Peculiar Treasures
Page 28
Last summer Rick was the one who told Katie her best decisions were the ones she went with on instinct. He made that statement during a difficult week when she was trying to decide whether to change her major just before her final year of college. At the same time she was thinking about taking the resident assistant position at the dorms. Her gut-level choices turned out to be good ones.
She tapped a rhythmic little number on the closed apartment door and considered briefly what she would say when he answered. Now that she and Rick had taken the next step in their relationship and officially called each other boyfriend and girlfriend, they were finding their communication with each other needed more work than they had expected. Katie knew Rick would have a good explanation for why he wasn’t on his way to Arizona like he said he would be. She just wanted to hear it from his lips.
Tall, dark-haired Rick stood in front of her with a barely amused look on his handsome face. He could cast an authoritative figure when he wanted to draw himself up to his full six-foot, two-inch height and square his quarterback shoulders. Katie had seen him stand like this at the Dove’s Nest Café where he was the manager and where she had worked with him for eight months before starting her senior year of college.
“Trick or treat?”
“You’re a little late for Halloween.” Rick rubbed the back of his neck and gestured for her to come in.
“And you’re a little late for your flight. I thought you would be on your way to Arizona by now.”
“I would have, but Josh decided we should drive this time and use the airline award points for tickets next time. I’m waiting for him to come pick me up. I told you all this in the message I left on your phone. Have you checked your messages during the past hour or two?”
“No. Christy and I were sort of, uh . . . busy.”
“So I see. Do you need a towel or something?”
“No. Well, actually, yes. I’m ready to wash this off. I’ll be right back.” Instead of using Rick’s bathroom, Katie went to the kitchen sink and washed her face. She used paper towels to dry and rubbed hard to remove the hardened green goo.
Returning to the living room where Rick was watching TV with the sound on mute, Katie plopped down next to him and reached for his hand. Rubbing his fingers over her cheek, she asked, “What do you think? Is it softer?”
“Feels a little sticky.”
“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? This stuff works like a miracle potion on Nicole’s skin.”
“Who is Nicole?”
“You’ve met her. She’s the other RA on my floor. Nicole, the one with the beautiful, dark hair and the glowy skin.”
“Oh, right. I’ve seen her. I don’t know that I’ve officially met her.”
“Doesn’t matter. The green mask is something she gave me to try. I’m supposed to have smooth, glowing skin now.”
Rick put his arm around Katie and kissed her on the end of her nose. “To me, you look great just the way you are.”
“Did it fade any of my freckles?”
“I hope not.” Rick leaned closer just as the front door opened. He pulled back.
Eli entered and went into the kitchen without looking at Rick and Katie cuddled up on the couch. They could hear him putting a new bag in the trashcan under the sink.
Katie realized she had left her wadded-up, used paper towels on the counter and called out, “Sorry, Eli, I left a small mess in there. Although, if it’s any consolation, it’s nothing compared to the mess I left in Christy’s kitchen.”
Turning to Rick she said, “I really should get back and help Christy clean up. We had a small disaster.”
“Do I want to know what happened?”
“Probably not.” Katie grinned at Rick. “Do you want to come with me anyway?”
“I better stay here.” He looked at his watch. “Josh is going to want to get on the road right away since it’s a five-hour drive.”
“When will you be back?”
“Thursday.”
“Okay.” Katie had grown accustomed to Rick’s treks to Arizona over the past few months. He and his brother were opening a café in Tempe. Many of the steps that were supposed to be a snap were taking more attention and time than they had anticipated. Rick was excited about the project, but his trips were turning out to be about equal to the number of times she had to turn down opportunities to be with him because of her RA responsibilities at Rancho Corona.
“You’ll be back in time for the Doubles Pizza Night on Friday,” Katie said.
“What time is that again?” Rick pulled out his new cell phone and brought up his calendar on the screen.
“Look at you, all organized. It’s seven on Friday night, at Crown Hall, and we need to go with another couple because the pizza-making part of the event is for teams of four.”
Rick entered the info into his phone. “Who are we going with?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Hey, Eli!” Rick called out. “What are you doing next Friday night?”
Katie gave Rick a glance that she hoped conveyed her opinion that inviting Eli was not a good idea. Rick caught her look and gave a slight, “okay” sort of expression to calm her.
“I have to be at work at eleven.” He took a seat in the recliner by the bookcase. “Why? What’s going on?”
Katie didn’t answer.
“Did you hear what Katie was talking about? The pizza night?”
“Yeah.”
Katie turned her head away from Eli and gave Rick an exasperated look.
Rick scratched his eyebrow. “I guess it’s still in the tentative stage. If something tangible comes together, I’m sure Katie will let you know during the week.”
Katie gave Rick a can-I-talk-to-you-a-minute-in-private look. She rose from the couch and said, “I better get back to Christy’s. Do you want to walk me back, Rick?”
The obvious answer was all over his face, but he tossed the remote control to Eli and tagged along behind Katie.
To Eli, Katie said, “I’ll let you know about Friday . . . about what works out. Or maybe Rick will let you know.”
“Okay.”
The worst thing at the moment was the expression Katie caught on Eli’s face. He looked content. Not worried or anxious, yet not uncaring either. He always seemed to be on a different time schedule or to have different expectations than everyone else.
Eli seemed like the sort of person who wouldn’t be hurt by not being included in the pizza event. She knew she didn’t want him to go with her and Rick. She also didn’t want to be the one to tell him he was uninvited.
That, she decided, would be Rick’s responsibility. He was the one who had opened the possibility to Eli, and he could be the one to close the possibility, just as soon as she had a little talk with him on the way to Todd and Christy’s apartment.
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