A house to myself—with a dog, no less—sounds pretty fucking awesome right now.
Provided it’s nowhere near Belmont or Heartwood Valley.
So I take a leap and text him.
Me:I’m not saying yes or no, but could I meet your dog and see your house?
My parents can’t pay my hotel bill if I’m not living in a hotel.
And they can’t give me a guilt trip about moving out if I never move back in.
And Holt won’t even be there.He’s leaving for a lacrosse camp in Europe. Brydie said it a half dozen times last night while I was in earshot, most of those times to women who were asking if he was single.
And yes, I noticed that she didn’t give a straight-up yes or no answer.
I took a leap when I accepted the job with Lusso Cruises.I met locals in various ports and had meals in their homes and still get emails with family updates.
Sometimes you have to jump.
And meeting a dog isn’tjumping.
It’s dipping a toe in the water to see if it’s the right temperature.
Holt replies almost immediately.
Holt:Home the rest of the day.
Me:Great. Send me the address.
5
Holt
Ziggy changed her clothes.
She’s fancy again. But unlike last night’s kind of fancy, when she was in black-and-white to match the serving crew during the event, today she’s a splash of color.
Pale-green sleeveless blouse that looks soft as peach fuzz. Swishy skirt with a curvy pattern of blues and yellows and greens. Small, simple hoop earrings. Hair in a tidier bun that still shows her curls.
But her shoes?—
She’s wearing glittery pink Converse sneakers.
They don’t match the rest of her.
Good thing I’m leaving town in four days. If I wasn’t, I’d be asking a pregnant woman to move in to my house anyway.
So I could take care of her.
So I could see her every day.
So I could find out what other secrets and contradictions she’s hiding, like her glittery pink Converse sneakers.
I haven’t had a crush like this in what feels like decades.
“Is that a Viking oven?” she says as we enter the kitchen in the three-bedroom Craftsman that Caden bought ten years ago when he moved here to Copper Valley to take a job for an engineering firm. We’re in an average neighborhood south of downtown. This room is among the half of the house that’s been fully renovated. Still have my bedroom—not the primary suite, which I could move into, but don’t want to—three bathrooms, and the basement to go. “And a subzero fridge? Am I in heaven?”
“Enough people have died in here that it might be,” I mutter to myself.
