Page 40 of Friend Me

His shoulders slumped. “My brother’s coming to town tomorrow. We’re going to dinner.”

“Oh. Well, then—”

He shook his head. “Come. Come with us. Raleigh’s not so bad.”

“Which one is Raleigh?”

“Played football at SMU. Now he’s in sales.”

I didn’t want to be a third wheel at his dinner with his brother. But I also didn’t want to tell him no.

“You really don’t mind?”

His mouth tightened, but then he said, “No. I’ll make him promise to be on his best behavior.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” His tone lightened. “I’ll come get you here tomorrow at six.”

I nodded. When he turned and walked to the stairs, I deliberately turned away. Raleigh wasn’t the only one who needed to watch his behavior.

* * *

The following evening,Tyler arrived at my desk five minutes early, and I wasn’t ready. Not because I needed to primp to go out with my work-buddy and his brother. Not even because I wasn’t emotionally ready to be in a social setting again with my friend after he’d triggered my sex-starved hormones. Okay, that might have been a lie.

What made me most not-ready was that I wasn’t sure Dad was okay.

He’d been fine since I’d returned from the wedding. In fact, this morning, he’d told me to have a good day atwork,not school. But when I’d called him about five-thirty, half an hour before our neighbor Alma was supposed to come over, he’d asked me three times when I was coming home.

I’d called Alma and asked her to go over early to check on him. After about twenty minutes, she’d called and assured me he was fine. From the false cheerfulness in her voice, I suspected she’d done something to make him fine, like coax him out of bed or help him find his cane—maybe both. And the annoying part? I could hear that asshole, Tigger, purring at her in the background. She’d called him lindo.

So when Tyler came up the stairs just as I hung up with Alma, I wasn’t ready to be the fun work friend I needed to be. And it showed.

“What’s wrong?” He tapped his fingers against his jeans.

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Something’s wrong. You can tell me.”

“It’s my dad. He sounded off when I called to check on him.” I still hadn’t told him anything about Dad’s slip-ups. If I said it out loud, it might sound worse than it was. And it might even be true.

“Off?”

“Just—confused. It happens to him sometimes.”

“Do you need to cancel tonight?” He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets.

I could’ve. Maybe I should’ve gone home to check on Dad myself. But then I’d be breaking my promise to my friend. Besides, Alma had said he was fine. And she had my number in case that changed.

“No, I’m good. Where are we meeting your brother?”

“An Italian place between here and his hotel. It’s not far. Want to walk?”

I looked up at the skylight. No rain. “Sure.”

Outside the Synergy building’s revolving door, fog had started to roll in, cold and sticky. Taillights from traffic-mired cars glowed in the mist. Office workers and tourists pushed past each other on the sidewalk.

Tyler crooked an elbow toward me. “Let’s go.”

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