She stared at him.“Listen, Dr.Phil, I don’t need to be fixed, or even pandered to.We’re here for one reason—to find Stone.And get Axiom.I’m not here to be your ‘girlfriend.’”She finger quoted the word.“Or even some project.”
“Project?”
“Like, the broken girl who needs a family...”
“What?”
“Yeah.Ever since I told you my story on the plane, you’ve been acting all...weird.Nice.Sweet.”She made a face.
“Baby, I promise you, I’m not sweet.”
“You are—you put a freakin’ blanket over me when I fell asleep!”
“Wow.Okay.You’re right.Next time, you can freeze to death.You don’t even get a roll of newspaper.”
Her mouth opened.Then she shook her head and looked away.
He smiled.“I hope my mom made cinnamon rolls.”
“You can’t bribe me with food either.”
“You’ve never had my mom’s cinnamon rolls.”
“For the love, this is notThe Family Stone.”
“The what?”
“You know, that Christmas movie about the family who gets together one last time before their mom dies, and they all bring their crazy spouses or girlfriends, and one of the girlfriends falls for the brother and?—”
“Please do not fall for any of my brothers.”
“I won’t—what—no.I mean, okay, just...I’m...Could you just book me a hotel?”
“Sure.At the King’s Inn.We have plenty of rooms.”
She huffed.“Fine.But you’d better deliver on that promise of cinnamon rolls.”
He held up three fingers.“Scout’s honor.”
Silence.Then, “Oh no, youwerea Boy Scout, weren’t you?”
“All the way to Eagle, just like my brother Jack.”
“Beautiful.The Boy Scout and the thief.This is like a bad rom-com.”
“What?”
“Yeah, it’sSilver Linings Playbook.”
“That was an award-winning movie.”
“Aboutmental health issues.It wasn’t a rom-com; it was a drama.You can’t just call something a rom-com if it has no comedy.Therefore, bad rom-com.”
“It had funny moments.”
“See, another reason I can’t trust you—your taste in movies.”
“Me?”He looked at her.“You can’t trust me?This from the woman who spent two hours trying to convince me thatThe Last Jediwas a terrible movie.”
