“Hmm?”
He seems genuinely stunned as he says, “I haven’t smoked in three weeks.”
My eyes widen. I’ve never asked about the vapes, or the joints I saw in his bathroom. He never smoked them around me.
“That’s crazy.” He sounds truly stunned. “I’ll need to tell Whitney.”
“Who’s Whitney?”
“My therapist. I just started seeing her again.” He glances at me before looking down the street. “I probably shouldn’t have stopped, to be honest. But yeah. Every Tuesday at nine.”
“I’m so proud of you.”
“I know. But you want to know something?” He leans in. “I’m proud of me too.”
“Damn straight, mister.”
“Miles! I thought you knew this. I’m not straight.”
I laugh. “Oh, I know. Just wait until you see the package.”
“Almost there. Hey, Jace! Love your marigolds. They’re gorgeous.” Jordan waves at someone, then stifles a laugh as he continues on. A few yards down, he says in a whisper, “I think I scared him.”
“Have youevertalked to your neighbors?”
“Only Gena.”
“When you shared a joint?”
He smirks. “Maybe. Okay, setting my phone down for a second.”
I yawn again while I wait, exhaustion hitting me hard. The mocha is doing diddly squat.
“Oh, are you kidding me?” He flashes a piece of paper on the screen. “The package doesn’t fit in my mailbox! I have to go to the neighborhood manager.”
“Oops.”
He makes a face. “Oops? Just what the hell did you send me?”
“My love,” I tease.
Jordan laughs heartily. “That explains it. I’m going to need a bigger motorhome for that.”
“You know it.”
“Let me call you back. Rick is kind of a chatty dude, so.”
“Okay.”
I make the mistake of lying on the bed before he calls me back. I’m out within seconds.
When the alarm goes off the following morning, the room is still dark. I resist the urge to chuck my phone. Cracking one eye, I look at the screen, finding three messages from Jordan. At least seeing his name eases the pain of getting up so damn early.
I open the message thread. Two missed calls, and a video.
I play the video.
“Hey, hon.” His voice is soft and half amused. “Just as I expected, you fell asleep, didn’t you? That’s okay. I hope you get some good rest. Anyway, I know you wanted to see me open this so… here we go. I’m doing a video for you.”
