bond a bit over this shared experience. I might even have thought Jamaal would be grateful to me for giving him this opportunity. Instead, I ended up feeling like a third wheel on someone else’s date.
Kassie proceeded to give us a guided tour of the exhibit, which consisted mostly of paintings, with some bronzes and some stone carvings for variety. I knew absolutely nothing about Eastern art of any kind, and to tell you the truth, I didn’t find the Indian paintings all that interesting to look at. A lot of them were pretty primitive, with stiff figures and wonky proportions. If I’d been on my own, I’d probably have been in and out of the exhibit in fifteen minutes, tops. Jamaal, on the other hand, was enthralled, and within minutes had forgotten all about being his normal surly self. His face was more animated than I’d ever seen it as he hung on Kassie’s every word. He was even able to make intelligent conversation and ask intriguing questions whenever Kassie paused to take a breath.
I followed along beside them in silence, feeling inadequate and uncultured. Kassie tried to include me in the conversation a few times, and I appreciated the effort, but I didn’t have much to contribute. Anything I said about the art would either make me look stupid or reveal that I wasn’t that impressed with it, and with the two of them geeking out so much, I didn’t think bringing in inane small talk would help.
Eventually, they kind of tuned me out. I told myself that tight feeling in my gut was just because of my inability to join the conversation, but I was pretty sure there was a hint of jealousy in there, too. Jamaal spoke more words to Kassie in those couple of hours than he’d spoken to me in the months I’d known him. And he smiled a lot more, too. I’d have loved to see him smiling at me like that.
Not that he was flirting, though. I’m not even sure Jamaal knows how, and though he was clearly enjoying his conversation with Kassie, his enthusiasm was directed at the paintings, not at her. That didn’t stop me from feeling jealous, especially not when Kassie put her hand on his arm here and there. I didn’t think she was flirting, either, at least not consciously, but it raised my hackles anyway.
I tried to hide my own discomfort, smiling and feigning interest whenever either of them glanced at me. Whether I was enjoying myself or not, I couldn’t help feeling like this was good for Jamaal, and that was supposedly the reason I’d invited him out here. When we’d finally seen the last of the exhibit, I thought the ordeal was over, but then Kassie offered to show us the reserve collection—paintings the museum owned but that weren’t currently on display. Jamaal’s eyes lit up even more, and I had to suppress a groan. For Jamaal’s sake, I faked my way again through the next hour or so, trying not to let myself glance at my watch every five minutes.
It was almost ten by the time we escape—I mean, by the time we regretfully said good-bye and thank you to Kassie. The rain had slowed to a desultory drizzle, but the temperature was close enough to freezing to make the damp night air feel thoroughly unpleasant. Despite the success of my plan to draw Jamaal out, I was in a crappy mood thanks to three hours of feeling like a moron while Jamaal and Kassie bonded over stuff that was over my head. Not to mention that I’d failed to eat dinner before we’d set out, and my stomach was howling in protest. I had planned to ask Jamaal if he wanted to grab a bite to eat when we left the museum, but now I just wanted to get back to the mansion and lick my wounds.
We didn’t speak on the walk to the car, and I figured that meant Jamaal was back to his habitual brooding self already. Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered trying to draw him out. Maybe it had done no good whatsoever and had just made me miserable instead. Maybe I really should butt out of his life as he’d repeatedly told me to do.
Okay, so maybe just this once, Jamaal wasn’t the most broody person in the car.
“Thank you,” he said softly as we pulled out of the parking lot.
A lump formed in my throat. I swallowed hard