So believable
Whatever
Tell me when you’re ready
Jude:
Later
Thanks
I met Madison out by the registers and helped her load the order into her car. Afterward, we went to the café across the street. She insisted on buying—spite-using Tyler’s money, as she put it—so we sat down with a tea each, and a slice of raspberry loaf cake to split.
“Are we friends?” she asked.
“I like to think so.”
Madison chewed her lip. “I wish Tyler wasn’t weird about guy friends. I feel bad we can’t hang out outside of your work.”
Lightning bolted down my spine. “Youwantto hang out outside of work?”
“Of course I do. Why do you think I come in to wander-shop all the time? I learned your schedule so we could hang out.”
Realization dawned on me that she had been coming to the store specifically to see me. I’d been assuming this whole time that she simply couldn’t find what she was looking for.
My crush went from campfire to inferno.
I was so fucking gone for her and she didn’t have a clue.
“What do you think about a weekend away?” I asked as Tyler and I zoomed down the road on our way home from meeting his friends for lunch. “We haven’t gone somewhere together in ages.”
“I’m busy,” he said without even looking at me.
“I never suggested a date.”
“Doesn’t matter. I don’t have time for a weekend away.”
“It’s been over three years since our last getaway. I feel like you don’t have time for me anymore.”
Tyler spared me a brief glance before focusing back on the road. “Why are you getting so needy lately? You’re usually independent.”
I bristled. “If we spent time together, I wouldn’t be needy. You let your job become your whole life. I just want to hang out with you once in a while.”
“Sorry for keeping a fucking roof over your head.”
I stifled a sigh, knowing it would only annoy him. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what you said. My job is what gives you the life you have, so maybe you should learn to shut up and enjoy it.”
I lapsed into silence, staring out my window. It was hisinheritancethat kept a roof over our heads, not his job, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. If it were all about money, he could’ve chilled out on letting me start a business properly. I’d have been happy to contribute this whole time, buthewas the one who stopped that.
I hated when he was upset. Tyler was a ticking time bomb when he got in his moods and I did my best to tiptoe around it, but how was I supposed to stage a proposal if he wasn’t willing to do anything special?
“I love you,” I said quietly.
He didn’t reply. His fingers tightening on the steering wheel were the only indication he’d heard me at all.
“Why don’t we order a nice dinner and have a quiet night in?” I suggested.
