“Can’t, but thank you.”
“Date with another geriatric hottie?” he asks.
“More like a breakup. Me and my pots and pans. Whicharegeriatric, honestly. We’re deciding who stays and who goes.” I squat and scratch Sweet Pea’s head as she waddles her adorable little body over to my feet.
She rolls over and shows me her long belly, so I give that all the rubs too. “Who’s the cutest widdle puppy ever? Is it Sweet Pea? Is it? Awww, you’re so sweet.”
Her tongue lolls out and she gazes at me like I personally invented Snausages.
“Good girl. Don’t take any crap from this guy, okay?”
She barks once in agreement.
And I head home.
Fletcher’s offer ofyou can stay if you wanthas too many shades ofI could use a friend, and it’s doing something worse than giving me hot flashes.
It’s making me wonder how lonely he is.
How much he might need a friend. It’s hard being the new guy, and while I don’t make a habit of hanging out with Silas and his teammates, I picked up some vibes at cooking school.
Fletcher’s not easily fitting in.
I’m leaving in two weeks. I can introduce him to some other potential friends—friends who are his age, with his level of experience—but I don’t have time tobethat friend.
Especially when he looks likethatwithout his mustache.
12
Fletcher
I hate suits.
Reminds me of my old man. Formal military dinners. Changes of command. Promotions. Funerals.
All of the bad things.
But more today?
I hateitching.
And I’m itching like a mofo who bathed in itch powder.
It’s not the suit though. It’s the bloodyrash.
From the middle of my chest around to my ass, I have what any normal person would think was a poison ivy rash.
It’s not.
It’s worse.
It’s what happens when I eat mango, andI ate fucking mango.
This is my own damn fault.
I didn’t ask what was in the salsa at the flaming cheese mustachemurder class.
And now I’m knocking on Goldie’s apartment door thirty minutes before the wedding with my ass itching because I didn’t bathe thoroughly enough in calamine lotion and I have the smell of calamine lotion stuck in my nose and the good anti-itch pills I got in Europe the last time I had an allergic reaction to mango aren’t available over the counter here.
