“Changes how?” I ask. “I mean, staying with you was a lot. I get that. And I’m sorry.”
His expression darkens. “I’m sorry about yesterday, babe. I was freaked out.” He shakes his head and sighs, letting out a huge chest full of tension. I can see his shoulders lower. “My mother came to my place looking for you. She thought you’d already moved in and wanted to offer to help you clear out Ann’s things.”
“She did?” No wonder the poor guy freaked out.
We haven’t even had five minutes to talk about what this is, let alone have it on family blast.
He nods. “I’m sorry, though. I shouldn’t have let you leave like that. I shouldn’t have let you spend the night here last night without even checking in on you. I couldn’t even send a fucking text.”
“I’m a grown woman, Franco. If anything was wrong, I have options now. A phone. Gas in my car. And the numbers of everyone in your family.” I chuckle at that. “I might have ended up on Lucia’s couch, but I wouldn’t have been alone or in danger.”
“I don’t want you calling them when you need something,” he growls. “I want to be the one you go to. Wake up to. Sleep with. I mean, next to…as well as the other stuff.”
We both smile, and the air between us crackles with possibility.
“It’s been two weeks, and it’s like I don’t even know myself anymore,” he says, his voice faraway. “But the weird part is, I’ve never felt more like myself. You make my life feel whole. What did I have before? It’s like I was just killing time. Waiting for you.”
My mouth falls open because I’m not sure I heard him right. “Really?”
He nods. “Yes, really. I haven’t laughed, worried, or had fun in an entire relationship with someone else like I have with you these past two weeks. It’s terrifying. Like, what the hell was I doing before?”
“Practicing?” I offer. “Probably mostly practicing sex. You’re really good at it now, though. Good enough I think you only need to do it with me from now on.”
He laughs. “Two weeks, man, that’s nothing. The blink of an eye.”
“It is something,” I correct him. “It’s the start of forever.”
15
FRANCO
“I like the way that sounds,”I admit. “Too much.”
Chloe crawls across the couch on her hands and knees. “Can we take ‘too much’ out of your vocabulary, please? I don’t think there’s any such thing as too much when it comes to this. To us.”
I watch as she settles herself on her heels, the blanket falling down around her hips.
“I don’t expect a proposal, Franco,” she says. “I need to repay what I owe you. Get the shop back on its feet. If it’s even possible. There’s still a chance I can’t bring in enough to keep the store.”
“What will you do if that happens?” I ask.
I am not ready to hear her say she’ll leave, but the more I admit to myself that I want this, that I want her, the more I realize I have to accept that none of this is in my control.
She could close Latterature and leave Star Falls. Or ask me to come with her. Things are getting even messier. I hate messy. I hate multitasking.
I’ve never been good at complexity.
Could I have sorted out the paperwork at the shop myself if I spent enough time and focus? Probably. But that’s just not how I’m wired. I’m not good at solving puzzles, finding paperwork, and apparently, I’m not very good at navigating complicated feelings.
I like things simple, direct, honest.
Things with Chloe are anything but that. But a part of me wonders if I’m the one making things so messy.
“What are you thinking?” She reaches across my outstretched legs and cups my chin.
“You renewed the lease here?” I ask.
I’m not good with this many moving parts. My mind feels fuzzy, and my hands curl up in impatience. I don’t know what the fuck has gotten into me. Maybe I’m the reason I’ve never been able to date anyone seriously.
