He nodded, and then raked a hand through his hair. It had gotten a little longish now that I stared at it. Had it been for a while? Or was it just a change in the last couple of days?
Not that two days was some huge amount of time. God, I was being ridiculous. I didn’t see any of them for weeks at a time this summer.
And you were miserable then…The snide little voice in the back of my head didn’t help.
“You have a point,” he said. “Lead the way?”
Awkward didn’t begin to describe it. I pivoted and dug my hand into my pocket for my keys. My bracelet bounced against my wrist as I headed for the stone steps leading up to the back door. Ian was right behind me as I held my breath and unlocked the door.
Please don’t be home. Please don’t be home.
The sooner I fed the cats and grabbed my stuff, the sooner I could be out of here.
Silence greeted me, followed by a yowling complaint as Tiddles raced into the kitchen. Relief flooded me as I blew out a breath. Ian shot me a look.
“You all right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Just didn’t want Mom to be here.”
Understanding kindled in his expression. “You want me to feed the cats while you grab your suit?”
“I can do it.” What I wanted… “What happened on Saturday?” I opened the pantry to grab the canned cat food out while I asked. Maybe I was being a bit of a coward, but… “We were out here, you were making coffee. It seemed fine, and then you went back to my room, and you and Jake were arguing, and then you left.”
I cracked the can open.
“After you said you didn’t…after you said you’d still take me to Homecoming, but we’d be friends nothing else.”
A muscle twitched under my eye. The words came out, but they still lacked cohesion.
“What did I do wrong?”
I dumped the food into the bowls as Tory and Tabby joined Tiddles in their yowling.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said quietly.
Discarding the used can into the recycling, I stole a look at him. His expression was pained and tense. He did not look like he agreed with what he said.
“Okay. So what happened?”
Ian rubbed the back of his neck. “We all the spent the night.”
“I was here,” I told him. “I was really glad all of you were, too. Friday evening… it sucked.” That whole dinner had been a nightmare. “If not for Archie…”
“Yeah, if not for Archie,” Ian muttered.
“What does that mean?”
“It means…” He sucked in a breath. “Frankie, I adore you. You know that, right?”
Folding my arms, I lifted my shoulders. Considering how rigidly he held himself and the tightness in his expression, I wasn’t so sure I did. “I know you said we’re friends, best friends. I know you’ve said how much you missed me this summer, too. You asked me to Homecoming. I thought we were close, but I’m kind of wondering, and maybe that’s not fair to you.”
“No, it’s totally fair. I was kind of a dick.”
Well, on that we agreed.
He pressed his hands to the side of his head, then dropped them as he straightened and faced me. “We’re fucking around with your life, and we shouldn’t be.”
Of all the things I thought he would say.Thathadn’t even been on a back-up list.