She laughed and grabbed a potato chip. “I never said I didn’t check.”
He ran the conversation through his head. “But you implied it pretty heavily.”
“All right. I did do that. I looked when you left the room. From there, reality gets boring though. No new messages. No notifications on social media. I ran out of things to look at before you got back.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“I’m not. My life is that dull.” She didn’t look bothered by the conversation. Instead, amusement danced behind her eyes.
“Are you kidding? That sounds wonderful. I love the idea of not having a queue of pending notes because I kept my head down for an hour.”
“You’re full of crap.” There was no malice in her words. “You’d go nuts if you found yourself without something to do. I mean, I’m guessing, but a guy like you in a high-profile job like this drives hard because you don’t like to slow down.”
Good point. Not that he was giving her the satisfaction of conceding. “I might; I might not. It’s been a while since that was an option, and some days I do miss not being tethered. Back to it?”
“Doritos and education. Sounds perfect.”
“I would have aced school if they offered that kind of reward,” he said.
Her shoulders relaxed, and some of the stress seemed to drain from her neck, so she didn’t sit as stiffly. “Takeout as incentive for pop quizzes? Pizza for exams?”
“Not pizza. Not the way they make it here, anyway. I’m thinking a shot of Nyquil and an afternoon nap, for acing the final.”
“Nyquil? Isn’t that a bit...” She bit her bottom lip.
“A bit what?”
“Nothing.”
He took a sip of his drink. “You were going to saya bit high school, weren’t you? Poking fun at getting drunk off cough syrup?” This was nice. He was surprised but pleased with how easily the banter flowed.
“I was, but I realized that if you didn’t grow up in the States, the joke might not mean the same thing culturally.”
As pleasant as the teasing was, they did have work to do. “Dad and Mom did let us indulge a bit younger than is common here. Review time. Tell me the kinds of data sits at the tertiary level.”
“Nice try. We didn’t cover that. I’ll make you a deal—yougivemethat information, and you can have my cookie.”
“A bribe. Smart woman.”
She shrugged. “I know the way to a man’s heart. Pry open the ribcage.”
“Ouch. Brutal.” He expected her to saythrough his stomach, but that wasn’t right either. The answer was definitelyhis brain. She was almost more invested in this conversation that Justin was.
Antonio hated the thought the moment he had it. Justin was burned out and answering to someone else’s whim, but he wouldn’t throw everything away. They were all trapped in this situation, and the only way out was through it.