Page 25 of A Whirlwind of Color (The Light to My Darkness 2)

“You can’t just stand there and tell me nothing. Am I in trouble?” My voice cracked. “Did I do something wrong?”

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

I melted into him. I felt more comfortable in his arms than James'. Maybe it was because I was lonely in this new world. Or maybe it was because he was closer to my age. Or maybe it was because he was the one that was actually here with me, trying to calm me down.

I shifted my head so that it was pressed against his chest. “When we were upstairs, you mentioned that you would have thought we’d have ended up together. Why didn’t we?”

“Bro-code. My brother met you first.”

“That’s the only reason?”

“You’re his person.”

He didn’t say I wasn’t his. “You seem like so much more fun than James. I always thought I’d end up with someone more like you. James is so serious.”

Rob laughed and squeezed me tighter for a moment before releasing me from his embrace. “He is serious. You should have seen him before he started dating you. It was like he always had a huge stick…”

“…up his ass,” I finished for him. “He still does.”

Rob smiled. “He has a lot going on. He’s just worried about you.”

“Can I ask you something else?”

“Anything.”

“You said he loves me. But do I love him? I mean, do you think that I did? Before all of this?”

“He hasn’t given you the book?” he asked.

“What book?”

He shook his head like it was nothing. “Never mind, it’s not important. But yeah, Penny, I think you loved him back. You transferred out of the University of New Castle for him. You moved your whole life here.”

“Why did I give up so much?

“It was a two-way street. He had to resign from teaching. You two had a rough start but you’re both happy now. I don’t just think it, I know it.”

We were really close. Geez, was this man my best friend? How was that possible? It wasn’t like I could share intimate details about his brother to him. I stared at him. “I thought James was joking when he said he was my professor. This apartment doesn’t exactly scream a professor’s salary.”

“When he gets home, ask him about the book I mentioned earlier. I think you should read it.”

“What’s it about?”

“You’ll just have to read it. Come on,” he said and grabbed my arm to pull me into the kitchen. “We’re going to spend the rest of the morning eating ice cream and watching TV.”

In just that one sentence I realized how right I was before. He was a much better match for me than James was.

Chapter 11

Friday

It took me awhile to completely relax around Rob. But his inappropriate sexual comments and the fact that I barely knew him went out the window when we found a show we both loved. Now my feet were propped up on his lap and we were laughing at a re-run of Shark Tank that didn’t feel like a re-run to me.

“I bet Kevin’s going to offer him a terrible royalty deal,” Rob said.

“Are you saying that because Kevin always offers royalty deals or because you’ve seen this episode before?”

Rob laughed. “Both. I’ve missed this,” he said and looked over at me.

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