Chapter Seven #3
Audrey gasped in surprise before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him back.
“Good morning,” he murmured while sliding his mask back over his mouth and nose, his eye crinkling as he gazed down at her. She got a quick glimpse of a mischievous, crooked grin before it disappeared beneath the black KN95, and she matched it with one of her own.
“Well, that’s different. I like it.”
“Me too.”
“Feel better after yesterday?”
“Loads better. You have no idea.” He caressed her cheek gently with only the slightest tremor before pulling away to sit.
Some of his eye crinkles faded slightly.
“You’re not having second thoughts after last night or anything, are you?
You weren’t too embarrassed for Violet to see my face and that’s why you put my mask back on while I was…
” He trailed off when she scowled at him.
“Theo. I swear, if you question me one more time, I—”
He held up his hands and the tips of his ears turned bright red. “It was a joke?”
“No, it wasn’t,” Audrey said with a snort. “But nice try. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“I’d never get rid of you. In fact, I’d never want to be parted from you if it were solely up to me.”
She bit her lip in amusement. “You say that, but you’ve never tried my cooking.”
“I’m sure it’s wonderful.”
“It’s not. And I also kick in my sleep, according to Vi. Hard.”
“I can take a few hits. I’m very sturdy.” Theo paused and blinked for a moment. He frowned. “Well, okay, maybe with one really notable exception.”
Audrey gaped at him. “Oh my god. Did you just make a joke about your accident?”
He blinked again, and then the crinkles very slowly deepened anew around his eye. His mask shifted across his face as he beamed beneath it, and his expression lit up. “You know what? I did. Dr. Harper would be so proud of me.”
Audrey couldn’t help but beam right back. “I’m so proud of you!” She grabbed his hand across the table. “You going to tell me what happened now?”
“Nope.”
“Ugh, fine. But you need to tell me someday.”
“Sure, but I’m not going to ruin this moment. Let me have this.”
“All right.” Her smile faded. “Speaking of ruining things, I met Diego today.”
Theo’s eye crinkles faded completely, gone twice as rapidly as they’d appeared. “What?”
Uh-oh.
“Did he come in here?” His voice dipped low and his entire body stilled.
“Yes.” She gripped the handle of her mug and Theo’s eye narrowed.
“Why?”
“For…a cappuccino.”
“And?” His gaze darkened.
“And…” She winced. “And to tell me about how you moved all of your various doctors’ appointments so you could come see me at work every day.”
His left eye twitched.
“Excuse me for just a second.”
His voice was tight, strained, and he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, tapping a few times at the screen before holding it up to his ear. He waited, and there was a faint beep on the other end before he started speaking.
“Come to my place when you get off work, you asshole,” he growled. “And don’t be a chickenshit and try to hide. I’ll fucking find you. I have time.” He hung up and Audrey gulped.
He looked furious.
All right, so maybe Diego hadn’t been kidding about his temper.
Theo set his phone facedown on the table and calmly folded his hands next to it. “I am so sorry about that. He is, very unfortunately, more like family than a friend. I’m going to have a talk with him about sticking his nose in other people’s business—and overstepping boundaries.”
“What if he doesn’t come over?”
He huffed. “He shared his location with me when he was drunk one night and couldn’t find his way home—and then completely forgot about it. I’m able to track him anywhere he goes, but I don’t want him to realize that. I’d rather he continue to think I’m on Liam Neeson’s level.”
He turned his phone back over and unlocked it again to show her the Find My app. There he was: a little circular floating headshot simply labeled “Diego” hovering somewhere in Midtown.
“It’s been four years and he still hasn’t figured it out. For such a talented investigative reporter, he really has some truly idiotic moments.” He tucked his phone back into his pocket. “I guess he can’t use all of his brains all at once on all things.”
Audrey laughed, and some of the light came back into the visible corner of Theo’s face. She covered her mouth until her giggles subsided and considered him again. Okay, he was mad, but he didn’t seem like he was going to completely kill his friend. Maybe Diego wasn’t so bad.
Maybe he was just a little dumb.
“He cares about you,” she finally ventured. “That’s clear. He was concerned.”
Theo buried his face in his hand with a sigh.
“I know. And that’s generous of you to point out.
But frankly, I’m exhausted by it. I’ve had enough people fretting and hovering over me for the last several months.
I don’t need it anymore. I’m okay. Okay enough.
” His throat bobbed, and he glanced over at the machine where Josh was busy working.
“I’m not an invalid these days, and I’m a grown man.
I can manage my own life again, and I need certain people to back off. Diego is one of them.”
He took Audrey’s hand between his massive ones.
His fingertip skated along the lines of her palm, tickling across the grooves in her skin like he was trying to read her fortune again.
“You’re important to me, Audrey. Really important.
I wanted to spend more time with you, but your schedule’s set.
You need this job right now. You’re doing big things at school, and I want you to succeed so you can graduate in December.
” He shrugged. “I’m not working and my schedule’s flexible.
I decided to change it because I can. It made the most sense. ”
“Diego said you’d be missing some PT and therapy appointments, though, and he has a point. Those are important too, Theo.”
His fingers stopped gliding across her skin.
Instead, he rubbed his palms across her fingers to warm them.
Audrey hadn’t even realized her hands were cold until she felt how hot Theo’s were in comparison.
But it had gradually been getting chillier outside, and she hadn’t been working the machine before he came in.
“I’ll be fine. I’m healed enough to skip a few weeks, and I can do a lot of the PT exercises at home.
Dr. Harper is supportive of all this, and she understands and is excited.
I can always call her if I need to. Diego’s the one who’s overreacting.
My mom already has being suffocating and overbearing on lock.
” The eye crinkles were back again. “I don’t need two of them. ”
Audrey chewed on the inside of her cheek. This was the most self-assured she’d ever seen him. Maybe all this was a good thing. Maybe he felt like he was more in control of his life today than he’d felt previously. She interlaced their fingers and squeezed his hand.
“Okay. I just wanted to make sure.”
“Thank you for telling me. I’d have been disappointed and probably a little embarrassed on Monday if you weren’t surprised.”
She barked a laugh. “And I’m not all that good of an actress. It was partially self-preservation.”
“Honestly, you have no idea how much I appreciate that.” The way his gaze shifted, she had the sneaking suspicion that he wore a wicked grin under that mask. “And on top of it, now I get to go yell at Diego properly. That’ll be fun. For me, not for him.”
“I have a really hard time imagining you yelling.” Audrey raised an eyebrow. He was so gentle, the idea was incompatible with everything she knew about him.
But it was Theo’s turn to hum in amusement. “I have my moments. And I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth. Trust me, he’s done plenty of things to deserve getting ripped a new one. He’s overdue.”
They spent the rest of her break chatting before she had to head back behind the counter. Theo was already busy taking out his iPad to stay and work when Audrey remembered what she was originally going to talk to him about today. She turned and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“Before I forget again, I was going to ask you something.”
He looked up at her curiously “Oh? What is it?”
“Do you have any plans for this weekend?”
Theo snorted. “Sweetheart, I don’t have any plans ever these days, aside from coming to see you. And I’m even freer for the next month than I normally am. What did you have in mind?”
“I’m an officer for Earth Matters, the campus sustainability student group and environmental club at NYU, and we’re having a costume party to raise awareness about green energy and university initiatives tomorrow night.
” She looked down at her hands, suddenly a little embarrassed.
“I know it’s really dorky, and it’s really last-minute, but do you maybe want to come with me? ”
His gaze softened and the mask shifted over his cheeks. “Of course I do.”
Oh. He’d answered so quickly, and that brightened her right up. She’d been afraid he wouldn’t want to be around so many people or hang out around a bunch of college students, nerdy as they were.
She beamed. “Great! I was really hoping you would. But you only have a day to come up with a costume. And the rules are that you have to make it out of things you already have available or can acquire for free.”
He chuckled. “I’m pretty sure I can think of something.”
Audrey smirked.
“And you know what? A lot of people there will be wearing masks.”