Since he’d ignored that rule big time and he didn’t have any sort of decent-sounding excuse, Jeremy decided to just stand there and let Gunnar have his say. As he tried to look anywhere but at Gunnar, the cold air seeped into his clothes.
Funny, it was the first time in hours that he’d noticed just how cold the temperature actually was.
After another minute passed—which felt close to an hour—Gunnar stood up, his hazel eyes cool under the brim of his ball cap. “Looks like you took your time getting home today.”
He swallowed. “I know.”
“You know?” A line formed between his brows. “I gave you a cell phone for a reason, Jeremy Widmer. Is it working . . . ? Or did it break for some reason and you didn’t think to tell me?”
Oh, boy. “It’s not broken. I mean, it’s working just fine.” It had sure worked fine a couple of minutes ago when he’d texted Bethany and she’d texted him right back.
“We had some rules we agreed to.” His voice deepened. “Did you forget what they were?”
“No, sir. I didn’t forget.”
Gunnar’s expression became even more confused. “I’m trying to keep my patience here, but you’re starting to make it real difficult. You going to give me a reason for being late and not calling? Maybe even apologize for making me worry? Because I’m beginning to get pretty tired of hearing your short, pat answers to my questions.”
“I’m sorry.”
Gunnar still didn’t look impressed. “Is that it?”
“I mean it. I really am sorry I didn’t call.”
He cracked his knuckles. “I’m waiting, boy.”
It didn’t look like Gunnar was getting ready to hit him or anything, but he did look like he was barely holding it together.
Okay. It was time to start talking even though he might really regret sharing so much. “First, I thought you were going to still be at that house working. I didn’t think you’d notice if I came home on time or not.”
When he saw Gunnar’s expression tighten further, he winced. That had absolutely not been the right thing to say. Like, at all. “I mean—”
“Boy, if I’ve been staying there working, it was because I trusted you to be here. Part of me even thought you might need some time to relax and watch TV or whatever without me watching over you like you were a little kid.”
Jeremy had never thought about it like that. “Um . . .”
Gunnar cut him off again. Looking at him directly in the eye, he blurted, “Have I been wrong? Have you been doing this a lot?”
“This?”
“Going out after school?” He waved a hand. “Have you been doing your own thing and lying to me?”
“What? No.” When Gunnar’s eyes narrowed, Jeremy tacked on another word. “I mean, no, sir. This was the first time. I promise it was . . . and I had a good reason. I really did.”
He sighed. “I sure hope so.” Gunnar stuffed his hands in the pockets of his down vest, as if he’d suddenly noticed the temperature outside. “You know what? Come on in. Let’s go sit down. I’m too old for twenty questions and it’s getting real cold out here.”
The sun had started slipping down and the wind had picked up. He was no weatherman, but it sure looked like more snow was on the way. Jeremy followed Gunnar inside, closing the door behind him and kicking off his tennis shoes. Gunnar had gone into the living room and lit the fireplace. When the flame roared to life, he stood for a moment facing it, warming his hands in front of the fire.
Watching him, Jeremy thought about how Gunnar did a lot of things like that. He did a lot of things in an adept, concise way, without a lot of fuss or worry. He also did a lot of them for Jeremy’s sake, so he would feel secure and happy. Yep, what had used to feel foreign and new was now expected. He’d begun to take a lot of Gunnar’s mannerisms and habits for granted.
Which was kind of amazing.
Glad of the few moments’ reprieve, Jeremy sat down on the couch. He wondered if he should try to think of something to say but elected to stay quiet.
At last, Gunnar broke the silence. “Jeremy, this is where you start talking, yeah?” He turned at last. “And don’t even think about giving me a bunch of ‘I don’t knows.’ That’s not going to cut it.”
“Fine. I was walking Bethany Seevers home.”
Gunnar blinked and he looked kind of taken aback. Then his eyes lit up. “Huh. I guess you can tell I’m surprised. I don’t know why, though.” He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his cheeks. “I guess I should’ve realized there was a girl involved.”
Figuring he might as well get the rest of his news over with, he said, “I walked Bethany home because it took me all that time to work up the nerve to ask her to go to the Christmas dance with me.”
“You’re already going to take a girl to a dance? You’re moving fast, buddy.”
Gunnar was sounding a whole lot nicer. “Not that fast. All the guys were asking. It’s in a couple of weeks. On December twenty-third.”
He slowly smiled. “You don’t mess around.”
“I’m not really doing anything different than anyone else. All the guys I know are asking girls to the dance now. Phillip told me that if you wait too long all the girls like Bethany get asked up.”
“Girls like Bethany?”
“You know, the special girls.”
“So . . . don’t keep me in suspense. What did she say?”
“Yes.” Unable to help himself, Jeremy grinned.
“She did, huh?”
“Gunnar, it was so great, because Bethany didn’t even make me wait. All she did say was that I was going to have to meet her parents before that night.”
“Sounds like she’s got parents who care.”
“Yeah. I hope it goes okay.”
“It will. Don’t you worry about that.” He chuckled. “Well, I’m real pleased for you, Jeremy. That’s great news. I’ve had my share of asking-out-girls horror stories.”
“No way.”
“Yeah. Well, not every girl I liked felt the same way. A couple weren’t shy about letting me know that either.”
Jeremy didn’t even want to think about that. “I was nervous, Gunnar. I didn’t know what I was doing, and some guys were going all out, making banners and putting bouquets of flowers on girls’ cars and shit.”
“Don’t say shit.”