“What about your uncle, the one you said owns the racetrack?”
“Same thing,” I said, realizing just how far removed my mother had become from the people she once sought comfort from. “So Dr. Drake gave me a bunch of pamphlets with numbers on them to give to Mom.”
“You think she’ll take them?”
“I don’t know. For starters, I’d to need to tell her why I have them in the first place.”
Jessie reached her hand across the table and warmth flooded my chest. “It’ll all work out, Square.”
***
I’d made a habit of walking past the fine arts building on campus the past few days in the hopes of running into Jessie. And today, it had paid off. She slung her bag over her shoulder as she pushed through the door and then paused as her eyes met mine.
A smile lifted the corner of her mouth and my heart thudded in response.
“Where you headed?” she asked as she neared me.
“Library, I guess,” I said. “But it’s such a nice day, I thought I’d just keep walking. Want to tag along?”
She hesitated only momentarily before saying, “Sure.”
We walked and talked not paying any attention to the time or the direction we were headed. It just felt good to be in her space again.
“How’s your bridge project going?”
“Great,” she said. “I was just coming from the campus darkroom.”
I arched an eyebrow. “So no windows and it really gets completely black in there?”
“Yeah, for a portion of the time.”
My lip titled into a mischievous grin.
“Have you ever—” before I could get the words out, she slugged me in the arm.
“No!” she said, her cheeks tinting pink. “You horndog.”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t considered it before.”
“Nope,” she said, not meeting my eyes. “Never even crossed my mind.”
I laughed and then grabbed for her fingers, without even thinking twice about it. “Somebody is so not telling the truth right now.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t tug her hand away. Instead she adjusted her grasp in mine and my skin tingled from the contact. “Whatever.”
“So you were able to get good pictures that weekend?” I asked, wishing she’d let me hold her hand for always.
“Really cool ones,” she said. “I’m considering doing a theme with the exposure level. I’ve learned some things from watching my dad.”
“Maybe I could see his photos someday.” I heard her breath hitch and caught sight of her parted lips in my side view. “I mean, if you ever wanted to show them to me.”
“Yeah, I think I would,” she said quietly. I squeezed her fingers. “Someday.”
We ended up on a familiar street so I slowed down. “Want to get a smoothie?”
She looked up at the Smoothie King sign and then through the window into the crowded shop. “Sounds good.”
I held the door for her and as she stepped through it, I said, “It’s on me.”
She opened her mouth to protest, as I knew she would.
“For coming to the dentist with me last week,” I said.
She burst into laughter and shook her head. “You don’t need to thank me for that.”
I held her gaze. “Yeah, I do.”
“Okay, fine,” she whispered and I felt like I had just won another mini-battle. “When’s your next root canal?”
“In a couple of days.”
“Do you need . . .”
“Nah, I’m good.” I was tempted to say yes if only to be certain to see her again. I loved being around her even if I wasn’t exactly sure what the hell we were doing. “Check in with you after, though?”
“Absolutely.”
We stepped up to the counter to place our orders. “I’ll have a pineapple coconut and . . . Jessie?”
She gave me a funny glance before placing her order for a medium strawberry banana.
As we moved down the line I said, “What was that look for?”
“You just ordered a smoothie with the two flavors I hate most in the entire universe.”
“Are you kidding me? You’ve never had one of those fancy beach drinks, like a piña colada?”
“Gross.” She scrunched up her nose. “Just the thought of those flavors mixing together with any type of alcohol makes me want to gag.”
I shook my head and grabbed our drinks. Jessie continued to surprise me at every turn and I couldn’t keep the smile from tugging at my lips.
I took a huge gulp of my beverage, made a big display of swishing it around my mouth and then leaned toward her lips. “So you wouldn’t want me to breathe anywhere near you right now?”