“Stay the night with me,” I said, so excited at the thought that my tongue almost got tangled around the words. “You can have the bed, I’ll crash on the couch. Usually do anyway. I’ll even make you breakfast in the morning. How do you like your eggs?”
Was I being too enthusiastic? The more I thought about this, the more excited I got. A whole week with Carter Kowalski, the man against whom I measured all other men.
There was a reason I was single.
“Uh,” Carter said. “Scrambled is fine?”
“Glad you said that, because I can’t poach eggs to save my life.” I grinned at him.
Don’t scare him away.
“There’s a trick to it,” Carter said. “I can show you sometime if you want.”
“I’d like that,” I said, fairly sure he wouldn’t ever actually do it. No, I had a week to spend with him, and that was it.
This was a stupid idea, but I was glad I was going along with it anyway.
It’d make the part of me that was still a teenager desperate to be loved, understood, and accepted happy, and that couldn’t hurt. I’d had a lot of late-night conversations with people like me across the world about how much it helped to do the things we’d wanted to do when we felt most lost now that we were semi-responsible adults.
One of the things I’d desperately wanted to do was spend more time with Carter. It’d be good for me to tick that off.
“So we’re doing this?” Carter asked, as though he couldn’t quite believe it.
“Sure,” I said. “Unless you’re getting cold feet?”
“Probably not until we get to the hotel,” Carter said. “I hear there’s six inches of snow on the ground.”
“Was that ajoke?” I asked, heart lighting up at the thought that Carter was joking with me.
He had a sense of humor so dry it would have been at home in Death Valley, and I’d only heard it a few times in my life.
“It was meant to be,” Carter said, smiling wryly.
“It was funny. Sorry, just… took me by surprise. You were so quick and your delivery was so deadpan.”
“I’m aware of my shortcomings as a comedian,” Carter said. “That’s why I’m not making a living doing standup.”
Where the hell did he get off being so adorable? I could see why his ex might want another chance.
But I could also see that if he was willing to do somethingthisdumb to avoid her, she didn’t deserve one.
“Anyone who doesn’t appreciate your sense of humor is an ass,” I said. “Come on. You can drive me home, it’s fucking cold outside.”
* * *
Morgan:did I just see you heading home with Carter Kowalski?
Yep. He’s taking me to his sister’s wedding.
Morgan:what?? how long have you been screwing?
We haven’t. It’s a platonic thing.
Morgan:oh, I see
Morgan:a platonic thing with the guy you couldn’t shut up about for five minutes when we were in high school
Morgan:sounds legit
