Page 19 of XOXO, Yours

“Yet here you are.”

Yeah.

Here I am, sitting in a plastic booth at half past midnight, a taco going cold in my hand, feeling more alive than I have in weeks.

And I don’t particularly want to be anywhere else.

The taco place starts stacking chairs around us before Jules finally notices we’re the only customers left. The metal legs scrape against tile, one after another, a sound that should probably have clued us in for a while.

“Oh shit.” She looks around, taking in the empty booths. “I guess they’re closing?”

“Pretty sure they closed twenty minutes ago.”

Her head whips toward me. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You were telling me about your job.”

The guy behind the counter gives us a pointed look, mop handle propped against his hip.

I stand, my knees cracking from being folded into the booth for too long.

“Come on, before they call the cops.”

She eyes the man with the mop. “I’m pretty sure I could take him.”

“Of course you are.” I grab our trash and then steer her away from our booth. “Come on, Bossy, let’s get out of here before I have to bail you out of jail.”

I throw away our trash, and we step outside.

The parking lot is almost empty, just a smattering of cars. My truck sits beneath one of the streetlights.

I should probably be embarrassed by how happy it makes me that I get to drive her home. Which means another twenty minutes in her presence. But I’m not.

“Where do you live?” I ask.

She gives me a suspicious look, head tilting, one eyebrow arching.

“So forward,” she says.

“So I can drive you home.”

“Sure, that’s what you meant.”

I stop walking. Just stop, boots planted on the asphalt.

She takes two steps before she realizes I’m not beside her anymore. Her stride falters. Then she turns.

“What?”

“Are you flirting with me?”

Her eyebrows lift, and something flickers across her face, too fast for me to name.

“Did you just now notice? Do they not teach you perception skills in cowboy school?”

Her playful, acerbic banter clicks something into place somewhere deep in my head. Someday, I’m going to marry this woman.

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