Will shakes his head in exasperation. “I’ll play if one of the teams are short on numbers. Otherwise I’ll come and watch as an unbiased spectator.”
On Saturday, I make my way to Pax’s apartment for lunch; as I walk in, I’m enveloped in a fierce hug by a lanky teenage girl. My step-niece, Kaley.
“Jesus, are you ever going to stop growing?” I ask with an affectionate brush of her hair once we break apart. She’s almost up to my chin now, and considering I’m just over six foot, that’s pretty tall for a fourteen-year-old girl.
“God, I hope so,” she grumbles, tugging at the hem of her t-shirt a little self-consciously.
I follow her toward the kitchen where Pax is making up a salad. I close my eyes and draw in a deep breath as the scent of roasting tomatoes, cheese, and various Italian spices hit my senses. “Lasagna?” I ask.
“Mmhmm,” Pax confirms. “Should be ready soon.”
I head toward the fridge and retrieve a beer. “Want one?” I ask Pax.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Can I have one?” Kaley asks with a mischievous smirk.
“Nice try,” Pax tells her.
I snap the caps off the beers and set one on the counter next to Pax. Then I move over toward the kitchen table and sit down with Kaley.
“So, Kay-Kay, tell me, what are your thoughts on…” I pause for a moment, trying to remember the name Will used. “Captain Jack?”
Kaley eyes me skeptically. “Sparrow or Harkness?”
“Um…I don’t know. My assistant saw that blue box thing you gave me and started raving about Captain Jack.”
She gives an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “It’s not a box, Spencer, it’s a TARDIS. And that would be Captain Jack Harkness.” She clutches a hand to her chest and gives a dramatic sigh. “My heart.”
I chuckle. “You should meet Will. I have a feeling the two of you would get along.”
“So, you’re happy with the new guy?” Pax asks as he sets a steaming dish of lasagna on the table, followed by the salad and a bowl of bread.
“Yeah, he’s great,” I tell him, stuffing a piece of bread in my mouth in the hopes of cutting off any further questions about Will.
Fortunately, Pax seems happy to concentrate on eating his lunch and doesn’t bring the topic up again.
“So, Kaley, how’s your other dad?” I ask.
Kaley gives the most trademark teenage girl eye roll you can imagine. “He’s pissed because I want to come here and go to Columbia.”
“Wow. Fourteen and you’re already thinking about college?”
She lifts one shoulder in a casual shrug. “It’s good to have a plan. That way I can spend the next four years maintaining my GPA and working on all my extracurriculars. I don’t want to get to applications time and realize I haven’t done enough to get in.”
Pax’s face spreads into a bright grin and he reaches beside him to tousle his daughter’s hair. “That’s my girl.”
“Where does Mark want you to go?” I ask, curious.
“Duke. He wants me to stay in North Carolina.”
“That’s a good school,” I say.
“Yeah, but it’s not Columbia,” she counters, a little awe in her tone.
I chuckle. “Fair enough.” I spare a quick glance in Pax’s direction, noting that he seems determined not to weigh in on the topic. I know he’d be over the fucking moon if she decided to go to college here, considering he currently only sees her for infrequent weekend visits, but he’ll let her come to the decision on her own.
“And what do you want to study at Columbia?” I ask my niece.
“Journalism,” she says without missing a beat.
My brows shoot up and I can’t keep the smile from my face. “Journalism, huh? You’re going to be an anchor like your dad?”
This time Kaley shakes her head, but she’s smiling. “No way. I’m going to be an EP. I want to be the one in charge of everything.”
I flash her an affectionate grin. “Be careful what you wish for, honey.”
10
Will
* * *
“Hello! Earth to Will!”
I see a hand waving in front of my face and glance up, taking in Mac’s exasperated expression. “Huh?”
She rolls her eyes. “Oh my god, where the hell has your mind been? We’ve been debating Ten versus Eleven for the past half hour and you haven’t said a word!”
I glance between her and Jamie, both of whom are studying me as if I have two heads. “Well, you already know my stance on that.”
“Yeah, but you’re usually pretty vocal about it, mate,” Jamie says.
“What was there for you to debate, anyway?” I ask. “I thought you were both Team Ten?”
Mac shakes her head. “Nope. I re-watched some of the later Eleven episodes recently and I’ve changed my mind.”
“Only because you liked seeing Jenna Coleman in a corset,” Jamie says with an eye roll. “This is a debate about the hottest Doctor, not the hottest companion.”
“Captain Jack, hands down,” I say.
“Well, on that we can agree,” Jamie says, lifting his glass in a salute.
“I don’t know…” Mac’s face forms into a thoughtful frown. “Out of the male companions I still think Mickey’s the hottest.”
“Mickey the Idiot?” Jamie and I ask at the same time before dissolving into laughter.
Mac merely shakes her head wryly. “The more important question of the evening is what the hell has Will so distracted he couldn’t come in with his Matt Smith vote for the tie-breaker?”
What else would it be but my sexy boss? Truthfully, I’ve had difficulty concentrating on anything ever since that car ride a couple weeks ago. My grand plan to clear the air backfired spectacularly and now I’m in even more of a frustrated state than I was before. And call me crazy, but I’m getting the impression he feels the same…
I’m not about to go into all that with these two, though. Mac might know the truth about my hookup at the club, but I’m still not prepared to tell Jamie.
“It’s nothing, I was just thinking about something from work.”
Mac’s brows shoot up suggestively and I send her a quelling glare, silently reminding her not to say anything.
“How’s all that going, anyway?” Jamie asks. “Has Spencer Cox ripped off his face mask to reveal his true alien features yet?” His face is arranged into an amused smirk, which I know has more to do with his affection for his boyfriend rather than any actual disdain he holds for Spencer.
And I’m going to admit, hearing the words “Spencer Cox” and “ripped off” in the same sentence sends my mind to all sorts of places for a split second, but fortunately I recover quickly and roll my eyes at Jamie. “Not yet. He’s perfectly human as far as I can tell. Although he did briefly suspect me of being a spy for Shay.”
Jamie lets out a burst of laughter. “You’d be a right awful spy, mate. You can’t lie to save yourself.”