Page 22 of Rebound

“Everything okay?” she asked. “You look crazy focused.”

“Everything’s fine. Just one sec.”

Thomas:Would you rather I wait until eleven so it feels less datey to you?

Ben:Datey???

Ben:Dinner time is fine.

Thomas:Six?

Ben:That’s hardly dinner, but okay. See you then.

Thomas set his phone down on the table and reached for Kenzie’s next discarded bread crust.

“Everything’s fine,” she repeated.

“Yeah. So.” He cleared his throat. “Tell me what’s been going on with you. And your brother.”

“I’m taking horrible classes this semester, but it’s almost over and then I only have one year left.”

“I know.” Kenzie was in the third year of a bachelor’s in Psych degree that she’d been chasing after since she was in elementary school.

Her focus on her life had always astounded Thomas. Once his daughter set her mind to something, there wasn’t any coming back from it. Kenzie was headstrong and stubborn. She knew what she wanted and she didn’t want to let anything get in her way. Dakota…his son…not so much.

“I’ve been trying to get in with a colleague of one of my professors who might have an in for an internship for me to do over the summer, which would be nice. Good experience for after I graduate.”

“You’ve got this all planned out, don’t you?”

Kenzie cocked her head to the side and smiled at him. “Don’t I always?”

“And Dakota?”

Kenzie raised her shoulders toward her ears before letting them fall in a dramatic fashion. “He’s a mess.”

“Not everyone is as sure of what they want in their lives as you are,” he reminded her.

“A house.” She rolled her eyes. “Apartment, whatever. Steady paycheck. Job security. Emotional fulfillment.”

“And which of those do you have?” he asked.

“Two and a half of the four.”

“And Dakota?”

“One.” She rolled her eyes, and Thomas was relieved for that because anything could be done with one of the four. “What about you?”

“Three and a half,” he answered.

It was sad to say, but it had been years since Thomas has been emotionally fulfilled. There was a long period of time when he’d blamed Jennifer for that, but now with some space between them, he knew the truth. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but his own. If Thomas wanted to find any kind of fulfillment, emotional or otherwise, he would have to find it himself. And Ben was the first step in that evolution.

CHAPTER9

BEN

Ben sliceda red bell pepper into strips and dumped it all on a small white plate. This was fine. It was fine. It wasn’t dinner. It was just…a snack. A snack for him, and maybe if he didn’t finish it before Thomas showed up, he could have some too. But it wasn’t dinner and it definitely wasn’t a date. He knew they’d agreed to casual and experimental sex, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t conversate with their clothes on before and/or after the sexy things.

Thomas showed up ten minutes later, at six on the dot, and Ben did his best to ignore the complicated way his chest tightened when he opened the door. On the door mat, Thomas looked more confident than he had the other times he’d come over, and that change in his demeanor didn’t do much to help the way Ben was feeling. But then again, neither did the way Thomas’s snug khaki pants hugged his thighs.