Page 55 of Sing For Me

Eva

We order Thai food and it eat in cross-legged on my living room floor. When I worry out loud about spilling on my light dress, Will heads into the kitchen and finds two dishtowels. He tucks one in his own shirt and hands me the other. He would probably look silly but I’m way too preoccupied by the way his fingers move as he rolls up the sleeves of his shirt.

He totally notices me watching, too, because there’s a smirk on his face when I finally look up. “I like your forearms,” I say, attempting boldness even as I cross my fingers that I’m not blushing too hard. “Sue me.”

His smirk grows. “I’ll have to remember to wear short sleeves next time.”

I shake my head, holding his gaze. “There’s something about you rolling up long sleeves that really does it for me.”

He studies me over his carton of Khao Pad. “Girls are weird.”

I laugh, grabbing my own curry, which smells amazing.

“Should we have ordered for Marissa?” he asks, looking towards the stairs.

“Nah, she probably already ate.”

“Does she always work so late?”

“Oh, she’s not working,” I explain. “Not really. All she has to do once I’m in for the night is answer the gate as needed.”

“Does she have an office down there or something?”

I snort. “The first floor is a separate apartment—she lives down there. I don’t keep her trapped in an office all night, Will. She’s like, my best friend.”

“What’s that like? I mean, she’s your best friend but she’s your employee too, right?”

I shrug. “She never lets it get weird. I mean, for all intents and purposes, she’s the boss, not me.” I chew for a moment, unsure of how much to say. I feel like I’ve already dropped enough drama talk on him for one night.

“We hit it off right away when she came to work for me. She’s a few years older and she’s been in the business for a while. I think she kind of felt maternal towards me. But then we had so much in common and the more time we spent together the more we just felt like friends.” I swallow hard. “And then, after the fire, she was amazing. She just…handled everything. Took care of me, took care of Kat, who was freaking out. She’s been…I don’t know how to describe it. She’s been a godsend.”

He reaches over and squeezes my knee. “I’m really glad you have her.”

I nod, keeping my head tilted down so he won’t see the sudden sheen of wetness in my eyes. “She’s the best.”

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he grunts a little but ignores it. “And your other friends? The ones who came into the shop with you. You’ve known them a while?”

“We all met working in New York,” I explain. “Luke is a composer and he cast me and Caleb in his show. It was my first paying gig and Luke’s first produced show—we were all such babies. Geoff is a friend from high school so I’ve actually known him the longest. And then Sosie is a kick-ass makeup artist we all worked with a bunch.”

His gaze focuses on something over my shoulder. “Is that them?”

I turn to see what he’s looking at. There’s a framed photo of the six of us at Luke’s house, taken a few years ago. An alarm bell goes off in my head. “Um—” But he’s already up on his feet, heading to the bookshelf. “Will,” I yelp.

“I thought you didn’t know how to play poker,” he asks while I debate between going over to pry the picture away from him or melting into the carpet. “Wait, those aren’t playing cards—”

He turns to face me, eyes sparkling with amusement. “What game are you playing, Eva?”

I gather as much of my dignity as possible and stand. “It’s called Imperius. It’s a strategy game and it’s very fun.”

He’s grinning now. “Lyric and Nix play this game. It’s like, wizards and stuff? Right?”

I grit my teeth. “It’s fantasy based, but—”

Will looks positively gleeful. “Eva, are you anerd?”

“Okay, that’s enough from you.” I grab the picture from him and place it back on the shelf. “Go eat your dinner.”

“No way.” His lips are twitching with barely contained laughter. “I need details.”