. What’s that make me?”
“Privileged,” she teased.
“You think so?”
She nodded. “I know so. But it also makes you my hero.”
This unexpected addition caught him completely by surprise. “I’m your hero?”
“You were the hero to the second grade me.”
“Really?”
