Coming Home(38)

“Because in The Walking Dead, they don’t sit there zoning out. They tear your f*cking limbs off and eat them. Can I assume that’s not what happened in your classroom today?”

Leah pulled into her parking space and cut the engine. “You know, you’re a little annoying when you’re stuck in traffic on no sleep.”

Danny burst out laughing as Leah got out of the car and ran to her front door, her head ducked against the wind. “Jesus, it’s freezing out here,” she said through gritted teeth.

“You’re home already?”

“Yeah, just walked through the door.”

“Oh. Alright, well, I’ll let you get to bed then—”

“No, that’s okay,” she said a little too quickly. She closed her eyes and took a breath before she continued. “I’m not that tired. Plus, I don’t want you falling asleep at the wheel.”

While she was fairly confident that he could manage to get himself home in one piece without her, she wasn’t so sure of when she would get this version of Danny again, if any version.

She wasn’t ready to let him go yet.

“Well, I guess it’s only fair,” he said. “I might as well cash in on what you owe me.”

“Oh?” Leah asked, kicking off her shoes and walking back toward her bedroom. “I was unaware I owed you anything.”

“The last time you were tired and driving, I kept you awake. So it’s only right that you return the favor.”

“Christmas night?” Leah asked through a laugh. “You kept me awake for like two minutes. Barely that!”

He laughed before he said, “So tell me more about your day. After you fended off the zombie apocalypse, I mean.”

“Oh my God, you’re getting douchier by the second. Why did I agree to stay on the phone with you again?”

“Don’t know, but now you’re stuck.”

Leah smiled as he added, “Seriously, though. Tell me about your day.”

The fact that he would even ask that question lit a pleasant warmth in her chest. “I kind of already did,” she said, removing the phone from her ear just enough to pull her shirt over her head. “I taught, and then I went to my sister’s for dinner. Nothing exciting.”

“What book are you teaching right now?”

Leah lifted her brow as she pulled her pajama top over her head. “Really? You of all people want to talk about English while you’re trying not to fall asleep?”

“Try me.”

“We’re doing To Kill A Mockingbird.”

“Ah, good old Boo Radley and Atticus Finch.”

“You know it?” she asked, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.

“I said it wasn’t my favorite subject, not that I was illiterate. Me can read.”

“Shut up,” she laughed.

“It’s true. And not just magazines. Actual, real books. With covers. Hard ones.”

“Okay,” she said through her laughter. “I’m getting off the phone now. You’re on your own. Go call one of your friends and have him sit through this craziness.”

“I would,” Danny said, “but I don’t think they’d be much help. When I left them a little while ago, they were about to start a game of Asshole.”

“Oh my God,” Leah said nostalgically. “I haven’t played that game in years!”

“I was never a big fan of it. My game of choice was always Flip Cups.”

“Ugh,” Leah said, climbing into bed. “Chug a beer as fast as you can and then try to turn your cup upside down on a table slick with backwash and vomit while you stifle your own? No thanks.”