Page 110 of All That History
“Blind, practically, “Catherine agreed.
“Uh, hello?I’m sitting right here?”
They laughed at my grumpy protest.
“Yeah, and you look like you just sucked a lemon,” Kyle observed.“So, what gives?”
Flynn took a drink.“He’s worried you’ll disapprove of me.”
“Cute, educated, good in bed?”Catherine raised an eyebrow.“I mean, I’m just guessing.But yeah, what’s to disapprove of?”
There were two Band-Aids, of course.There was Flynn, and there was the city.
“I’m moving in with him,” I said.
They shared a glance.
“Don’t you live...”Kyle started.
“You’re about to say something exceptionally stupid,” Catherine told him, interrupting.“He means he’s moving, of course.”
Kyle closed his mouth, frowning.
“And presumably you’ll be commuting to the store?”She gave me a pointed look, just in case I hadn’t taken note of the dripping sarcasm.
“They offered me a job.Dealing with specialist items in the donations.And it’s based...”
“In the city, yeah, I guessed.”She took a drink.“All these pieces, slotting into place.How long were the pair of you planning all this, eh?”
“Since last night,” Flynn said.
Catherine opened her mouth, clearly having already had something in mind to say, then closed it abruptly.Looked between the two of us.“That seems sudden.”
I wanted to believe there was no judgment there, just surprise.
“Am I supposed to leave him here, all on his own?”Flynn smiled.“Anyway, he’ll be a few hours away.Which just means you both have to come visit.”
“Do you have a spare room in that fancy apartment?”Kyle asked.
“Hey,” I said, quickly, “you’re not bringing random girls back to Flynn’s place.”
“You have such low expectations of me,” Kyle said, sounding insulted.
“Right,” Catherine agreed, “because we’ve met you.”
Flynn laughed.“I have a spare room, and the couch turns into a pull-out bed, and there are a hundred hotels.”He winked at Kyle.“So you have options, though I think I’d prefer you picked the last one if the random girl is coming back with you.”
“Oh, please.Like he ever pulls.”Catherine flashed Kyle a withering look.
There was a part of me that knew I should feel relieved.Not just that they’d taken it well, all things considered, but that it hadn’t even presented that much of a hiccup.The bitching and insults were pretty much par for the course, it was just that we had Flynn to observe them this time.
Only I couldn’t quite silence the other part of my brain, the one that still wasn’t convinced things could go so smoothly.
“Are you pissed at me, for leaving?”
It went silent around the table.Catherine looked at Kyle, and Kyle looked at Catherine, and then they both turned to stare at me.I returned that stare as best I could; eyes flitting between them, looking dolefully over my barely-touched beer.
And then they both cracked up laughing.
