Page 21 of Wrong Number

She nodded, looking at me expectantly.

“So that means you have no idea whether I’m doing a good job or not?”

Her eyebrows arched, then she shook her head. “Don’t you dare think I’m going to fall for that. I won’t get talked into cleaning your house, or whatever it is you’re thinking.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. But maybe you’ll forgive me if I work long hours sometimes, and have weird friends.”

“I like your weird friends,” she said softly. “And I really like that you introduced me to them right away.” She looked down at her plate, poking a piece of broccoli around with a chopstick.

“Why wouldn’t I introduce you to everyone I know? You’re amazing.”

She shrugged, staring into space for a moment. “I don’t know. Some people seem to compartmentalize their friends. Some of my friends from school got boyfriends, and never really spoke to me again. And my mother was strangely secretive with her friends, never letting me meet them.”

That sounded really off to me, but I certainly wasn’t going to point it out.

“People all have their strange social systems,” I said, picking up a fork. “I know I’m a heathen for not using chopsticks, but I’m really hungry, and my big fingers are clumsy today. Will you forgive me?”

Tana shook her head sadly. “It might be the difference between dessert and no dessert, if that’s the chance you want to take.”

“I’ll live,” I chuckled, spearing a huge piece of spicy chicken and jamming it into my face.

As we ate and talked and laughed endlessly, I realized that I didn’t want the night to ever end.

I’ve always enjoyed my job, but this weird bit of tension about my uncle being strange was throwing me off. I wanted to completely ignore it until I absolutely had to go back there.

I stayed too late with Tana in my arms on the couch in our magical little bubble, having to force myself to leave at ten. When it was just the two of us, every single thing in the world was perfect.

CHAPTER TEN

* Tana *

After puttering around my apartment for most of Saturday, I tried to curl up with a book, but found myself repeatedly staring off into space, thinking about my new relationship.

Even though Tyler and I really hadn’t spent a lot of time together yet, I somehow felt like I knew him better than anyone. Maybe it was because we were getting to know each other on a physical level as well as an intellectual and emotional one.

Maybe it was that we both seemed completely fixated on each other.

I still couldn’t get over the fact that Tyler seemed utterly infatuated with me. It wasn’t something I could even begin to understand, so I tried to put it out of my mind. But it was there.

Our lives were becoming entwined, slowly but surely. Without being nosy or prying, we always knew where the other one was, and what we were doing. A text here, a phone call there, we just always seemed to be in touch.

For a girl who had spent so much time alone throughout her entire life, I felt transformed. It was absolutely heavenly always having someone to talk to and be interested in all of the strange little details of my everyday life.

Tyler seemed genuinely relieved that he could talk about his work and my eyes didn’t glaze over. I was never bored. Perhaps he had that problem with women before, sinc

e he commented on it twice.

Of course I was going to pay attention to something that was such a large part of my boyfriend’s life.

Since I did know a bit about paperwork and organization, I was extremely happy I was able to help him with a few details and suggestions.

The second my phone rang around four in the afternoon, I grinned, already knowing who it was.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Tyler said before I could even answer properly. “I’m driving around dropping off and picking up supplies for an hour, then if you like, I could come to your place and hang out.”

“Sure. Would you like me to make dinner?” I asked.

“No – let me pick up takeout. I don’t want you to go to any trouble. Plus, if you like, we could watch a movie and you could pause it whenever you need to tell me something. I’m sort of curious about your true movie-watching style.”

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