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“Three months.”
“And fencing?”
“Six.”
“Six weeks, Alli. Don’t get me wrong, I sleep better at night knowing you’re not wielding a sword, but this is what you do. You flip between this and that, never staying long enough to reach past the basic skills. Why is that?”
“I…”
Why is that? Maybe because I get bored easily? If that were true, I would have left Hampton Falls long ago.
“I don’t know.” That’s my honest answer.
His brow furrows, and he plays with the spoon on the table. “I would have said it’s a fear of commitment, except that I see your unfailing commitment in a ton of ways. To your family, to the community, to us… I mean me, to supporting me. To helping me figure things out when my wheels are spinning.”
There goes Terence’s blush again. He pulls up his collar, but I’ve already seen it.
“I don’t know why you do it, Alli-bear. But before you go throwing spears at what you perceive to be my character flaws at work, you’d better start with yourself.”
My mouth is open to object when the door of the restaurant opens, letting in a big gust of wind.
“Alli! Twice in a day!”
“Kasia,” I mutter quiet enough that Terence can’t hear, “the last person I want to see right now.”
She saunters over like it’s the most natural thing. And it probably would be if I hadn’t been planning to open my heart to Terence. Though that was before he dug in about all my character flaws.
“Oh, you’re having a little dinner between besties. How cute. Hi,” she stretches out her hand, “I’m Kasia.”
“Terence.”
“Yeah, I know. I saw you all over Channel 9 the other day.”
The blush that had just started to recede jumps way back up his cheeks. Bless his Nordic soul. “Oh, yeah. That.”
Kasia covers her mouth and gasps. “Am I interrupting a date? Oh my gosh, how embarrassing!”
Terence and I are both quick—maybe too quick—to jump in, talking over each other.
“Nope, not a date. Nothing like a date.”
“We’re friends. Besties. You know how it is.”
“Ah, thank goodness!” She mock wipes sweat off her forehead. “When Alli said that you weren’t available, it didn’t occur to me that she might be your girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” Terence scowls.
“Not me, nope. Not his girlfriend. That’s not what I meant.”
Terence tips his head at me. “You said I wasn’t available?”
“You were busy with work that day.” Thank goodness for fake words that ran off my tongue without thinking.
“Silly, Alli,” Kasia pshaws. “I didn’t mean available that day.”
“Ohhh.” I shrug. “Silly me.”
“So, Terence.” She sets her deep green eyes on him. “Are you seeing anyone?”
