feet.
“Where shall we work?” Riley stood in front of him, smiling, holding his notebooks.
Since he’d bought a new table and chairs just so they’d have a place to sit, Snow nodded toward the dining area, where he’d had the movers put the set.
“Great.” Riley walked from the kitchen and dropped the random pages Snow had left for him on the table. He cocked his head and fingered the delivery tag still attached to the chair.
Well, damn.
“Looks like you did some serious shopping. Nice stuff too.”
“Thanks.”
“You must not be a starving student like some of us.” Riley laughed.
“My parents left me some money.”
“Left?”
“Yes. They died when I was little. My grandmother raised me.” Snow moved the carefully laid flatware aside and sat in one of the new chairs. Felt kind of weird.
“I’m really sorry.”
He shrugged. “I barely knew them. I miss my grandmother a lot. She was pretty eccentric, but I loved her.”
“Shit. That means you’ve got nobody?”
“No. I mean, the professor is kind of like family.” Snow didn’t mention the voice in his head.
“Kingsley?”
“Yes.”
“He seems nice.”
Snow nodded.
“I’m really sorry for your loss.” Riley gently rested his hand on Snow’s arm. It should have been so light Snow could barely feel it, but every blood vessel in his body sent its full complement of cells rushing to that one small touch. Snow’s whole being wanted to curl up around those fingers.
He swallowed. “Thank you.” He stared at the spot where their skin connected. If he never moved again, could he just stay here and feel like this?
Suddenly the hand and the warmth vanished. “So, let me show you what I did.”
Sigh. “Okay.”
“Honest to God, I never thought this stuff would make sense to me, but when you related it to something I understand so well, it just clicked, you know?”
“I’m so glad.” Did he dare put his hand on Riley’s arm? No chance. Instead he flipped through the pages Riley had done on his own. “This is good. You really are getting it.”
Riley rocked back in his chair and threw his arms over his head, a move that should have dumped him on his butt but instead made him look like Thor. “Yahooo!”
Snow had to laugh. “Okay, let me show you a few more tips, and I think you could be ready for Jenkins.” Riley leaned in, which raised all the hairs on Snow’s arm, but soon he was engrossed in his teaching.
An hour later he leaned back. “So you understand how the two forces propel the running back in the opposite direction?”
Riley grinned. “Yeah, I get it.”
“So do you want to—?”
“I got it. Let’s eat. And talk.”
“Are you sure—?”
“Yes. I got this. Now sit in your favorite spot—which I have a strange suspicion isn’t at this table—and let me serve you some food.”
Snow opened his mouth, then closed it.
Riley stood all the way up to his six and a half feet of perfection. “So where do you usually sit?”
Snow cleared his throat. “Either in the rocker or on the floor.”
“Well, we can’t both sit in the rocker and still eat, so I’ll set us up on the floor. We’ll have a Chinese picnic.”
Riley walked into the kitchen, but Snow was still back on the thought of both of them sitting in the rocker. Good Lord, what a fantasy. He sat mesmerized as Riley walked back and forth to the living room with some of Snow’s place mats, flatware, and dishes. Then he carried two glasses. “Hope you don’t mind. I got us some wine.”
“I, uh, I’m not old enough until later this year.”
“I won’t tell if you won’t.” As Riley walked back to the kitchen, he said, “If I pass the exam, I’ll bring you champagne. Deal?”
“Yes.” No more words came out of his throat, but he really loved the idea of a future reason to celebrate—together.
Finally, Riley walked back to the living room, carrying two dish towels and several Chinese food carryout boxes. “I guessed at what
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