Julia paused at the door, her expression suddenly serious. “You know, Mr. J, I’ve never seen you this happy. It’s . . . nice.”
Before I could respond, they were gone, leaving me alone in my kitchen with the lingering scent of apricot glaze and the echo of 2000s music and laughter.
I looked around at the chaos we’d created—dish towels on the floor, my playlist still playing, the warm glow of satisfaction that came from an impromptu dance party with the people I loved most.
Jeremiah would be here in soon, and I was ready.
Julia was right.
I was happy.
Chapter 26
Jeremiah
Isat in my car for five minutes, working up the nerve to walk to the front door—which was ridiculous.
This was Theo.
Sweet, brilliant Theo who made me laugh and looked at me like I was something special.
There was no reason to be nervous.
None whatsoever.
Except for the fact that tonight felt different. It felt bigger, like we were standing on the edge of something that would change everything between us.
I grabbed the bottle of wine from the passenger seat and forced myself out of the car before I could lose my nerve entirely. The front door was unlocked, which seemed very Theo—trusting and welcoming and completely unaware that he should probably be more careful about home security.
Stepping inside, I was hit with the most incredible smells.
Something savory and sweet and complex that made my mouth water and my stomach growl in appreciation. But whatreally caught my attention was the sound of movement from the kitchen, the soft humming of someone who was clearly in his element.
I set the wine on the entry table and followed the sounds, my heart picking up speed with each step. When I reached the kitchen doorway, I found Theo bent over the oven, checking on something that smelled like heaven. His hair was mussed, his sleeves rolled up, and he looked so completely absorbed in what he was doing that he didn’t notice me watching him.
I wanted to reach out, to touch his shoulder or dive my fingers into his unruly hair. I wanted to hold him and kiss him, to feel his arms wrap around me and cling for dear life. I wanted so much with this man, so much I had barely admitted to myself.
Which made whatever would come next much more frightening.
As I watched Theo fuss over his glaze with nervous, nerdy energy, old doubts came flooding back with a flurry of a thousand questions. Two shouted louder than all the rest:
When was the last time I’d been close to someone?
When had I last let someone close to me?
Like, really close, not just casual hookups or brief dating attempts that fizzled out after a few weeks.
It had been so long I could barely remember the details—some guy I’d met at the gym, maybe? We’d gone out a handful of times, spent one night together that had been fine but forgettable, and then mutually ghosted each other when we both realized we had nothing to talk about.
That had to be at least two years ago—no, three. Fine, longer.
And now here was Theo, brilliant and kind and somehow interested in me despite the fact that I delivered packages for a living and got most of my intellectual stimulation from Disney mermaids.
And then there were the words he’d said—and not said—that still had my head spinning.
He’d told me to “pack a toothbrush”—which wasn’t exactly subtle—but what if I’d completely misread the situation? What if he was just being practical about me staying late, and I’d been building this whole romantic fantasy around what was supposed to be a friendly dinner? What if he had a clean teeth fetish or was really freaked out by bad breath? Maybe he just didn’t want to smell garlic breathing beside him throughout a movie.
He couldn’t possibly mean what I thought—what I hoped—he meant.
