He tossed his papers down on the ground by Henry's feet and crouched beside Tessa's chair. "I think I'm going to sit this one out. My schedule is too unpredictable and I don't want to commit to something I might not be able to follow through with."
Her smile fell, but glimmered again when Logan ran a hand down her arm. He leaned close and whispered something that made her lips curve upward.
Henry stood, not needing to see this. He spotted Addison across the quad still helping with auditions and took quick strides in her direction to help. Only after Henry took half of Addison’s list and had led his group to a quiet area did he look back to Tessa. A group of people stood behind her while Logan tugged her close and kissed her. She blushed and gave Logan a self-conscious smile before leading her group of singers up to her apartment.
Henry tried to pay attention to the people on his list, but was distracted by Logan’s loud laughter. He turned to see Logan holding a phone over his head, while one of the girls in the ward tried to jump up and grab it. She snatched it from him and stuffed it in her back pocket, giving him a warning finger when he tried to go for it again. They hugged before she left, Logan checking her out the entire way to her car. Henry clenched his jaw in disgust. He didn’t understand how so many women—especially Tessa—fell for Logan’s fake, but abundantly dispersed, charm.
Tessa's apartment door opened and she bounced down the steps with the last two people who'd gone with her. Henry’s heart jumped when her eyes met his. He took a step toward her, but stopped when Logan found her first, drew her into his arms, and kissed her again.
Decided: they were going to throw the frog against the wall. Hard. Kissing was lame.
“You need help?” he asked Addison, who was cleaning up the last of the scripts. He studiously avoided looking at Tessa and Logan.
“I’m good.” She grabbed the last paper and stuffed it into her pile. “So what did you think of the auditions?”
“I’m shocked we had so many people show up.” He’d expected maybe five or six, but they’d had at least fifteen.
“I can’t wait to see how it turns out.”
“Me too.” Henry rubbed a hand over his weary eyes. It had been a long day. “I’m going to head out.”
Addison waved goodbye, and he slipped past Tessa and Logan. They had moved to the stairs and sat side-by-side, talking. Tessa caught his eye, pantomiming that she’d call him later, before Logan grabbed her attention again.
The sun had mostly set, turning the sky a dark purple and kicking on the parking lot lights. An older woman got out of her car and grabbed two bulging cloth totes of groceries from the backseat. She hoisted them onto her arm and started toward the apartment complex. She looked about ready to topple over.
Henry jogged toward her and held out his hand for a bag. “Here, let me help you.”
She hesitated, her mouth pursing with suspicion.
Henry gave her his best boy scout grin. “I’m friends with Tessa Alexander in apartment 231.”
“Oh, Tessa.” Some of the tenseness left the woman’s shoulders. “I live right below her. Loud ones, those girls. Stomping all the time. You’re dating her then?”
His cheeks heated up. “No. Just friends.”
“Well, why not? She’s single, you know.”
That was debatable. But he wasn’t looking, regardless. The woman handed him the bags, but clutched her purse close to her side.
They walked past Tessa and Logan, who still stood close together, talking. “Hi, Mrs. Tingleman,” she said with a lifted eyebrow at Henry. He held up the grocery bags to answer her unspoken question.
“You know this young man, right?” Mrs. Tingleman hooked her thumb back at Henry. “He’s not a killer or one of those strange taxidermists?”
Tessa’s eyes danced with delight. “No. He’s a good one.”
“That’s rare,” Mrs. Tingleman said, with a heavy dose of skepticism. She rifled through her bag, muttering about her keys and glasses and how dark it was outside. Tessa stepped away from Logan to shine her phone flashlight into the bag for Mrs. Tingleman, who finally found her keys beneath mountains of receipts and used tissues. “Okay, you can help me bring my groceries in the house.”
Henry grinned at Tessa and followed Mrs. Tingleman to her apartment. Tessa told Logan goodbye and then sidled up beside Henry as the apartment door opened. He placed the groceries on the counter and met Tessa at the open door before Mrs. Tingleman slammed it shut behind them.
They stared at the closed door for a moment. When they looked at each other, they both broke out laughing.
“So you do a lot of stomping?”
Tessa shook her head with a rueful smile. “It was nice of you to help her.”
He shrugged. He’d carried a couple bags of groceries to an old woman’s apartment. Not a big deal. “What’s her issue with taxidermists?”
“I don’t know. But she mentions it all the time, like it’s one of the worst possible vocations.”
“Worse than dissecting insects for a living?”
Tessa laughed loudly, then covered her mouth. “Maybe. Better keep it to yourself, just in case.”
He loved making Tessa laugh. Not ready to leave yet, he grabbed the folding chairs they’d left at the base of the stairs and threw them over his shoulder. “Where do these go?”
He turned back to Tessa when she didn’t answer, and she was looking at him with a strange, almost calculating expression.
"What?" he asked.
"Why aren't you dating anyone?" Nothing she could have asked surprised him more than that.
"Uh. It’s not obvious?" He motioned to himself before giving her a self-deprecating smile. "As irresistible as entomologists are…"
“You are one of the nicest, funniest guys I've ever met. You should be dating an amazing girl." She continued to watch him, and he could see her cooking something up in those beautiful brown eyes of hers. "I'll help you.”
It took some effort for Henry to pull himself out of her eyes. "Help me with what?"
She threw her hands out like it was obvious. "Meet the perfect girl!"
"I don't need help."
"Clearly you do. Someone like you shouldn't be single for one more second, and with my help--you won't be for long." She smiled, the brilliant smile he'd been trying to cajole out of her all evening, and like an idiot, he found himself nodding. He didn't want to meet anyone. He didn't want to date. He wanted nothing to do with whatever ridiculous girl-catching scheme she was coming up with right then.
But that smile.
Henry was in trouble. He'd only known Tessa for a few weeks, but he'd agree to do almost anything if it meant seeing her smile again.
Chapter 12
Tessa blinked to focus on the specimen under her microscope. One by one, people finished up the assignment and left the lab, while she remained stuck on the same question. The TA had rushed out to take a phone call, and until she got back, Tessa was out of luck. Tessa considered asking a girl she recognized from class for help, but her pencil raced over the worksheet like she couldn't write fast enough. Tessa’s page was lined with doodles of crowns, which pretty much summed up where her focus was.
Her shoulders ached from being hunched over, so she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. While she waited for the TA to return, she might as well think about her new project. Not the road show. That was coming along, though. She and Henry had found an empty classroom to meet in Sunday before church and wrote out the entire script of The Anura Prince, which was what it was officially titled since the name had grown on her. As had Henry, and he was the next project she was excited to think about.
More than ever she felt like he needed to meet a girl, and he needed her help to do it. He was such a nice, thoughtful, funny person that it was wrong for someone like him to be single for the rest of his life just because he never put himself out there. She'd noticed that whenever a group of girls came around, he hung back or talked about dissections or something else dis
gusting. With her, in all their meetings, he'd stopped doing that and she'd gotten to know the real Henry: weird, but maybe not as weird as he acted all the time. It didn't make sense, even as she thought it, but Henry had layers that went beyond what he showed.
She pulled her phone out and brought up the ward list. Most people had their pictures uploaded into the directory, so she skimmed through the names and clicked on each picture. Too old, too young, too shallow, too immature, too unavailable. She sighed after each new person, not finding anyone she liked for Henry. She paused on Layla's picture, but moved on again. In friends, Layla collected strange people like some people collected rocks. But when it came to the guys she dated, she definitely had a particular look she went for. Blond and built, neither of which fit Henry.
But what girl was looking for a guy with outdated glasses, messy hair, and clothes that looked like they'd been sat on by an elephant for a week before he put them on? She set her phone face down on the table and held her breath as she got the most brilliant idea.
"It's so obvious!" she said out loud causing the other girl in the lab to pause in her steady pen scratching and give Tessa an annoyed look. But after feeling dumb all afternoon in the lab, she reveled in having a project she could tackle and succeed at for sure.
Henry needed a makeover.
He'd never go for it. Not in a million years, and especially not if she pitched it to him like he was a sixteen-year-old girl trying to find a date to the prom. No, it needed to be about making the most of what was given to him. Taming his hair, ironing his clothes, going over the importance of not eating bugs on a first meeting, and letting everyone see how gorgeous those blue eyes were under the smudgy glasses.
It wasn't that she wanted to change Henry. She actually really liked him. He'd become a friend she'd never expected to make, and without the road show, she never would have gotten to know him. She wouldn't have taken one look past his glasses and clothes. But as much as she hated to admit it, looks made a difference.
She could jangle at her cow bracelet all day long and remind herself not to judge people by their outward appearance, but most people judged a book by its cover--or a future husband by his appearance--no matter how much they insisted otherwise. She stuffed her papers into her backpack and put her slides on the TA's desk. Without his help, she couldn't finish this assignment anyway, so she might as well take on something she could finish.
She pulled out her phone to text Henry.
Tessa: Are you home?
Henry: I'm at the Koffler building in the lab. Why?
Tessa: Which floor?
Henry: Third.
She veered away from the parking lot she'd been headed to and instead made her way across Santa Rita Avenue. She took the stairs up to the third floor and walked to the propped-open door. The hallways had only a few students milling about, but the lab was mostly full. She popped her head in and immediately spotted Henry helping another student. She waited for a few minutes, and he eventually straightened from the microscope and looked her way. A slow smile spread across his face and she grinned in response.
He motioned her over to his table and she wound her way past students and insects in petri dishes. He leaned against a table and folded his arms, watching her the entire time. Unexpectedly, she felt self-conscious about how weary she must look after being in the lab for the last two hours. She hadn't even taken the time to swing by a reflective window to make sure mascara wasn’t smeared. She rubbed a finger under her eyes even though she knew she was being ridiculous. This was Henry. It wasn't like she needed to impress him.
She reached his side. "Are you teaching?" she whispered.
"No. It's open lab. Want to see?" He motioned to the assortment of insects laid out on his lab table. There were bees and wasps in several sizes and a huge centipede. They all looked dead, but she still didn't want to get to close. She'd been stung by wasps three times in her life and she had no interest in making it four, plus centipede bites were dangerous.
"Is it poisonous insect day at the lab?"
One side of his mouth quirked upward. "Every day is poisonous insect day." He slid one of the bees under a black light bulb and turned it on. "Come look at this," he said. She scooted closer, even though the whole thing made her feel like she had bugs crawling across her body. "Have you heard about the killer bee attacks happening around Tucson?"
She had. There'd been two people severely injured in the last month when a swarm of bees attacked them, stinging them upwards of a hundred times. Though both had been in critical condition, neither had died. But they'd both been middle aged and healthy. If the bees had attacked a child or an elderly person, the news stories would have had a very different ending.
"We were sent several of the bees to study and see how they genetically differ from other bees. This is one we've dissected."
She scooted closer but stayed slightly behind him while she peered at the body. It looked like any other bee to her, only cut in half. This could have been one of the attacker bees. A shiver ran down her spine. "Do you always dissect the insects?"
"Depends on what we're doing. When I work at the border, we check the trucks coming through. If it's a safe insect, we often relocate it. If it's unsafe, we send the whole load of produce back to Mexico. Here in the lab we often do dissections, especially if we run across a rare species. There are whole groups of people who study the chemical make-up of their bodies, their venom, everything to see if there are medicinal uses for it. The military has even studied the way insects fly and tried to make flying devices mimic it. Insects are really very fascinating creatures."
Henry’s eyes lit up and he moved his hands while he continued to talk about the benefits of studying insects. A few students closest to them stopped what they were doing to listen. He had a presence, a passion, and Tessa had a feeling he didn't even realize it.
"You almost convinced me not to hate insects so much."
"Only almost?" He swooped down and whispered in her ear, "Then I guess I have more work to do."
Goosebumps erupted down her neck. He stepped back and set the bee beside the other ones before she could question her reaction to having him close. She cleared her throat. She was here for a purpose.
"Can you take a break?" she asked.
He hesitated long enough that she thought he was going to say no, but instead he said, “Why not?" He tossed his keys to a man standing at the next table over who had been watching them. "Tev, you'll close up?"
Without waiting for an answer, Henry grabbed his backpack and Tessa followed him out of the lab.
Chapter 13
"Have you had dinner yet?" Henry asked while they walked toward the parking lot. He’d been surprised that Tessa texted him. Her hair was mussed like she'd run her hands through it a few times, and she had ink streaked across her cheek. It was the most normal he'd ever seen her. Part of him knew he should tell her about the pen mark at least, but it was kind of cute. He'd almost decided not to come with her, but in the end, curiosity won out over knowing he should keep his distance.
"No," she said. "I could use some food, though."
"I've got chicken cooking at home if that sounds good to you." He'd put it in the slow cooker that afternoon. Logan used to mock him for his cooking until Henry started sharing, and then all of the jabs stopped. Logan had to work tonight, which meant that Henry wouldn't have to deal with seeing him grin every time he sent a new text to another girl. Or butting in to every conversation he and Tessa had.
"I'm up for that," she said. They arrived at the parking lot. "I'll grab my car and meet you there."
"Okay," he said, but stayed beside her.
"Are you parked out here, too?"
He responded by pretending to accidentally bump into her, and she returned the favor by bumping back into him, something they kept doing and laughing all the way across the parking lot until they got to her car. They must have looked drunk, but Henry didn't care.
Suddenly Tessa whirled toward him
, hands on her hips. "This is why you should have girls all over you!" she accused.
He tried to see the connection between her tiny car and the need for him to date, and came up blank. "What?"
She motioned toward her car then the entire parking lot. He wondered if she realized how much she talked with her hands, something he found amusing. "You walked me to my car, you little sneak."
"Oh. Yeah." It was nighttime on a college campus and she was a pretty girl. Tucson wasn't a hotbed of crime, but things had been known to happen.
"Most guys don't do that," she said slowly like she wanted every word to sink in.
"Then most guys aren't worth your time," he responded, taking a step backward, then another. "I'm parked in another lot."
"See?"
He didn't see, of course, but her smile reappeared showing all of her white teeth, and it didn't much matter.
"Get in. I'll take you to your car."
He eyed the tiny door. "I don't think this car was meant for someone my size."
"It's surprisingly spacious inside." She clicked the locks open and waited for him to open the door. He folded himself into the seat—which was not surprisingly spacious for someone over six feet tall. He directed her to his car and then had her follow him back to his place.
She hadn't hinted yet at what she wanted to talk to him about, but it was probably more road show business. Since they'd sent out all the scripts, he'd received a few emails from people who wanted to change their lines. They were going to allow a little ad-libbing to keep things fun, so he’d approved the changes for the most part. Dawn, the girl playing the princess, wanted to take things to a weird place that involved a whole make-out scene/marriage proposal, so he’d forwarded that one on to Tessa and promptly forgot about it until now.
His phone rang from his backpack in the back seat. He rifled behind him but couldn’t answer before it got sent to voice mail. It was a local number, but one he didn't recognize. A moment later he received a voice mail notification. The familiar voice erased all the lightness he'd felt with Tessa.
One Little Kiss (Christian Romance) Page 7