—
A shadow falls across my page. I glance up quickly, then jerk my head up again, certain I can’t truly be seeing what I’m seeing, whichappearsto be the shape of a human man that looks exactly like Connor. Grinning at me.
“Good book?” he says by way of greeting.
Any ability to form words has deserted me in this moment, and all I can do is stand there mutely while my body attempts to process the shock of this encounter.
The Connor of the weekend is very much the Connor of the weekday, though with a few slight tweaks: today he’s in faded black jeans, with a white shirt and a plaid shirt-jacket (shacket?) over the top. There’s a brown thread running through it that matches perfectly with his eyes. Not that I’m noticing!
The longer I stand there gawking the bigger his smile grows.
“I’m surprised to see you, actually,” he says casually. “I didn’t think you’d show.”
“Not that surprised,” I argue. “You brought two coffees.”
You know what it is, it’s the hat: he’s wearing it backward.
“Oh, this isn’t for you,” he says glibly. “They didn’t have any large cups left so they put mine into two small ones.”
“I—Are you serious?”
He laughs. “No, you lemon. Here.”
I take a sniff. “Does it have—”
“Cream? Yes, Your Majesty. Regular cream, not the weird flavored stuff you ingest at the office.”
“Thanks,” I whisper into thelid.
He considers me a moment. “Would you honestly notice if it was milk?”
“Oh yeah, one hundred percent. It just tastes like…coffee withoutit.”
“I thought that was the point.”
“Spoken like a man who does not appreciate the value of a good creamer.”
“You’ve got me there.”
“Why are you here?” I ask, suspicious. “Were you just walking by and came here to gloat? Wasn’t the point of the bet that you didn’t have to do this?”
“That’s true. But I was feeling guilty.”
“Why? Because you won?”
“Because I cheated.”
Excuse me? “You what?”
“I cheated,” he repeats, showing exactly zero signs of remorse. “I knew what the outcome would be when the bet was made.”
“You—how?”
“Because we already tried that a while ago and couldn’t doit.”
“And yet you took the wager!”
“I didtryand tell you, at the time. You wouldn’t hear reason.”
