“Barbarians, ye mean brutes?”
I nodded.
He chuckled. “Speak for yerself.”
I turned and walked to the door. “See you in the morning, Torin.”
“Aye, see ye in the morn, Mistress Lexi.”
25
LEXI
2004 - THE HALLWAY
Ilatched the screen door, locked the door, and turned around to see Jen standing at the end of the dark hall. She was tapping a foot and her eyes were narrowed, suspiciously.
I said, “Whatcha doing?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“Just letting Dude out.”
She raised her brow. “Who were you talking to out there?” Her foot tapped some more, like the second hand on a clock, counting down the time of my response.
It made me falter. Which was stupid. “Oh, Torin was out there, we were talking.”
“Why are you out talking to Torin? It’s the middle of the night!”
“First, it’s like 11:00, tops. Plus, you know, he’s nice, we were just conversing, it was a beautiful night and we… it was nothing, you’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m not being ridiculous! What would Cooper think if he wondered where you were and found you out there whispering on the porch?”
“Look Cooper does not have a jealous bone in his body, you’re being more suspicious than heeverwould be — and besides he’s not even that into me...”
“Who, Torin, because I know you’re not talking about Cooper! Cooper is going to ask you to?—”
I shook my head, “No, he’s not, that’s not happening. If it ever was... how many times have I gotten my hopes up?”
She frowned deeply. “Aw, honey, I’m sorry.”
Then she added, “Damn.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal, what’s going on with him? You’re awesome, he’s kinda being an ass. I mean, he was flat out rude to Torin.”
I sighed. “I mean, he has had terrible news, I did invite a time traveler to dinner, and since he doesn’t believe in time travel because it doesn’t exist...”
She sort of laughed. “Yeah, I suppose there is that.”
“I sprung a lot on him at once, and he didn’t know I thought he was going to ask me to marry him. He had no idea. That’s on me.”
“I get all that, but why is he not... you know, taking you to the next level? He’s gotta see how amazing you are.”
“Thank you, that’s awesome, and he does, he just... He wants to do this on his own.”
“Well, that’s stupid.”
