Even Odds (10 page)

The convention center looked
like an entirely different place on Saturday at noon. Wanting to avoid the crowds, Isabel had slept in, then eaten brunch in her hotel room and wasted time on the Internet for the rest of the morning. Apparently that didn't make much of a difference in terms of crowds, because the front of the conference center was swarming with people, and the main lobby was almost wall-to-wall bodies. She pressed through the throng into the main expo hall and made her way over to the booth, where Matthew and Dan were both chatting with potential customers.

“Thank God you're here,” Dan greeted her when his customer left. “It's been like this all morning.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “I've had to piss for an hour and haven't been able to get away.”

“Ew. Thanks for sharing.” Isabel waved him away. “Go, get out of here. Urinate in peace.”

“You're the best. Have a good shift.” Dan ducked out of the booth and disappeared into the throng.

When the crowd thinned briefly a half hour or so later, Isabel finally had a chance to talk to Matthew. “Has it really been like this all morning, or was Dan exaggerating?”

“Straight through since opening. This might be the busiest Saturday I've seen here.” Matthew took a drink from his PI Games water bottle. “We're going to sell out of our merch, though, so that's good. It'll make Will happy, plus I hate packing leftovers to ship back home.”

Isabel scanned the rack of dwindling shirts. “Nice. How are you feeling? You hungover?”

“Nah, I drank about a gallon of water before bed last night and I'm feeling pretty good right now.” Matthew rubbed a hand over the top of his head, which had apparently become his new habit since shaving it. “You?”

“I'm fine. Only had the two drinks.” Isabel stepped forward to greet a customer who was eyeballing the promo materials, launching them into another session of nonstop visitors. By the time Lloyd showed up to relieve Matthew at one o'clock, they hadn't even had time to really talk again. She hoped the rest of the day would be just as busy so she wouldn't have to talk to Lloyd.

The steady stream of customers continued into the afternoon. When they finally got a break in the traffic around three, Lloyd ran off to grab a snack and Isabel had a few minutes of peace. Interestingly enough, she hadn't seen Caleb all day. There were a few yellow-shirted volunteers around, but her tattooed weekend fling was nowhere to be seen. Had he skipped out early? He hadn't said he was going to, but maybe he'd changed his mind. He hadn't texted her, even though he had her number.

Maybe it was better this way. They would have a clean break, no awkward goodbyes. Plus, she wouldn't have to introduce him to Lloyd, who would probably make some inappropriate gestures or ask Caleb how she was in bed. This was preferable. She still had his hoodie, but maybe she could leave it with the security department and they'd get it to him somehow. She didn't need to have any loose ends. Yeah, things were better this way, certainly. Maybe if she repeated it enough to herself, she could actually believe it, rather than feeling like she'd lost something that really mattered to her.

It didn't stop her from checking her phone every time she might have felt it vibrate, though, and finally Lloyd commented. “You got a hot date tonight or something?” He nodded to her phone, which was still silent, even though she'd been
sure
she felt it vibrate that time.

“No, just checking the time,” Isabel lied, slipping the phone back in her pocket.

“I hear you're in the lead in the hunt right now.”

“What?” For a moment, Isabel was confused. In her thoughts about Caleb, she'd forgotten all about the hunt since her conversation with Matthew and Dan last night. “Oh. Right. Yeah, I think so. I don't remember my point total. Matthew has it.”

Lloyd's smile was condescending, not friendly in the least. “It's nice to see you coming out of your shell. Pretty girl like you shouldn't be so shy.”

She'd thought of herself as shy before, but only in new situations, not as a general personality trait. She was outspoken at work, a confident leader of her team who never hesitated to speak her mind. Any wallflower tendencies had been left behind after the Pixel Dream debacle. She was no extrovert, preferring quiet evenings to loud gatherings, but that didn't make her antisocial. Sure, she was reluctant to mix business and pleasure, but that was a perfectly professional attitude to take. Unsure how to respond to his comment, Isabel shrugged it off. “It'll be nice to have the first-class upgrade, I guess.”

“If you keep the lead. I've got a nice Saturday night lined up ahead of me.” Lloyd leered. “This con has been the boost my sex life needed.”

“Whatever.” Feeling mildly grossed out, Isabel stepped to the front of the booth and forced a smile to greet the couple in matching cosplay who were passing by.

She didn't see Caleb for the rest of the day, but at least Lloyd left her alone in favor of selling product. He was really good at chatting up strangers, not creepy at all to people he didn't know, and guests flocked to him. As for her, she always felt awkward having to approach people she didn't know, but it helped to be familiar enough with the product that answers to questions came naturally.

When the expo hall shut down at five, Isabel left Lloyd to close the booth with a quick goodbye that left no room for creepy conversation. Her phone was still quiet. If she stopped lying to herself about this being the best way to end things, though, she would just admit she felt unsettled and adrift from Caleb's lack of communication. She'd just assumed that she'd see him today, as she'd seen him yesterday and the day before. It had nothing to do with the scavenger hunt, even if beating Lloyd was more satisfying than she'd thought it would be. She just wanted to see Caleb.

Well, fuck that plan. Isabel opened the DiceCon app and checked the schedule. There was a tabletop gaming session in a couple of hours. She could go out and grab dinner on her own and have some fun playing games before the night was over.

———

A smarter man would
text Isabel that he'd gotten busy and then leave her alone. Instead, Caleb had avoided her all day, torn, to the point of complete indecision, between making a clean break and enjoying another evening in her company. Meaningless sex had always been meaningless before, and this complication of it possibly becoming meaningful was shitty and he wanted no part of it.

Even so, he happened to be in the hallway shortly before seven when Isabel came up the escalator down the hall, still wearing her red PI Games polo shirt, and headed for one of the convention rooms. She didn't see him, not even in his offensively yellow shirt. For a few minutes, he watched the spot where she'd been in an agony of indecision. If he approached her again, he was probably going to have to admit to himself that he liked her. And if he liked her, then saying goodbye to her was going to be painful. If, on the other hand, he just turned around and left, then he would be effectively ending things forever. He wasn't ready to do that yet. He wanted to see her one last time. With a quick exhale, he followed her into the gaming room.

Isabel was standing at the edge of the room, surveying the tables, a look of apprehension on her face. He could see in the way she hesitated to take one of the many empty chairs throughout the room that this environment was out of her comfort zone. She tucked a lock of black hair behind her ear and took a half step forward before pausing again. His heart pinged watching her act so blatantly uncomfortable, and he had to quell the urge to stride over and pull her into his arms.

But he settled for taking a few quick steps that put him close enough to catch her attention. When she saw him, her eyes widened, then narrowed again.

“I didn't think I was going to see you.” She looked back toward the room, her voice flat and disinterested, but her fingers drummed nervously on her crossed arms as she spoke. Not disinterested, then. Trying to distance herself. Not wanting to get hurt. Maybe she was feeling the same way he was. For a moment, he dared to imagine that she was also growing attached, a spark of unrealistic hope that faded as soon as it appeared.

“I didn't want to push my luck.” Not the whole truth. He gestured to the room, wanting to change the topic of conversation before he said something too personal and frightened her off. “You want to play a game?”

“Not really, no, but I was bored and didn't know what else to do.” Isabel looked over at him, her dark eyes finding his before she looked back at the room. Caleb studied her delicate features, her long, thick hair, the bronze skin he wanted to touch again, God help him, before he couldn't touch her anymore.

“Do you want to get out of here?” The words were out of his mouth before he realized it.

Isabel whipped her head to the side to look at him, her lips parting in surprise. She narrowed her eyes, her expression inscrutable. If only he could read her mind. It shouldn't matter if she said no, since this was destined to end (and end painfully) quite soon, but he wanted her to say yes like he wanted nothing else.

Finally, she shrugged, but the action looked tense, like she was forcing nonchalance. “Sure.” She started walking toward the door.

He had to be sure they were on the same page as he fell into step beside her. “You want to get coffee?”

Her steps faltered, and she cast a sidelong glance at him. “I thought you'd just come back to my hotel room?”

Caleb couldn't deny the relief he felt. Sure, coffee would be fine, and he'd enjoy just talking to her, but he was really hoping to lose himself in the touch of her skin one last time. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

As they approached the front doors, Isabel held up the bundle she'd been carrying. Caleb realized it was his hoodie. “I was going to have them mail this to you, but I guess you can just take it now.”

The action was too final for him right then, so he shook his head. “Not yet. It's cold out.”

She was smiling as she pulled the hoodie on.

It had started to snow sometime during the evening, and the pedestrian bridge over the highway was coated with a thin sheen of white. Isabel halted right as they stepped out from the overhang of the convention center. She didn't seem to notice the cold, staring instead at the softly falling snow.

“What?” he asked. Maybe she was having second thoughts, or just worried about the storm.

“I've never seen snow before.” Isabel blinked up at the sky, snowflakes melting into tiny water droplets in her hair. The golden streetlights illuminated the falling snow in columns. Having grown up in Massachusetts, Caleb had long ago forgotten the wonder of snow, but he rediscovered it in Isabel's rapt expression.

Isabel held out a hand and caught a few flakes, which quickly melted. She watched them with a curious, innocent smile, and Caleb felt his heart twist. It wasn't like him to fall for someone this fast. But if he was reading the signs right, she was falling for him too, and he didn't want to let this go without telling her the truth. It wasn't “I love you,” not by a long shot, but it was down that path, rooted in the idea that they might have more than just a weekend fling.

Isabel turned to look at him, her eyes bright in the reflected glow, snowflakes fluttering all around them, and Caleb couldn't shake the idea that he would be throwing away something great if he didn't at least tell her how he felt.

“Listen, I have to tell you something.” He thrust his hands into his coat pockets.

“You have herpes?” Isabel's eyes twinkled with mirth, a single snowflake sparkling on her lashes.

“What? No!” Caleb laughed. “I'm totally clean.”

“You have a girlfriend? Or a wife?” Isabel's smile had faded somewhat, more anxiety around her eyes.

“No. I'm completely single. I'm not that kind of guy.” Having been cheated on, he would never abide by cheating, or any similar kind of dishonesty.

“You're a serial killer?” Her smile came back, teasing.

“Stop it.” How was he supposed to tell her when she wouldn't stop kidding around?

Isabel shook her head. “Look, whatever it is, just don't tell me. Don't ruin this. I'm gone soon, and whatever this is will end, so let's enjoy each other while we can, okay?”

Caleb stared into her eyes, those dark eyes that he wanted to study forever, not just tonight. She didn't want to have this conversation. Maybe it was too serious, too fast. Maybe even bringing up the possibility of more would ruin the evening they might have. It was easier to give in to what she was asking, especially when she stepped closer and pressed her open mouth to his, her tongue finding his with no hesitation whatsoever. Whatever resolve he had dissolved when she gave a little hitching moan and pressed closer, holding him against her by the lapels of his jacket.

When they broke apart, Caleb took her hands in his. Maybe afterward, he could confess his feelings and see if anything was reciprocated. Maybe they could try things out from afar, get to know each other that way. “All right. You make a convincing argument.”