Page 59 of Taming Tesla

THIRTY

Patrick

Isaw this wholething going down differently in myhead.

I was going to play it cool. Keep my distance. I didn’t plan on seeing her right away. I was going to give her space. Let her get settled. Not because I didn’t want to see her or because I’m trying to play games.

I want to do things differently this time. I want to do them right. I wanted to ask her out on a proper date. Take her someplace nice. Open the door for her. Pull out her chair. Take her home and walk her to her door and leave her there without pushing her up against it and shoving my tongue down her throat.

So, what do I do? I haul ass over here the second Con tells me she’s landed and drag her to Benny’s so Nora can harass her between coffee refills.

Not that she seems to mind.

“I can’t believe she smacked me,” Cari says, fingers dug into her cheek, trying to rub some feeling back into it. “Twice.” Despite the complaint, she’s grinning like a loon.

“Welcome to my nightmare,” I tell her, trying my best not to laugh. Lunch over, we’d squeezed through the throng of waiting people, hoping to sneak out without Nora seeing us. No such luck.

“Not so fast, Veronica,” she shouted, instantly causing Cari’s shoulders to stiffen against my chest as I tried to hustle her through the door.

Cari looks over her shoulder, aiming wide eyes at my face. Her cheek was still bright red from Nora’s last assault. “Is she gonna hit me again?”

“Probably.” I rolled my lips over my teeth to keep from laughing. “Better take your lumps, Faraday.”

She nods her head once and squares her shoulders like she’s marching into battle. “Right.”

She marches back to Nora’s station and stoops a little while the old woman shakes her finger in her face. I can’t hear what she’s saying, but whatever it is, Cari is nodding and genuflecting like she’s been given an audience with the Pope. As soon as Nora offers her blessing in the form of a loud, cheek-pinking smack, Cari straightens, only to have Nora call her down again. Cari goes reluctantly, and then something happens that I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes.

Nora kisses the cheek she’s just abused.

“What was she saying before she smacked you?” I say, curious but also trying to fill the void that’d settled around us now that we’ve left the restaurant.

Cari keeps grinning “That the next time I leave without stopping in to see her first, she’s going to hunt me down and break her foot off in my ass.”

“She’s not kidding.” I laugh, bracing my hand on the small of her back as I guide her around a puddle of melting snow. “You better stop in before you head back home.”

Home. The word stuck in my throat. This is her home. Here. With me. I don’t want her to leave. Not ever.

“I’m not… leaving,” she says, shooting me a quick, sidelong glance like she’s gauging my reaction. “I’m moving back.”

“Oh,” I say, nodding my head like it wasn’t the single best piece of news I’ve heard in almost a year. “Well, if you need help finding a place, let me know.” I nudge her with my shoulder. “I know a guy who happens to have a few empty apartments laying around.”

She smiles, catching her lower lip between her teeth to chew on it for a second before looking at me. “Thank you,” she says. “For letting me stay at…” she trails off, a pained expression on her face. “Anyway, thanks for letting me stay. I can give you the money I would’ve—”

I laugh, bumping her with my shoulder. “If you give me money, I’ll just set fire to it in the bathtub.”

She gapes at me, cheeks bright red.

“Too soon?” I ask in mock seriousness, and she rewards me with a laugh. “Seriously,” I tell her with a shrug. “It’s your home—or at least it was—and when Tess said you planned on staying in a hotel for an entire month I just—”

“Enlisted your cousin in a kidnapping plot?” she says, arching an eyebrow over some serious side-eye.

“Pretty much.” I grin at her for a second before it fades into something more serious. “You’re family. Family doesn’t stay in hotels, and they don’t pay either so you can forget it.”

“Okay,” she says, relenting before we fall into another short silence while we walk. Finally, she looks at me. “Grace and Molly are moving to Boston.”

I met Grace at Cari’s graduation, while she was still pregnant. “Grace and Molly are moving here?” I say, smiling because she’s smiling. Happy because she’s happy.

“Well,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest, she tucks her hands against her ribcage, trying to warm them. “She hasn’t said yes yet, but I want Grace to go to college. It’s something she feels like she could never do because of Molly and because she’s been stuck at home, helping my parents while they help her—” She drops her hands and laughs. “I’m babbling. Sorry.”