Page 17 of Always a Roommate
The other two turned, and I recognized the man immediately. Drew Stone.
His face was open, kind, so very different from mine. I didn’t manage a smile, but that didn’t stop his. “Shane Kelly?” He stepped toward me. “I don’t know if you remember me. We used to play hockey together.”
Was this guy serious? A superstar wondered if I remembered who he was? I suppressed a laugh, trying on his kindness for myself. All that translated into was a gruff nod. “I remember. Good to see you.”
He put his arm around the dark-haired woman at his side. “This is my fiancée, Lola.”
I nodded to her, my eyes shifting back to Rae. “I was leaving and saw you down here.”
Surprise etched into her expression. “Oh, well, we were doing some wedding prep and decided to come out here for a bit.” She turned to Lola. “I’m zonked. I think we did enough for tonight.”
Lola nodded in agreement. “Do you need a ride home?”
“No, Shane can take me. Thanks for driving. I’ll see you both this weekend.”
They waved goodbye, and then it was just Rae and me, no words between us. We started ambling along the waterline toward the public beach. Every time a wave came in, warm water kicked up my ankles.
“They picked me up,” Rae said, and I assumed it was just because she couldn’t think of anything else.
“They seem nice.”
“Oh, they are. I never knew a celebrity could be so nice. I mean, I know they’re real people too, but you never imagine they’d actually treat you like their equal, you know?”
I didn’t know. I wasn’t one to follow celebrities or really care to meet one.
A breeze pushed the hair back from her shoulders, giving her a wild, beach-worn look. It suited her more than the fancy clothes and perfect styles she normally sported.
“So…” She hesitated. “Why are you out here so late? Someone make you smile at them and it depressed you?”
I looked sideways at her and lifted a brow. “Maybe.”
“Always a man of few words. That’s okay, Shane, because I’m a woman of many.”
“I hadn’t noticed.” Only part of that was sarcasm. I knew she talked a lot, but most of the time those words weren’t directed at me.
I had to tell her we’d be forced to live together for another month, but I couldn’t figure out how. She wasn’t going to be happy being stuck with me. Maybe I could stay with my parents, as awful as that sounded. I’d do it if she wanted me to.
“Look,” we both said at the same time.
She laughed. “You first.”
“I’m buying a house.”
“Really? That’s fantastic.”
My eyes drifted down to my feet, and I heaved a sigh. “I won’t take possession for another thirty days.”
“Oh, well, that’s… less than fantastic.”
The disappointment in her voice stung, but I’d been expecting it. “I can ask my mom if I—”
“No,” she cut me off. “As much as I love your mom, that would drive you to do something drastic like murder your whole family… or shave your head.”
“Because those two things are equal in severity.”
She shrugged. “You have good hair.”
That may have been the first compliment she’d ever given me, and I found myself reaching up to touch my brown locks.
