Page 101 of Say You'll Stay

I’ve been able to walk around all day with what Tom keeps pointing out as a stupid look on my face. Yeah, well, it’s not like I’m going to tell him his daughter brings out some inner beast in me and that I was tempted to bend her over on his kitchen counter this morning.

All I could do was bite down the kinds of things I would have said before I reconnected with his daughter. Tom is a simple man, and we had some dirty guy talk in the beginning, and then Allie and Jadon happened. No more talking about randos in college or Tom’s wild days before he met his wife.

I don’t want to make things awkward by explaining whatever look is on my face and telling him it’s from what I did to his daughter. In his house. Two doors down from where he slept.

The day she agrees to move in with me couldn’t come soon enough. She requires new furniture, so I should probably leave my wallet with her so she can buy whatever she wants so I can get this moving.

Allie doesn’t know this, but I’m meeting with John today, which is why I already know he’s going to be gone before I’m supposed to show up.

She gave me a side-eye all morning while she tried to figure out what to wear. She went for pants until I gave her a subtle grunt.

“I will have to shave my legs,” she said.

“Your legs are fine.”

I would know.

She rolled her eyes and found something else to wear.

To be honest, I’ve not really been spontaneous like this with anyone else before. I can be myself with most people, but I feel likemoreof myself with her.

I don’t even know if that makes complete sense.

God, it feels good to be on the inside now. Not worrying about her being mad at me. Not pushing me away. Not with an asshole that was with her, probably just for money. Just together.

Girl…friend…?

No, that seems too non-committal. Just Allie and Lucas, then.

But that’s the point of today’s meeting. I’m telling John. She’s the mortified type, so I’ll let him know and talk to him long enough that he will be fine with us as an item. I’ll sign a paper or whatever and call it good. At some point, she will be comfortable telling him, and I’ll let her do it on her own time.

She’s in the office alone, as I expected. John is at a math department meeting or something, so I’ve got time. She’s focused on her computer, squinting with one eye shut. “You need glasses.”

“Shit!” She jumps in her seat. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” She has a jar of Skittles that I pick through. I only like the green part of the rainbow.

“Get into places and scare me.” Allie holds her chest while she breathes heavily and tries to close the screen on her computer. Too late, I already saw it.

She’s reading celebrity gossip.

There’s an empty space on her desk I take up and try to read the article she’s looking at. “Do you think she’s really pregnant or faking it just for attention?” Some actress I can’t even remember the name of is claiming she was another actor’s mistress. It’s the big “thing” right now. Guess those people have nothing better to do but fake pregnancies and make everything into a scandal.

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m reading it.”

I’ll bet she was trying to see a baby bump. That’s why she was squinting. “What makes you think that?” I have to lean over to read the name, “Scarlet Te...bul…e…fer…zhyg…r.” The author’s name has thirty-eight letters and I’m losing the point. “What makes you think they know the truth?”

“I don’t know, but they say they have sources on the inside. I just wanted to read the gossip.”

“Don’t you have to answer phones or something?”

I mean, she’s cute sitting here with her desk neat and tidy and there’s a picture of Allie with Jadon next to her monitor. Also, I thought the weeks leading up to school starting would be busy for her.

“Do you hear the phone—“

She stops to pick up the phone that starts ringing.

“Hello, you’ve reached—“

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