Page 121 of The Rebound
“He’s crushed without my company but he’ll survive. He’s got front-row seats to the tree thing anyway.” As if on cue a cheer rises from behind us. “The harvest is saved,” I add.
Luke grins, shouldering open the door. “We must seem unbelievably corny to you,” he says as I step past him. “Solstice parties. Family fun days.”
“Andrew does seem more intense than I remember. He wants me to join the Tidy Towns committee.”
“Well, be careful. He almost got us disqualified one year when they caught him tipping over flower boxes in Knockshannon.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m serious. Turns out he’d been going in once or twice a week to drop some gum on the pavement, leave the bins open for the foxes. That kind of thing.”
“He’s a criminal.”
“Anything for the cause.”
Luke locks up and I follow him up the stairs to his apartment. After a few days of spending far too much time up here, I know it pretty well, so instantly spot the changes. For one, the textbooks that usually pile high on the coffee table are gone, along with the stacks of essays, though God knows where he had space to put them. Instead, three fat white candles are arranged on a small metal coaster, waiting to be lit.
“What?” he asks at my look.
“Candles?”
“What’s wrong with candles?”
“Nothing,” I say, matching his innocent tone. “It’s just that one time in college a guy lit a bunch for the one and only night we had sex and he forgot they were there and halfway through we rolled over and he burned his—”
“Okay,” Luke interrupts. “I really need you to not finish that sentence.”
“Got it,” I say as my phone buzzes with a text. “Oh good, my mother wants to know if my iron levels are low.”
“Are they?”
“I have no idea.” I hold down the button to turn it off. “Rory knows about us.”
“Yeah?” Luke’s distracted as he turns on a light. “Did you tell him?”
“He guessed. I don’t think we’re being as discreet as we think we are.”
Something in my voice makes him turn and he frowns when he sees me still lingering in the middle of the room.
“Does that bother you?” he asks. “That he knows?”
“No,” I say truthfully. “It’s just new. That’s all.”
“If you’re uncomfortable about—”
“I’m not uncomfortable.”
“Good.” He pauses. “You’re a little awkward now though.”
“No.”
“Yes.” He looks amused. “You expecting something tonight, Reynolds?”
“I’m not the one who bought the candles.”
“That’s what I get for making an effort. Teasing.”
“That’s you making an effort?”
