Though... I can’t ignore what I saw with my own eyes.
Not. Your. Business. Claire!
I scramble to change the subject. “I don’t have any formal training, you know, in baking, so I’m not sure anyone would hire me.”
His expression shifts. “Sometimes experience is enough, don’t you think?”
I shrug. “I’m just out here winging it, really.”
He smiles and reaches for another muffin. I shake my head but hold out the basket. “I’m telling Lorraine you’re stealing her treats.”
He leans back against the bench. “The only thing that would make this better is a cup of coffee.”
He drinks his black. Usually two cups a morning. I glance over at him. “You’re kind of my first friend here.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “Oh? Are we actually friends now?”
“Aren’t we?” I ask.
“I mean, I think so,” he says. “I’m just shocked you’re admitting it.”
I huff out a laugh.
“With a ‘how we met’ story as good as ours, wehaveto be friends.” He takes another bite. “You should eat one of these.”
“I already had two before I walked outside.”
He chuckles softly to himself and swallows his bite.
My phone simultaneously dings and vibrates on the bench between us. The noise is so loud, we both look at it.
I pick it up and silence it, but not before we both see the notification for the dating app, which happens to show up in a bright pink bubble.
“Is that...?”
I hold up a hand to silence Miles, who snaps his mouth shut, obviously wanting to comment on the app.
I let out a dramatic sigh. “My daughter made me a dating profile.”
He pulls out his own phone, clicks around, then says, “‘Flirty, fun, and fabulous forty-something.’” He glances at me, eyebrows raised.
I snatch the phone from his hand and see my profile pulled up on the screen. “Of course you’re on this app.”
“It’s a nice photo,” he says. “You look happy.”
I glance at it. “I was happy.” I click the phone off and hand it back to him, aware that the air between us has shifted.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks. “I mean, now that we’refriendsand everything.”
I half smirk but roll my eyes. “You’re going to keep bringing that up, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s fair.”
“But...”Maybe I should?I think the words but don’t say them out loud. Maybe I should because maybe it’ll get easier to say it out loud if I do.
