Page 90 of House of Desire

“What should I do? I know she is attracted to me. And it always seems like she likes me.”

“This is turning out like an angsty teenage diary entry,” Courtney says, snickering.

“Diaries are for bad poetry you write while you cry on lonely nights when you think no one loves you,” Charlie says.

“Maybe yours were. You were so dramatic freshman year,” Courtney says as the other girls start to laugh as well.

“I was stupid and didn’t have a fully developed brain!”

“At least they were just in the diary,” Lorelei says, patting her arm in consolation.

“Oh, no! She had this boyfriend and she would give them to him!” Courtney cackles, falling out of frame.

“I hate you so much,” Charlie says.

“You brought it up!”

“What’s the likelihood you still have those diaries?” Molly asks.

Charlie huffs in exasperation. “Pretty high. I’ll find them for you. It can be our next girl’s night.”

They all descend into a fit of drunken giggles and I just watch them, smiling. Part of me wishing I had more of a normal high school experience.

One that didn’t end in marriage.

“Can we get back to the topic at hand?” I ask as they start to disintegrate into conversations about their various school age dating escapades.

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Charlie says, wiping tears from her eyes.

“You need to ask her on a date,” Charlie says, like it’s the simplest thing in the world.

“But she wants to be friends.”

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but having sex in a parking lot is not just being friends. Especially considering the feelings you both obviously have for each other. Do you want to just be friends?”

I know I don’t, but it’s not something I’ve wanted to admit out loud, fearful to push her away.

“No. I want to be with her. We can take it slow, but I don’t want her to be with anyone else.”

Charlie scoots to the edge of the bed and grabs my hands. “Then tell her that. Be an adult. Communicate. You’ve been working with Sharon on this. Now do it.”

She’s right. Like she is most of the time, not that I’d ever tell her that.

“When should I ask her?”

They all look at each other and without a word, seem to come to an agreement. Lorelei nods at Charlie who turns back around.

“Tomorrow, for sure. Just seal the deal. There’s no way she’s not working herself up into knots as well, but you want to give her a second to digest what happened.”

Okay, I could do this. Now I just have to plan what I’m going to say to her.

Liam and Dad work together in the front of the shop. Every day starts with a line of people and by lunch time, we are almost completely sold out. No matter how much I bake, it doesn’t seem to be enough. The specialty orders are starting to come in more consistently as well, demanding a lot of my time. I don’t mind, it’s a nice problem to have, but I’m starting to wonder if it might be time to hire on some help.

Thoughts of Parker and our time in the truck distract me. I need to talk to him, tell him I’m not interested in only being friends anymore. Maybe we could get to know each other while we date, since that’s what dating is for, after all.

I push the thought to the corner of my mind to ponder later and settle into a zen-like state as I decorate item after item.

“Anastasia,” my father says, poking his head through the door.

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