Page 81 of Hard to Take

I grimace. “Different bathrooms. I don’t share with guys?—”

“You know what I mean. Are you in love with him?”

“That’s a little excessive.” I decide on a pink and start to hand back the swatches, but I linger on a blue one. The color of his eyes.

“So wait, dating publicly?”

“It came out recently.”

“What about… Bey.” She goes with my naming convention.

“Bey is not speaking to me and barely to Giles.”

Ruby snorts loudly enough that her pedicure tech glances up, startled. “He was always easily butt-hurt.”

“Thank you! He has to fix the universe the way he likes it,” I confirm. “The team is off playing on the road and, judging by a clip I saw online last night, my brother is making it worse on the court.”

“I’m sorry. Have you talked to him about it?”

“It seems like a face to face thing. But between the team’s practices and travel, he’s impossible to get hold of.” I shift in my seat. “How’s Tim?”

“He wants to go back to school. Says he held down the fort while I was finishing med school, so it’s his turn.”

“And you don’t want him to?” I guess.

Her lips twitch. “I got offered the promotion. The one that would take me off night shifts.”

“Rube, that’s amazing! Wait, is it more hours?”

“Not on paper. But it is more scrutiny. I’d be heading up a trauma group, be the public face. I need to pay attention to the details. Tim doesn’t like taking risks.”

“Too bad. We’re risk takers, Rubes.” I clink my glass against hers, and she grins.

“To the risk takers.”

After our pedicures are finished, the techs show us back out to the lounge.

I send a text to Miles, telling him thank you for the spa day. On impulse, I include a photo of my toes with the blue polish. He won’t answer until later because he has a game, but I want to let him know I’m thinking of him.

Yet somehow, I get a text back almost immediately.

Miles: You’re welcome, Princess.

I’m grinning so wide it hurts.

Maybe Ruby’s right. Maybe this is love.

* * *

“That’s quite the package.” Ruby nods toward the massive cardboard box in my room.

We’ve finished our takeout dinner and Waffles is making a play for Ruby to take him home, huffing happily at her feet as she scratches his ears.

“Clothes from Vivaro,” I confirm. I just started going through them this week and picking out some pieces for my next posts.

I open up my social media to show her their page.

There’s a new message in my DMs. Normally I wait until I have a minute to answer them, but this one’s from a familiar name.

---