But that wouldn’t be right. “Not fair.” I sighed. “I haven’t been, um, easy to work with this week.”
I saw him bite his lip and lock his eyes on the screen. He was charmingly discreet.
Graham cleared his throat. “Look, Bells. Even if it’s for only half an hour. It’s time to stop ducking us.”
Aw. I threw myself at Graham’s chest and hugged him. “I love you, and I love what you’re trying to do. And I promise I’ll come out soon. But it’s not a good time.”
“Just come for thirty minutes,” he pressed.
“No.” I gave him a little shove toward the door. “Soon.”
Graham gave me an odd smile. “Soon.” He walked out.
“You could go, you know,” Rafe said.
“Let’s just finish up,” I said. “No funny business. Scout’s honor.”
“You were a girl scout?”
“Nope!”
He laughed.
There was another knock on the door.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” I said. “Graham…” I opened the door. But it wasn’t Graham standing there, it was his boyfriend Rikker. “Hi. Fancy meeting you here.”
Rikker grinned. “Bella, please come to Capri’s.”
“Okay, you are both adorable. And if you want, I’ll get out my calendar and we’ll choose a date to go out. But tonight isn’t good.”
“I think it is,” Rikker said, grinning like a maniac.
“Um, that’s nice. But no. Soon, okay?”
“Okay!” Chuckling, he walked out.
When the door closed, Rafe and I looked at each other. “Was that just a little weird?”
The bathroom door opened. “Who keeps knocking?” Lianne wanted to know.
“You know,” Rafe said, snapping the laptop shut. “I think Dios is trying to say that we’ll finish this tomorrow morning.”
Someone knocked on the door. Again.
“Don’t…” I said.
But Lianne opened it. And Trevi stood smiling on the other side. “Evening Bella. And friends. I came to invite you to Capri’s.”
Rafe started laughing. “Bella, I think they’re trying to tell you something.”
“Bella!” another voice echoed in the stairwell. Then several voices began to chant my name. “Bella! Bella! Bella!”
“Oh my God,” Lianne said. She went to the door, peeking around Trevi. I didn’t have to follow her to know what she saw. Because I knew those voices.
The entire hockey team was in the stairwell, calling my name.
“Oh, crap,” I said. I had to press my fingertips against my tear ducts because they suddenly threatened to leak.
“Come on,” Trevi pressed. “Where’s your jacket? We’re not going to take no for an answer.”
“It’s right here,” Rafe said, standing up to grab my hockey jacket out of the closet. He draped it over my shoulders. “Go already. It’s only eight o’clock.”
Getting ahold of myself, I grabbed Rafe’s elbow. “You’re coming, too.”
“I am?”
“Yep. And so is Lianne.”
“I really don’t think so,” my neighbor argued, breaking for the bathroom door.
I caught her by the tiny waist. “You are getting out of here for an hour, okay? If it’s good for me, it’s good for you.”
“Bella! Bella! Bella!” was still coming from the stairwell.
I went out onto the landing, where more than a dozen of my friends, in matching jackets, smiled up at me. Tears threatened again. “I’m coming! Jeez! Sixty seconds!”
Swallowing hard, I went back into my room and clicked off the lamp. “Let’s go, guys. Now.”
Lianne shook her head, even as I went past her to get her coat from her room. Returning, I pushed it into her arms. “I’m not trying to drag you to a frat party, okay? It’s a pizza joint. For an hour. You’ll live.”
“Can I at least get my hat?”
“You have fifteen seconds,” I said.
Not ten minutes later, I was standing in Capri’s, where the scent of stale beer and pizza grease was as welcoming as anything I’d ever smelled. It was Monday night, which meant the place was uncrowded. The hockey team occupied the middle room, and I ended up at the head of the big, central table, with Lianne and Rafe to my right and Graham, Rikker and Pepe to my left.
“Have we met before?” Pepe asked Rafe, offering him a hand to shake.