Page 59 of We Are Just Us

He picked it up, expecting Emory…she’d been texting every few hours still demanding details he was strategically withholding.

RORY NEIGHBOR: Hey. Sorry I’ve been quiet. Work’s been busy. How are you?

Kieran stared at the screen. Two days of silence, and the relief was embarrassing. Just a small, warm thing in his chest that said oh, there you are.

He typed back.

KIERAN: Good. Productive. Wrote a thousand words about questionable dog beach etiquette.

RORY NEIGHBOR: Sounds like a bestseller

KIERAN: It’s my magnum opus

RORY NEIGHBOR: Listen I owe you dinner. Are you free tonight?

Kieran looked at the message. Looked at the time. Looked at his reflection in the dark laptop screen, where a man with a terrible poker face was failing to play it cool.

KIERAN: I could eat

RORY NEIGHBOR: My place. Seven. I’ll cook.

KIERAN: You cook?

RORY NEIGHBOR: Mediocre. But with enthusiasm.

Kieran smiled at his phone. Then he caught Devon watching him from behind the espresso machine, one eyebrow raised.

He closed his phone and picked up his latte.

“Not a word,” he said.

Devon held up both hands. But she was smiling.

EIGHTEEN

That evening, Kieran stood in Rory’s living room, the photograph wrapped in brown paper under his arm, suddenly second-guessing everything.

Was this too much?

They’d slept together, sure. They’d agreed to see where things went. But did that include buying things for someone’s house?

Before he could spiral further, Rory walked in from the kitchen, two glasses of water in hand, a towel thrown over his shoulder.

“You look like you’re about to confess to a crime.”

“I bought you something,” Kieran blurted.

Rory’s eyebrows lifted. “Okay...” He took the package, fingers brushing Kieran’s as he did. He unwrapped it slowly, careful with the paper, and when the photograph was revealed, he went still.

For a long moment, he looked at it.

“It’s not a big deal,” Kieran said quickly. “I saw it and…I don’t know. I liked how it showed the coastline before all the development. Figured you might appreciate it, with your work and everything. But if it’s weird—”

“Where did you find this?” Rory’s voice was quiet.

“Thrift store in Leucadia.”

Rory nodded slowly, his thumb tracing the edge of the frame. He didn’t look up.