Page 30 of All of You

Bridgette was a later person by nature. I used to get so mad at her, as did Bea, who was punctual to the point of being militant, but the fact that Bridgette was the oldest and the only one with a car for much of Bea’s high school years forced her to cooperate with Bridgette’s bad habit of running late.

See? There. Thoughts of sisters, and I’d re-entered a world with the laws of gravity.

Whit put a warm hand on my arm and squeezed. “Well, make yourself at home in the kitchen. I’ll be fast getting ready—no hair or makeup, so lower your expectations, but it means I’ll be fast.”

She flashed me a bright smile, then hustled down the hall, which I definitely did not watch.

A smile touched my lips, because I had absolutely no response to the comment about expectations. All my expectations for her had been blown out of the water when she’d hugged me last week, and I’d been reeling ever since.

Something about her compassion in those moments shook me. It was far more… feeling than I thought she was. I was attracted to her physically, sure—I had a heartbeat, didn’t I? But the main reason I’d agreed to help her was because she was Reese’s cousin and I wasn’t dating anyone else anyway. I couldn’t deny that spending time in her world sounded intriguing, but she struck me as sort of self-absorbed and simple. Not simple simple, but just kind of… basic. The kind of person who was nice, but not going to invest in other people because their head was down, working toward their own goals.

Exhibit A: asking me to fake-date her so her reputation would improve and she could manipulate John Smith Johnson into working with her.

My impressions weren’t based on anything real prior to meeting her, but I could admit I’d judged her and not allowed the other evidence to match up with what I’d seen. Her songs were alternately happy and effortless, but also deep and affecting. It’d been easy enough to see her as an artist who was brilliant, but only looking out for herself.

Her concern for me, for my reaction and frustratingly visible upset after the press’ questions last weekend, and then her gentleness with me… it got to me. It snuck up on me. And now, I stood on shaky ground, not sure how to take her.

I liked it better when I knew what to expect, and the fact that now I wasn’t so sure what I’d get from her—maybe self-interest, but maybe genuine interest in me, well… It made me more nervous about tonight than I’d been for any of our other dates.

Sure enough, half an hour later—twenty-eight minutes, if someone had counted, which I most definitely had not—Whit breezed into the kitchen looking clean, relaxed, and beautiful in a way that hit me between my ribs.

Nikki walked in behind her, startling me from the daze I must have fallen into watching Whit as she moved around the kitchen putting things from her drying rack away, tucking an empty glass into the dishwasher.

“Where are you two going?” Nikki asked, addressing me, which was nice.

I often felt like an accessory in the room, which I basically was, but it didn’t make me like Nikki very much.

“I was thinking Robbie’s Kitchen. Is that okay?” Whit asked, turning to face me.

“Robbie’s is great. That sounds good.” My stomach rumbled, though it was mercifully quiet, so hopefully, they hadn’t noticed. Robbie’s was so good, and I hadn’t been in a while.

“Great. Ready?” Whit grabbed a large purse and slung it over her shoulder. “You good to drive? I gave Ru the day off.”

“Oh, sure. Yeah.” I pulled my keys out of my pocket and gestured for her to lead the way.

“Ben. A word?”

Nikki’s voice stopped me and Whit.

“What’s up, Nikki?” Whit asked.

“We need more here. You two are adorable, but you might as well be cousins.” She pursed her lips and fluttered a pen between her fingers.

“It’s fine,” Whit said.

When I glanced at her, her cheeks were pink.

Was she embarrassed by Nikki’s suggestion, or embarrassed by the fact that we apparently had no outward chemistry? That wasn’t a shock since we weren’t very physical, but the chemistry between us felt like it was developing pretty rapidly to me.

“That’s easy enough to fix,” I said, not sure exactly what I had in mind even as I said it. “As long as you don’t mind…”

Whit’s eyes fluttered, and then she smiled brightly—maybe a little too bright. “Of course not.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ben

The car ride was strangely tense. I wasn’t sure why, other than maybe Nikki’s suggestion had upset Whit.

---