“Nina?” Jared called. I thought I detected uncertainty in his voice.

As soon as his eyes met mine, I immediately felt lost. As usual, Kim saved me.

“You must be Jared,” Kim said with an impish grin.

“I am,” he confirmed, slowly walking the few feet to our table.

“I’m Kim,” she reached over and took his hand, shaking it vigorously and not at all lady-like.

“It’s…nice to meet you,” Jared said, glancing at her briefly before returning his eyes to mine. Confusion draped over his face, and he leaned his head a few inches to the side before speaking to me. “Is everything all right here?”

From my peripheral I could see Beth’s eyebrows press together and her eyes shift to me, confused by Jared’s behavior.

“Everything’s great,” I murmured, setting my cup on the table. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been…fine. Am I interrupting?”

Kim’s loud voice rose an octave. “Of course not! Would you like to join us?”

Jared looked at me for a moment and I smiled at him, waiting. I felt a strange adrenaline rush; afraid he would say yes and terrified he would say no.

He looked back to Kim and sighed. “I should be going.”

“Couldn’t you stay? Just for a minute?” I asked, hopeful.

Jared sighed with what sounded like relief. He looked around him and then pulled a chair to our table. I couldn’t contain the excitement I felt and my mouth instantly spread into a smile.

“How could I say no to that?” he asked. I felt my ears get hot.

“Yes, she’s very persuasive,” Kim said flatly, eyeing me.

I ignored her to introduce both of them properly. “Jared, Kim Pollock. Kim…Jared Ryel. And this is my roommate, Bethany Layne.”

Jared extended his hand across the table and briefly shook Beth’s hand.

She smiled. “It’s just Beth.”

Jared nodded. “Nice to meet you, Beth.”

“So…how do you know each other?” Beth asked.

“I got her a cab,” he said, smiling at me.

“He did. The night of Jack’s….we shared a cab,” I said, trying to keep the conversation on Jared instead of the circumstances.

“Oh,” Beth said. I could see the confusion on her face. It occurred to me that I would have quite a bit of explaining to do later.

“And we had lunch,” Jared added.

“You did?” Kim asked, turning to me for confirmation.

Jared chuckled. “I can see it was interesting enough to share.”

I fingered the lid of my coffee cup. “He introduced me to that Blaze place on Thayer. It was really good.”

“I think it was the company more than anything,” Jared said, his eyes softening.

“Sounds like you two had a great time,” Beth chirped. She had gotten over the fact that I hadn’t let her in on the news and had become slightly over-enthusiastic.