Page 15 of The Design of Goodbye
“Not exactly.” I indicated to my coffee.
He wasn’t impressed.
“I might need to tutor you on your time management skills, too,” he said as he stood.
“You’re tall.” I pointed to his chest. I hadn’t noticed until now, but he was probably a half foot taller than my five seven.
His eyebrows rose. “At least you’re observant.”
“Anyway,” I said, “the extra tutoring is unnecessary. I had an emergency ofepicproportions.”
I was one hundred and a million percent exaggerating, but to be fair, it’d felt epically catastrophic at the time.
“And that was?”
Shit. I should’ve known he was going to ask. Should I lie? Should I say Thimble had escaped, and I’d been on a mission to find my poor, defenseless cat before he was eaten by a fox? No, I couldn’t lie...I’d already pointed to the coffee.
Why hadn’t I thought this through?
“My coffee pot broke,” I sheepishly admitted.
“That sounds like quite the emergency.”
Was he joking?
“But it’s okay, right?” I asked. “You probably had nothing else to do.” I winced. That had not been—
“Right,” he deadpanned before I could explain myself. “I have nothing better to do than wait herebeforeI spend the rest of my Saturday tutoring you.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I muttered weakly. “I meant you had already planned to be here and...never mind.”
“You better be careful,” he advised. “I might have temporary amnesia and teach you the wrong math equations.”
“You wouldn’t.” I squinted up at him and tried to read his expression. But his walls were up.Geez, this boy was hard to read. “Would you?”
“I dunno,” he said, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Would I?”
I huffed. “Do you even like coffee?”
“Of course I like coffee,” he said. “Let’s go inside. It’s cold.”
“You should invest in a winter jacket,” I said as we walked into the library. “Your canvas trucker jacket is almost useless in weather like this.” I stopped walking and lifted the bottom of his jacket to inspect the interior fabric, but it was nonexistent. “This isn’t even lined! There’s no way it keeps you warm. It should be lined with flannel—or even better, sherpa.”
“Thanks for the advice.” He glanced at my hand still holding his jacket.
My face heated. I let go and took an immediate right in the direction of the stairs. On the third floor, there were conference rooms that allowed food and drinks.
“Plus,” I started as we climbed the stairs, “you don’t know how to pick out your size. Your jacket’s too small.”
“The jacket’s old,” he said. That was obvious. “I didn’t think I was going to get tutored on how to buy my next jacket but thanks. I’ll remember your tips when the time comes.”
“Which is hopefully soon.”
On the third floor, I found the first available conference room. I sat in one of the surprisingly comfortable office-like chairs and waited for Liam to set up. When he was done, my mouth fell open.
“Is that what I think it is?” I pointed to the large—noenormous—stack of paper in the middle of the table.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” he said, “but that’s all your missing assignments.”
