Dating the Guy Upstairs by Amanda Ashby

stairs to let her in.
    “Will, so lovely to see you again.” Jude put the carrot cake down on the small table in the shared hallway and wrapped him up in a warm embrace. It had taken Will a while to get used to how touchy-feely Riley’s parents were, especially compared to his own family. Even when his mother had been alive there hadn’t been much hugging, and after her death there had been none. He still wasn’t quite comfortable with it, but he accepted that it was just part of who they were. “When did you get back?”
    “Monday,” Will said as he untangled himself from Jude’s numerous scarves. Her hair, which had once been the same color as Riley’s, had now faded to a dull amber, but nothing could dull the twinkle in her eyes. “But Riley’s not here.”
    “Oh.” Disappointment spread across her face before she gave a small shrug, which caused the numerous bracelets and necklaces she was wearing to clink together. “I had to come up to Seattle for art supplies so I thought I’d pop in on the off chance she was home. She hasn’t been returning my calls.”
    “I’m sure it’s not intentional. You know how busy she is. And that boss of hers at the library has her doing all kinds of things,” Will added as he thought of Bingley the guinea pig and the dumb date she’d been roped into going on. He tried not to remind himself that helping him was probably on the list of dumb things she had to do too.
    “Dear William. You’re a sweetheart, but you aren’t so great when it comes to covering for my daughter,” Jude said, but there was no malice in her voice. “Besides, I don’t blame her. Poor Riley; I’m not sure what she did to get stuck with me and Tom for parents. The pair of us seem to go from one disaster to another.”
    “You know she doesn’t think that,” Will said. Besides, even though he knew Riley did get frustrated with some of the things her hapless parents did, she loved them deeply. More important, she knew that they loved her. Something that Will had often envied. “I swear that she really has been busy.”
    “I do worry that she pushes herself too hard. Still, while you’re home at least I know she’ll relax a bit more.”
    “I try my best,” Will said, before remembering the feel of her mouth on his, her skin soft against his fingers. Heat flooded his cheeks and he coughed. “Er, so would you like to come upstairs? Or you could go over to the library and see her.”
    Jude shook her head. “The last thing she’d want was me turning up at work, but would you mind if I left the carrot cake with you? Also, could you give her an invitation?” Jude fumbled around in the giant patchwork bag that was hanging off her shoulder before producing a black-and-white postcard. “Turns out that there’s a lovely art gallery not far from where I’m staying and the owner has asked me to exhibit some of my work— the ‘Life’ series. He thinks we might sell some.”
    “That’s great news,” Will said truthfully. Jude might be terrible when it came to love and money, but she was an incredibly talented photographer. Unfortunately, up until now she’d never liked the idea of selling her work. Hell, Will had once seen her donate ten percent of her Monopoly income when she was playing the board game. Riley’s father, Tom, was the same. And while he knew that Riley had problems with her parents erratic lifestyles, he’d always found it refreshing compared to his own father. “She’ll be so pleased.”
    “I hope so.” Jude’s lower lip began to tremble, her cheerful mask falling for a moment as she passed the postcard to him. It was a picture of a woman with long dark hair tenderly cradling a small child. It was stunning; he could understand why the gallery owner thought they might sell.
    “It’s amazing. It reminds me of all those photographs you took of Riley as a kid,” he said. The series of black-and-white photographs hung in her bathroom.
    “She still has them?” Jude