Page 28 of Everything We Found

“No.”

“Hmm.” He went back to his forms.

Angela stopped at their table. “What can I get you, Nadia?”

“Water,” she said, just to prove to Thomas she wasn’t hungry. She glanced at the sandwich again.

“Sure thing, hon.” Angela poured her a glass and moved on to the next table.

Nadia gulped down the water. Thomas nudged his glass across the table and she greedily drank his. “What are you working on?” she asked.

“College apps.”

“What did you decide on?”

“Schools or majors?”

“Both.”

“Stanford, Georgetown, Yale, and USC. Poli sci or international relations, depends on the school.”

“Stanford still your first choice?”

“Yep.”

“You’re smart. You’ll get into them all.”

“And you’re drooling on the table.” He pushed his plate between them. “Take half.”

“No, thanks.” She purposely didn’t look at the sandwich. She’d never admit how famished she was, or that her kitchen was bare, not even to Thomas. And he knew more than most people.

“Eat the sandwich,” Thomas pushed.

Hunger overruled her pride and she scooped up her half, biting into the crusty bread with a moan of satisfaction. She’d worked up a serious appetite riding around. With a slight frown, Thomas watched her eat.

“Only because you wouldn’t shut up about it,” she said through a mouthful.

“Whatever.” He continued working on his forms, intermittently glancing up at her with an expression somewhere between concern and careful distance. It wasn’t the first time he looked at her that way, like when his friends made crude jokes about her and his jaw tightened. Or the way his hand would hover near hers on the table before pulling back, as if there was an invisible boundary between them. She was glad he was choosing the majors he wanted and not the econ and international business his dad had been pressing him to study.

“How’s your mom?” he asked.

She finished the sandwich and wiped crumbs from her chin. “The same.”

His mouth flattened. “Hear from your dad?”

She shook her head. Don wouldn’t return Nadia’s calls so she left scathing messages she wasn’t proud of begging for money.

Thomas stared at her. She squirmed in her chair. “What?”

“Nothing.” He filled in bubbles and Nadia’s stomach tightened. She blamed it on eating the sandwich too fast, but she felt a vague sense of unease that Thomas knew more about her situation than what she’d shared with him.

He put away his pencil and organized the forms before shoving them into a folder.

“Split a sundae?” he asked.

“You buying?”

He gave her a look. He always bought their food. One day, she’d pay him back.