“Why not stay and I’ll fix us something?” Jodie asked. “Or we can go to the Market and pick up something.” She stepped closer to Brad, put her wineglass down, leaned forward, and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Or we can skip tea and have a little naughty.”
Brad gave her a light kiss in return, then said, “I don’t think I need an Australian slang dictionary to decipher that one.” But, to her immense disappointment, he averted his eyes. “But I’ve got a girl back in Nevada,” he said.
“I’ve got a bloke or two back home, mate,” Jodie said. “I’m not talking about a relationship. We’re two mates far from home, Brad—I’m just a little farther from home than you are. I think you’re spunk, and I’ve seen you perving me—”
“What! No, I haven’t . . . what?”
“I mean, you are hot, and I’ve seen you checking me out,” Jodie said with a smile. “I’m not saying we get married, mate, and I’m not going to steal you away from your soul mate . . . at least, not right away, or permanently . . . maybe.” She reached up to take his hand, glancing briefly at the hallway to her bedroom. “I just want to . . . what do you Yanks call it, ‘hook up’?” Brad blinked in surprise, and didn’t—couldn’t—say anything. She read the hesitation in his face and body language and nodded. “That’s okay, mate. Don’t blame a sheila for trying . . . or trying again, later.”
“I think you’re sexy, Jodie, and I love your eyes and hair and body,” Brad said, “but I’m just not wired for hooking up, and I want to see if I can make a long-distance relationship work. Besides, you and I work together, and I don’t want anything to spoil that.”
“That’s okay, Brad,” she said. “I think we’re both adult enough to keep working together even if we have a naughty or two, but I respect your feelings.” She saw Brad’s serious face break out into a grin, then a chuckle. “Stop making fun of my accent and slang, you wowser!”
He laughed aloud at the new slang word. “I thought I’d heard all the Aussie slang words, Jodie! I’ve heard ten more new ones just today!”
“You making fun of my accent again, Mr. McLanahan?”
“Sorry.”
Jodie thumbed her nose, then said in a very deep voice, “?‘Don’t apologize: it’s a sign of weakness.’?”
“Hey! You do John Wayne too! War Wagon, right?” He clapped.
“Thank you, sir,” Jodie said, taking a bow, “except it was She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Now let’s get out of here before I jump your bones, drongo!”
It was just starting to get dark by the time they drove back to the parking lot outside the Reinhold Aerospace Engineering building. “I’d be happy to drive you home and pick you up again in the morning, Brad,” Jodie said as Brad got out of her car, retrieved his backpack, and crossed over to the driver’s-side window. “All you have to do is buy brekkies.”
“I assume that means ‘breakfast,’?” Brad said with a smile. She rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. “I may take you up on that offer when the weather is lousy, but I’ll be okay. It’s not too dark yet.”
“Anytime, mate,” Jodie said. She was pleasantly surprised when Brad leaned toward her through the open window and gave her a light kiss on the lips. “Anytime at all, Brad,” she added with a smile. “?’Night.” She put the car in gear and pulled away.
“Am I the luckiest SOB on the planet?” he asked half aloud to himself. He dug his keys out of his jeans, removed the locks from his Trek CrossRip hybrid road/cross-country bicycle, activated the headlight and the red-and-white-flashing LED safety lights he had arrayed all around the bike, strapped on his helmet and turned on its lights, secured his backpack with the waist strap, and headed off on his two-mile ride home.
Traffic was busy on the major avenues, but San Luis Obispo was a very bike-friendly town, and he only had to dodge inattentive motorists just once or twice on the fifteen-minute ride before reaching the house. The three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath, single-story home was situated in the center of a one-acre lot, with a detached two-car garage beside it; the lot was surrounded by an old but well-maintained wooden fence. In this busy and rather congested neighborhood, it was a little reminder of the expansive farming estates and numerous small ranches that dominated the area before the university swelled the population.