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“It’s not that big a deal. I’m not going to fight you, Delaney.” I wasn’t going to fight her either. It didn’t matter that much to me.

“It’s the least I can do. You’ve helped me more than you know,” she said when the server brought the check and she took it. Huh? Oh, right. The whole reason we were sitting here was because I had pity on her for having to deal with Connor. That would be my good deed for the day. It should really count as my good deed for the week.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, not wanting to get into it. I didn’t want to think about having sympathy for James.

Our meal had concluded, but neither of us knew how to end this bizarre interaction. James finally got up, and I followed her example, wanting to roll my eyes as she held the door open for me and I muttered my thanks under my breath.

“Sooo…” I said, drawing out the word as we stood outside facing each other.

“So.” Short and to the point.

I opened my mouth to say “bye” when she beat me to it. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Oh god, what now.

“Okay?” This could be anything from “can I borrow a pen?” to “can I borrow a kidney?”

She glanced up the street. “I was hoping to join the book club at Between the Sheets, but I didn’t know if that would be weird for you. Since you work there.”

Oh. That was less than a kidney but a little more than a pen.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Whatever.” In my effort to appear like I didn’t care, I sounded like I cared. Crap.

“You can do what you want,” I added, only making things worse.

James studied my face and I hated the way her eyes felt like they were peeling off my outermost layers and seeing all the ugly squishy embarrassing things underneath that I did my best to hide from everyone, even my own family.

Jamessawme in a way that was so uncomfortable that it made my skin itch.

“Okayyyy,” she said, drawing the word out. “I didn’t want to show up and surprise you.”

“I probably won’t even be there,” I blurted out, knowing full well that I never missed book club. It was one of the best parts of my job and I would have shown up for free even if I wasn’t getting paid.

“Oh.” James moved her lips into a smile that was there and gone in a blink. “I’m sure you have other things to do today.”

That was sort of true. My plans today included soaking in a tub with a bath bomb, reading, maybe some laundry, working on a new shirt design, and eating leftover chili with nacho cheese chips instead of a spoon, followed by a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies that had been hanging out in my freezer. You know, important shit.

“I do,” I said.

“Right.”

“I’m gonna go now,” I blurted out, since one of us needed to leave and I guessed it was going to be me.

“Bye, Delaney. Thank you.”

“Yeah, uh huh,” I said, backing away from her and then turning around. I was heading in the wrong direction, but she didn’t need to know that. I just kept walking and swung a right so I could make a loop to get back to my apartment.

It wasn’t until I made the turn that I stopped feeling James’s eyes on me.

Chapter Eight

James

I was never goingto thank Connor for calling me and begging for money and a place to stay and whatever, but I hadn’t expected Delaney to overhear me and invite me to brunch. Awkward at first, but both of us thawed a little bit once the food arrived and got to talking about work. I didn’t mean to infodump all over her, but she seemed interested and pleased to know about her name origins. She’d blushed and had looked so pretty that I’d had to close my eyes so I didn’t do anything foolish, like tell her exactly how pretty I thought she was.

Once she finally walked away from me, I peeled my feet off the sidewalk and went back toward the gym to get my car and go home.

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