Bad Ideas (First & Forever 4)

“Fine.”

“No hangover?”

“No.”

Wow, he was really determined to give me the bare minimum. “Do you remember what we said last night?”

A muscle worked in his jaw as he ground his teeth. After a pause, he admitted, “Every word. I’m cursed with an excellent memory, and I didn’t drink nearly enough to black out.” He didn’t look at me while he said that.

I pointed up ahead. “Make the second left after the park.” He did as I asked, and a moment later, I said, “Pull to the curb.”

He looked confused as he glanced at me. “Why?”

“Because we’re here. Actually, now we’ve overshot it.” He quickly pulled over, and I explained, “I live in the hot pink Victorian back there.”

He put the car in park and pivoted around so he could hit me with an incredulous stare. “You live one minute from me.”

“Yeah. Well, five if you’re on foot. Or maybe three or four minutes in this direction, since it’s bound to be quicker walking downhill.” He was still staring at me, so I explained, “Okay, so, I obviously didn’t really need a ride. I just wanted one last chance to talk to you.”

When he didn’t say anything, I plowed ahead with, “I asked to see you tonight, and I want to do that again now that you’re sober. More specifically, I’d like to take you on a date. Maybe dinner? This is my last night off for the next couple of weeks.” Wow, I was really bad at asking people out.

He broke eye contact and murmured, “I can’t.”

“Okay. Instead, maybe I could take you to brunch on the weekend. Or you can come to my house, and I’ll cook for you. You’re welcome any time. I wanted you to know where I live in case you ever want to drop by, but I should mention I rent a room from Yolanda Gutierrez. We both work at the hospital. She’s a nurse, and—

“I know who Yolanda is. We’ve worked together for three years.”

“Okay. I wasn’t sure.” I unfastened my seat belt and turned to face him as I said, “The reason I’m mentioning her is because I know you want to keep this a secret, and you might be worried if you came over and she answered the door. But I can vouch for her, she’d never tell a soul at work.”

He mulled that over for a few moments. What he finally came up with was, “Yolanda is your landlord?” When I nodded, he asked, “How could she afford a Victorian in San Francisco?”

Not the most important part of all I’d just told him, but whatever. “Her parents are divorced, and when Yolanda’s dad died last year he left everything to her, including his house in the East Bay. She sold it and used the money for a down-payment on her dream home. Now she’s making ends meet by renting out four of her bedrooms.”

“Oh.”

Was that really all he was going to say? “So anyway, about brunch next weekend—”

Again, he went with, “I can’t.”

“Can’t, or won’t?”

“Both. Let’s just take this day by day, okay? We’ll get together when we can, but I think it’s a mistake to plan ahead or set up any expectations.”

There were a lot of ways to interpret that. Was he saying he was willing to hook up with me, but anything beyond that was asking too much? I muttered, “Yeah, totally. Anyway, I’ll let you get to work. Have a good day.”

I picked up my backpack and climbed out of the car. As soon as my door was closed, he put the funky old sedan into gear and drove off. I watched until his car was out of sight, and then I sighed and turned toward home.

I’d decided to go back to bed after Theo dropped me off, so it was almost noon by the time I got up and dragged myself to the gym. When I returned to the Victorian after my workout, I found JoJo sitting on the sofa, concentrating on a beaded bracelet. She was a jewelry designer who made beautiful things and sold them online, and she usually worked in her studio, which was a small sun porch at the back of the house. But when she wanted company, she moved out to the living room.

“Hi there,” I said, as I dropped into one of the chairs around the coffee table. “Is everyone else out?”

She nodded. “Eliot’s at work, and I’m not sure what the other boys are up to. Yolanda is Christmas shopping. I think she’s buying something for me, since she wouldn’t let me come along.” A big smile spread across her face, but then she dropped a bead and murmured, “Oops.”

I quickly retrieved it for her and handed it over, which earned me another smile and a thank you. She looked particularly cute today with her capri-length jeans, off-the-shoulder red top, and a rolled up red bandana that was holding her hair back. When I told her that, she said, “Thanks, Casey. I was going for a rockabilly vibe.”