Page 32 of Conflict
I plaster on a smile and walk to him, looping my arm through his. “Nope. Now, what’d you say, roomie? Ready to go home?”
There’s a brief hesitation, and then one corner of his mouth quirks up. “Yeah, roomie. Let’s go home.”
The cab ride to my place is one of silence. I’m okay with that. Bryan needs to process what he’s just done, even though I’m not sure it’ll hit him until he’s eating breakfast at my kitchen table with me instead of her.
I show Bryan to the guest room that doubles as my office, and I’m glad I put a bed there for whenever Ari comes over and we have too much wine on our girl nights.
He sets down his duffel bag and glances around. “Thanks, Alyssa. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
I smile at him while, at the same time, my heart’s in the pit of my stomach from the sadness in his eyes. “Hey, living by yourself can get lonely and my landlord’s been a pain in my ass lately. I look forward to having you as a roommate. I meant what I said, you can stay as long as you want. Now, what do you say we wash the week away with a pizza, my couch, a fantastic bottle of wine, and the newest Ali Wong special. I promise she’ll have you laughing your ass off and forgetting everything.”
“Sounds perfect.”
And it should. Except there’s that one small (ginormous) part of me that thinks maybe, just maybe, I made the same mistake as Cori.
