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Granddad would’ve been pleased.
I turn the handle on the bingo cage and watch a ball roll into the tray. Forty-four.
Before I can call it, the ballroom doors open, and Eric walks in.
He’s traded his usual suit for dark trousers and a white shirt, open at the collar with the sleeves pushed to his forearms. Among the paper bingo cards, plastic markers, and trays of cookies, he looks completely out of place. His eyes find mine at once, and my stomach gives an annoying little flip.
“Trouble through the door, forty-four,” I say into the microphone.
Heads stay bent over bingo cards as everyone searches for forty-four. Eric glances behind him, pretending to check whether I meant someone else. A smile tugs at my mouth before I remember who’s watching.
Most of the people in this room know Grandma, and several have known me since I was a child. One person only has to notice Eric standing at the back, watching me, and Grandma will hear about it by morning.
I turn back to the bingo cage and call the next six numbers.
“Bingo!” Brenda shouts from the second row.
A volunteer checks her card and gives me a thumbs-up. The room applauds while I announce the prize. Then I hand the microphone to Mia and head straight for Eric.
“You can’t be here,” I say.
“Good to see you too.”
“Everyone in that room knows Grandma. If they realize you came here for me, she’ll hear about it before I call the next number.”
“Hear what?”
“About us.”
Eric smiles. “I thought there was no us.”
“There isn’t.”
“You just called us us.”
This is why I stopped answering his calls. Eric walks in, takes up all the space around me, and acts as if wanting me is the simplest thing in the world. I still don’t know what will happen when the chase stops being fun for him.
His smile fades. “Why are you avoiding me?”
“I’ve been busy.”
“You stopped answering after I joked about being your husband.”
“I don’t like men saying things they don’t mean.”
“I wasn’t feeding you a line. It slipped out, and it surprised me too.” His eyes search mine. “I was trying to make you laugh, Rachel. I wasn’t trying to talk you into anything.”
“Now that we’ve cleared that up, you can leave.”
“Have dinner with me.”
“No.”
“One real date. No hotel business. Just you and me.”
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
