Page 21 of All of Him
“You’re staying for dinner, Noah Murphy!” Amanda commanded, her tone very managerial.
My body denied my desire to leave. Instead, I walked closer to her and shoved my hands into my pockets.
“That’snotwhy he’s here,” she said softly to her sister. “I wanted to show him the apartment after he had the decency to rescue me from becoming belligerent.”
“Noah Murphy?” Teel asked, completely disregarding Amanda’s antics.
I nodded.
“Shit,” she said. “Nice plot of land.”
I shrugged, not sure what to do or say. Amanda was clearly annoyed that Teel was home, and it made me think she had ulterior motives for taking me inside.
“What were you planning on doing in here with me?” I asked quietly as Teel walked back to the stove.
Amanda rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know, Noah. I’m still kind of drunk. I was probably just going to prod some more about your personal life. Let’s be honest here. You eventually would have left out of frustration from something I said.” She flung her hands up wildly and then let them fall at her sides, exasperated.
“Wow,” Teel remarked. “Seems like you’ve drawn out angry Amanda before awkward Amanda.”
“I’ve seen both,” I said back to her, making Amanda flail her arms again. “And as much as I’d love to stay for dinner, your dad is working on my house alone. I should go.”
Teel nodded and directed her attention back to the pot on the stove.
“It was nice meeting you, hon,” she shouted as I left the apartment.
Not surprisingly, footsteps followed shortly behind me.
“Noah!”
I turned around, annoyed with her drunkenness, and blew out a breath as she caught up to me.
“Can I see your phone?”
“No,” I scoffed. “Why would I give you my phone?”
“You said I can’t have your number, but I want you to have mine. Just in case.”
“No,” I said again. “Look, Amanda, we had a good conversation. But I don’t really want to talk to you outside of work and the renovations. If it gets to that point, I’ll share my number with you. But right now, let’s just be coworkers, okay? We’re notfriends.”
Her face fell, crushed more than I could have imagined. She was always so bubbly, yet it looked like she was suddenly about to cry. I felt regret from what I’d said, but I ignored it before it morphed into something more sympathetic. I couldnotafford to have those kinds of feelings.
“I’m sorry,” I finally said, a catch in my voice, before pivoting away from her.
That time, she didn’t follow. And that bothered me more than it should have.
My dad’s CD continued as I started up the old truck, but I slammed my whole palm against the Off button. I wasn’t in the mood for music at all, let alone country. Everything that had happened after work irritated me. Running into Amanda? Trouble. The fact that she’d agreed to get drinks with Brayden? Fuck that. The way she’d yanked information from me by just being cute?
Theworst.
When she’d asked earlier in the week, I hadn’t wanted to give her my number because I knew she’d pry more out of me. At least at the house and work, she’d be preoccupied, but if she had my number, it’d be open season for her to pick my brain. Since I didn’t want to be the dick that didn’t ever answer her, it was best avoided altogether.
I needed to go for a run after the day I’d had, but I knew Tony would want to go over what he had done with the house when I got back. Maybe I’d still have daylight left after he was finished, but I wasn’t counting on it. When it came to stress relief, it would have to be beer for the night. My therapist would be disappointed in my choice of self-medication.
As I pulled into the dirt driveway, my phone started ringing. At first, I didn’t realize it. No one ever called me, so I didn’t even recognize that it was my ringtone. Then, I looked at the caller ID. When I’d left Ireland, I’d deleted all of my Contacts as part of wiping the slate clean. However, that didn’t mean that I’d forgotten everyone’s number.
An empty grey Contact photo blared at me on the screen along with a number I knew all too well. I let it ring a few times before finally putting the truck in park and answering.
