“Croissant, scone.” I called back with a shrug, and she chuckled as I took the phone from Jasper and walked to the quiet privacy of my office.
If Rhea was going to be buried so deep in her own head over this whole incident, then I was going to do what I was best known for to help her get out of it.
Caffeinate her.
Feed her.
And distract her with my bubbly personality until she found her footing and confidence again.
Because I was going to love her through her insecurities, instead of trying to convince her not to have them anymore.
I stoodat the big overhead doors and watched Goldie’s cute little car come barreling into the station parking lot like someone was chasing her. The windows were down with some 90s Spice Girls jam blaring, and Jasper’s over the top voice singing his heart out assured me they weren’t actually on the run. Just having fun.
Meeting her at the driver’s side door, I opened it and raised one eyebrow at her as she turned off the ear splitting song. She looked up at me with that golden, beaming smile that made everything else in the world disappear.
And suddenly everything felt like it had finally fallen into place again for the first time all day.
“Hi,” I said, pulling her from the car and then backing her up against the side, pinned between me and the door.
“Well, hello there.” She sighed, letting her smile touch mine as I leaned in to borrow her sunshine. “Mmh, you taste delicious.”
“I taste like missing you.” I replied, leaning my forehead against hers as the passenger-side door opened and Jasper got out.
“Yeah, sure,” he complained, “I see how it goes. Make the man do all the heavy lifting.” He opened the back trunk and started pulling out tinfoil-covered trays. “How very trad of you both.”
Goldie snorted and waved him off. “Go find someone to help.”
“Ah,” Jasper said, with a certain bubbliness in his voice. “Here’s a strapping, strong, capable man to help.”
Glancing over the roof of the car, I saw Thomas lurking inside the bay before giving in to Jasper’s wave for assistance and coming outside.
Goldie put her hands on my hips and turned to watch my friend approach the car, almost as if she were embarrassed to be seen in a PDA moment with me. A twinge of hurt burned in my chest as she waved at Thomas and I backed up a step, separating further, confused by her actions.
“Would you mind helping Jasper get the food inside, Thomas?” Goldie asked, “I’ll be along in a few to get it all set up.”
“I can set it up.” Jasper said, offloading a couple of heavy-looking trays into Thomas’s arms as he silently agreed to help. “You take your time.” Jasper said with a wag of his eyebrows before grabbing a few bags and following Thomas in through the overhead door, chatting a mile a minute to my usually quiet friend.
Goldie watched them walk in before turning back to me as I stood there with my arms crossed, and when she made eye contact, her face fell, the peculiar smile falling off her lips. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Since when do you pull away from me when someone comes near?” I asked firmly, pushing away the desire to shove my feelings down and swallow them whole.
“Since what—” she stammered and then her eyes rounded and her lips parted in a big o. “Ooh, no that’s not what that was, Rhea.” Goldie stepped forward and pulled my arms down before all but throwing herself in against my chest, burying her face in my neck like she was trying to act like a baby koala. And if she wasn’t so damn cute doing it, I would have stayed stiff and firm against the move. But damn, I didn’t stand a chance.
I wrapped my arms around her and held her just as tight, trying to regulate the emotions in my chest. “Then why did you do it?”
She chuckled against my neck and pulled back just enough to look eye to eye with me. “Can you keep a secret?”
Instead of answering, I simply raised one brow at her and gave her my best get to the point look.
“Jasper thinks Thomas is gay.” She whispered, glancing at the overhead door behind me and widening her eyes as if she were sharing some big conspiracy theory. “I’m not convinced, but he does act a certain kind of way around Jasper. So, I wanted to see it, like actually pay attention to it in the moment.”
“Thomas isn’t gay.” I said, thinking hard about the man that I had worked with the entire time I worked for this department. “No way. Jasper’s wrong.”
“I said the same thing!” She rushed on, keeping her voice low. “But how else do you explain the way he’s always—” She shrugged and shook her head, “around?”
“We work here.” I deadpanned. “Where else is he supposed to be?”
“In a recliner in the living room, like every other male species that works here is right now when I showed up with dinner.” She pushed back, and I opened my mouth to reply, but she cut me off. “He’s probably wrong, we both know how Jasper likes to make a big deal about, well, everything. But I just wanted to see with my own eyes.”