Page 19 of While You're There
Ev: I’ve gotta get ready for the next candidate. I love you. I hope you have a great day. Promise me you’ll call or text if you need anything?
She sensed the subtext to his question, but he obviously wasn’t going to bring it up or fight her on it now. She decided not to call him out on it. She had made her case last night, and bringing up Fielding right before he had to focus at work wasn’t fair. She didn’t want or need to make him worry unnecessarily.
V: I love you too. I’ll be fine, but if I’m not, I promise I’ll call.
Fielding glared at her and shook his head as she carried over their empty glasses from the table. “Do you know how mad I am at you right now, Victoria Thompson?”
She tried to keep her face stoic as she challenged his sarcasm.“Me? What did I do this time?”
“You’ve been keeping your secret waffle recipe to yourself for months. I can’t believe you’ve never made these for me before. I love waffles. I am a waffle aficionado. And yours are some of the best I’ve ever had. You’ve been holding out on me, and I honestly might not ever forgive you.” He delivered his entire monologue without breaking character. He only stopped glaring at her long enough to take the glasses from her hands and load them into the dishwasher.
“Joke’s on you then, Field. If you don’t forgive me, how am I ever going to make them for you again?” She watched as he closed the dishwasher door and bit down on his lip to hold back a laugh. The entire morning had been like this: playful and light, just like things had been before. Their banter was interrupted by the slam of the side door.
“Hey hey, boys and girls!” Anwar announced as he stepped into the kitchen, followed closely by Fielding’s twin brother, Dempsey. “What smells so good in here?”
Tori glanced up in time to see Anwar play-punch Fielding in the arm before moving further into the kitchen. Dempsey followed behind, offering his brother a subtle head nod as he passed. It was still disorienting to see the Haas brothers side-by-side. They were almost painfully good looking with their curly blonde hair, lagoon blue eyes, and deep summer tans. The looked more like surfers from California than fuckboys from Northeast Ohio.
She made her way over to the kitchen table to wipe it down before she replied. “Hi guys. We just made waffles. I already put away the leftovers, but there’s plenty in the fridge.”
“Dude,” Anwar gawked. “You made waffles? I guess that makes up for you ditching our boy here for the last few weeks, huh?”
Tori shot a questioning glance at Fielding. She knew based on their conversation last night at the restaurant that he had been upset by her absence over the last few weeks. She didn’t realize he’d been jolted enough that his roommates had noticed.
Fielding didn’t meet her gaze, instead shoving Anwar in response to the jab. “Dem, you’re going to love them,” he added, turning to his twin. “They taste as good as, if not better than, Mom’s. They just might be best waffles ever.”
Dempsey stilled at his brother’s words, his eyebrows drawing together in a scowl. Dempsey was the more serious twin, and he was definitely quieter than Fielding, but she hadn’t ever seen him look that intense before. Was he pissed that she was here? Maybe Fielding had confided in Dempsey about what had gone down over the last few weeks.
Anwar, seemingly unaware of any of the tension coiling between the twins, opened the fridge and took a whole waffle out of the Ziplock bag then bit into it like a cookie. “Shit,” he moaned in approval. “These are really good.” He moved through the kitchen to grab a plate from the cupboard. “I’m gonna do this properly, though. These babies deserve it. You want me to heat you up some, too, Dem?”
“Nah. I think I’ve lost my appetite. You’re a dumbass,” Dempsey muttered to Fielding before he replaced Anwar in front of the fridge and started to rifle though the contents. Fielding didn’t react to his brother’s remark, instead standing frozen in place in front of the sink. His gaze was set ahead of him, but he didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular. Tori had no idea what to make of that. She had never seen the Haas brothers do anything but joke around with each other.
“So,” Tori tried again, desperate to break up the tension, “what’s everyone up to today?”
“We’ve got to work tonight,” Anwar replied, cocking his head in Fielding’s direction.
“Oh, shoot. I didn’t realize you had to work later, Field.” She was disappointed that her plans for the evening weren’t going to work out after all.
“Why? Did we have plans I didn’t know about?” he asked with a sly smile.
This guy. He never missed an opportunity to flirt with her. She really had missed him over the last few weeks.
“Sort of. I was going to ask you to help me with a project tonight.”
“I’ll help you. What do you need? I’m sure one of the guys will switch with me.”
Dempsey smirked as he finally raised up from the fridge, a carton of eggs in his hand.
“Nice to see things are back to normal around here. Playing house like a married couple again,” he teased as he found a pan and turned on the front burner. Fielding flipped him off as the other Haas twin turned to the stove.Tori scrunched up her nose at the marriage comment. Did Dempsey know she was engaged? She glanced down at her ring finger out of habit, just now realizing she forgot to put her ring back on that morning.
Fielding scowled. His frustration with his brother couldn’t hide the apparent pain behind his eyes. “Ignore him. He’s just pissed about the waffles.”
Tori’s heart softened when she saw the look on his face. Whatever had set Dempsey off was a bigger deal than either brother had let on or was willing to admit out loud. She nodded, offering Fielding a reassuring smile. He didn’t have to tell her anything if he didn’t want to, but she would be happy to listen if he wanted to confide in her.
Fielding shook his head slightly, tousling his messy curls in the process. “Okay, back up. What did you need help with tonight?”
“Ah, it’s not a big deal.” Tori tried to brush it off. “I just have a ton of canvases to prep for Camp New Hope, and there’s a lot going on over the next few weeks. I thought maybe I could talk you into coming over and helping me if you weren’t busy?”
“I would love to help. Camp New Hope… that’s the camp you went to after your mom died, right?”
