No, better to leave after the two weeks are up. That way you won’t have to worry about him eventually changing his mind and dumping you.
Cairo fixed my car, which is how I discovered that Brakkor had paid for the part. When I grouched that I should’ve been the one to pay, he just grinned and told me I could claim the bill the next time his truck needed work. It was a bullshit response, but I really liked the fact that he hadn’t claimed it was payment for what we were doing in bed, or something like that. My sedan ended up parked beneath the condo building, since Eastshore was small enough not to need it often.
Each evening we shared dinner—we’d taken to alternating who cooked—and he asked me questions about who I met or the progress I made that day. And I found myself eager to tell him, to get his opinions. Brakkor was blunt, but he never put me down or made me feel stupid for a choice.
Surely it couldn’t last forever.
It was like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, which is a stupid idiom because what do dropping shoes have to do with portending disaster?
When my two weeks were up, I was going to pack up my newly returned car and return to the mainland—my apartment—and try to rebuild my life. I needed a new job, because as wonderful as this project for Mr. Frapp was, it had a deadline.
You could stay here on Eastshore.
And the more I fell in love with the place—the more I found myself liking Brakkor—the more appealing that became. Icouldstay here on Eastshore, and date Brakkor, and maybe break myno sexpolicy, and behappy.
But for how long?
That night in the hotel, I’d been the one to sneak away first, because I couldn’t stand the thought of being hurt byhimleaving. I still felt the same way, only now it was worse, because I could feel Brakkor working his way into my heart.
It would be very, very easy to fall in love with him.
And if that happened…
Falling in love with him—with Eastshore—gave Brakkor all the power. It was better to keep things casual, think of this as a hookup that would be over in two weeks.
After the town council meeting, I’d be driving away from Eastshore and Brakkor, and I needed to keep that in mind. No falling in love, no wishing for more.
I wasn’t going to let myself be hurt again.
But even the sense ofthis can’t lastdidn’t take away from the fun we were having. I loved teasing him, because he never got angry. I teased him over his bacon obsession, his hair getting too long, and the lack of furniture in his apartment.
“What’s wrong with my apartment?” he’d growled.
“Oh, nothing,” I breezed past him on the way to deposit a load of dinner dishes in the sink. “I’m just saying, if you had a nice couch in there, we could curl up on it and watch a movie after dinner.”
“No couch,” he announced, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. “And the TV is in the bedroom. Guess we’ll just have to curl up there.”
When he hoisted me over his shoulder, I screeched and laughed. But when he tossed me onto the bed, I was writhing in anticipation.
Yeah, I was settling in just fine. And the following day, when I realized I was staring around the living room, imagining wheremycouch and armchairs could be placed, I knew I was getting dangerously settled.
If you fall in love with Eastshore, with this apartment, withBrakkor, it’s going to hurt so much more when he rejects you.
By the second Tuesday—three days before the town council meeting—I was confident of my plan. I’d talked it over with Jess and Zoe and Brakkor, and they’d each offered suggestions. I had options to offer the council, and was feeling pretty good about the few remaining tasks I needed to research.
So when Kesha invited me and Brakkor over for a barbeque, I was excited to tell her my news. Sure, I’d visited her and Milo in the last ten days, but this felt significant. Like Brakkor and I were being invited…as a couple?
My bestie was ensconced in the kitchen working on the baked beans—the woman could do wonderful things with beans—and I joined her as Brakkor headed out back with the guys. Kesha was just as enthusiastic about my plan as I was, and I realized she saw it as a way to keep me here on Eastshore. I didn’t want to dim her excitement, but I tried to be honest.
“I’m done after Friday,” I reminded her as I chopped cucumbers for the veggie platter. “Mr. Frapp is only paying me till then, and I have to get back to find another job.”
“Leaving me and Milo is one thing, but you’re going to leave Brakkor?”
I dropped the knife. “What?” I blurted as I scrambled to pick it up, and I heard her snort behind me.
“You’re all goo-goo over him. I saw it at the wedding, and you talk about him nonstop.”
Did I? Frowning down at the veggies, I finally confessed, “He was the one I hooked up with. In that hotel room. Itwas…” I swallowed. “It was supposed to be a one-night thing.”
