Page 24 of Sing For Me

I wrench my eyes from Reese.

All the warmth coursing through me slips as I consider my answer. It doesn’t sound like she’s being snarky. But I’m having trouble reading Kelly. I guess I always did.

“I don’t know about ‘what I always wanted to do.’ But it’s fun. I first got interested in it back when I got my electrician license.”

“Ah yes,” Neil says. “Kelly mentioned you used to be a blue-collar chap!” He looks truly fascinated.

I wonder what else Kelly mentioned about our life together. If she told him I have an MBA I got to make my mom happy. If she told him how conversely unhappy she was when I didn’t use it, turning down her dream of me running the hotel after her, and how Kelly kept telling me I shouldn’t stoop to doing hard labor just because I thought it would be fun.

“I did,” I say. “I loved it, actually. Working with my hands when my whole life I’d been behind a computer screen.”

“So why aren’t you still doing it now, mate?” Neil asks, folding his hands under his chin.

The truth sits on the tip of my tongue, but for some reason, I can’t say it.

No, not for some reason. Because Kelly is sitting right there, and she knows it. She knows work of any kind has always just been a way for me to pay the bills and occupy my time. But having a successful career was never my biggest dream.

“My family needed me here,” I say, finally.

For some reason, God knows why, I grasp Reese’s hand under the table. It doesn’t make sense. They can’t see me do it. But it’s instinctive.

And she doesn’t pull away.

“And our people are the most important thing,” I say.

“Well isn’t that the truth,” Neil says, as if I’m some great philosopher. “Indeed. Kelly, write that down. It’ll be great for the finale.”

Kelly laughs, but Neil’s smile doesn’t fade. He’s serious.

A flicker of irritation passes over Kelly’s features. “This wouldn’t happen if you sucked it up and brought your glasses, Neil.”

Neil makes apshawsound. “I don’t need glasses.”

Kelly pinches her lips, but she pulls out her phone and takes a note.

I’m not sure what makes me happier then, Kelly’s annoyance, or the feeling of Reese’s soft fingers clutched in mine like they belong there.

We drive back to her place in silence, maybe both of us mulling over the surprise that the evening wasn’t the disaster it could have been.

It’s not until I pull into the spot in front of her apartment that I open my mouth.

“Reese…” I begin.

She looks over at me expectantly.

What do I say, exactly? I hesitate, then settle on the truth. “You were perfect.”

Reese shifts in her seat.

Was that warmth I felt one-sided? I remember the feeling each time she defended me to Kelly. Or each time our legs brushed against each other under the table. I try to shove the images from my mind, but the feelings linger. “Was it as bad as you expected?”

Then Reese smiles. “I had a good time. Shockingly.”

I laugh, and it’s like a tight knot of tension has unwound itself in my chest. “If you’d told me last year I’d be at dinner with you and Kelly and her fucking husband, and actually enjoying myself, I’d have lost it. I would have thought the only way that could happen was if I went off the fucking deep end.”

“Oh, you’ve gone off the deep end, all right.”

“Excuse me!” I make a mock insulted face, resting my forearm over the steering wheel. Then I smirk. “Listen, I’m not the one who suggested we fake date to make my ex think I’m happy.”

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