“Oh, good.”
“But it bothered you. What she said.”
I can hear his unasked question.Why?
I could blow it off. I could shrug and make that moment seem like no big deal. But I’ve already opened this topic, and he’s answered me in such a caring tone that I find myself wanting to share the truth.
“It’s just that hardly anyone takes me seriously,” I say, and I keep the rest to myself—which is kind of how my family has treated me my whole life.
He sips his coffee, as if he’s considering my comment. “I take you seriously.”
I blink, surprised, and I’m not sure why. “Yeah?”
“I do,” he says. “I mean, I did deposit a big sum of money in our joint checking account.”
“That was really nice to see. All those zeroes.”
“Those zeroes were very serious,” he says.
“They were. And I like serious zeroes.”
He smiles, but not for long. His thoughtful green-eyed gaze holds mine. “I believe in you.”
My heart squeezes. “Thank you.” That means more to me than I can express right now. “I appreciate that.”
“You’re welcome. But I’m sorry you feel that others don’t. Is that why you don’t come here a lot? I feel like the only time I’ve seen you in Cozy Valley recently was at the diner a year ago.”
I remember that. I was visiting my grandmother, and I told Corbin I had an elaborate idea for Theo. A special surprise birthday party at the hardest escape room in the city, which my brother kept bragging that he could finish in the fastest time ever. Corbin and I planned it together, and I can still recall how good he’d looked when he walked into the venue before my brother arrived, checked out all the decorations I’d set up in the entryway, from the poster board saying, “Prove It,” to the LED lights flashing outside the room itself, announcing, “Game on.”
“Damn, you’re good,” Corbin had said. I did most of the planning. He’d paid for the venue, though, renting it out.
Then, Corbin had pilfered one of the chocolate chip cookies I’d made for Theo if he beat the record. They included potato chips, and Corbin moaned his appreciation after the first bite. “And you’re good with this too.”
Hmm. Maybe Corbin has always taken me seriously.
I return to his question about why I don’t come to my hometown a lot. “That’s probably it. But I suppose it’s silly,” I say, waving a hand, like I can dismiss my strange relationship with Cozy Valley. “So what if I amuse the town.”
“Exactly, Mabel. Let them laugh.”
I stop at the street corner outside a boutique called Reprise that sells secondhand clothes and consider what he just said—giving myself permission not to care. “Maybe you’re right.”
He wiggles an eyebrow. “I usually am.” Then he licks his lips and says, like he has all the time in the world, “And to answer your earlier question…yes.”
As we turn onto Holly Springs, his answer to my last text hangs in the air. Yes, he likes teasing me too. “Thanks again for wearing a shirt.” I pause, lift an eyebrow. “I think.”
He tugs at the fabric. “You’re welcome.I think.”
Then he gives me a long once-over. “You don’t really have a game later, do you?”
My lips twitch. “I might.”
“Hopefully you got that new bra you wanted. I wouldn’t want you to have to play pickleball with an underwire stabbing you to death.”
I square my shoulders, which has the effect of lifting my boobs just so. “No underwire today. It has a built-in bra.”
His lips part. His eyes turn a little glassy. “So…no bra?” It sounds like he’s swallowed gravel.
“Correct,” I say.
