“You look beautiful holding a child,” he said, his lips pulling up even though his face remained confusingly slack. “Hell…” he started to say, but his voice dropped off.
“Bad word,” Sienna instantly chastised, pointing her pudgy finger at him.
He nodded. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I should…” He glanced over his shoulder. “I have to—”
“I can run you home,” I offered.
“No,” he said quickly. “No. I can walk.”
“It’s three miles at least.”
“I can handle three miles,” he said with a subtle smirk, but then his face dropped again, and his eyes did too. “Thanks for last night. I’ll see you tonight at class.”
I nodded, and as Kane sighed, he turned and ran right into Hilde. They sidestepped each other awkwardly before he walked away. I held my breath until I heard the front door close, and when Hilde took Sienna from my arms, I sank back to the counter behind me, exactly where I’d been with Kane’s hand up my skirt less than five minutes before.
“Did he just say he’d see you in class tonight?” Hilde asked as she sat Sienna on the counter next to the sink and started cleaning the lipstick from her cheeks.
“He’s in my philosophy class.”
Hilde studied me for a moment over her shoulder. “Odd you didn’t mention that sooner,” she said sarcastically. “You…” She glanced at Sienna. “…layin’ pipe with that man?” Her face twisted up as she tried to figure out the metaphor she’d just dropped on me.
I shook my head. “Hilde, you can only lay pipe, if you have a pipe.” I enunciated the last word.
“Oh … oh!” She finally got it. She glanced at me again. “So… Is he laying his pipe in your … tunnel?” Her face was still scrunched up.
I sighed. I wanted to laugh, and the humor of Hilde’s pathetic attempt at slang wasn’t lost on me, but I was too close to falling apart to react much.
I shook my head. “No. It’s not like that.”
“Well, good,” she commented. “That guy’s bad news you ask me, and it couldn’t have escaped your attention that he looks like he was in a fight,” she commented distractedly as she pointed to her cheek for a moment before returning her focus to Sienna’s cranberry streaked face.
“Stop,” I said adamantly and bluntly.
“What?” she asked, her forehead wrinkled in confusion.
I stared at her, and she intentionally let her eyes bulge as she waited. I sighed in exasperation. “You’re my older sister, and I adore you. I refuse to think you’re that type of person.”
Her lips pursed. “What type of person is that?”
“Too good to associate with someone like him. You’re not. I love you, but you’re not, nor am I, nor is anyone else.”
Hilde smirked. “I’m the person who witnessed your life fall apart after he up and left when you were in high school. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t think he’s worth my sister’s time. But hey, you always were the one who liked to bring home strays,” she said coolly. She turned back to Sienna.
I sighed, turning to the coffee maker and finally managing to get a filter into the blasted thing. I watched the coffee drip entirely too slowly into the coffee pot. “Yeah,” I mumbled.
He didn’t bother sitting in the front row that night. I lectured for an hour and a half straight over Confucius, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. I finished up the entire overview of The Ancient World without ever once making eye contact with Kane or taking a break.
I could tell the students were getting annoyed with me for not at least giving them a breather, but when I pulled a stack of papers out of my briefcase, people suddenly sat up straighter, assuming it was quiz time. Quiz time, consequently, meant time to go home. But it wasn’t quiz time.
“Take a quick five minute break. In lieu of a quiz, I’m handing out the study guide for next week’s test. We’ll review it quickly, and then you’ll be free to leave for the evening.”
I didn’t bother leaving the room as the students filed past me, and when I caught sight of Kane walking toward me down the center aisle, I intentionally looked down at the study guide in my hands, pretending I was intently reading the document—ridiculous, considering I’d written the damn thing.
I glanced up again, and he was still walking slowly toward me. He was watching me, and as he closed in on my desk, his gate slowed as though he were trying to be casual in his approach.
Suddenly the flirt from the week before popped up from nowhere and latched onto his arm. He instantly tensed as he looked at her. “Umm…” he started to say to her, but then his attention moved back to me. His eyes were wide though, and he looked nervous.
“Yesterday was insane,” she said in an excited rush.
He tried for a smile, but it was painful just seeing the effort, and the pathetic attempt fell from his lips quickly. “Can you excuse—” he started to say.
“Intense. You were kicking that guy’s ass.” She reached for his cheek where the scuff was still covered in a small bandage.