Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,148

on a chair. “We’re starving.”

Without making eye contact with anyone, Taylor went over to the laptop, unplugged it, and headed for Greg’s room.

“You not going to eat?” Nelson called after her.

“No. You guys go ahead. I’ll wait for Greg.” She hadn’t had any intention to do that until that very moment, but it would at least get her out of this awkward situation. In Greg’s room, she closed the door on the voices in the kitchen. Leaning there, she closed her eyes. They might have been her team at one time in her life, but things had definitely changed. Tomorrow, she needed to call housing and get her room arranged. One thing was clear, staying here very long would land her in more trouble than she could adequately deal with at the moment, and that was saying something.

Taylor had just hit print on her cinema paper when there was a knock at the door. “It’s open.”

Like someone had dragged him half-a-mile, Greg came in and dropped his stuff by the wall.

“Hey,” Taylor said with some concern which grew when he barely replied.

“Hey.”

She watched him as he went to the dresser and pulled out some clothes. “How was work?”

“It was work.” He truly looked two steps away from death.

“You taking a shower?”

“That was a plan.”

“You hungry? I made a casserole.”

“Yeah, that’s cool.”

“I waited for you,” she said, not thinking it would get much of a reaction, but he stopped and turned.

“You did? Why?”

Caught there, sitting on his bed with his laptop on her lap as he looked at her in shock, she had no real answer for that. “Uh, I just thought you’d want somebody to eat with.” She slid the laptop to the side. “You want me to make you a plate?”

His eyes went from hard with wafts of anger to a soft, vulnerable brown. “Sure. If you don’t mind.”

“Nope. Don’t mind at all.”

Wes and Lauren had left. Nelson was alone in the living room. He was obviously working on something, so Taylor went right to the kitchen and worked on getting the meal ready. Because she’d just been reviewing her notes on Kate & Leopold, she smiled at how insistent Leopold was in the movie that meals were to be cherished and savored. That was a stretch on a college budget, but she took out the strawberries and added a few of them to one side and a few jalapenos to the other. It wasn’t Chef’s Kitchen, but it wasn’t bad.

When her own plate was prepared, she set them both on the table before getting water for them as well. Silverware completed the setting just as Greg showed up, freshly showered.

“Hm,” he cleared his throat in surprise. “Looks good.”

“It is,” Nelson called from behind him. “You’re lucky we saved you some.”

“Thanks.” Greg came in and sat. “Wow. An actual meal two nights in a row? This is new.”

“Paybacks for letting me stay.” Taylor sat too, and because they were being so formal, she stopped before eating. “Do you want to… Can we… say Grace?”

“Grace?” Greg’s gaze came over to hers and held there. “Uh, sure. We can say Grace.”

Taylor nodded almost without moving her head before bowing it. Neither of them said anything for a full ten seconds.

“Hm.” Greg cleared his throat again. “Thank You, God, for this meal. Thank You for today, and help us have a good day tomorrow. Amen.”

“Amen,” Taylor said, and she almost laughed either from joy or at how cute that was. With a glance back to the living room, she knew they couldn’t talk about major things, so she steered toward something else. “So how’s work? Have you been studying for the test?”

That sent Greg’s gaze down into his casserole where it stayed. She couldn’t help but remember Nelson, and she wondered how she could consistently have such an effect on them.

“Glad I don’t have to go again until Friday, that’s for sure.”

“What about the test?”

His eating slowed. “I don’t know. I mean, what’s the point? The jobs are filled, and it’s not like they were ever going to hire me anyway.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Besides, I barely passed the last one.”

“But you did pass it.”

“Yeah, but you saw the study guide. I’m never going to be able to learn all of that.”

“Sure you will,” Taylor said. “You know most of it already from your classes and the last test. And we have three more weeks to get ready for it.”

“Yeah, but I have all my other classes. I haven’t even started writing that