He opened a cabinet and saw the stack of china there. “Oh,” he said, “I’m glad you’re keeping these.”
“They’re so pretty,” she said. “We got them at an estate sale, right?”
“Yeah, don’t you remember? That was the ‘dimples and freckles’ guy!”
Cherry laughed. “That was for these dishes?” There’d been an older guy running the estate sale, and he’d given them half off because he liked Cherry’s face.
“‘Dimplesandfreckles?’” Tom quoted, grinning down at Cherry. “‘That shouldn’t be legal.’”
Tom had said it to her foryearsafter that—she’d almost forgotten the joke’s origin story. She beamed up at him now, remembering.
Tom was looking in her eyes. He dipped his head down...
Tokissher.
And Cherry—so used to his mouth, so used to his hand on her jaw—kissed him back.
For a second.
For maybe a minute.
Maybe longer?
Then she pulled away, covering her mouth. “Tom, I—” She shook her head. Her face pinched up in apology. “I’m seeing someone.”
Tom stood up. And away. “Oh.” He took a step back and nearly fell over the open dishwasher. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry regardless. I shouldn’t have—”
“Tom...”
He held up his hand. His eyes were closed. “Please, Cherry, I—I’m gonna leave.”
He squeezed between Cherry and the dishwasher and out of the kitchen. She let him go.
Chapter 25
Tom had told Cherry aboutThursdaythe first night that they met.
They were talking about what they liked to do when they weren’t working, and Tom said that he had a webcomic. Cherry hadn’t known what a webcomic was, exactly.
Later, when they were dating, he mentioned it again and gave her slightly more detail: “It’s a stupid comic strip that I write, that lives online.” She asked if she could read it, and Tom made a face like she’d asked to read his diary. “Nobody reads it,” he said.
“How would someone find it if they wanted to read it?”
“They wouldn’t. Nobody wants to read webcomics except for other people who write webcomics. And even then...”
“I want to read it.”
“Trust me. You don’t.”
It felt like what he was really saying was thathedidn’t want her to read it.
So Cherry didn’t go looking forThursday. She figured he’d let her see it someday... In the meantime, they were falling in love.
Tom spent most nights at Cherry’s apartment. He’d come over after he made dinner for his dad. Sometimes he’d bring dinner for Cherry, too.
They went for walks. They watched TV. They got up early on weekends and went to estate sales—they found a hundred-year-old couch for $650. Tom paid for half.
They talked about work—a lot. They didn’t work together directly, but they worked with some of the same people. Cherry did funny impressions of all their managers. It was the only thing that ever made Tom laugh out loud.
