“Why is this here?” she breathed.
Clearing my throat, I finally looked up and told her, “I bought it.”
Her pale eyes welled with tears. “You bought our booth and table?”
Yep, at the back of the garage, tucked away in the corner, was our booth. The owners had sold the old booths, tables, and chairs when they did the remodelling, and I’d bought the one we’d spent so much time in.
It was kind of stupid, but it felt like the last little bit of her, and I couldn’t let it go.
She stared at me, not moving, breathing shallow breaths that were probably giving her a head rush.
I took a seat and waited for her. “Ice cream is going to melt.”
Sliding in opposite me, she said, “I can’t believe you did that.”
“Well, I didn’t want someone else to have their smelly arse on our booth.”
“Why would they have a smelly…” She shook her head and dug her spoon into the ice cream. “Never mind. So, how much did you pay for it?”
Dilemma. Should I tell her the truth and make her think I’m an unstable and obsessive, or lie so I don’t look crazy?
“I paid five hundred,” I said, going with the truth.
Her eyes widened. “Pounds?”
“No, buttons.”
She deadpanned and dug her spoon into the ice cream again.
“Wow, five hundred pounds. Cole, it’s not worth close to that.”
“I changed my mind. I didn’t miss you.”
And the booth wasn’t worth thatwithoutthe memories.
“Liar… Hey, what are you thinking? Your face has gone all serious.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything.”
“Of course, you weren’t. It’s fine, keep your secrets.”
“You’re so dramatic. Anyway, I’m getting the keys to the house one day this week, so I can measure for carpet quotes and stuff. See if I want to pull out of the sale. Do you want to come?”
“Are you going to carpet shops after?” she asked, smiling hopefully.
I wasn’t going to. I couldn’t think of anything more boring. I was just going to call them up and get a quote, but her pleading eyes worked on me again.
I sighed. “Yes.”
“Then, I’m there. Oh, do you know what colours you want yet?”
“Something neutral? Grey. I don’t know.”
“We can have a look in a couple of places.”
“Great,” I responded with fake enthusiasm. I thought I would actually rather play golf than shop for carpets, and man, golf was boring.
“You have to buy everything, don’t you? Like a washing machine, cooker, and all those other appliances.”
