“This okay?” he asked.
“Perfect.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t reach out this week.”
It wasn’t like I expected him to. I hadn’t either. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because I know what I want. And I want you to want it too.”
The fissure expanded. “I never said I didn’t want the same thing.”
He squeezed me tighter, and a comfortable silence passed between us. I wanted him to know how I felt. But I knew that making him promises when I was still committed to Gino was a crap move—even if my text was almost finished. I should’ve just sent it.
“So…”
“Uh oh,” he said, and I felt bad that he was expecting the worst.
“You excited for Big Bear?” I asked.
I felt him exhale as if he’d been braced for what I’d say. “I’ll be gone for five days.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said.
“I just did. I won’t see you for five days.”
“You’re stupid.”
He dropped a kiss to the top of my head. “Only when it comes to you.”
20
GISELLE
My mother was cooking an omelet when I walked into the kitchen. I reached into the refrigerator to grab a yogurt still floating on air after Thayer had shown up last night.
“Morning,” I said.
“He could’ve used the front door,” she said.
I froze.
“With all the cameras and new alarm system, did you really think we wouldn’t know?”
Empty-handed, I closed the refrigerator and met her amused eyes. “One could hope.”
“How long has it been going on?” she asked.
I slipped onto a stool at the island. “Not long.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked, sliding her omelet out of the pan and onto a plate.
“About what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Gino? Kason? Need I continue?” she said, sitting down on the stool beside me.
“It’s over between me and Gino. I just need to tell him.”
“Wow.”