Page 132 of Company Ink

"Decaf," he smirks, his soulful eyes meeting mine causing my heart to flutter ever so slightly.

Fuck.

It's just coffee...right?

epilogue

One Year Later

"Cassie!" Vanessa shouts from the living room. "Monique's calling!"

"Ah! I'm coming!" I shriek, stumbling over all our packed-up boxes. God, we've accumulated a ton of shit in the past year. I rented a fully furnished place for a reason yet here we are.Yikes. "Answer it, answer it!"

Ness answers Monique's FaceTime call on my laptop and I hop onto the couch beside my cousin. "Mon! How's it going? How's the Big Easy?" I ask.

Monique groans. "Cassie, I am so uncomfortableall the time.I literally put the Big in Big Easy." Monique stands up and shows us her growing belly. "I'm a balloon!"

"But you're a cute balloon." Vanessa giggles. "How is baby boy Sani doing?"

"Well, he's turned my bladder into his own personal stress ball but other than that, I think he's happy," Monique says, a hint of irritation in her voice. "I can't wait to fly back to Seattle. My grandparents are driving me crazy. Eat this, drink this, lay down, go for a walk. They're like pregnancy drill sergeants."

"Awe, they just care about you," I muse lightly.

Monique rolls her eyes. "Sure, let's go with that. Any-who, enough about me. How are you girls doing?" Her gaze darts to Vanessa. "You had your last treatment yesterday, right? How'd that go?"

"I ran twenty minutes on the treadmill without stopping!" Ness beams, her smile glowing. "Tariq was very impressed with me."

I wiggle my eyebrows. "Tariq, eh? What happened to Dr. Amari?"

Vanessa shoves me. "You're making it seem like he's my doctor, and he's not. He's just an intern, and he uh—well, he might have asked me for my number as soon as the last session ended."

Monique claps her hands. "Oh my God, Ness! Look at you, picking up sexy New York doctors."

Vanessa blushes. "It's not a big deal and it's not like we're going to date or anything, he lives here and we're flying back to Seattle on Sunday. We're just friends."

"Sure," I tease. "Friends withfeelings."

Ness cocks her head to the side. "Feelings? Yeah? You wanna talk about feelings?" Her eyes dart to Monique. "Ask Cassie about Blake."

Shit.Walked straight into that one. Monique tosses me a cunning smile. "So, Cassie," she begins. "Get any more letters from Blake?"

I roll my eyes, smiling coyly. "I might have gotten one today." I reach for the envelope on the coffee table and hold it up.

Monique shakes her head, laughing. "I still can't believe you guys send snail mail to each other, it's so odd."

"It's not odd, maybe a little old fashioned but not odd!" I huff. "Plus, it's not like we planned for this to happen, it just sort of happened. And it kind of made things easier in a way; phone calls and text messages are too much pressure, you're always scared about being left onread, or not picking up on time, with letters it's more casual, intimate even."

"Uh-huh," Monique hums. "And how many letters has he written to you?"

I shrug. "Like twelve or something."

"Girl," Monique chuckles. "A year of writing back and forth and you haven't even kissed. You guys are crazy."

"It was better this way," I say, fiddling with the envelope in my hand. "I mean it started as a joke but just snowballed into something...more. Also! You owe me twenty dollars because I stayed true to my one-year pact. No dating, no men, no sex. I expect your e-transfer later today."

Vanessa laughs. "Hell has frozen over."

I scowl at my cousin. "You're so funny, Ness, hah hah hah."

---